Vanilla Cocoa

Chapter 2

My whole body ached when the sunlight filtering between the curtains woke me. Note to self: when a hot boy asks you to bite him, just walk away.

I gathered my things and got dressed as quickly and quietly as I could and slipped out of the room without waking the dark elf. I pulled my phone out as I walked out of the hotel, scrolling through my missed texts. Aster was pissed, but I'd expected that much. I texted her where I was and asked if she could come pick me up. It wasn't that much of a walk back to my apartment, but I really didn't feel up to it after last night.

I sat on the curb a little ways from the front door of the hotel. I doubted the dark elf would be waking up any time soon, but I'd still rather not see him right now. What kind of freak goes that hard with their pain fetish with a total stranger?

I caught sight of Aster's little red car and painfully pushed myself back on my feet. She stopped on the curb, glaring at me through the passenger side window.

"You look like shit," she said as soon as I had the door open.

"I don't wanna talk about it," I sighed, wincing as I sat.

"I know you weren't drunk, so what were you thinking? You're getting too old to be doing dumb shit every single weekend."

"I was thinking, 'Oooo, hot boy~!'" I cupped my cheeks in my hands and did my best innocent schoolgirl face before rubbing my face with a groan. "I'm never drinking again."

"Yeah, sure."

We road in silence after that, Aster focused on driving and me staring out the window. She stopped in front of my apartment building, and I got out with a mumbled "Thank you." She looked like she was about to say something, but then thought better of it. I ignored her, dragging my stiff body up the stairs. I'd never regretted my second-floor apartment so much.

Stormy perked up in her cage when I came through the door. I grabbed her food and measured out her breakfast. I hadn't had the rabbit for very long, but I was grateful for her today. No matter what else went wrong in my life, at least I had this little lady waiting for me to come home.

Once Stormy was done eating, I picked her up and carried her in one arm while I made myself breakfast. A little tea would do me some good, so I set my kettle to boil while I portioned out some blood. Stormy sniffed curiously at my breakfast, but I carefully kept it out of her reach.

"No blood for you, Stormy."

I kissed her little head. Maybe it would be better to just spend my weekends at home with my rabbit. She was better company than I usually picked up at Lillie's bar.

***

The week dragged by like any other. Work was pretty much the same as it always was, just an endless barrage of tickets from people who clearly had no idea how their computer worked. I seriously wondered how some of these people had ever gotten hired in the first place. By Friday I was more than ready to go back on my vow to never drink again.

I strolled up to Lillie's bar, waving to Mooda as he caught sight of me. "Slow night?"

"I think there was some kind of convention in town last week," Mooda replied. "It should be back to normal tonight."

"Is Aster here?"

"No. Don't do anything stupid."

"When have I ever?"

Mooda was not amused. "Just watch how much you drink tonight. I'm not going to save you from yourself."

I shrugged and entered the bar. It was definitely a lot quieter tonight, though still respectably busy for this time of night. There were already a few attractive men here too.