The Housemates

Eye Contact

Chapter Eleven

Eye Contact

Noah wanted to hunt the vampire down and rip him limb from limb. Elli wasn’t even opposed to it, but that could have been from the exhaustion she was experiencing after feeding a vampire. Desmond felt completely drained after healing her and went straight to his room. Elli almost crashed on the couch, but didn’t want to explain it to Addy in the morning, so Noah assisted her to her bedroom. She climbed in bed and collapsed, praying to the gods that Kate wouldn’t wake her up again. She didn’t think she had the energy to run.

Her sleep was interspersed with nightmares about Blake and about what would have happened if she had lost control. It was some of the least restful sleep that she’d had in quite some time. That was saying something considering she hadn’t exactly been sleeping in a bed for so long.

She woke up at six-thirty am, enjoyed a long shower and finally changed her clothing, which seemed almost like a luxury. At seven-thirty, she headed downstairs to grab breakfast. The scent of coffee reached her nose the moment she exited her bedroom and she knew that someone else was up. It smelled heavenly and she realized that she hadn’t exactly eaten since before the full moon. Mostly, she’d been sleeping. Her stomach growled and she took the stairs two at a time to get to the food.

Addy sat in the living room, sipping coffee that was so diluted it smelled more like sugar and reading the Wednesday newspaper. Elli paused on her way to the food when she realized what day it was.

“Don’t you have class today?” Or work… Or something… Addy was never home during the week and very rarely on the weekend.

“I don’t. I mean, I do, but it’s September 2nd. I have…other obligations today, so I’m skipping. Richard and Kate only have one class and they decided to sleep instead of taking the bus.”

“Other obligations?” she wondered, confused and a little curious.

“Mhmm.” There was a knock at the door and Addy stood, folding the newspaper and setting it on the coffee table. She kept her coffee cup in her hand and moved to let the visitor in. “In fact, this would be them.”

She opened the door. “Hey, guys. Come have some coffee before we go. This is Elli, one of my housemates. Elli, this is Peter.”

A tall, muscular, Mexican male entered the house. He looked like a quarterback for a college football team. Maybe he was; Elli wouldn’t be surprised. His dark brown hair was buzz cut, none of it hanging in his hazel eyes. He wore jeans, a nice, white button-up, and dress shoes. He gave a small smile and waved at her. She politely smiled back.

“And this is Jasper,” she introduced the second one as he entered.

This boy was tall, but very scrawny. Light grey eyes sat behind a set of small, rectangular, black framed glasses. Short, messy black hair topped his head. He wasn’t as tall as his companion, but he still towered over Addy. In comparison to Peter, he seemed underdressed, in jeans, a baggy T-shirt with the quote, “May the force be with you,” written on it, and tennis shoes.

Elli saw all of this, but she really noticed none of it. The moment he set foot in the house, she had made eye contact with him and it was her downfall. Suddenly, he was the only person in the room. He was the only person in the world and she wanted him. She wanted to hold him and hug him and kiss him and love him and never, ever let anyone else have him. He was hers and why wasn’t she holding him yet?

All of those things crossed her mind in the span of seven seconds and ‘Son of a bitch,’ followed immediately after them as she unexpectedly knew how her brother felt.