Just months before I start medical school in Boston, I decide to let loose for one night. A dark club, a loud band, strong drinks--and the attention of a dangerous-looking man who says he's in the city for only a week.
I know exactly what he is: a...
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Kerri and I take a few steps down the hall, and she pushes open the door to the stairs leading to the first floor.
As she's about to bound down, I speak up. "Uh, I'll go by myself. I'll meet you back in the room."
"Nope. I'm coming with you. This is a highly unusual situation." Her voice echoes in the old stairwell that smells like sneakers. The temperature in here is a good ten degrees cooler than it is in the main part of the building, and I wrap my arms around my midsection.
There's no use arguing with her, so I follow. Kerri has what my mother would call a "strong personality," and the times I've tried to talk her in—or out—of something, I've never been successful. And, she's correct. It is a highly unusual situation.
My mind spins as I wonder why Matteo would've returned. Did he leave something in his room? His watch, maybe? I scan my brain. I remember him taking it off, the way the moonlight glanced off his sharp cheekbone. But I don't recall him putting it back on.
That must be it. The watch. Then again, I was in a fog in those moments after Kerri walked in on us. It was as if he'd wiped my mind blank with his kisses.
Kerri yanks open the door to the lobby and holds it open for me. I try to project as much confidence as she possesses on a normal day, and strut through.
I round the corner, making eye contact with the desk person—it's not my friend Alex, it's someone new, since there's been a shift change—and glance around. There's no one in the lobby, at least not this part of it. Usually visitors linger by the desk in one of the two tired chairs that match the sofa in the lounge upstairs. The rest of the place is empty, the building's once-grand mosaic tile floor scuffed and faded.
"Hey, I'm Evangeline Ransom. My RA said someone was here for me." I pause, then add helpfully, "A guy."
The desk person, a girl younger than me who looks baby-faced and bored, puts down her Spin Magazine and nods. "Oh. Yeah, he's in the bathroom. Said he'd be right out."
I thank her and Kerri and I shuffle to the middle of the lounge.
My gaze meets Kerri's. For some reason, the idea of a powerful Italian vampire taking a leak in an ancient college dorm in Boston's Back Bay strikes me as funny. The downstairs bathrooms are notoriously filthy. Legendarily so, on weekends, due to all the partiers.
The side of my mouth quirks up.
"Even vampires need to piss," Kerri whispers, and I dissolve in a fit of giggles. Probably I'm exhausted, but the entire situation makes my body shake with laughter. I try to calm myself but Kerri crosses her eyes and sticks out her tongue and that just makes me laugh harder.
I need to get ahold of myself. The last thing I want is Matteo walking out from the men's room, thinking Kerri and I are laughing at him. I wander off to stare at a bulletin board of announcements. It takes reading a flyer for a movie night five times to calm down. Do I want to see St. Elmo's Fire? Eh. Looks boring.
