THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5TH, 2006 (1200 WORDS)
RILEY SAT IN AVA'S BED, awake. So painfully awake that it was already 4 AM and they still haven't even thought about sleeping. The two said they had talked, but really, Ava just admitted that she has a huge crush on them, and nothing really got solved. With a sigh, they stood up and left her room. As quietly as they could, they walked into the kitchen, being met by Henry.
"Ah! Hey, Riley." He chuckles quietly. "What are you doing up so early? I thought your motto was 'if the sun isn't up, neither am I'."
Riley shrugs. "Don't know. But I don't think zombies really can sleep. I think we're all just a group of terrifying, green, insomniacs."
"You want coffee? I'm about to go out for a run."
"Like a 'run' run, or a 'i'm going to go drive to the nearest denny's because nothing else is open and I'm not athletic.'?" They ask.
He laughs. "The second one. You in?"
They smile. "Yeah, totally, I just need to grab my jacket from Ava's room."
"Got it. I'm going to start the car, don't take forever."
They yell from halfway up the stairs. "Alright!"
It takes about 5 minutes for them to find their jacket in the darkness, but eventually they found it and they were on their way to Denny's with their best friend/crush's older brother.
"I kissed my best friend." They blurt out as they stare out of the car window.
"Wait-" Henry stutters, a puzzled expression painted on his face. "You kissed Amber? Doesn't she have a girlfriend? And she's gay!"
"No, no! Oh my god, ew, no!" Riley laughs. "I uhm- I kissed Ava.." They trail off.
"Ava like.. My sister Ava?" He blinks a few times as he pulls into the parking lot.
"No, I'm best friends with a random homeless woman named Ava. Of course it's your sister!" They roll their eyes and reply like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
He's quiet for a moment. "Oh, right, totally. She has a massive crush on you, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know, she told me that last night, but we haven't talked since, we just acknowledged the fact that we kissed, she said she had a huge crush on me, then she went to sleep. Now it's 4 AM, and I'm going to Denny's with my best friend/not-so-secret-gay-crush's brother." They explain.
He parks the car and looks over at them. "We're getting pancakes, we're going to talk about this, and I'm going to give you advice on how to deal with my sister."
Their eyebrows raise in confusion, "Do I get a choice?"
"Yeah, it's either you do that or you walk back." He smiles as he opens the door, getting out of the car. "Now get out before I lock you in."
"Coming, coming!" They yell to him as they quickly stumble out of the car, following him in.
"So." He begins, and holds the door, waiting for them to trail in behind him. "Ava is.."
"Complicated? Stupid? Too proud? So stubborn it's nearly a hazard for everyone she's ever interacted with?" They list off things as the two sit in a corner booth.
"Uhm- All of the above, but I was going to say she's.. Different. We're different."
"You're vampires?" They question.
"Huh- Wha- What? How- How'd you know?!" He stutters.
They shrug, "She told me, like 3 years ago."
"That little wh-" Henry begins, but is cut off by a woman dressed in an incredibly obnoxious posh fur coat, "Excuse me?" He glances up at the woman through the menu, "yes?" "What were you about to say!?" "Whore." He says nonchalantly as he continues to look at the menu. The woman looks incredibly stunned as she scoffs, "This is a family friendly establishment! How dare you use that horrid language!?" Henry rolls his eyes, "lady, if the kids over there-" He points to a table at the other end of the restaurant, "are yours, you should probably pay more attention to them, because two of them just inhaled all of the sugar packets at your table." Riley laughs quietly and hides their face with their menu. The woman groans and storms back over to her table. "Anyway." Henry rolls his eyes after the woman leaves. "We're vampires, yeah, but she has... Issues. She's been alive for like a thousand years. She's watched like 8 'love of her life's die. So, since you can't die. If you break her heart, I'll find a way to kill you. Permanently." They chuckle awkwardly and avoid his burning gaze as the waiter walks up. "Hello, welcome to Denny's, I'm Amelia and I'll be your server today. What do you want?" The waiter's cold, uninterested tone sent a slight chill down the teenager's spine. "Just two orders of pancakes, please." Henry smiles at the waiter, yet is only met with a scowl. The waiter takes the two menus and walks back into the kitchen. "Well she must be a joy to be around." He smirks, eyeing the teenager in front of him, listening to the constant buzzing of their phone. "Someone's popular." He chuckles. "It's your sister." Riley begins, "She won't leave me alone. She genuinely thinks I'm 'bout to go kill Oliver or something. Kinda funny if I'm bein' honest." He looks up at Riley, confused. "Do you mask the accent?" Their head tilts slightly. "Mask the- Whaddya mean "mask the accent "?" He rolls his eyes. "When you're around other people- Hell, when you're around Ava, you sound more Canadian than you do when it's just like.. Me, Em, and Adam." He explains, Riley nodding along, before clearing their throat and speaking again, "God, I need to stop smokin'- Anyway. I guess it's because both my parents are from Texas, and when I don't mask the accent, I sound like my mom. So, dysphoria, I guess." They describe as they look down into the mug of black coffee that's sat in front of them. Another 20 minutes go by before the waiter comes back with their food. "That's gonna be $20." Henry looks at the waiter, his dark brown eyes widing. "$20? For a couple pancakes? Yeah, $20 my ass. C'mon, Riley, let's go." "Okay, Hen, I don't think there's a need to go full Karen on some depressed, underpaid seventeen year old." Riley chuckles awkwardly before being pulled out of the booth by the much older, and stronger, vampire. "Okay then."
The drive back to the Ross' house was silent. Not an awkward silence, like the younger teen experienced just the other night, but a comfortable silence where the two teenagers knew what the other was thinking without having to say a word. Then, that silence was broken, by Riley not knowing how to shut their mouth. "Did we just dine and dash?" Henry laughs as his eyes leave the road for a second and he looks over at the zombie, before looking back at the road. "It's not dining and dashing if we didn't even dine." "Fair enough." Then, the conversation ended and the two fell back into their comfortable silence again.
