Vampire Boy

II

"Would he like a lift? We're going there anyway, so it wouldn't be a problem." I offered to be polite, since it would be awkward to see him there if I hadn't offered.

Andy squeezed my hand hard, trying to stop me from making my offer. I chose to ignore him, continuing to smile at Anne politely. Andy was obviously worried that the second his parental figure was gone, he would be rude to me, but for some reason I doubted that. So far, he didn't seem mean. Not to mention, his mum was beyond lovely and she hadn't even once glanced at my obnoxious parasol.

"Can I adopt you?" Anne swooned, "Your manners are like a breath of fresh air! Living with Connor, I forget that boys your age can be decent human beings. Connor should honestly take a leaf out of your book; you must get all of the ladies! I'm sure he would greatly appreciate a lift if it's no trouble."

"It's no trouble at all." I reassured her, deciding for certain that I liked Anne.

She seemed like such a gentle and non-judgmental soul. It was really refreshing.

"Why would I want to 'get ladies'? That's so archaic for a start." Connor cringed, appearing at her side with shoes on now.

"I don't know what you're into these days!" Anne rolled her eyes, shooing him out of the door.

This conversation was a little awkward to bear witness to, considering they were both still strangers, and the sun was taking its toll on me as we all stood around on the porch, despite me holding my parasol. Andy noticed me growing uncomfortable in the sun and tried to pull the parasol so that it was properly covering the back of my neck to protect me, but it wasn't quite doing the trick. It felt as if there was some kind of lava demon clawing at my neck from the inside, trying to break free out of my skin.

"We need to go now." Andy declared, pulling me by the hand over to my car.

He climbed into the back of my car and started to rummage through the box I kept under the passenger seat as I slipped into the drivers seat awkwardly. Both Anne and Connor seemed confused about the abrupt departure, but it couldn't be helped. Andy finally found what he was looking for and whipped out the instant ice pack and cracked it, holding it to my neck. It didn't do that much at relieving the pain, but it was better than nothing and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Thanking him quietly, I tried to focus on calming down. The pain always freaked me out.

During the whole ordeal, Connor had climbed into the passenger seat and was watching with curiosity as Andy flapped around with the medical kit. Once I noticed, I frowned and looked directly forward to hide my expression. He seemed nice enough, but deep down I knew that he probably thought I was a complete weirdo. I was used to this, but it seemed harder to shrug it off than usual. I don't know why I cared what a complete stranger thought about me, but I did.

My skin was still itching like crazy, but I ignored it and started the engine, driving back to the twins' school. Each time I lifted my hand to rub it or itch at the effected area, Andy would silently take my hand to stop me. He was doing this because I could damage the already sensitive area if I claw at it, but Connor didn't know this. He was eyeing me with a confused expression on his face, glancing from me to the tinted windows; he was trying to put two and two together in his head, but the cogs seemed slow to start turning.

"Aren't windows tinted like this illegal?" Connor hummed, "What are you, a drug lord?"

"Do I look like a drug lord? They are illegal, but I have a permit, or something along those lines, for them." I explained shortly, trying not to get defensive.

"What's with the pained expression?" Connor asked, his eyes scanning my neck and seeing no physical damage.

"The sun hurts him." Andy put it very simply, kicking his feet against the back of Connor's seat grumpily.