Taking me by surprise as his took one of my hands in his, Kiera’s father looked into my eyes and began talking to me just as he always had, and I felt that same warmth that radiated from the Blake home start to surround me. “Delaney dear,” he began and patted the back of my hand he was holding, “I know that you and my daughter have had some sort of falling out.” I nodded slightly as I stared back into this little man’s gold-flecked hazel eyes. “I can’t imagine that what she claims happened and the rumors she has heard could ever be true.”
Rumors? What rumors?
I needed to call Zoey immediately! She’d know what was floating around on the rumor mill. Somehow she always knew. Then I smacked myself mentally for not calling her in the first place. Her father continued, “You have always been a good girl Laney, and I know you mean my daughter no harm. Please, go out into the garden and make peace with her. You two need each other, especially now.” I wasn’t really sure what he meant by all of that but I wasted no time and headed past the kitchen where I politely said hello to Kiera’s mother who was, as I had suspected, doing dishes. She smiled back at me and it gave me hope that all would be okay.
I slid the large glass sliding door aside and stepped out onto the back patio of the Blake family garden. Their backyard was always amazing to me. It wasn’t a large piece of land, but they made the best out of what they had and it was an impressive sight. Paths twisted and turned this way and that through a variety of foliage. There was a pond that weaved its way under the path here and there with an occasional little bridge that crossed over it. Birds and butterflies and other such creatures darted to and fro, and I thought of Hayden and what she had shown me, and I wondered if I would be able to see such creatures here in the Blake garden. I started out onto the path and it wasn’t long until I found Kiera in her flannel pink and white jammies, cross legged on a bench holding one of the pet bunnies that roamed free in the garden. I saw her catch sight of me out of the corner of her eye and her body language completely changed. She gently set the rabbit onto the path and stared after it as it hopped away.
She avoided looking at me when she said, “I figured you’d show up eventually.” Her voice was full of distaste and I felt my heart hurt even more. I stayed where I was, not daring to take a step closer. I had never seen Kiera in such a mood and it was torture that it was towards me. “What do you want?” she almost snapped.
“I, I wanted to talk to you- ” She cut me off before I could finish.
“About what? You want to come by and take everyone else I love from me?” Her voice still dripped with disgust. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked right at me. Narrowing her eyes on mine.
I took a hesitant step back. I didn’t like this Kiera. She was actually a little scary. But this wasn’t about me. Something I had done had hurt her. I caused this. I steadied myself as best I could then said, “I have no idea what I did to upset you and I would never take anyone from you. How could you say that?”
She jumped off the bench and her bare feet hit the ground with such force they caused a little cloud of dust to rise up from the path. It quickly dissipated and I found it odd how fast it happened. But there was no time for that now, no time to search for critters. It was time to listen to my friend yell at me. “How could I?” she shouted and I recoiled just a bit. “How could I say such a thing? Let me refresh your memory.” That last sentence sounded like pure evil. “There was this boy that, I don’t know, I liked for
like
FOREVER.” Her voice was staying at that same level–too loud. “A certain boy that I loved and who supposedly loved me back and then one day he just stopped.” Her tone went a little lower then, almost a growl as she continued. “A boy who didn’t seem to care that my heart had been broken by him. And then there was my best friend who, instead of being there for me, took it upon herself to comfort that boy. I tried to be understanding. I tried to let it go until whispers started and I began hearing things that I just couldn’t believe were true. And then you showed up with him at that bar and you proved all the whispers and rumors to be true.” Her fists were clenched at her sides and her face was an angry shade of red.
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play stupid with me Laney!” she screamed. “You were jealous of me. It was probably the first time in your life someone got what you wanted and you couldn’t stand it!
I was at a loss here. I had no idea what she was ranting about and I was actually a little offended. “I still have no idea what you are talking about. I came here to apologize for whatever I did wrong and was hoping you would fill me in on that. I never meant to hurt you and I didn’t take Carter from you. You know we are only friends and will never be anything more.”
“Liar.” It was just one small word that came out between her gritted teeth but it stung. She had no intentions of believing anything I had to say. I felt the sting of tears threatening. I wrung my hands and dropped my eyes to the ground. I couldn’t look at her anymore. She was so full of anger and it was all directed towards me. “I’m sorry Kiera. I never meant to hurt you and I hope one day you can forgive me.” I turned around and started for the house without even a glance back in her direction. I heard her let out a frustrated scream as I was closing the sliding door. I rushed past Kiera’s parents who were both sitting quietly in the front living room. I said nothing to them but I felt their eyes on me as I hurried out the door. Tears spilled over as I ran for my car and threw myself inside. I fumbled with the key and once I finally got it in the ignition I started my car and sped away. I pulled over once I was out of the neighborhood and I let the tears fall. I was so mad at myself for letting this happen. I had been so concerned for Carter’s wellbeing that I let Kiera slip away. I knew there was also a piece of me that was jealous of her but not the way she thought I was. I wasn’t jealous of her having Carter, I was jealous because she had both her parents and I had nothing. I let myself cry it out and then, once I had calmed down some, I called Zoey.
Chapter 51 - Holy Crap!
Never in my life would I have thought I would be the topic of gossip. Zoey was a bit strange over the phone. She answered as if all was normal. “Hey Laney. How ya doin’ hun?” But as soon as I asked if she’d heard anything or knew why Kiera was mad she went all…weird on me. “Uh, no hun. I haven’t heard anything lately. Why, is there some good gossip to be had? How about you come on by and spill sweetie. We’ll do lunch.” I know that didn’t sound very odd but in all the years I’d known Zoey she’d never invited any of us over. She’s stayed with us over at our apartment or even over at mine or Kiera’s homes over the years, but we’ve never been invited over to Zoey’s. I’d always been curious but how do you tell your friend you want to come over just because you’re curious about their living situation without pushing some sort of boundary? So, with a little excitement and a lot of sorrow in my heart I headed over to Zoey’s apartment above her grandmother’s antique shop.
Zoey was waiting outside the door that led up to her apartment when I arrived. She was wearing a long colorful skirt and a fitted colored T-shirt to match. Her hair was big as usual and her feet were bare, which was rather unusual. She gave me a big Zoey hug before we headed up the stairs. She asked me to remove my shoes before we entered and I did, leaving them just inside the front door. The apartment was dimly lit with just tiny rays of sunlight peeking through the covered windows. The curtains were a dark shade and very thick. All the furniture was very old, or rather antique looking. There was a small kitchen and a quaint eating nook to the left and the living room was to the right. Zoey’s grandmother was on an old-looking couch watching a very old-looking television while she knitted something that resembled a big pink afghan. On the end table beside the couch sat a wine glass full of red liquid and a very familiar looking stainless steel water bottle beside that.
Holy crap! Her grandma is a vampire!
She looked up from the TV at me just then and smiled, saying, “Well hello dear. How have you been?” I drew a total blank on her name and realized I had no clue what is was. I stuttered a little with my response. “I, I, uh, I’m doing good ma’am. How are you?” What the hell? Ma’am? I don’t think I’ve ever called anyone ma’am before in my life! I felt like such an idiot. She just smiled very politely at me and went back to her show and her knitting.
Zoey ushered me into her bedroom which was very bright and cheery compared to the rest of the house. She closed the door behind us just as I very quietly blurted out, “Your grandma is a vampire!” Not a question, I had no doubt. It was a statement and she knew it. “Laney,” She took my arm and led me to her antique white daybed that looked like it had seen better days, but I think that was the distressed look she was going for. All the furniture in her room was white but very aged looking and banged up a bit. We sat and she continued, “I really thought you’d have put that together by now.” I gave her a “how the hell would I know this” look and she kept going. “Well, you know I’m half so I figured you’d put it together.”
“I’m not really sure how you thought I could figure that out.”
She smiled at me slightly and waved her hand like she was dismissing the whole thing. “Well now you know. Yes, my grandmother is a vampire. So is my father. My mother was not, and that is how I am only half.” She smiled again and I smiled back. It seemed the subject of family was a touchy one with our little group anymore.
I sighed and tried to relax. Zoey’s grandmother being a vamp was a bit of a surprise to me and it rattled me more than it should have. I chalked it up to being the icing on the cake, so-to-speak. So much had happened lately I guess I was just on edge. Lasy night’s dream was still lingering too and it left me with a very odd feeling. I pushed everything out of my head for the moment and tried to focus on the now. Zoey’s room was decorated very beautifully; with pale lavender walls and that white distressed furniture. It looked almost Victorian. She had very pretty white floral frames placed around the room with a variety of pictures but I didn’t take the time to see who was in them. I wanted to get to why I was there. Zoey crossed the room to the only thing that didn’t fit in her elegant bedroom. There, on her desk, was a large metal cage that contained Zoey’s big black and white pet rat, Chatters. She took him from the cage and held him, stroking his fur as she sat back down beside me on the bed. Rats didn’t freak me out but they weren’t my favorite either. So I was pretty thankful she didn’t ask me if I wanted to hold him or pet him.
I jumped right into why I was there. “So you haven’t heard anything at all?” Her eyes lifted from Chatters to meet mine. She sighed and crossed the room again to put him back in his cage then she sat back beside me on the bed. “Laney, what I am about to tell you can never leave this room. Do you understand?”
I nodded, only slightly confused and growing seriously uneasy.
She sighed again and got up to grab her cell phone off of her nightstand. She messed with it for a moment and then handed it to me as she sat down next to me once more.
“Holy crap,” I breathed. A picture, of not the best quality, was displayed on the screen. I swallowed hard and couldn’t rip my eyes away. Zoey ran her finger across the screen and another photo appeared. She did this twice more. I thought I might vomit. She took the phone from me and I just stared down at my empty hands. Oh. My. God. There were four photos that someone had taken on their phone of me and Carter being WAY too friendly on the dance floor that night at the club. “That’s what she meant when she said we proved it,” I murmured.
Zoey started rubbing my back. “What was that, hun?”
I lifted my head so my eyes could meet hers. “Kiera. She said we proved all the rumors true. I guess I see why she hates me now.”
“Oh Laney. Kiera doesn’t hate you.” I snorted at that. And she smiled sympathetically.
Millions of thoughts were reeling around in my head, but before I could put any together a panic of realization shot through me. “Shit. Oliver…Did he see those? Is that why he’s been so angry with me since then…?” I was more thinking out loud than anything, but Zoey answered and the response surprised me.
“Something you might not know about your boyfriend; he’s the technological genius of the vampire world.” I looked at her somewhat surprised. “He was the one who scrubbed the web of these photos and removed them from the source. He was so angry when he came by that he missed the ones on my phone. He didn’t realize that while he was scrubbing my laptop clean of any evidence I was saving them to my phone.
“He came by here?”
“Yep, and because of my vamp nature and being your friend, I was granted not getting my mind wiped. But I also swore I wouldn’t say anything.” She looked at me totally serious and said, “You can’t talk about this to anyone. Especially not over the phone or texting or email. You never know when something will be caught or picked up.” I was full of emotions: shock, surprise, wonder and some fear. I also felt a little jealous that Oliver had been there at Zoey’s and hadn’t told me. I had a brief moment where I wondered what else he had neglected to tell me, but I cut that off. I didn’t have time to worry about such things. I needed to find out if Carter knew about the pictures. I wanted to give him a heads up before he saw Kiera.
“Do you know if Carter’s seen the pictures?”
Zoey shook her head. “I don’t think so.”