Reality Bites - Wattys 2018 Shortlist

Chapter 43 - Did You Enjoy Yourself?

"It's not that bad, Lissa," I started. "We're bonded, remember – it's not like you're going to be able to get rid of me that easily!"

"But it's not going to be the same!" she wailed.

"No. It won't. Pretty much everything has changed for me in the last few months. Things I assumed would never be an option for me now are. But it doesn't mean I'm going to leave you; we just might need to work together to readjust our plans a bit?"

"Like how?" Lissa said, unconvinced.

"I'm not sure yet, I thought we'd use the time back at the Academy to work it out?"

"You've already thought about this haven't you?" Lissa asked accusingly.

"Yeah, a little bit," I admitted.

"So what do you want?" Lissa asked me, possibly for the first time in her life.

"I don't know, Lissa," I told her. "And if it helps, I'm really scared, too."

We sat on the sofa hugging and still crying. I felt a million times better now Lissa knew how I'd been feeling, and I could tell through the bond she did too.

"We can make this work," I promised her. "And we've got a while to figure things out yet."

Deciding we needed to watch a chick-flick, I let Lissa choose. An hour and a half later, we were both sobbing as we finished watching 'Beaches.' Subtle, Lissa!

"Come on; I need some ice-cream!" I told her. "Let's raid the kitchen!"

Holding her hand, we walked downstairs. For the first time, Suzanne wasn't in attendance. However, I asked an obliging Guardian in the meals area, who showed me where the ice-cream was kept. And the chocolate sauce! Serving us both large bowlfuls, we were sitting side by side at the counter eating when the guys came up from the gym.

"That was EPIC!" Eddie was saying. "Next time I come I'm going to take part," he announced eagerly.

They all looked happy and relaxed. Lissa and I, on the other hand, both had puffy eyes and were chowing down on ice-cream.

Christian stopped short, not quite sure what had gone down or how to deal with two women who'd obviously been bawling. Dimitri, on the other hand, knew just what to do. Walking purposefully up to where we were sitting beside one another on the kitchen stools, he put an arm around each of us.

"Did you have a good evening, ladies?" he asked, giving us both a squeeze and me a kiss on the head.

"Yeah, we did," I said, smiling shyly at Lissa. She just took my hand and nodded.

"Then let's get you two upstairs," Dimitri said.

It was 10 pm. Still early, especially given we were operating on a sort of half human half vampire timetable. Lissa and I were both a little subdued, but happy to do something with the guys.

"Who wants to watch a scary movie?" Eddie asked.

Lissa and I had just watched a film, but the idea of cuddling up on the sofa with Dimitri was pretty appealing. Our room had the biggest screen, so we headed back in there. It was going to be a tight fit with the six of us on the two sofas, so Adrian and Eddie went across to Lissa's room to move a third sofa in.

Eddie was put in charge of choosing a film, while Adrian and I went down to the second floor to grab some supplies from the bar. I didn't think Abe would mind. I didn't feel like anything, and I didn't think Lissa would either, so I grabbed some beers for Eddie and Dimitri. Adrian chose a bottle of vodka that I'm pretty sure he intended to demolish by himself.