George
I stare at the ceiling the moment I wake up. My gaze lands on the canvas in my painting area in the bedroom. It's an abstract art where I swirl my brush with paint in black, red, brown, and white hues. I'll probably use this as a background for something or maybe that's it? I really don't know.
I go downstair while tying my hair in a ponytail.
A knock on my door occurs while I'm eating a bowl of cereal.
"Aunt Liz!" I say in shock after seeing her standing at my front door this early in the morning. Surprisingly, she wears a simple little white lace dress.
"Georgina!" she happily says and hugs me tight.
My eyebrows furrow when I see her excited self.
"What's that?" I ask her, pointing at her clothes.
I notice the sudden glow of her. Liptint. Foundation. Eyeshadows. I move my face near hers to take a closer look.
"What's that?" I ask, pointing at her face.
"Have you eaten?" she asks, moving my face away.
"Cereals," I say while rubbing my eyes. I don't have time for myself anymore. All I did is Uni stuff and some vampire research during my free time. My neighbor hasn't returned yet.
I wonder where he is.
What is he doing?
Is he coming back?
"I'll cook!" she exclaims and walks straight to the kitchen.
"You don't have work today?" I ask and yawn.
"Day off," she quickly answers.
"What are you cooking?" I ask quickly.
"Pasta."
"Did you just woke up and went straight here?"
"Yes."
"Have you eaten?"
"Not yet."
"Nice makeup."
"Thank you."
"Who's the lucky guy?"
"Joaqu—"
She stops chopping the vegetables and fakes a cough.
"Joaquin is still there," she casually says and clears her throat.
"So what?" I look at her with a teasing smile.
"We're just friends," she explains.
"I didn't ask," I bite my lower lip to stifle my smile.
He's Jared's Uncle.
Silence.
"What is it? You suddenly become quiet," Aunt Liz asks.
"I... don't like him," I say softly, almost in a whisper.
"W-why?" she asks. "Did he hurt you? Is he mean to you?"
Silence.
"He's a nice person," she says in a convincing voice.
A nice vampire, perhaps.
"You just met him a few days ago," I say followed by a deep sigh.
"George, I know what I'm doing, okay?"
I bite my tongue to stop myself from saying some silly things.
"How's Uni?" she asks, trying to make me talk as I've been shutting my mouth for a long time.
"Fine," I quickly answer.
"How are your professors then?"
Professor.
"Actually," I pause, thinking twice if I should tell her. "Jared is one of my professors," I say, trying to sound casual.
"Oh really?" she asks.
I simply nod in response.
"He's young. Is he strict?" She asks once again. "You stopped talking with each other as soon as the first day of school started. Is there any problem?" she asks worriedly.
"He gave us A LOT of hard activities!" I grunt and poke some sausage on the plate aggressively with my fork.
I hear her chuckle. "I swear if your eyes could kill," she says, pointing her knife at the sausage I'm poking. "And if your sausage could even die. It might be critical right now."
The sudden knock on the front door makes us jerk our heads from the TV screen towards the wooden door. Standing on my feet, I walk to the door while holding a bag of chips.
"Hey there!" A man with faded curly black hair greets me.
I stiffen after seeing another vampire in front of me. I presume he's also a dhampir since he's not afraid of sunlight.
"Anastasia!" Joaquin yells. "Come here, quickly!" he says while looking at Stacey.
Anastasia.
"Wait a second, Uhhh... Uncle Quino!" she yells while walking towards my front door.
Quickly, he moves his gaze to Aunt Liz. "Eli, you look lovely today!" he cheerfully greets.
Eli?
I sharply move my gaze to lovely Eli with wide eyes.
"E-Eli," I tell Aunt Liz hesitantly.
"Err, I asked Stacey to bring me to the nearest mall for shopping," Joaquin announces. Still, my emerald gaze never leaves Aunt Liz, who stands beside me.
"Excuse me. I am the one who asked you," Stacey butt in.
"Uhh, do you want to come with us? My treat," the curly-haired man offers.
By the shopping, Joaquin means he is leaving us behind them.
"Why am I here again?" I mumble to no one.
Oh, right. I have to make sure Aunt Liz is safe.
Stacey holds my arms and pulls me away from the lovebirds.
"What are you doing?" I immediately ask.
"I heard you. You're bored," she says. "Let's go somewhere," she adds, sounding like a command.
"Why do I even have to go with you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"You can leave me if you wanted to," she simply says.
I watch her walk to the beauty products section. I follow her around while she checks for some products. Her yellowish-brown eyes glimmer after seeing all the products in front of her. She tries one of the lip-tint on her wrist, choosing which color suits her. It was the fifth shade of lip product that she rolled on her wrist, but she cannot decide which one looks best on her.
"That," I point at the third swatch on her wrist. "The pinkish coral one. If you want some natural look."
"Oh, you're still there. I thought you left," she says.
So, should I leave you then? Flat-ass Stacey?
'I'm Jared's girlfriend.'
I almost forgot that this girl in front of me is a vampire and Jared's girlfriend.
'And now it's beating faster.'
"Oh my gosh," I mutter as I remember that piece of memory again.
I kissed her boyfriend.
Subconsciously, I touch my lip.
No, he was the one who kissed me.
I brush off my thoughts and continue following the petite blonde girl.
"Special occasion?" I ask while watching her try the coral one on her pouty lip.
What? Blood festival?
"Nope, Jared said my makeups are too heavy," she says. "You know? Some sort of a gothic look." she faces me. "How do I look?" she asks after putting my suggested product.
"Good," I nod and smile.
Oh. So he's that type of boyfriend.
Shit.
I should stop thinking about anything. She could probably hear me.
"I doubt that," she says. "You rarely wear makeup." She checks herself in the mirror.
"O...kay. Maybe not," and smiles a bit.
"I'm... an art student," I say.
I continued following her and give her some product recommendations, which she always loves. She is very excited to try the products I recommend. She also became loud and chatty, complaining about why she only has Jared and Joaquin. She also said that they are useless when it comes to makeup recommendations.
"They are all pink for me. That's what Joaquin said when I brought him to a mall for shopping for the first time!" she yells. Then, she rolls her eyes.
We are walking our way outside the shop when I hear a familiar voice.
"George!" Joaquin happily greets us. "I see you two are having fun, yeah?"
He walks with Aunt Liz beside him.
"Joaquin, how do I look?" Stacey excitedly asks.
"Oh, my," Joaquin stare at her. "Jared is right. You look more beautiful with lesser makeup."
"She suggested me some makeup," Stacey says while pointing at me happily. "Next time, let's buy some clothes!" she excitedly says. Her yellowish-brown eyes sparkle.
If only I didn't know your kind, I'd be delighted to be your friend.
It is late afternoon when we go home. We are inside Aunt Liz's car. I sit on the shotgun seat.
"You are one of my nephew's students," Joaquin says in the backseat of the car. "I always saw you with a tall red-head boy," he adds.
"Red-head?" Aunt Liz asks while driving our way home.
"Oh, he's Clarkson," I quickly answer.
Suddenly, my phone vibrated. An unknown number calls.
"Hello?" I ask with a frown.
"Georgina!" I hear a boy exclaims on the other line. "Should I start doing the right eye or left eye?"
My eyebrows raised after realizing who it is.
"Clarkson?" I ask just to clarify that it is really him.
"Yeah! Oh, I didn't tell you who I was a while ago. Sorry. I asked for your phone number from Shane."
"It's okay. About your question a while ago, you can do either left or right, but you have to ensure they are balanced," I carefully explain to him.
"Alright, thanks!" he hangs up.
"I see we will be meeting each other more often then, George," Joaquin casually says before getting out of the car.
I look at him and give him a small smile.
"Thanks," Stacey whispers.
"Thanks for the time, Wax," Aunt Liz says and waves goodbye to him.
"You're blushing, Eli," I tell Aunt Liz before I get out of the car.
***
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