Inject Me Sweetly / Dusk Until Dawn

:Inject Me Sweetly: Chapter Twenty-Four

“Well I am,” I piped up, ignoring Vincent’s cool gaze. “Maybe not a movie, but something like…”

“Bowling?” Kai suggested with a grin.

“Did I hear the word bowling?”

Kai turned and I looked over his shoulder to see Alli heading toward us, a grin on her face. “Yes you did,” Kai told her.

“Are we going bowling tonight? Hey Vincent,” she added, seeing him sulking in the background.

“I want to,” I told her, looking to Kai. “Do you?”

“Definitely! We’ll get Alli and Jake to go too. Oh! And Fiona and Joel if they want to too!”

I laughed at his excitement. “I’ll ask them.” If they went, even if Vincent didn’t want to go, I could go. Joel and Fiona could handle watching me.

Alli nodded. “Okay. So do you all want to meet up at like 10?”

“Sounds good,” Kai and I agreed. Late night bowling was always the best.

“Then I seriously need to get home so I can shower before my work shift,” she continued, giving Kai a pointed look. “Ready?”

He gave her an affirmative answer. “I’ll see you later, Em,” he said, giving me a quick wave. “And you too, Vincent, if you stop being a hermit for five seconds.”

Vincent didn’t reply. His eyes were fixed to the exit.

“Bye, Emily!” Alli called as her and Kai headed through them.

I waved once before the door shut, leaving us in silence. “Ready to go—”

“Are you really going bowling tonight?” Vincent inquired.

“Yes,” I said defiantly. “I am. Why?”

He scowled. “Because of Kai?”

“Maybe Kai is right. Maybe you do have a creepy crush,” I commented in a teasing tone.

“It’s not creepy,” he snapped.

“Of course it’s…” I trailed off, my throat catching. Why didn’t he deny the crush part? What was that supposed to mean?

“Let’s go,” he commanded, moving toward the doors. “I’m driving.”

“Wait! What do you mean by it’s not creepy?” I had to jog to keep up with the brisk pace he’d taken on.

“What do you think, stupid?”

I glowered at his back. “Stop calling me that! How come you didn’t deny the crush part?”

He paused, causing me to run into him. After steadying me, he smirked. “I told you I was interested in you.”

“But that’s different than a crush!”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes it is!”

He rolled his eyes. “Why are you getting all strung up about this?”

“I-I’m not!” I denied, feeling embarrassment flooding my body. How could I not? It wasn’t every day life worked out in your favor and had your crush have a crush on you back. If we liked each other didn’t that mean we could… I shook my head. No, we couldn’t date. He was a vampire; I was a human. A human with Blue Blood, or whatever. If anything happened between us it’d probably put us both in danger.

My feelings of elation dissipated. It would have been better for me to not know Vincent’s feelings… but it was only a crush. I’ve had a crush on a countless amount of guys that I would have probably never dated. It didn’t always mean something. I was just a source of entertainment… This wouldn’t make things awkward between us. Besides, he wasn’t acting like it was a big deal. I shouldn’t either.