Bloody Skies//g.d

Chapter 8

It was Saturday; the day of my second party. As Margot suggested, Billy was taking my friends and I out on the boat for the night.

It was a surprisingly clear October day in Pines. Not a cloud was visible. On the horizon, the sun was slowing sinking back into its nightly tomb.

"How many friends you got coming?" Billy asked carrying a heavy cooler, whose contents 'whooshed' back and forth, onto the boat.

"Uh not too many I hope. Margot thinks this is her party," I joked. "I don't mind her taking charge. She likes this kind of thing."

"What time is Grayson getting here?" Dad said after a brief moment of silence.

After sunset.

"Soon I hope."

Right after the words left my mouth, I turned around after the sound of tires crunching gravel filled my ears.

It wasn't Grayson who pulled up. I felt a pang or disappointment radiate through my chest. I still smiled though, and waved over Margot and Scarlett.

"Happy Birthday!" They both shouted in synchronization. Both girls pulled me into a hug.

"You come bearing gifts!" I said excitedly. Margot handed me a pastel pink bag with matching tissue paper sticking out of the top. Scarlett gave me a small envelope likely containing a gift card.

"Billy?" Said Margot to my dad. "Scar and I brought some decorations. Is it okay to set them up?"

Dad looked to me. "Ask Emily."

Margot oriented her attention back to me. "Em?"

"Go ahead! Geez I feel so unprepared compared to you." Margot squealed quietly before rushing back over to her car.

"How many people did she invite?" I asked Scarlett quietly as we followed after Margot.

"Not too many. I reigned her in. Party planning is definitely her thing." I arched an eyebrow not quite understanding what Scarlett meant. "In elementary school she always helped plan our class parties. Margot's sixteenth birthday was also a pretty big bash."

I watched as Margot opened the truck of her car and began piling boxes with golden streamers and other decorations cascading out of them.

"It's heavy but could you two carry the cooler?" Margot asked stumbling past me and Scarlett. Margot continued walking, straining to see over the mountain of cardboard boxes.

Scarlett and I grabbed each side of the cooler and carried it towards the boat. The contents sloshed around inside the insulated container.

"What time is the party going to be done?" Billy asked Scarlett and Margot. Margot's constant smile spread out farther than usual on her lips.

"I never said. The text invite just said to meet at the harbor..." Margot's eyes trailed down to her wrist watch, "in an hour."

It was perfect. The sun would set in an hour. Grayson could come to my party without revealing himself.

***********

It was around seven o'clock and the sun had finally tucked its self under the sheets of the horizon. Dozens of people from school had showed up to Billy's boat and were blasting Oldies rock from the speakers. Something I found strange about Pines was the city's love for old time music.

My phone vibrated in my back pocket. Grayson's name encompasses my screen. Look behind you the text read.

I turned around with a smile. Grayson was standing right behind me staring down at my lips with an extreme intensity. "Happy Birthday." He said before sliding a hand along my cheek.

"I'm eighteen now, same age as you." I whispered as I nestled my cheek into his hand. "You're like this marvelous time capsule; a stone statue suspended in an everlasting cycle of life."

"You charm me." Grayson said into my ear. He pulled back then gently laid his hand on my waist and kissed me.

We both pulled away at the same time. "We should go. Billy will want leave before the sun completely escapes us."

Grayson nodded reluctantly, took my hand, and led me towards the boat. He gently guided me up the steps onto the plastic flooring.

I turned back to Grayson to ask him what he wanted to do while we waited for the rest of the guests to arrive. He was no longer standing behind me though, instead he was looking out onto the bluish mass that was Pines Lake.

"You alright?" I asked as I gently laid a hand onto his icy cold bicep. I could feel his muscles relax at my touch. Grayson sighed, then turned away from the water and looked to me instead.

"I suppose now that you're eighteen you'll want to talk about changing." Grayson stated blatantly. He didn't even try to whisper. I looked around frantically hoping neither Billy nor Margot or Scarlett were within earshot.

"To be honest I wasn't even thinking about it." I replied with a shrug.

"Good."

"But now I am." Grayson turned away from me angrily. "What? I thought there was some sort of unspoken agreement that I would become like you? We're supposed to have our forever."

"My world, it's more dangerous than ever before."

"But we are one another's worlds. Gray I'd be safer as one of you. I'd be safer as a vampire." I began to get heated which Grayson took note of rather quickly. He pulled me into his chest and kissed the top of my head.

"I'm sorry, Emily. I shouldn't have brought it up. Not at your birthday party."

For a moment, I forgot all of the dangers that came with being with Grayson. I was solely focused on his arms that gently caressed my own.

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