Scarlet Craving

Chapter 7: Date

After driving around for an hour we decided to take a walk to help stretch our legs, well I guess my legs. I wondered if vampires even got stiff legs?

We walked until we reached a large shopping district. This was the more upmarket part of town as various boutiques were dotted around the place. As we passed each shop we found an outdoor ice skating rink. I opened my mouth in awe. "Wow! Ava told me there was a rink here but I hadn't actually had a chance to check it out myself yet."

"Do you skate?" Taehyung turned his head to face me.

"I did a lot when I was younger, especially with my brother. It was really fun." I smiled.

"Then let's go try it out." Taehyung smiled at me as we walked over. We paid for our skates and headed onto the ice. As soon as I stepped onto the ice skating rink everything came flooding back to me, memories of flying across the rink with my brother as we raced one another. I can't believe I haven't skated in this long. I became engrossed in skating around the rink. It was only on the third lap around that I realised that Taehyung wasn't following behind me. I swivelled around on the spot as I tried to find him, he was struggling to stay upright next to the barrier.

I skated over to him, stopping in front of him. "Sorry, I got carried away. Are you okay?" I said apologetically. I felt bad that I had left him for so long.

He looked up at me from underneath his hair, gripping the wall next to him tightly. "Ah yes, I'm good..." He looked back down at his feet which were slipping back and forth.

"Are you sure?" He nodded without looking up from the floor. I pried his hand away from the wall, holding them in mine. He met my gaze, a worried expression twisted his eyebrows.

"Ah wait!" Taehyung said in a slightly panicked tone as he began to wobble.

I steadied him. "It's okay just hold onto me, try to skate slowly forward with me." I coaxed gently and we began moving forward bit by bit. Taehyung focused intently on his feet. It was pretty cute to watch how much concentration he had on his face.

Twenty minutes later Taehyung had mastered skating with only needing to hold one of my hands. This meant I could skate next to him rather than in front of him. He was still a little wobbly but he was doing really well, was this his first time skating? "Getting the hang of it more now?" I asked.

"Yeah I think so, you make it look really easy though." He pouted slightly. I laughed at his comment. Ah, something made me want to tease him a little bit. I gripped his hand firmly and began speeding through the rink, pulling Taehyung along with me.

"Ah! Wait, wait, wait!" Taehyung freaked out behind me. I didn't stop until he all of a sudden fell over, dragging me down with him. I laughed out loud but Taehyung didn't seem as happy as I was. "You did that on purpose." He sulked.

"Maybe." I grinned. "But I would have thought a vampire who's over three hundred years old would know how to skate." I giggled but Taehyung still looked upset. "Ah, Taehyung. I didn't mean to upset you." I said worriedly as I tried to meet his gaze under his hair.

Suddenly he moved his face very close to me, his dark chocolate eyes boring into mine as our noses were inches away from each other. I could feel my heart accelerating as my cheeks began to flush, was he about to kiss me? He stayed like that for a second longer before he smirked, moving his face away. "I like it when you do that."

"Do what?" I said, confused. My heart was still racing.

He poked my cheeks with his fingers. "Turn red like this."

I've never felt this embarrassed in my life. I blinked a few times as I took in what he just said. "Ya!" I exclaimed loudly as I playfully hit his shoulder. "I can't control it." I cradled my face in my hands. He began laughing. I peered up slowly "You did that on purpose didn't you?" I asked with squinted eyes.

"Maybe." He smiled again, flashing his teeth.

I pulled Taehyung up to his feet, we skated for a while longer before deciding to get something to eat. Well, I was going to eat, Taehyung just sat down and watched me as he asked the waitress for a glass of water.

"So do vampires not eat any real food? I mean human food?" I asked as I waited for my Bulgolgi to arrive.

"No, we can if we need to but..." Taehyung looked to the side.

"But?"

"It doesn't taste the same as it does for you. It can be extremely bland or just outright awful. That's why we tend to avoid it." Taehyung said calmly.

"That sucks. So you can't ever enjoy chocolate or ice cream?" I said sadly.

"No, but we have something else that tastes delicious...blood." He said the last part of his sentence in a whisper. I felt a shiver run up my spine, the memory of Taehyung biting that girl on campus flashed through my mind. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Taehyung leant back and covered his mouth as if he had said a bad word.

"It's okay...you eat apples though right?" I asked, trying to get away from the image in my head.

"Apples don't taste of anything but the texture is...refreshing." Well that was a weird way to put it but we are talking to a vampire, everything about Taehyung is going to be different. Before we could dwell longer on the diet of a vampire any longer my food had arrived. Taehyung began chatting about various topics with me as I ate. We enjoyed each other's company like this for the rest of the day until Taehyung drove me back home to my apartment. He walked me to the entrance, holding my hand in his. "Today was fun! Though that doesn't mean I want to ditch class on a regular basis." I said in a half-serious tone.

Taehyung smiled warmly at me. "I thought today was fun too."

Uhh now, what? Do I just say goodbye and leave or should I invite him in? No wait we've only just begun seeing each other, isn't it too early to be inviting someone in? Maybe I should just kiss him on the cheek to say goodbye. I leaned forward, placing my lips on his cool cheek. I quickly leaned back as I only meant to just give him a peck, he looked at me surprised. "I'll see you tomorrow then!" I turned around, hoping to dash inside and squeal in my bedroom about what I had just done but Taehyung wouldn't let go of my hand.

I turned around to see him still frozen, he held his other hand to his cheek as he brushed his fingers across his skin. His eyes then shifted to mine and before I could even blink he had spun me around to face him, holding me very close. "Stay still." He whispered. He crashed his lips into mine. I felt like I was melting in his mouth, this was way better than the peck I had given him a moment ago. I broke away from his mouth, out of breath but like always he appeared unphased. Bloody vampires.

"I need to breathe!" My breath was ragged.

"Sorry." He smirked at me.