Aftermath (8 page)

“I love your heart,
you know that?”

“I love yours.” I
smiled back at him and tried not to show the frown that threatened
when I remembered what he had told me about his heartbeat.

“Let’s just relax
at home tonight,” he sighed. “I’ll even cook.” He laughed
sweetly.

“You always know how
to make me feel better, do you know that? How about this: I’ll go
home and start making my grandma's red beans and rice that you love
so much and you can go get us a movie. Deal?”

He gave me a brilliant,
boyish smile. “How can I say no?”

Hayden dropped me off
at home so I could get started on dinner. I was still smiling as I
took my shoes off in the mud room. The thought of Hayden picking out
a movie was amusing. It was something so normal. I thought about how
easily he could pull off both worlds. Like he fit perfectly into both
while I, on the other hand, didn’t fit into either.

The rest of the house
was dim and I thought it was safe to say Luke wasn’t home. I hated
how I was unconsciously keeping tabs on him, though I felt relieved
he wasn’t there. The way he lingered when Hayden and I spent time
together had become awkward. The last time we watched a movie in the
living room, I caught him watching us from his laptop. From there on
out, Hayden insisted we watch TV in my room. I didn’t argue with
that.

I switched on all the
lights I possibly could; I figured being relieved of fearing the dark
justified wasting energy. I went into the kitchen and immediately got
started on the beans. Going for the speedy version of red beans and
rice, I used the presoaked, canned ones. I worked quickly, getting
out the cutting board and a big pot. I opened the refrigerator to
grab a few ingredients, half expecting not to have what I needed. I
was still getting used to not living with my dad. Going from nothing
to everything is not something you can get used to overnight. It used
to be a constant aggravation to round up money for groceries or pull
something together besides cereal for dinner. Sure enough, the fridge
was stocked full. It was always full. I thought back to how Hayden
didn’t need to eat. He did this for my benefit and it wasn’t
until just then that I realized how much he did for my benefit. That
made me love him even more, but also question how much of his true
nature he was hiding. Did he feel like he was missing out? Was he
holding himself back? I pushed stupid thoughts away and concentrated
on dumping the beans in the oversized brass pot.

I stirred them into a
mixture of jalapeños and water when Luke walked into the kitchen
from out of nowhere.

Luke chuckled at me
being so jumpy, then spoke, “Hey, Ana.”

“Hi Luke…”

“Why do you say it
like that?” He noisily scooted out a bar stool and sat down.

“I am just trying to
figure out what you want?”

He chuckled devilishly
again. “Oh, there are so many ways I could answer that.”

“You know what I
mean,” I cut him off. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. I just
wanted to be with you. Be in here with you,” he quickly corrected.
“Hell, Ana, I just want to be around you.”

“Luke, this has got
to stop. I’m not going to keep hanging out with you if you’re
going to keep trying to…I don’t know, seduce me? Here, chop this
up.” I handed him a cutting board with an onion on it. He took it
but looked at it questionably. “I value our friendship. Please
don’t ruin that.”

He stared at the onion
and I smiled, imitating chopping it. He shrugged and grabbed the
biggest knife from the block on the counter.

“Fine, I’ll stop.
For now. But just hear me out. Don’t do anything drastic, like
bind
to him. That means you’re stuck with him for eternity.” He rubbed
his eye with the back of his hand.

“I’m young. I
haven’t even graduated yet. I have no idea what I am going to do
tomorrow let alone next year. I’m not even thinking about that.”

“You don’t think I
get that? The thought of being with someone for eternity scares me
too. But with you—everything makes sense.”

“Spending eternity
with someone you love doesn’t sound so bad. I love Hayden, I
wouldn’t be here without him. Literally. Or did you forget you
wanted to kill me?”

He chopped the onions
angrily and then pushed the cutting board toward me. I gave him a
saccharine smile as I took them and stirred them into the beans. He
let me cook in silence for a while, shaking his head every so often.
He cocked his head quickly, as if listening to something, then turned
back to me.

“You just need to
think about a few things first, that’s all I’m saying. Just
promise me you’ll at least consider it. We have so much in common…
we’re the same age.” His voice was low.

I concentrated on
stirring. “I’m not 18.” I heard the garage door open and I gave
Luke a look.

“Funny, Ana. You know
what I mean. Just tell me you’ll think about it.”

I squeezed my lips into
a line waiting for Hayden to come inside. I flinched as Luke tossed
the knife on the counter and walked away.

“What are you doing
up so early?”

Hayden kissed my lips
when he saw me the next morning in the entryway tying my tennis
shoes. “I thought I’d go for a run before school,” I said
sheepishly.

“A run?” It was
even more embarrassing that he looked surprised.
Okay, I need to
get out and exercise more.

I shrugged. “Yeah, I
don’t know. I just feel like I have all this energy lately and I
just need to get it out. I need to run.” I could feel the
adrenaline build even just speaking about it.

Hayden looked at me
curiously, then smiled. “Okay, I’ll go with you then.”

“Really? You don’t
mind?”

“Not at all, I like
to run.”

“Are you coming
because you want to or are you coming because you think you should?”

“I’m not sure what
you’re trying to say, you are as elusive as ever, but yes. I want
to, I’ll
always
want to.”

I fought a girlish
chuckle at his comment while I finished tying my shoelaces. Hayden
went upstairs to change. By the time I stood up, he was standing in
front of me again.

“I thought you were
getting dre—oh”.

“I don’t like to
keep you waiting.” He winked at me.

Hayden was effortlessly
clad in black shorts and sleek tennis shoes. He wore a sleeveless
shirt, his tanned arms perfectly muscular. I couldn’t keep myself
from reaching out and touching them. I made a mental note to not let
him wear anything like that to gym class at school and added jealousy
to the list of new emotions I experienced lately.

Our neighborhood was
perfect for running through, with a lot of streets to lengthen the
route and a pretty path through the golf course. I had wondered why I
hadn’t taken advantage of it before, when I had lived with my dad.

“For how long have we
been running?”

Hayden looked at his
watch and answered easily, “about a half-an-hour.”

“Really?” I said
surprised. It didn’t feel like we were running for that long. I
wasn’t even out of breath yet. “We’d better start heading
back.”

“School,” he
agreed.

A wicked smile spread
across my face. “I’ll race you back.”

His dark hair spilled
back as he laughed.

I stopped running and
put my hands on my hips. “I’m glad that amuses you, but I’m
serious.”

“Okay, Ana, I’ll
race you.” He fought a smile as he worked to speak seriously.

“No cheating.”

“Obviously. It’s
bright as day with humans everywhere.”

“And don’t
let
me win, either.” I pointed a finger at him in warning.

He leaned toward my
face almost touching my nose, “I can’t promise that.”

I was slightly
disoriented when he moved back. I grunted as I turned in the
direction of the house. “Ready?”

He nodded once and we
both took off toward the house. Even at human speed, he was
superternaturally fast. I pushed my legs harder against the pavement,
wanting and needing to go faster. The sensation I got when I ran was
unlike anything thing I'd felt before. Well, maybe I'd felt it once
before. The more I ran, the more it fueled my need to run. Faster and
longer. The house came in view and I didn’t slow until I got to the
front doorstep. I felt disappointed when we stopped.

I bent over, slightly
panting, but Hayden looked at ease. “You let me win,” I scolded
him between breaths.

“I did not.”

I glared at him.

“Okay. Maybe I did. I
didn’t promise that I wouldn’t, remember.” He winked. “You
were fast though, I almost didn’t have to.”

“Stop teasing me.”

“I’m serious, Ana.
You were really fast,” he said as we walked into the house.

I caught a glimpse of
the clock, quickly panicking at the time I had to get ready for
school.

“Oh no, I have to
shower.” I started running up the stairs. “Oh and after school,
is it okay if I take the car? I want to run somewhere after work.”
I turned around when I reached the top.

“It’s too soon to
be going anywhere by yourself right now.”

I put my hands on my
hips. “You’re being paranoid. It’s been months since I’ve had
a death threat.”

“How can you say that
so casually?”

“How can you not?
You’re the one who can’t die.”

“Hilarious,” he
said sarcastically.

“Hayden,” I slowly
walked down the stairs, looking up at him through lowered lashes
while giving him my best pout, “I’ll be fine. It’s just work
again, around lots of people. Then I just have to run somewhere real
quick, twenty minutes tops, and I’ll come right home.”

He gave me a slighted
look. “Where’s ‘somewhere?'”

“Downtown. Again,
lots of people.”

His features relaxed,
he knew what I was doing.

“Sure, I’ll just
get a ride home with Luke.”

And yet he trusted me.

My heart warmed. I gave
him a quick kiss and then ran back upstairs to get ready for school.

As other schools
rebuilt, most of the new faces at Ecole left and some of the old ones
even returned. Slowly, day by day, piece by piece, we were coming
back. I thought back to a couple months ago, just after Katrina, and
the words of the naysayers who had told us not to rebuild or that New
Orleans would never be the same again. How silly all that sounded
now. I still tried to do as much as I could with volunteering.
Working at the diving company took more of a toll on me than I had
hoped for. I used to not mind working for my dad when it was teaching
the scuba class at the St. Bernard Parish community center. Now, and
finally, I had a life. I wanted free time.

I didn’t know if it
was me that had changed or the school, but going to school each day
was suddenly different. Knowing Nikki and Marie would be there, and
Hayden and Luke, I actually wanted to go, now. The only thing that
hadn’t changed was Stephanie. Clearly nothing fazed her, not even a
Hurricane.

My morning classes,
like always, went by quickly and peacefully except that Stephanie had
been looking particularly smug since third period.

I looked around my AP history class
with the feeling that something was missing. Luke wasn’t at his
desk and my thoughts directly went to Hayden. Had he skipped as well?
Did they have to go take care of something? I quickly texted Hayden
before Rachel started her lecture.

Me:
Hey, where r u?

Hayden:
In class, without you.

Hayden:
Why?
He added quickly.

Me:
Just checking :)

Okay so he was in class
and Luke wasn’t. So it had nothing to do with hunting. Which meant
Luke was absent for his own personal reasons.

I found it hard to pay
attention during class. I debated whether or not to do something
about my dream when I got off from work. I wanted to go to the
theatre.

Late last night, as I
lay in bed with my eyes open, I thought about my dream and what it
had meant. The theatre had sounded familiar and I knew I had to have
passed it countless times while in the French Quarter. I remembered
the brochure I had taken from the ghost tours place and wondered if I
still had it. I took a chance and dug through my laundry basket. I
found the map just where I had left it: in the back pocket of my
jeans. Sure enough, one of the highlighted stops was La Petite
Theatre du Vieux Carre aka Vampire Street Theater. I flipped the map
over a few times, looking for any information on why it was “the
most haunted theatre in the South.” I seriously considered taking
the owner up on her offer for a tour. If I was going to keep having
these dreams, at least I should know the history behind the places.

Although I hadn't
committed to going yet, there was a pit of excitement and nervousness
in my stomach just thinking about it. I couldn’t concentrate on
schoolwork but rather on going over the details of what I would do if
I went. Would I just drive by? Should I ask Hayden to come with me?
Should I go back to the ghost tour place? If I kept this up, this
would be a long day. And how, exactly, was I going to make it through
work?