Dark Secrets (60 page)

Vicki was right. The
dress was amazing.

“
We’ll take it,”
Vicki all but squealed.

I shook my head. “No,
it’s a thousand dollars, Vicki. I can’t. I’ll just get the green
one in the other store.”

“
But why,
Ara?”

“
I told you. I’m not
going to let my boyfriend buy a dress for me. It’s
ridiculous!”

“
He’s
buying
it for you?” the clerk asked, astonished.

“
No! He’s
not.”

“
But, Ara. It’s so
lovely, and—”

“
It’s just a stupid
dress. Who cares? I’ll wear it for a few hours, then take it off
and never wear it again. It’s a waste of money.”

“
But—”

“
I can do what I
want, Vicki. It’s my life!” I jumped off the podium and stormed
into the change room—slamming the door.

The girl in the
mirror looked up at me; she was thinking the same thing; the dress
was beautiful. I wished I could afford it, because it definitely
was
the one
. But
I wouldn’t take advantage of my boyfriend just because he happened
to have made a few smart investments in his hundred-year existence.
On the other hand, David would love this dress too, and I knew,
from the look on Vicki’s face, that I just broke her heart.
“Maybe—” I said, reaching out to the girl in the mirror; she
smiled.

No
. I drew my hand back quickly. “No! We’re not getting the
dress.”

“
Did you say
something?” the clerk asked.

“
Uh, no—just talking
to myself.”

Myself looked at me
solemnly.

I shook my head. “Stop
pouting. We’re getting the green dress.”

Vicki walked quietly
behind me as I headed to the other store, purchased the green dress
with
my own
money
and headed to Summer Magic, Masks and Hats Boutique.

“
This one would’ve
been perfect with the blue dress,” Vicki offered, holding up an
almost transparent blue mask. The little stones around the eyes
were patterned out like a butterfly, and as she angled it just so,
it caught the light, shimmering like a diamond-powdered oil
painting.

“
Yes.” I swallowed,
switching to ‘indifferent mode’ with a noncommittal shrug. “It’s
great. But I have the green dress.”

“
Oh, well, the only mask here that goes with green is this
gold one.” Vicki’s lips spread into a sinister grin. “I know how
much you
love
gold.”

“
Gold?” I tried to
swallow the vomit in the back of my throat. “I do love gold. And
you’re right, it’ll look great with the green.”

Begrudgingly, I
snatched the mask, purchased it and left the store, gagging on the
bitter taste of regret.

After the first five
minutes into the drive back home—in complete silence—I watched
Vicki’s face, and the pig-headed me softened a little more. Sam was
her only child. He would forever be her only child. I felt kind of
guilty for ruining her only chance to do the girlie
‘going-to-a-ball’ thing.

“
Vicki?”

“
Mm?”

“
I…I had fun
today.”

She gave a small smile
as we pulled up to the garage door, and my heart sunk into the pit
of my stomach.

“
What’s David doing
here?” I sat forward slightly, looking at his car. “He was supposed
to be here at two.” I was supposed to have this dress hidden by
then.

Vicki shut the engine
off. “We thought it might be better if they started
earlier.”

“
But—”

“
What’s the matter,
Ara? I thought you’d be happy to see David.” Her tone had all the
malice of a person who knew that I knew she knew I was totally
getting busted—and she was relishing in the idea.

“
Of course I’m happy
to see him, Vicki.” I closed the car door with my hip and folded
the dress over my arm. “I can’t wait to show him my
dress.”

“
Me too.” She walked
ahead and opened the front door for me, all the while grinning like
an evil stepmother.

The skin on my neck
tightened.

“
Greg? We’re
home.”

“
We’re upstairs,” Dad
called. “How was shopping?”

“
Great,” I
said.

“
So you got a dress?”
David, with his fingers wedged into his pockets, looked down at me
from the top of the stairs, anticipation lighting his
eyes.

“
I did, and I think
you’ll love it.”

He kissed my cheek as
I passed him and, as Vicki followed, my shoulders subconsciously
hunched around my ears.

“
Did you have fun?”
Dad asked, standing behind a big red sofa—wedged in the doorway of
the spare room.

Vicki shrugged and sat
on it.

“
That good, huh?” Dad
wiped his brow, winking at me.

“
She hasn’t changed a
bit when it comes to shopping, Greg,” Vicki whined.

My vampire folded his
arms, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Vicki for a second, then,
his head whipped up and he looked at me with an open-mouthed
frown—my cue to leave.

“
I’ll just hang this
up.” I headed into my room quickly, feeling a jitterbug run down my
spine.

When I headed back out
to help Dad with the spare room, I half expected David to jump out
and attack me. But he didn’t. Worse, he continued to help Dad—all
the while saying nothing at all—well, nothing at all to me. He was
mad. I knew it. I could tell.

The two boys struggled
with the offending sofa while Vicki, who must’ve climbed in past
Dad, vacuumed the imprints off the carpet where furniture had been.
At last, the bulky lounge shifted, and David pretended to struggle
with its weight as he and my dad carried it out of the room and
angled it up the stairwell to the attic.

“
Ara?”

I looked at Vicki,
then the stairs and the front door, and considered running for a
second.

“
Come help with the
dusting, please,” she said.

Against my better
judgment, I sauntered into the spare room and took the feather
duster from her.

“
Make sure you dust
the cornices, too. I hate cobwebs.”

“
Don’t go to a
vampire’s house then.” I grinned, imagining David’s house was full
of coffins, cobwebs and bats. If David had Vicki and Dad over for
tea, she’d conceal a feather duster in her handbag and sneak off to
the bathroom every five minutes, but secretly, she’d be removing
all of David’s eight-legged pets. Then again, the only reason a
vampire would invite Vicki and Dad to tea is if they were the main
course.

“
I suppose you think
you’re pretty funny?”

I looked up, snapping
out of my reverie in a suddenly Vicki-less room. “Actually, I do. I
think you’d look rather fetching in a coffin.”

David’s eyes narrowed
in obvious confusion. “Ara, what are you talking about?”

“
The cobwebs.” I
pointed to the ceiling, then dropped my hand slowly, realising that
wasn’t what he was referring to. “Oh. The dress?”

“
Yes. The
dress.”

“
I—You know what?” I
sunk my hip down on one side, propping my hand on it. “Bite
me!”

“
Don’t tempt me,
young lady.”

“
It’s just a dress.
Get over it.”

He shook his head and
backed away as Dad and Vicki waltzed in, carrying the bed head.
“Vicki, please, let me take that.” The human David took over for
the angry vampire, and I secluded myself in my task while the three
of them continued furnishing the room around me.

As time ticked on and
my mediocre chores came to completion, I leaned on the tall chest
of drawers across from the foot of the bed and watched David,
suddenly aware that he wasn’t so much angry that I hadn’t accepted
his gift, but hurt. In his day, it was common for a man to send his
date a pretty dress. And my declining it was probably seen as very
rude. But these were modern times. Things had changed. Women had
rights now.

My head nodded in
self-satisfaction, but my heart danced a lonely samba under my rib
cage as the afternoon sun lit the room and kissed his golden skin.
He made it so hard to be mad at him; I knew he was mad at me, and I
was mad at him for being mad at me, but now I was mad because I
didn’t want to be mad at him anymore—and that made me feel uneasy
because I had a right to be mad that he was upset that I hadn’t
accepted a gift.

He dusted off his
hands after he placed a small set of drawers next to the bed, then
smiled at me—the conceited
I-know-what-you’re-thinking-and-I’m-finding-it-funny
smile.

“
Er!” I stomped my
foot, balling my fists up beside me. “You’re so
annoying.”

“
Ara?” Vicki looked
up from making the bed, then looked at David as I stormed out of
the room and slumped on the settee in the hall.

Dad walked out after
me and stopped by soon-to-be-Mike’s door with a look of intense
thought, then snickered and walked away. Vicki, with her arms
folded around a spare blanket, followed him—after casting an
accusatory glare at me.

I folded my arms,
scoffed in her direction when her back was turned, and refolded my
arms.

“
Another one of Ara’s
infamous tantrums.” David, with his towering height, stood in front
of me.

“
I’m not throwing a
tantrum.” I slid down in the chair, biting my teeth
together.

“
Hm.” He turned and
headed back into the spare room. “Coulda fooled me.”

“
Coulda? You
mean…did!”

“
Yes.” He stopped and
leaned on the doorframe. “I must admit, that was very clever of
you—stuffing your purse with a lesser amount. But you can’t read
minds, mon amour—” he tapped his temple, “—so your plan was doomed
from the start.”

“
Well, you assumed I
was submissive, so yours was too.”

“
Submissive?” He
dropped his arms and moved over to me. “Ara, is that what you
think?”

“
I don’t know. You
seem to know all my thoughts, so you tell me.”

“
Ara. Look at me.” He
knelt in front of me. “Please?”

With my movements as
rigid as a frozen elastic band, I rolled my head upward, but kept
my bottom lip in a completely tight pout.

“
My love, I’m sorry.
I never meant to offend you. I—” He took my hand; I let him, with
only a little bit of a fight. “I was being playful, mostly. I truly
did not think that my spending money on you would be considered
rude or controlling.”

“
It’s not that,
David.” My tone sung with reason. “It’s that when I tried to
decline, you got mad at me.”

“
Mad?” He doubled
back a little. “You think I’m mad?”

“
You’ve been ignoring
me,” I said quietly.

“
Ara,” he laughed my
name out. “I’m not mad. Not at all. Jeeze, girl, sometimes you
really can make a mountain out of a molehill, can’t
you?”

Tears coated the
surprise behind my eyes. “I thought you’d yell at me.”

“
Yell?” His brow
pulled low on one side, thought washing across his face. “Ara, what
kind of man do you think I am?”

“
One that likes to
get his own way.”

As if a rope had just
pulled his soul out onto the carpet, his face went pale, his eyes
draining of the smile. “I’m so terribly sorry if I’ve given you
that impression. I—” He shook his head and dropped my hand. “I
truly never meant for you to feel that way.”

“
Aw, David, now I
just feel guilty.”

He smiled. “Don’t.
Look, I’m sorry I was pushy, but if it means that much to you, I’m
glad you bought your own dress, and I will be happy to see you wear
it with pride.”

“
Really?” A half a
smile crept onto my lips.

“
Oui, jolie fille.” He touched his hand to the hollow between
his collarbones. “I am your eternal servant. You should never feel
pressured to do something because I want you to…” He swallowed, his
eyes becoming glassy. “And you should never be afraid of
me—
or
my
reaction.”

“
I wasn’t really
afraid—per se. Just anxious.” My shoulders dropped. “I just don’t
like disappointing you.”

“
My love, nothing you
want with your heart will ever be a disappointment to me. You must
know that?”

“
I
do.
Now
.” I shook
my head, laughing softly. “I’m sorry, too, David. I—I mean, it’s
not that big a deal—buying my own dress. I guess, in some ways, I
just wanted to prove that…that I could make a
stand.”

“
You, my girl—” He
rested his upturned palm along my jaw, “—don’t ever need to prove
that to me.”

“
David, you’re a
vampire—a part of me will always need to prove I’m not
weak.”