The Vampire Keeper (17 page)

Dear Larkin,

I know our outing was postponed once already today, and I am sorry to say something else has come up, so I will have to wait another day to discover your lovely surprise. I hope you are not too disappointed at the postponement. I will ponder the surprise until tomorrow.

Jezalyn

***

Blaise and Jezalyn arrived at a park nearby her school. The cold had kept most people in, but she could see a few people sitting around enjoying the scenery of the park. Jezalyn was surprised they had stopped at the park when a restaurant was supposed to be the destination in her mind. However, she quickly thought,
Maybe we parking here so that we can ride to the restaurant together
, but that assumption was rapidly fading as Blaise took her hand and led her down to two bikes propped up against a nearby tree.

Blaise waved his hand over the bikes and said, “I thought a bike ride would be a good way to work up an appetite. What do you say?”

Not knowing what to say she simply smiled and nodded. Jezalyn hiked up her dress and folded it over in her lap, so it wouldn’t tangle in the wheel or drag the ground. They rode side by side until he took a narrow trail off the path. She hated that she felt a little let down by the expectations she had placed on the date. She found herself freezing from being inappropriately clothed for such an activity. Her mind wandered to Larkin and the surprise she had forfeited so that she could freeze on an ordinary bike ride. A sudden stop brought her back to reality. She surveyed the view that lay before them; it was a little brook. They dismounted their bikes and strolled along the leafy bank. She listened to leaves crunch and sticks pop under her feet and thought,
Thank goodness! My frozen legs are finally covered. Next time I am wearing tights.

“Here we are,” exclaimed Blaise with a large smile on his face.

“Where are we?” asked Jezalyn with a confused, yet irritated expression.

He guided her over to a table where his friend stood guard next to a prearranged picnic.

“Oh, a picnic. How sweet,” she said and rushed toward the table pulling him behind.

The friend held her seat out for her and placed a napkin in her lap.

“Thank you,” said Jezalyn as Blaise took his seat across from her.

Blaise smile and said, “Thank you for keeping an eye on everything, Chris, I got it from here.”

Chris smiled and replied, “Have a nice time,” and scuttled off.

“Would you like some champagne, madam?” asked Blaise with snicker.

“You know I can’t drink that,” she replied looking at him eerily, for not only was she underage she still had to drive an hour home.

“Ah, my dear,” he said with a cheesy grin, “that’s why I have a chilled, sparkling grape juice. I purchased the white, because the red packs quite a punch, and I wouldn’t want you to get a DUI riding back to the car,” chuckled Blaise, completely amused with himself.

Jezalyn giggled at his little anecdote. “I would love a glass,” she replied lifting her plastic champagne glass out toward him.

Jezalyn was used to this type of date since Larkin frequently planned similar activities, and yet she was still somewhat impressed. It was the most romantic thing she had ever seen Blaise pull together. After the date ended, he kissed her tenderly and said goodnight although the sun was still out. Even though it was not quite evening, time had passed hastily, and Jezalyn now found she only had thirty minutes to get to class.

“I have to go, Babe, or I’ll be late for class.”

“Okay, I know it wasn’t as romantic as an evening date, but I hope you still had a good time.”

“I understand; I know how important your paper is.” Jezalyn pulled him through the window of her car and kissed him again. “Stop worrying about all that. I loved it.”

Although her mouth had said, “I understand,” her heart secretly had not. Even though she received flowers, chocolates, and even little stuffed animals in the past, it was now as an independent woman that she was supposed to attend her first romantic Valentine’s date. She had always envisioned red tablecloths, candles, flowers, and music. Her mind inadvertently wandered back toward Larkin.

She had her car in reverse when Blaise regained her attention. She watched him run toward her with both arms flung above his head, so she stopped instantly in the middle of the road.

She rolled down her window. “Hey, you forget something?” she said with a giggle.

Blaise said, “I sure did,” as he leaned into the window of her car and whispered something in her ear. He gave her a huge smile and slowly backed away. Now in shock, Jezalyn replied by simply blowing him a kiss before driving away with an enormous grin on her face.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” called out Blaise as he watched her speed away. Insecurity swept over him and he soon regretted telling her not to respond. He hoped she was speeding to class and not away from him.

Jezalyn parked and gathered her things for class with only a few minutes to spare. She found herself in amazement, and she repeated what he whispered in her ear to herself as if trying to memorize or convince herself of what had taken place. Blaise had whispered,
I know it’s kind of soon, and I don’t expect a response form you yet, but I wanted you to know —I love you
.

She thought,
He said he loves me, and I said nothing. How could I have not said anything? What is wrong with me?
During class, Jezalyn replayed the scene repeatedly in her mind, but still could not come up with a conclusion on why she had only responded with a peck on the cheek. The event had enveloped her and she had not even noticed class had been released until she saw people packing up to leave. Now that class had let out, Jezalyn decided to check in with Blaise and respond to his declaration, but his phone went directly to voicemail. She immediately assumed Blaise had not answered his phone because he was busily writing his paper. Closing her phone, Jezalyn hopped into her car and drove directly to Blaise’s apartment with a love struck grin on her face.
He is going to be so excited to see me,
thought Jezalyn.

She had intended to surprise him, but found herself surprised instead when she discovered his car was not parked in the driveway. She got out and banged on the door until Chris, the man from the park, answered.

Jezalyn smiled at the friendly face and asked, “Is Blaise here?”

“No, isn’t he with you?”

“No. I just got out of class,” she said as her body shifted uneasily to the news of him missing. “I left him at the park. He said he was coming home to write his chemistry paper.”

“He did come home, but left a while ago.”

Jezalyn bit her bottom lip as she questioned, “Do you know where he went?”

“Um, Yeah. He said he was going to stay at your place again.”

“My place! Okay thank you,” She replied mechanically. On her way back to the car, Jezalyn mumbled the word, “Again?” Jezalyn cranked up the car and turned on heat; even though, she was shivering not from the cold, but from the anger.

He lied to me. He is not at home writing his paper, and he is certainly not staying at my house with me. He has never stayed the night with me. That son of a bitch! I bet he is cheating on me.

Jezalyn drove home angry and hurt trying not to cry at the dilemma that had recently developed in her relationship. She questioned his newly professed love against the horrific lie she had uncovered. She could think of no reason other than another woman for Blaise having told such a lie to her and his roommate. Her thoughts wondered to what a date with Larkin might be like. She shook her head and thought,
I am being silly; his surprise almost certainly was not a date. He probably found something beautiful in nature that he wanted to share.
Her thoughts continued as she parked outside Wyler’s rare bookstore,
Besides, why would he plan a romantic evening for me when he knows that I am dating Blaise. Well, was dating Blaise
.

Jezalyn’s phone rang as she climbed the stairs to her apartment, it was Blaise and she was too angry to answer. It was only an hour ago, she was ready to tell him that she, in fact, cared for him too, but now she felt more as if she loathed him for lying to not only his roommate, but also to her. Now inside the apartment, Jezalyn threw the phone onto the couch and thought as she dropped the rest of her stuff onto the floor,
If he had lied about sleeping at my house had he also lied about the chemistry paper and needing to re-schedule his date perhaps to go out with someone else
? Jezalyn cringed at the thought and the tears flowed down her face. There was a sudden knock at the door, and she hopelessly tried to pull herself together. The door opened and Larkin stood before her holding a large box with a few bags on his arms.

“Are you alright?” asked Larkin.

“Yeah, I am fine. I have something in my eye. Come in and make yourself comfortable while I go get it out.”

“Take your time,” replied Larkin as he walked past her placing the box on the coffee table.

“What’s in the box?” asked Jezalyn as she hurried into the bathroom.

“It’s a surprise, but if you want to change into something more comfortable, go ahead,” called back Larkin.

Jezalyn washed her face and peered into the mirror, but after seeing her red-splotched face, she started crying again. She desperately tried to recompose herself and once composed Jezalyn rewashed her face this time disregarding the mirror.

She peeked out into the hall but saw nothing, so she called out to Larkin, “You okay in there?”

A faint, “Yes,” entered her ears, and she found herself wondering what Larkin was doing.

“Okay, give me a moment to get changed,” she said as she fluttered into her bedroom to change; she wanted to feel sexy after what she had just been through with Blaise.

“Sure thing,” mumbled a busy Larkin.

***

Thirty minutes had past, and Jezalyn had finally emerged from her room wearing a short shimmering red dress; it was a mesh sequin material with a satin lining. She accented it with a pair of black high heels that embellished a candy apple sole. The short dress showed off her long, lean legs as she turned the corner into the kitchen. She found Larkin standing next to the table holding a chair out for her to take a seat. He had covered the table with a crimson cloth, and as she moved closer, she could see an ivory candle burning in between two covered plates.

“This looks beautiful,” said Jezalyn as she took her seat and felt Larkin gently nudge her chair closer to the table.

Larkin sat in the chair across from Jezalyn. She watched as he bent over, and all of a sudden, music flowed through the air. Jezalyn let out a little giggle as she recognized the song;
Take My Breath Away
, from the movie Top Gun.

Larkin smiled gingerly and pulled the lid off the top of her plate to reveal two large grilled cheese sandwiches cutout in the shape of hearts slightly overlapping next to a bowl of tomato soup with the words ‘Be Mine’ spelled out in fresh basil. Jezalyn’s eyes lingered on the words a moment before they disappeared from the stirring of her spoon.

Larkin did not wait for her to respond, because he in no way wanted to make her uncomfortable, so instead he asked, “Shall it be milk or orange juice tonight?” as he pointed at the two cartons sitting at the edge of the table.

“I think I’ll have milk. No, wait, orange juice,” said Jezalyn.

“You could have a glass of both,” Larkin joked.

The awkwardness she felt when she gazed into the soup had soon faded away, as they ate and chatted like two old friends. They were halfway through their dinner when she recognized an Aerosmith song. She sang along with it as she gobbled down some more of her grilled cheese. Larkin watched her with a smirk on his face as she hummed thru the next few lyrics before attempting to converse. Larkin, amused at her ease and comfort with him, interrupted her bliss and asked, “That was good, are you finished?”

“Yes, I am. It was really good. Thank you,” she said muffled through her napkin as she placed it over her mouth to chew down the last bite.

Larkin smiled, “I’ll get this cleaned up for you.”

“Oh, no leave it. I will pack it up and bring it down to you tomorrow.”

“Alright,” said Larkin. “How about a dance before I go,” hearing the song,
Everything I do (I do for you)
by Bryan Adams on the radio.

“Sure,” said Jezalyn. They moved to the middle of the living room and before they commenced to dancing he produced a single blue orchid. He placed it in her honey colored hair, and as they danced Jezalyn thanked him again, “You know, you really made my night.”

“Happy to hear it,” he said pulling her closer. He led her through a few fancy turns that resembled something like a waltz. When the song neared the end, he sweetly whispered in her ear, “Thank you for the dance, goodnight” and kissed her appropriately on the cheek.

Jezalyn’s face grew flushed, and Larkin soon realized that he had embarrassed her, so he quickly moved for the door. However, it was not embarrassment Jezalyn was feeling, but something she had never felt so strongly before, so she stood there silently staring at him in her own bewilderment.

She watched as the door closed behind him. Jezalyn lunged forward, flung open the door, and grabbed his hand. Although she had stopped him, she still found herself speechless. He gazed at her as she moved closer to him. With her hand still on his, her heart raced as the inches between them disappeared. Larkin could no longer restrain himself from clasping her around the waist with his free arm. Without any more encouragement, he kissed her with such passion that she did not want him to let go. It was when he pulled away that she spontaneously and uncontrollably whispered in his ear, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”