Hybrid (Awakening, # 0.5)

Chapter 5

I roll over and rub my eyes, awakened by the relentless vibration of my phone underneath my pillow. Devin always thought it was funny and weird that I slept with my phone there, but oh well. I look and see a text from Sampson.

Hey, just checking in on you. Get home okay? It reads.

I respond: Yep, everything's cool.

I chuckle knowingly as I press Send. Only because things were the exact opposite of "cool" right now. Just to recap, I came home from a fairly nice party with my best friend from out of town, then I invite a vampire into my home, and then said vampire tries to kill me but my strange, yet awesome dog pretty much saves my life. So yeah, other than that everything's perfect.

I get out of bed and slip on my house shoes and robe then go over to Elijah's food bowl to see he's only eaten a little bit of the food, but his water bowl is empty.

"Not a fan, huh? Dog food's gross, I'm sure," I say petting him. I just now realized that he slept at the foot of my bed. I just laugh quietly. He'll protect me, I think to myself. No matter what. And that thought alone is enough to make me smile.

Until I walk into Carter's guest room and then I just drop to my knees and clutch my stomach in an absolutely uncontrollable fit of laughter. Apparently, my laugh startles him awake.

Carter slowly sits up and rubs his eyes and says huskily from sleep, "What?"

I just can't stop laughing because he's lying on a pile of blankets in a fetal position. Like...like a dog. And this sight begs the question that that's simply how he must be used to sleeping. I suddenly feel a small wave of jealousy. He had a family, even if they weren't his own. Even if they weren't like him, he still had a family, people to look after him and keep him safe. And I had...have no one. I'm alone in this world.

"N-nothing, um," I say wiping the tears from laughter off of my face and fighting the frown that wants to show. "Nothing."

He stares into my eyes like he sees something there. It's like he's trying to communicate something to me but I couldn't even begin to imagine what that could be. I break the intense stare down as my phone vibrates again with a text back from Sam. It reads: That's great. Wanna maybe grab breakfast? I'll pay.

I text back : Sure, my house in about an hour?

You got it, He responds.

I text Sam my address and I can't help the small smirk that takes up residence on my face. Carter notices and asks, "Who was that?" He says it so softly that I almost didn't hear him.

"Uh, no one. Just a friend. From a party, he wants to grab breakfast in a few. You'll be okay here with Elijah for a while right?" I ask.

"Um...yeah, yeah. Of course," He says.

"Oh and Carter? What's your name? Your real one."

He shifts uncomfortably for a moment then clears his throat. "I don't uh, have..one."

I hide the surprise so it doesn't show. I don't want to make him feel embarrassed or upset. I have this weird intuition like we've known each other longer than we have and I would do anything for him which is completely crazy because we've only just met the other night. I feel that the last thing I would ever do was hurt him.

So as if I had no control over my body, I gently put my hand on his cheek and say quietly with a small smile, "I think Carter fits you just fine."