I Wait For You (Its What I Do) •Xavier Thorpe•

Chapter Four - Sun & Nicotine

translations at the end
1.1k words

TW: vapes, nicotine, blood, and light swearing

-

Sade woke up in the dark infirmary, not knowing where she was or how she got there. Her eyes needed no time to adjust as she shot up into a sitting position, her fight or flight activated.

She looked next to her to see Xavier waking up swiftly and in a slight panic, similar to her's.

"Bellissimo?! What are you doing here? What am I doing here?!" The vampire questioned the startled boy, her panic seeming to worsen slightly at the thought of Xavier also being injured? She knew she was in the infirmary now, but what if she had injured the boy? Had she sucked too much blood out of his system, scratched him too deep with her sharp nails, what had she done?!

"Sade, Sade, calm down. It's okay. I'm okay, you're okay. Take a deep breath." Xavier had sat up now and moved to take a seat on the edge of Sade's bed.

The pair took a deep breath together, the brown haired girl relaxing to an extent.

"Did I hurt you, il mio miele? I'm so sorry-" Sade was now on the verge of soft tears despite her having relaxed overall.

The artist gently moved to hold her face in his hands, looking her in the eyes. "You didn't hurt me, Sade. You could never. I'm fine, it's you that got hurt."

She was silent for a moment before speaking. "...Are you sure? Why did you wait for me?"

"It's what I do. I could never just leave you here. Imagine if you had woken up alone." Xavier let go of her face and wiped away a single tear that had fallen with his thumb. The smell of his blood overwhelmed the girl.

Sade looked down to her lap, fiddling with her fingers. "Xavier, I am so sorry for violating the privacy of your studio." She looked back up at him, searching his face for any sort of anger. "It is...embarrassing to admit, but I was desperate for some sort of, oh, you know, nicotina." The vampire looked away from him again and it was silent for a few moments.

"I swear I didn't snoop or find anything." It was a partial lie, but those sketches could have been of anyone.

Xavier sucked in a breath before tilting her head back up to look at him. "It's fine, Sade. I know you didn't mean any harm. Just please refrain next time." He smiled very slightly and softly, trying to make her feel better.

The vampire sniffled slightly before nodding and giving a sad smile. Xavier let go of her and rested one of his hands on her leg, looking away from her and out the window at the night sky.

——

"I don't know, I couldn't even be mad at her for breaking in the stupid shack. She just has this effect...I can't even describe it." Xavier sighed and shook his head as he watched Sade flirt with Rowan by the docks.

She laughed and smiled, her hair looking like a dark chocolate honey in the Sunday morning light. Xavier couldn't stand it. There was a book open between them and he wanted to kick it into the water.

"Maybe you're in love."

Xavier whipped his head over to look at Ajax like he was crazy, but the gorgon just shrugged and went back to basking in the sun, light freckles on display.

"I've known her for a week, Jax."

"Ever heard of love at first sight?" Ajax retorted and Xavier scoffed.

"Don't be a jackass. I'm not in love, she's probably just...part siren or some shit." The artist looked down to the grass he was picking at and mumbled the last part of his sentence. He couldn't stand to stay sitting up watching Sade anymore so he laid down next to Ajax, closing his eyes.

It was quiet for a little while, a breeze crawling over his face while soft the chatter of his classmates fluttered around him. Xavier pictured Sade next to him, prompting a grin to appear on his face. He wasn't even aware of it. His brain was floating, drifting to other places as he and Ajax soaked up the sun.

——

For Sade, a week had passed of visits to the infirmary with Yoko, homework, and getting to know her new friends. The only mentionable thing was on Tuesday a package with sleek black sunglasses had come from her father. As of late the sun did seem to be hurting her eyes more and more. Yoko seemed excited about it, anyway.

So Sade flaunted them around the rest of the week. She noticed an influx of stares, especially from Xavier and Rowan. The vampire no one thought needed the stupid sunglasses, did, actually.

She noticed Xavier seemed almost mad or confused at first. When talking to the group she always saw Xavier with some sort of crinkle between his brow, directed at her.

But now was not the time to think about boys, not when she, Yoko, Enid, and Wednesday were in her dorm getting ready to go to the carnival in Jericho. It was Friday night and Yoko had put on The 1975, which seemed like the only thing Wednesday would approve of.

Sade and Wednesday hadn't apologized to one another, but no one spoke of the situation and neither were tense around each other so it didn't matter.

Throughout the room, if you listened closely under the music, you could hear the sounds of long nails clatter against makeup items, vapes, and hair tools. To Sade it was bliss. Slightly heightened hearing was not always a perk, but that didn't mean it never was. She loved the sounds.

"So, what's Divina up to tonight, Yoko?" Enid asked over the music.

Sade turned around to look at Yoko from her seat at her vanity, chewing her gum. Wednesday just continued to braid her hair as Yoko smiled.

"She's gonna be there too, we're meeting up. She's probably just getting ready with Bianca and Kent or something." The girl shrugged cooly, grinning slightly before going back to applying her light blush.

Enid giggled then turned to look at Sade. The Italian almost cringed, not wanting to know what Enid seemed to have in store for her.

"You know, Sade, you've been hanging around with Xavier and Rowan a lot lately, but I think Tyler Galpin would be a good look on you." The werewolf wiggled her eyebrows, applying another coat of nail polish to her talons.

Sade looked confused for a moment. The boy she had called a sleaze bag? Sure his blood smelled good, but most people's did. He was definitely...cute, but not better than Xavier (or Rowan).

Her assumption of him being a sleaze bag still stood, anyway.

Sade turned back towards the mirror and sighed. "I don't know about that, stella. I don't like his...uhmf...vibe? Is that the word?"

Yoko and Enid burst out in giggles. Sade sighed again and thought of Xavier.

-

translations

stella - star

il mio miele - my honey

bellissimo- gorgeous