Living Next Door To A Vampire. (On Hold)

two [morning after the meeting]

I woke up with a gasp, in a cold sweat and fighting back the urge to scream or cry. Or both. I rubbed my hand over my face, before looking at the clock on my nightside, seeing that it was 4:43am. Great.. I pushed the covers off me, before throwing on a hoodie and walking downstairs. I waltzed into the kitchen, not bothering to turn on any lights as I went. I was used to the dark by now.

"Nightmares again?" I nearly jumped out of my skin, turning around to find.. Fuck, what's his name again?-Sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar. I just gave a mere shrug in response, not caring to have a conversation with him. Especially at this ungodly hour. I grabbed a bottle of vitamin water out the fridge, intending to head straight back upstairs. And I nearly got there, too. If some dickhead didn't walk right in front of me. I stood and glared at him, not opposing to resorting to violence to make him move. "Well, since you're up and all.. You wouldn't mind nipping to the store down the street, wouldn't you?" I quirked my head to the side, truly curious as to what in the fuck made him think I would do anything for him. "I need some things for your mothers breakfast, but I can't be bothered going out.. You'd be doing me a huge favour, please?" He even had on puppy dog eyes and everything. Pfft, what a great fucking boyfriend you are, eh? I just nodded my head, not caring enough to argue. He put some money and a small list in my hand, before thanking me and running back upstairs. Probably back to bed, I thought, the lucky cunt. I sighed to myself before heading upstairs myself to get changed. I still had on my make-up from yesterday, which I couldn't be bothered to take off or re-apply. So I just dealt with it. I changed into a pair of ripped tights, before pulling some severely-damaged, denim shorts over them. I shrugged on my favourite leather jacket with a grey hoodie inside and heading out the door, not forgetting to grab the douchebag's car keys on the way out. I may only be sixteen, but trust me, I'm a better driver than most.

I silently jumped in his black mercedes benz, started the engine and pulled out of the driveway, before heading off down the street. I wasn't driving long, maybe about 10, 15 minutes. Good thing I had my iPod on me. I hooked it up to the car stereo and pressed shuffle. As I pulled into the parking lot of walmart, I shut off the stereo, cutting of Kurt Cobain's voice almost immediately. I got out of the car, locking it and turning on the alarm, before walking towards the entrance of the store. Once in there, I immediately grabbed a trolley and began wheeling it 'round the aisles. I picked up most of what was on the list, and some extra stuff for me and Lilith. Pancake mix, pancake mix.. Where would they keep the pancake mix? I thought to myself. I went down near enough every fucking aisle and still couldn't find it. Fuck it, I'll just buy him a pack of pancakes. He can just say he made them, not like she'll even know the fucking difference.

"Looking for this?" I turned around, wondering who had spoken and if they were speaking to me. I turned and came in contact with bright gray eyes and messy brown hair. My eyes trailed down his arm to his hand, which was holding up a box of pancake mix, stretched out towards me. I just shrugged slightly, nodding. "Not much of a talker, are you?" He smiled at me, handing me the pancake mix. I took it, while shaking my head 'no' at him. "Can't blame you.. Not talking to strangers, your mother must have taught you well." He smirked at me, almost mockingly. "My mother taught me nothing," I snapped at him. I immediately felt bad and tried to recover the conversation by saying, "besides, you're not a stranger. You're cloud." I half-smiled at him. He laughed, the sound was like an angel singing. I almost laughed along with him, stopping myself before it could splutter out my throat. "Who's the full breakfast for, anyway?" Cloud asked, with a curious look in his eyes as he indicated towards my trolley. "Lilith's Dad is making breakfast for my Mom tomorrow, I guess.. I just happened to be awake at this time, so he sent me out to get all this crap for him." I explained, feeling like I'd just spoken for hours. That feels like the most words I've spoken in years. "Oh. So, step dad I'm assuming, or..?" He quirked an eyebrow at me. I don't know why, but I just didn't like where this conversation was going, so I decided to change it. "Step dad, yep. So why are you here at this time, anyway? It's nearly 5am.." Good one, Ally. Couldn't have picked something better to talk about, huh? "I could ask you the same thing." He replied. "You already did." I smirked at him. He stuttered, seeming a bit nervous. "Just on the hunt for a midnight snack, I guess.. Heh." He chuckled. "Midnight was five hours ago." I smiled at him, loving the fact that I was making him nervous. It was.. Exciting, almost. "Alright, enough.. You win. Stop antagonising me!" He joked, laughing while putting his hands up in surrender. I smiled at his outburst. Like, proper smiled. A full blown grin, pretty much. I soon regretted that because he stopped what he was doing and just stared at me. I slowly let my smile drop until we were just staring at each other again, like the first time we met. It was starting to get awkward, so I cleared my throat and looked down. And I could've sworn I heard him utter the word, "beautiful" just before I looked away from him. I highly doubt he just called me 'beautiful', especially since I looked like absolute shit at the moment. "So, I guess I better get going.. Need to get home before it starts raining, it's supposed to be pretty bad." Cloud said, picking up a random packet of Oreos off the shelf. "Hey, if you wait 5 minutes so I can grab a few more things, I could give you a ride? There's no point you walking in the rain, when we're pretty much going to the same place." I explained, nervously. I don't know what made me offer to give him a ride home, but I just didn't want him stuck out in the cold. That and I must admit, I like his company. He seemed to be thinking about it.. Contemplating, almost. "Yeah, if you don't mind, that would be great." He smiled at me, seeming somewhat thankful for my offer. I nodded at him and began walking again, hearing him shuffle behind me. We walked in mostly silence until I got to the checkout, he helped me pack the bags and after I paid, helped me carry them out to the car. As people around us scattered around, trying to get away from the rain, me and Cloud just walked at a normal pace. Me? I like the rain, that's why. Cloud.. I don't know. We put the shopping in the boot of the car, before I got in the drivers seat and be hopped in the passenger side. As soon as I turned the key, the engine started and so did the loud music that made Cloud jump out of his skin. I smirked at him, feeling the urge to laugh at his misfortune. He gave me a look telling me to be quiet, so I put my hands up in defence before skipping the song. I skipped a few more, before I landed on Guardian Angel by Abandon All Ships, one of my most favourite songs, ever. Although it was mere background music to mine and Cloud's random chatter, as we drove through the rainstorm. "No way! Their self-titled album is by far the best." Cloud exclaimed, turning around in his seat to face me. "But just think about all the inspiration, pain and everything else that was behind this album! And all the effort that was put into it.. You can't argue with that." I argued back, trying to look at both Cloud and the road, as we were discussing which Avenged Sevenfold album was the best. "Alright then, how about this? None of them are good compared to Machine Head." He smirked at me. I immediately hit the brake, pulling over to the side of the road first, of course. I pulled the car to a full stop and turned around to look at Cloud, ready to beat the shit out of him if I had to. "You better have not just said that.." I warned him, to which he just smiled in return. I glared at him. "Oh c'mon, Machine Head are awesome!" He half shouted. "True," I agreed. "But not nearly as awesome as Avenged Sevenfold! How could you!? There like, one of my favourite bands, you traitor!" I exclaimed, dramatically, throwing my hands in the air for added emphasis. "I'm not a traitor!", Cloud fought. "I just have better music taste than you.." That bastard smirked at me. "Cloud, I'm sorry.." He looked at me, confused. "But if you don't shut up, I will hit you. Hard." I just sat there, staring at him with the most threatening face possible. Until he burst out laughing and I broke out into a smile.. I have spoke or smiled this much in years! I kind of missed it.. "Aweh, Alesana.. You're so cute when you try to look scary." Cloud smiled towards me, almost as if he was admiring me. I just shook my head and turned back around in my seat, starting up the car again. I continued on my drive home, with Cloud scrolling through my iPod, trying to find a song that he wanted to listen to. After what felt like forever, I heard the start of The Taste Of Ink by The Used and immediately gained respect for Cloud. I sat smiling, almost singing to myself, but it was so quiet that even I couldn't hear it. I drove down our street, pulling into my driveway and pulling the key out the ignition. "Home, sweet home.." I muttered to myself, almost bitterly. I hopped out the car, grabbed my bags from the boot and gave Cloud his. "Thanks for the ride, the rain seems to have stopped now.." He observed, looking around as if to confirm what he just said. "No problemo," I replied. "I better go, it would be nice to get some sleep, yi' know." I joked, half-smiling / half-yawning at him. He just chuckled, as if he knew some sort of great joke that I didn't. "I know what you mean.." He replied, before walking off in the direction of his front door. "Goodbye, Alesana.." Cloud spoke, before walking up his porch steps. "See you later." I replied, before stepping into my own house. I don't know what it was or how it happened, but it seemed as if as soon as I was away from him, my mood just dropped and I felt.. Empty. Again. I put all the things away in the kitchen, replaced the car keys and jogged back up the stairs, hoping to get some sort of rest for the day ahead.