Chapter 4: Carly

My eyebrows furrow. The question sounds oddly stupid, "Sure. He took me on my first date ever so I guess it was fun."

The smile falls from his face and he rolls his eyes, "That's not what I meant. Nathan sucks, so I was asking about your first meeting."

His obvious jealousy is also cute. If it weren't for him being so terrifying the night before I would believe he's harmless. Well, I guess he is. If I didn't smell like roses I doubt he would even have touched me. He acted on a whim. Even I do that.

"He scared me." I sit back on my butt and take in Kalen looking so exhausted on his bed. His hair is held out of his face by a black bandana and a black chain is wedged between his lips as he chews on it. He's littered with tattoos on his arms, most of them of flowers aside from the angel on his hand. My fingers trace the intricate rose on his bicep up the length of his arm to his mouth where I pull the chain from between his lips.

Kalen glances at me but doesn't say anything. He just lets me trace over his features with a feather light touch, not once commenting on how absolutely weird I'm being. Instead when he opens his mouth he says, "What's wrong?"

"Why do you ask?" I tilt my head.

"Just a few hours ago you were angry at me. Now you're fidgeting with my skin as if there's something bothering you, so what's wrong?" He turns on his side to face me and I catch a glimpse of a tattoo that seems to spread to his back. He pinpoints my gaze and turns fully onto his stomach, settling for turning his head to face me. I can tell he's trying to appease me any way he knows how, even if it's doing something small like letting me see his body art.

"I have to tell my best friend about me tomorrow and I'm scared. Carly is the most important person to me and if I lose her then...it feels like I'll die." I confess.

"Want me to come with for moral support since I forced you into this?" He asks.

"No. Having two vampires standing in front of her might freak her out. I can go by myself I just need to get there." I smile at him.

"I'll call someone to drive you there then. If you go home afterwards then fine just let him drive you so you don't catch a cold. Vampire or not you'll still get sick." He finally stands and pads into the bathroom. I'm grateful that he's at least trying to be considerate. It makes me feel better.

The next morning comes faster than I would've hoped. I'm up around 10am the morning after and I feel a heaviness in my heart. Talking to Carly is definitely weighing on me, but the last thing I want is to delay it any longer. Kalen has me wrapped in his embrace and it takes me a short while to get out of it. I rummage through his clothes and finally pull out a gray hoodie and gray sweatpants. I walk into his bathroom and my heart drops. Winona definitely told me the red would fade back into my natural blue, but my eyes are still tinted red. If this doesn't serve as proof I'm not sure what will. I dress myself and shake Kalen awake. He groans and turns over.

"Kalen I'm ready to leave." I shake him again and he groans. His hand fumbles for his phone before he picks up the fallen object and places a call. "Bring the car around and take Alana wherever she needs to go." He hangs up and throws his phone aside.

I roll my eyes. He really is childish.

Once I'm outside I give the driver Carly's address and sit rather uncomfortably in the backseat. The sun seems way brighter and I'm not sure if it's because I haven't seen it since the day before or because I'm a vampire now. It would make sense that my skin and eyes are sensitive to it.

I take a moment to observe the neighborhood. It's close to my own house surprisingly. It's a very wealthy neighborhood with similar looking mansions littering the area, but nothing compares to Kalen's house.

The driver tries his best to make small talk. He asks me about school and work, but quickly falls silent when he realizes I have no desire to have a conversation at this moment.

When he finally parks outside of Carly's house he passes me a pair of glasses. "It'll make the sun seem less bright." He says and I smile gratefully.

Carly is relatively cheerful when she opens the door. "Hey! Um, whose clothes are you wearing?" She steps aside to let me in. I disregard her question and sit on her couch. She gives me a look filled with worry as she sits beside me. My hood is pulled over my head and the glasses make me look odd. She can tell instantly that I'm hiding something, "Alana?"

"I really don't want to tell you this because I'm running the risk of losing my best friend but...I'd feel worse if I lie to you." I say the words fast and that only confuses her.

"What happened? Nothing you say can ruin our friendship." When I'm silent she reaches for the hood and pulls it off, then she takes the glasses. I squeeze my eyes closed, unable to show her.

Her warm hands cupping my cheeks cause me to open my eyes, and I'm greeted by nothing but shock as she quickly retracts. She doesn't say anything, she just studies my face as if she'll get every answer she has if she does.

"Were you...?"

I nod.

"On the night of the full moon?"

Another nod.

"So you're a vampire now?" She asks the question slowly and I nod one final time, then there's a heart breaking silence between us. Unable to take it anymore I jump up to leave but she grabs my hand and pulls me back down. She brushes my hair out of my face and gives me one of the warmest smiles I've ever seen from her. "You must've been really scared to tell me, huh?"

"Yeah." I look away from her. "I'm a monster now and this could ruin our friendship. If I lose my best friend I may as well be dead."

She laughs a little, "I don't have a problem with vampires, remember? I have a crush on one after all."

She's referring to the vampire that always appears on her doorstep during a full moon and I snort, "That's different. You don't have a personal relationship with him. You've known me for years."

"Exactly so you should know that I would never cast you aside. Have a little more faith in me, Lana."

The niceness of her words bring tears to my eyes and she groans. She's always hated it when I cried, especially after something she'd done. But I couldn't help it. I was extremely scared to come tell her the truth. But she's accepted me, and it's all I could ask for.