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“I thought so. Emily, I understand your feeling about vampires. Vincent though… He’s never expressed an interest in someone as much as he has in you. He doesn’t talk to anyone like he talks to you. He would never share a bed with someone. I’m actually surprised he allowed us to ride with you two in the car today. If you looked up the word sociopath in the dictionary, Vincent’s name would be there.”
“He’s not a sociopath,” I objected. “He just doesn’t like most people…”
“All people,” Sebastian corrected me. “Especially his fancy. He’s only civil sometimes, as I’m sure you witnessed while staying with us.”
I crossed my arms at him. “What’s your point?”
“My point is if Vincent ever wanted to progress your relationship with him, would you let him?”
His question threw me off guard. Even though I should’ve realized it was coming, it still shocked me. Why was he questioning me about my relationship with Vincent? Did it matter? Did he know something I didn’t? He couldn’t. Vincent didn’t seem like he would ever talk to Sebastian about things like that.
“I know my brother,” Sebastian continued, noticing my silence. “It may sound like a cheesy line from books and movies, but the way he looks at you-”
“Stop,” I interrupted, holding my hand up. “Sebastian… I…”
“Emily…”
.
.
I dropped my head. “Can I be completely truthful with you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Will you judge me?”
“No… But I may try to change your mind if I don’t like your way of thinking,” he added after a moment.
I grinned for a second, but it quickly disappeared. “I kissed Vincent today.”
“Really?” He sounded impressed.
“It was one of those fireworks kisses. You know?”
“I definitely know.”
“Yeah. However, there was still that sick feeling in my stomach. My gut telling me Vincent is a vampire. That I shouldn’t be doing that. It’s not right, Sebastian. You guys are different…”
Sebastian stayed quiet for a moment. “But did it feel right?”
“Yes,” I confessed, turning my head back up. His eyes smoldered into mine and I held his gaze. “I like him, Sebastian… But I have this stupid gut feeling that won’t go away, no matter what.”
He nodded understandingly. “It’s okay, Emily. It’s only natural. You were afraid of vampires your whole life until now, weren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“There you go. One day that feeling will go away.”
“There’s another thing too.”
“Let me take a wild guess,” he said, smiling again. “You don’t want to be a vampire?”
I stared at him in surprise. “H-how did you know?”
“It’s obvious, Em.”
“Sorry,” I murmured.
“Don’t apologize. I’m not going to look down on you for it. I wouldn’t want to be a vampire either.”
My eyes finally shifted away from Sebastian, back to the other side of the lake where Vincent was now by himself, drifting by the rocks. “I’m human and always will be. Vincent is a vampire and always will be. If my crush ever turns into something more, I know how it will end. Heartbreak.”
Sebastian shook his head. “That’s not true, Emily.”
“Yes it is.”
“It could work out. You have to try.”
“But…”
His eyes pierced into mine. “Why give up before you give it a chance? You’re better than that.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “You guys are royalty…”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m serious when I say Vincent doesn’t act the way he acts around you around anyone else.”
“Why do you care so much?”
“Vincent is my brother. While he may not care too much about me, I love him very much. I dislike seeing him alone all the time. I’m sure you would feel the same way if Jake was like that, right?”
“Right,” I agreed. “I can definitely imagine that. I can’t promise you anything, Seb, but I will try… If anything happens.”
Relief flooded his face. “Thank you, Emily.”
.
.
“Don’t thank me.”
“I just did.”
I gave him a sarcastic look. “No really. But hey.”
“Hmm?”
“Promise me you’ll try to fix things with Fiona,” I demanded, giving him a serious look. “Okay? Promise me.”
He gave me an uncomfortable look. “I don’t know…”
“What do you mean you don’t know? You love her don’t you?”
“Yes-”
“Then that’s all that matters. Sebastian, you’re going to be king. You can do whatever you want. Who cares if you’re in love with someone that used to be human? You can’t help who you fall in love with.”
The expression on his face was blank for a few moments until he finally smiled gently at me. “You’re right. If worse comes to worse, I can just drop the throne. However, Fiona…”
I shook my head. “Fiona still loves you too.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m a girl. I just know,” I told him, shrugging.
He laughed. “Okay. I guess I’ll have to trust you. I’ll talk with Fiona. You should talk with Vince too, Emily.”
The corners of my lips lifted into a tiny smile. “Maybe…”
“No, not maybe-”
“Fine, soon,” I snapped, ducking my head in embarrassment. “Paddle me back. We’re switching.”
He chuckled and obeyed my order. We closed in on Vincent’s boat and he turned to glare at us. Obviously he wasn’t having too much fun. Sebastian moved our boat as close as possible to his.
“I’m switching over,” I informed them both, grabbing onto Vincent’s paddleboat. “Try not to rock the boat.”
Sebastian nodded while Vincent stayed quiet, keeping an eye on me. Carefully, I pushed myself off my seat, leaning more onto Vincent’s boat. His arm shot out to steady me as I half jumped, half fell into the back of his. My left foot went into the water, sending freezing water through my shoe. I yanked it back quickly, letting out a squawk of surprise. This caused both men to laugh. After scowling at them, I climbed into the front of the boat next to Vincent. Sebastian started paddling off to join Fiona and Joel, who were by the waterfall.
“What did he want?” Vincent asked after a second of silence.
“Umm, just to ask me how you are doing,” I made up… Well sort of. He was worried about Vincent.
Vincent rolled his eyes. “And what did you say?”
“That you cry of homesickness every night.”C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.
His eyes widened. “What?”
I laughed at his expression. “I’m kidding! I said you were fine and that you were doing great in school.”
He automatically scowled at me. “That wasn’t funny, stupid.”
“To me it was.”
“Whatever,” he responded, turning his head away from me. “Do you want to just sit here or go around the lake?”
“Let’s go around the lake,” I decided, starting to paddle. “Since you spent the whole time wallowing here you’ve missed out on a lot of the nature.”
“I wasn’t wallowing.”
“Sure, okay.”
He turned to me, leaning over so our faces were only a few inches apart. “You’re being awful complacent lately.”
I had to remind myself to breathe. Letting out a small breath, I did my best to smile smugly. “No. You’re just referring to the fact you can’t kiss.”
“I can! ”
“Apparently not.”
“You’re stupid!”
“You’re a bad kisser.”
“So are you!”
I didn’t find this offensive at all. “You didn’t say that last night, so I’m assuming you’re saying that just to try to make me angry, which isn’t working.”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“You know what…”
“No, I don’t know. Tell me.”
A huff of anger left his lips. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing again. If this is what he felt when he teased me, now I knew why he did it. He was adorable when frustrated. If there ever was that chance of progressing our relationship, I now knew what I would choose.
Come hell or high water, I would definitely give it a chance.
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