Lamia's Dream

Chapter 43

About twenty minutes later, they came out.

“We’re all done,” Samantha said.

“Come up with the perfect plan?” I asked.

Valerie rolled her eyes.  “No, not even close.  The three of us will go to our homes, and then meet at Alex’s around 7.  We’ll park somewhere else, and then fly over and wait in the backyard or the roof when it’s dark.  I’ll determine that once we see the layout.  You stay by Malik at all times.  You may have to convince him to let you sleep in his room with him- however you want to work that out. 

“The battle plan is simple:  Protect your cousin.  Protect ourselves.  And protect our identity by not being seen.  That will be the hardest part.  Unless you can convince your cousin to fall asleep.”

“That’ll be impossible, given how freaked out he is.  But, I’ll try my best.”

“Excellent.  Then, if all goes well, you won’t even see us tonight.”

Alexandra shot me a look. 

“Val.  Can I walk you to your car?”

She eyed me suspiciously.  Then Alexandra.

“Suuure…” she said slowly.

Samantha and Alexandra walked together, ahead of us.

I found myself nervous and lost for words.  It reminded me of that first day she sat beside me at lunch.  Why had I agreed to this again?  I waited until we were near the exit.

“I take it you haven’t drained in a while.”  It was meant to be a question.  One that I didn’t know the answer to.

“If you’re asking out of concern for my health—and not for where I currently stand with Kyle—then I freely admit that I haven’t drained since prom night.  But, I feel fine.”

“Really?” I asked, holding her gaze.

“Are you offering?”

“Yes.  Plutonically.  Just to make sure you’re at your best tonight.”

She bit her lip, thinking it over.  I could see it in the way she looked me over that she wanted to.

“Do we have enough time?  You know, your aunt.”

“She hasn’t texted yet.  If we go over, I’ll make up something.”

We climbed in the backseat of Valerie’s MINI Coup.

We spent a while staring at each other, waiting for the first move to be made.  I caved first and kissed her lightly on the lips.  It was awkward.  I pulled back and laughed nervously.  She did, too.  We combined again.  Valerie placed her arms around my shoulders.

“Do you taste anything?” I asked, fifteen minutes into it.

She didn’t look at me.  “No, but please don’t ask me that.  We said we’d keep this meaningless.”

“I lied.  I guess I’m not as bad at it as you thought.”

“Miles, please, I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

I sat up.  “I do.  Val, you were right.  I didn’t want to tell you before but sometimes I feel so low.  So worthless.  And you have helped me hide from it.  I don’t know how to face it, but I’m willing to.”

She looked me in the eyes.  “Please.  I’m already so worried about tonight, I don’t want to deal with this, too.”

“Just tell me this:  are we better together than we are separate?”

“What?”

“This past week of you being single again.  And all your time before that.  Was your life better than it was while you were with me?”

Her eyes became wet.  “Get out, Miles.”

“Val.”

She stroked my face.  “I’m not mad at you.  Just… please.  Please, let’s just get through tonight.”

“What if we don’t?”

My phone vibrated.  I swore.

“Go, Miles.  I’ll see you tonight, but we’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“Only if things don’t go well with the plan,” I reminded her. 

She looked away to show she was done with the conversation.

I left the car.