35
“Someone’s coming,” he interrupted, covering my mouth with his hand.
I struggled to pull his hand, his surprisingly soft hand, away from my face. Laughter echoed through the hallway as two people came around the corner. I recognized them instantly- Alli, and my other friend, Kai. Kai was the first to notice me. His brown eyes lit up as he bolted toward me, yelling my name. Vincent tensed up, stepping in front of me protectively… Wait, protectively? Did he think Kai was some kind of threat?
Kai came to a stop about a foot away from Vincent, his naturally dark hair falling into his eyes. He shook it away easily, narrowing his grey eyes at Vincent. “Who are you?”
“Who are you?” Vincent responded in the same tone.
“Kai!” I said before the young boy could respond, moving around Vincent to hug him. “Long time no see!”
He squeezed me tightly, cutting of my breath for a moment. “You’re telling me! You went off to California without mentioning it to anyone it seems!”
I laughed awkwardly, peeling myself from him. “Um, surprise!”
“Hello Vincent,” Alli greeted as she closed in on us. “How’s your first day been?”
He frowned at her. “Fine. We’re leaving.”
“Vincent!” I protested as he grabbed my hand, jerking me away from Kai. “Stop!”
“Bye Emily!”
I turned my head to give Alli an incredulous look. Why was she so calm about Vincent dragging me away? She didn’t know him! He could have been a serial killer! “Alli!”
She grinned at me. A knowing grin. A grin that made me think she knew I had a crush on Vincent. Sometimes having a best friend like that was creepy. “Have fun! Come on, Kai!”
“She looks like she doesn’t want to go,” Kai protested, attempting to walk toward me.
Alli blocked his way easily. “Nope, she wants to. Let’s go eat lunch.”
“But-”
“Move.”
“Alli!” I called again, this time more frustrated.
Vincent chuckled darkly. “It’s too late. No one can save you now.”
I pursed my lips at him. “What if we get in trouble?”
“I don’t have a problem with it.”
“We have to go out the side door,” I muttered in resignation. “Otherwise they’ll catch us on the visitor camera they have installed in the front.”
Vincent grinned at me. “That’s more like it, Emily.”
My heart gave a little flutter as he said my name. I was so unaccustomed to it. Was it a bad thing I was getting used to being called stupid? Probably. But Vincent was in an unusually good mood. He was the time we snuck out of the mansion too. Did he get a kick out of breaking the rules? I grinned a little bit. That was cute. His little boy side came out during these situations. Even if we could get in trouble, I decided it was worth it to see this side of him.
Suddenly a different thought hit me. “How are we going to afford Taco Bell? I only have five dollars.”
“I have money. I just wanted you to pay for my lunch.”
I scowled at him. “You jerk!”
He smiled in amusement. “I’ll buy your Taco Bell.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. He definitely had ulterior motives. “Fine… I’m driving.”
.
.
“Nope.” He let go of my hand- I hadn’t noticed he’d been holding it the whole time- and snatched my keys from my belt loop. “I get to drive.”
“Hey!” I protested, slapping a hand to my belt a second too late.
He triumphantly pushed open the side door, leading to the outside. “Lady’s first.”
“You know that was only invented so the guy could check out the girl’s butt, right?”
My sarcastic response seemed to have thrown him off guard because he stared at me blankly for a moment. I returned his stare awkwardly, clearing my throat after a moment. Finally emotion came back onto his face. He smirked. “If that’s the case… Lady’s first.”
“You’re a pig,” I deadpanned.
“Actually, I’m a vampire. Now move.”
I stumbled out the door after he gave me a rough push to the back. After glowering at him for a moment I turned and started marching for my car. He was so demanding. Did that come with being royalty? Or was that just him? Fiona and Sebastian weren’t like that… It had to just be him.
When we were finally in the car, anxiety finally set in. I kept glancing out the window, waiting to see my principal glaring back at me. I slid lower in the passenger seat. “We’re so going to get caught.”
“No we’re not,” Vincent said, starting the engine. “We’ll be out of here in three seconds.”
“Don’t speed,” I warned.
Vincent ignored me. Within seconds, he had the gas to the floor and we were shooting out of the parking lot. I grappled at the side of my door, trying to find anything to grab on to. “Slow down!” I cried. “We’re still in the parking lot! They know my car!”
“Shut up.”
“Vincent!”
He chose to ignore me, peeling out of the parking lot, and onto the main road. Lucky for him, there was never any traffic on it. Or police. I leaned back in my seat, closing my eyes and sighing.
“Stop pretending you hate this. You know you Taco Bell sounds good.”
“It does,” I agreed. “But I really don’t like the idea of getting trouble. We have to get there and back in the next thirty minutes. It only takes about seven to get there, so I think we can make it.”
A mysterious smile appeared on his lips. I didn’t like it. He was probably thinking we’d be there in less than seven minutes with the way he drove- which was true. Instead of taking the normal seven minutes, it took four minutes. What was even more surprising was that we didn’t get pulled over. Usually you couldn’t speed through a town center without cops taking notice. Vincent was one lucky guy.
“What do you want to eat?” he inquired, pulling up to the drive through.
I hesitated. I didn’t want to look like a pig in front of him, but I was really hungry… “Um, two soft tacos and a drink.”
He looked at me skeptically. “That’s it?”
“Yes?”
He shrugged. “Whatever.”
When we drove up to the speaker box, he ordered my meal, and a five-dollar box for himself. I stared out the window, resting my hand on my chin. It was weird doing something so normal with Vincent. Going to Taco bell was such a human thing. It was hard to grasp how similar vampires and humans actually were, even though I already knew they were a lot alike.
“Here,” Vincent said, handing me my bag of food. “And you’re drink.”
“Thanks,” I responded, putting the beverage between my legs. “We can eat in the school parking lot and then go in.”
He didn’t respond as he rolled up the window, pulling away from the building. I watched him carefully. Instead of taking a right like he was supposed to, he took a left.
“Vincent, where are we going?” I demanded.
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Not back to school.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I mean, Stupid.”
My eyes widened. “What? No! We have to get back! We’ll get suspended for skipping!”
“Suspension sounds good,” he responded with a smirk. “Now, where should we go?”
“Vincent! No! Turn around!”RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only
“Are you the one driving?” he asked. “No, you’re not,” he continued before I could respond. “So I won’t.”
I gaped at him. He seriously wasn’t going back to the school. I dropped my head. We were going to get in so much trouble.