My Only Exception

Chapter #6 Late Night

Amanda's POV

I picked up the rose and examined it. It was beautiful, and it smelled so pretty. But that's when I remembered, the picture I drew...it was Ray handing me a white rose...could this be from him? If it was then how did he know about the drawing? Karen probably. I smiled to myself and got some water and a vase for the rose. I put it on my bedside table.

I decided to draw more, so i grabbed up my pencil and notepad and began sketching. I worked on this drawing all the way till dinnertime. It was very detailed. Every inch of the page was taken up. I had drawn Dark Falls and its key areas. I drew our house, the Somerset house, Ray's house down the street, the school, and the cemetery.

I looked up from my drawing suddenly wondering. Why was Ray so dead set on me not going into the cemetery? Why was it not safe? What was so wrong with it?

Before I could think anymore on it my mom called me for dinner.

"Coming!" I called back.

Later that night I tossed and turned in bed, I couldn't get comfortable. Plus I wasn't really that tired. I sat up in bed and looked out my window. Open. There was a gentle breeze flowing in and the sky was clear. Maybe I should go for a late night walk. I got up out of bed and threw on some jeans and a tshirt. I pulled my jacket over my shirt as I slowly crept downstairs. Leaving the front door unlocked for when I came back I started down the street towards the school. As I walked I passed Ray's house. He was probably asleep by now.

Coming up to the school I walked behind it into the playground. There was no one around. My eyes scanned a dome shaped monkey bars and I made my way over to it. I climbed to the top of it and sat down, pulling my knees up to my chest. I thought about how everyone was adapting to Dark Falls. My parents seemed pretty content, making friends with our neighbors. Josh had made a few friends with whom he played baseball with, I don't know if he was still completely happy though. Petey was acting very strange....he was such a friendly dog until we got here, now he doesn't seem to like anybody....and me? I was starting to get used to it. I had made a few friends, one of which already had me falling head over heels for him.....

Poor Ray....I wondered what it was like to be extremely sensitive to sunlight....he looked like an injured little boy when he'd gotten burned.....he looked so afraid....I frowned thinking back to it. When suddenly:

"Hey sexy nurse, you got room for your patient up there?" A voice called from behind me.

I jumped, I wasn't expecting to hear a voice. I turned and it was Ray standing at the foot of the dome, wearing his same cute smirk.

I smiled at him. "Sure, come on up." I replied.

Ray began climbing the bars and made his way to the top, flopping down next to me.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked.

"I couldn't fall asleep so I decided to go for a walk. What about you?" I explained.

"Yeah. Just another one of those nights." Ray said.

I stared at him, taking a few moments to study his figure in the dark light. His eyes were even more piercing than they were in the daylight. This lighting suited him. It made him look stunning, mysterious, and most of all sexy.

"So how did you like your rose?" Ray asked suddenly.

"That was your doing? But I dont get it, only Karen knew about-" I started, but Ray cut me off.

"Karen kind of told me about the drawing...so I figured I would do it for real." He said.

".....What else has she told you?" I questioned, blushing a bit.

"Well, she told me that you think I'm cute." Ray answered, scooting closer to me.

Now I turned bright red. "She told you that huh?" I replied, suddenly feeling very shy.

"Yup. But no need to get all shy.....because I think you're pretty cute too." Ray admitted, a smile creeping up on his mouth.

I looked up at him. Right into those icy eyes. "You do?" I wondered.

Ray brushed his still bandaged hand against my cheek. The cold touch made me noticeably shiver. His smiled grew even bigger as he ran his thumb over my cheek, like he did when we first met.

"Yeah, I do." He said.

Ray tilted his head to the side, staring straight into my eyes. He slowly started to lean his face closer to mine. Before I knew it Ray's lips were touching mine, kissing me, gently, slowly, carefully. Like he was trying not to mess anything up. It was the greatest kiss I had ever recieved.

After he broke our lips apart both of us were breathing a bit heavier than before. We looked at each other and shared a smile. Our smiles kept getting bigger until both of us started giggling a little bit.

That's when I went in kind of fast, forcing Ray backwards onto his back, kissing him again.

"Woah." Ray gasped, falling backwards.

He put his hands on my hips and began kissing back, still just as gently. I couldn't describe it, but the way he kissed was so....tender...it felt incredible to kiss him. And his hands on my hips, I could feel their icy touch through my clothes. Now that I was thinking about it, since I was kind of pressed against him, his whole body felt ice cold under his clothes....I tried not to ponder it too much and just focused on kissing him.

We kissed for what seemed like hours, I don't know, neither of us were keeping track of the time. Eventually we stopped and Ray lifted himself back into a sitting position.

Ray smiled. "I'm so glad I decided to sneak out tonight." He laughed.

"Me too." I replied, my own smile growing wider across my face.

"Come on, I'll walk you home." Ray offered.

We climbed down the monkey bars and left the playground. As we walked Ray's hand brushed mine, and when it did he slipped it into mine. I blushed hard. I was starting to get used to his cold touch. We held hands until we got to the end of my driveway.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Ray asked.

"Sure!" I answered happily.

Ray kissed my cheek and flashed me a smile before turning back to go home.

I quietly crept back up to my room and changed back into my pajamas. I climbed into bed and fell asleep shortly after.

Ray's POV

Tonight was amazing. I kissed her. That's all I've wanted to do since I met her. I couldn't get enough of her. Kissing her sent my hunger levels through the roof though, as much as I'd hoped it would've warded off my hunger for awhile, it made it worse. I needed to feed.....and I needed to feed on Amanda.....I knew that I wouldn't be able to control myself much longer. It was almost time for the town to feed anyways....and then the Benson family was going to become like us......

.....The living dead....