Vampirical -- Lauren Jauregui x Reader

Contrast

"Lauren!" I called out as she speedily waked by, dodging students as she pulled her satchel further up on her shoulder. I noticed her in the crowd of people because nobody else seemed to have lipstick that red, or hair that dark, or skin that pale; the contrast of it all made her easy to spot when she darted by, even in the crowd of the hallways.

She'd started going to school again a couple of days after she'd returned and, after giving each of the teachers a look that consisted of a cocked brow and tiny smirk, they'd all let her off for the elongated absence. Of course, I knew why now; she'd used her gift on them.

When she heard me, she quickly stopped and turned around, a smile on her face.

"Hey!" She grinned when I caught up with her.

"Hey," I breathed out, chest already heaving from moving through the halls. What? There are a lot of stairs here, "I don't take back what I said, you know. I want to get to know you."

"What're you doing tonight?" She questioned and I shrugged.

"Probably nothing."

"Come by the house." She nodded and I did the same, wearing my own smile now.

"Great!" She winked, and I blushed, "But I have to go, I'm not sure even I could get out of getting a tardy from the notorious Coach Barnett."

"Alright," I beam and she pulls me in for a brief hug, "I'll see you later," I whisper into her hair and she pulls away, her hands staying on my shoulders for a moment before she gently patted my cheek and turned to head to class.

That was a little weird, but it still left me with heated cheeks and grinning like an idiot. Was... was I crushing on her?

Surely not.

But the more I got to know her the more I came to realise that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

Besides the fact that she was a vampire who had wanted nothing more than to kill me, she was actually a really nice girl. She said she can only remember bits and pieces of her life as a human because it was so long ago. She didn't tell me how long, though, and even though I was curious I also didn't want to pry.

She told me how she'd loved to draw and sing and write, and how she still does those to pass the time. When I asked if she would sing for me, she blushed and promised she would another day. I giggled at how someone who'd seemed so confident was so shy when it came to singing. I was sure her voice would sound beautiful, though.

She told me how she adored nature, too, and that it still makes her feel human when she is surrounded by it. She joked, or semi-joked, about how now she wasn't even a part of nature anymore. She was unnatural, she said, but I told her she was supernatural. We'd laughed again.

And then, when a gentle breeze fluttered the curtains behind me, something in her expression had changed. Her eyes became unusually distant and fell from my own for a moment as her smile did from her lips.

"Lauren?" I asked quietly, and she looked back at me briefly before standing up.

"I have to go." She stated bluntly, bringing a hand to ball up in her hair before disappearing, a gust of wind hitting me as the back door opened and shut behind her.

"Hey, Y/n!" Ally grinned, followed by Dinah and Normani as they entered the cottage with what looked like innocent grocery bags but as soon as they began emptying them on the kitchen counters I knew that that's not exactly what they were. It's not long until the counter is filled with biohazard disposal equipment and clear plastic tubes and empty blood bags and valves and a good few feet of metal piping.