Blood Lines

15. Avoidance

To Clae's unhappiness, her situation with Lena seemed to be worsening ever since the incident on Sunday. Lena barely seemed to acknowledge her presence, let alone acknowledge what had happened between them. She spent all of the next week ignoring Clae and not even looking at her. Worse, she actually made a point to put physical distance between them. She wouldn't sit at the same table during lessons, or be next to her in a line, or even pass her in the halls without moving as far away as possible. People were starting to notice it by the end of the week.

"Things are still pretty crappy with her, huh?" Jordan asked as the two sat together in their Alchemy class, having just been skirted around by Lena so that she could reach a seat as far away as possible in the lecture hall.

"Yeah," Clae sighed. She was actually kind of bummed at this new development in her and Lena's relationship. This was for two reasons. Firstly they badly needed to meet up and work on their midterm project. And secondly, unbeknownst to her up until now, she had actually begun to enjoy the other girl's company. Now the antagonism and awkwardness was clearly palpable.

"I don't know what to do about it," Clae admitted to Jordan in an undertone as the lesson began. "We're supposed to be working on our midterm.

"Hmm, well can you talk to her tonight?" Jordan asked in a whisper. "Find out what her freaking problem is."

"Tonight? Oh shit, lab duty," Clae groaned way too loudly. Several people looked around in alarm.

She had almost forgotten about this now daunting task. She spent an uncomfortable afternoon trying to think of something to say to Lena to ameliorate the situation. Sorry for what happened the other day, I didn't know it was going to turn you into a weird avoiding bitch, seemed an appropriate response. But she cooled her head by 9 that evening and prepared a much more empathetic set of conversation starters. However, it was not Lena that entered the lab but Lydia several minutes later.

"Hey Clae. So Lena isn't feeling well, she asked if I could fill in tonight," Lydia explained brightly.

"Oh," was all Clae could respond.

They gathered up the boxes of tools and headed for the lift. "Is Lena ok?" she asked as they entered and hit the button to go up.

"Oh yeah, she's just really exhausted I think," Lydia said, shrugging. "She gets like this sometimes. We're roommates you know, so I've gotten to know her a bit. She pretty much never gets a break from work and it really builds up sometimes you know?"

Clae nodded. She felt a twinge of pity for Lena. She had to admit, it must be difficult being a full time student and a guardian at the same time. They finished the lab duty and Clae thanked Lydia, bidding her good night. She hoped that maybe Lena was sleeping and would be in a better mood next week.

But she was wrong. Lena continued to avoid her with only a slight lessening in intensity. She seemed determined not to end up anywhere where there was the slightest possibility of speaking with her one on one. Clae tried to text and call her, but it was radio silence. She continued to find this quite irksome and finally, when Lena failed to show up or even send a replacement for lab duty the following Thursday, she decided break the ever-growing silence between them. She marched right up to her before Botany Class started the next morning and placed at hand on her desk.

"Hey," she said, intending to be calm and collected but feeling a rising ire in her stomach.

"Hi," Lena said briskly, not looking up.

"Um, you didn't show up for lab duty last night," Clae said after Lena continued to stared down at a blank page in her notebook.

"Sorry," Lena said shortly.

"It's part of our student responsibilities, you know?" Clae said, growing more impatient by the second.

Lena shrugged.

"Look, what's your problem with me anyways?" Clae burst out suddenly, causing the whole classroom to go quiet.

Lena glanced up at her long enough for Clae to catch a look of cold anger on her features. Then Lena stood, shoved her notebook into her backpack and walked straight out of the classroom without another word. Clae stared after her at a complete loss. Of all the reactions she had been expecting hatred hadn't been one. Had it really come to that? A few weeks ago maybe she might have expected this response. But now?

"Whoa, that was a little uncalled for," Victor said from the next desk over where he had been entertaining Jess and Jordan.

"What the hell is that bitch's problem?" Jordan asked.

"Maybe she's on her period," Jess said making Jordan roll her eyes.

"Yeah, vampires don't get those," Victor informed them.

"Oh, really?" Jess asked in fascination.

"Nope. Lamia just pretty much can have a baby whenever they want so long as they drink enough blood. Trust me, vampire pregnancy is a very messy affair."

"Never thought about that," Jordan said, pursing her lip.

Clae sank down into Lena's vacated seat and sighed.

"Hey don't look so down," Jordan said, rubbing her on the back. "She's the one with a stick up her ass."

Footnote: Although genetically similar, vampires have significantly different anatomy to humans, such that they are technically defined as a different species. For example, pregnancy is extremely complicated for a lamia and requires two to three times the amount of blood consumption through the duration to achieve. Thankfully it takes only six months for the average pregnancy, although the rapid growth of the fetus can be extremely taxing. Vampires rarely have many children as the physical cost to the mother is enormous.