(FEATURED)
It's been months since the unceremonious fall of Kimie Sato's older sister. The whole of Ridgerock High knows it, and by now, the majority have moved on. But Kimie still watches those who had a hand in it continue to walk free, and the mo...
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Gianni was beautiful. If you didn't look at her close enough, you'd probably call her pretty. But when you noticed how her dark features—dark eyes, lips that were naturally a dark shade of red, dark, straight hair that was just shy of touching her shoulders—complimented her pale skin, you'd realize she wasn't just pretty, she was gorgeous.
Sitting on my porch stairs with one earphone bud stuck in her ear and her shiny black phone clutched in her hand, she almost looked innocent. Almost.
She looked like Jamie in many ways, and my heart stuttered behind my ribcage when I recalled who the latter was with yesterday. I couldn't help but feel like he was being used, probably to satisfy another one of Macy's sick desires. He was younger than she was, susceptible.
"I left my fangs at home," Gianni said, tapping her free hand on her knee, and I took it as my cue to get out of the car.
"What?" I asked, my question almost drowned out by the sound of the door slamming shut. I remembered that I left my backpack in the car, so I reopened the door and reached for it on the passenger seat.
"I said, I left my fangs at home. In case, you know, you're scared of coming closer."
I closed the door quietly this time, and she looked into her phone, tapping on the screen a few times before pulling the second bud out of her ear and winding the cord around her phone. "I'm not sure about how I feel right now," I admitted, earning a genuine smile from her.
"I don't blame you. Come on." She patted the spot next to her. "Have a seat, let's chat."
"Why didn't you ring the doorbell? I'm sure Kairi would've let you in." I still hovered next to her like this was her house and not mine. She was oddly intimidating, but maybe I only felt that way because of the draining day I'd had.
Gianni hesitated for a moment, looking down at her boot-clad feet, then mumbled something in Italian under her breath. She met my gaze and gave me a tight smile. "I'm not really ready to face your sister."
"I don't think she knows who you are." I finally sat next to her, inching closer to the banister. I leaned my back against it and turned so I was facing her. She smelled as refreshing as summer.
"She . . . didn't," she told me quietly. "Until Dray told her about us and . . . things fell apart for me."
I felt my lips part in shock and confusion, something finally clicking into place. Dray gave Kairi that pendant to apologize to her. But what I didn't understand was why he told her about Gianni. Did he really care about her? Did he feel guilty about what he did?
"Do you like him?" I was just curious. I wasn't suddenly interested in her life.
She looked down at her phone, turning it around as if looking for something. "He's great. He knows how to keep a relationship interesting. We just . . . happened, and I guess I didn't get the chance to figure my feelings out."
