Disclaimer: I own nothing and am maknig no profit. Also no beta here so all mistakes are my own

Chapter 7

It was well after noon when I finally woke up. He was not in the bed. I had hoped he'd show up at some point during the night. Well, I suppose during the morning. But he hadn't. I walked into the condo and looked in all of the rooms. He wasn't there. I'm not sure why I expected he would be, but I had hoped.

I took a very long shower, hoping he would turn up while I cleaned up. He didn't. I dressed then, casually in dark jeans and a dark thermal sweatshirt. I poked through his cabinets and found a box of cereal. I ate it right out of the box, not really caring so much what it was but rather just wanting food. The phone rang then. I jumped a little bit. I hadn't even expected him to have a home phone. Didn't everyone just use cells anymore? I picked it up carefully.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Anton Tepes?" a voice asked, mispronouncing his last named horribly. Like the speaker assumed Anton was an archaic form of native American residence.

"He's not home right now," I replied.

"Oh, he has a bunch of deliveries here. Can you come down and get them?" the man on the phone asked. I thought about it for a moment, but then I decided it had to be harmless.

"Yea I'll be down in a minute," I said before hanging up the phone. It took me a few moments to find my key. It was in my backpack which I had tossed mostly randomly into a corner. I grabbed the key and stepped into the lobby than into the elevator. I stepped out into the lobby and the doorman had a few boxes at his desk. I smiled at him.

"You're the one from Mr. Tepes's condo?" He asked. He glanced appraisingly at me, and then back at the packages, before looking at me again. I could guess what was going through his head.

"Yes. I take it these are it?" I said looking at the two boxes on the desk.

"Yea, they are, need some help with them?" He asked. I walked over to the desk and picked them up. They were pretty heavy, but not too bad. I grabbed them both.

"No, I should be alright as long as you get the elevator for me," I said.

"Of course," he smiled at me and walked over to the elevator, opening it for me. I stepped inside and worked my way back up to the top floor. I dropped the boxes and slid them toward the door, which I opened and then pushed the boxes through with my foot. I put them up onto his counter and read the label on them.

Oh, Bloomingdales. So they were my clothing from yesterday. Well, that at least gave me something to do. I took the boxes into the bedroom and unpacked them, discarding their contents onto the bed. This time, unlike the e-mail, I felt better about opening something addressed to him.

Of course, despite the nature of it being a felony, I at least knew the stuff inside was intended for me. I methodically unpacked the goods and placed them away in their proper spot. Neatly folding things that required it, and hanging things that required that. I nearly doubled the amount of clothing I had at his condo. That was a slightly sickening thought. But I went with it.

It took me longer to unpack than it probably should have. I hoped he would come home and help me. Naturally, he didn't. I walked back into the main area of the condo and looked out the windows. I was still hungry and it was still early enough that I didn't quite have to worry about the sun setting now. I grabbed my coat and my purse and left the condo.

I was surprised by how brisk the air was on Michigan Avenue. I didn't know quite what I wanted to eat, and I didn't quite know how much money I had in my wallet. I walked a couple of blocks south and then decided to cut down Ontario. I vaguely remembered a sushi restaurant being on the north side of the street a block or two down, so I wandered toward it. I found it and walked in.

They were just starting their dinner service, it appeared. I was just about the only person in the restaurant. I took a seat at the sushi bar and ordered some green tea and a glass of ice water. I flirted with the sushi guy behind the bar briefly. I wasn't particularly sure what to order and told him to just keep bringing me stuff until I told him to stop. I asked to not make it too strange though. He started with some pretty basic rolls. They were a little bit boring, but I was starving and I devoured them.

After that, he started with the more fishy stuff. It's clear I'm not a food critic. Suffice to say I enjoyed pretty much all of it. He had the kitchen bring out some cooked stuff, too. Most of it was good. Some of it had a tad too much garlic for my tastes, but most of it was rather enjoyable. I liked the fish the best. I sat there for much longer than I expected. Flirting lightly with the bartender and eating whatever they decided to serve me.

I usually don't like going out alone, especially without a book, but I had a good time. Which helped. Eventually, I asked for my check and he went and got it. I rummaged through my purse, hoping I actually had money. That would be embarrassing. He returned to me with the check. It was for much less than I expected. I smiled brightly. I put two twenties on it hand handed it to him.

"Thanks," I said. He smiled a bit at me and took the money and the check.

"Need change?" he asked.

"No, it's yours."

"Thank you. Come back soon," he said, smiling a bit himself. I nodded and made my way to the exit. It was then I noticed that the sun had long since set. I had to take out my phone to set the time. It wasn't even that late, just past six, and it was nearly pitch black. I hate daylight savings time. I remembered his warning about being out alone at night. Part of me felt I should get a cab. But it was only four blocks at the most back to his condo. It may take me just as long to find a cab as it would to walk.

Then I realized how ridiculous I was being. It wasn't even late. No one was going to mug me. I would be home in under ten minutes. I crossed my arms angrily over my chest and walked home. No one so much as looked at me in the time it took me to get home. The doorman was the first one to acknowledge my presence when he greeted me as I entered the residency.

See, Bennevolyn! Walking home at night is mostly not dangerous. Especially when it wouldn't be night if the government didn't decide we needed less daylight. I don't live in Iceland for a reason you know! I paused at that thought. Anton had said his kind was involved in a lot of random government things. I wonder if they were behind the extra hour of darkness? That would be comical. I laughed aloud thinking about that as I walked back into the condo. It was exactly as I had left it. Absolutely no signs of life during my absence. I walked around a little bit before finding the book I needed to read for class in my bag. I plopped down on the couch, turned on some inane sitcom, and started to read.

Of course I started thinking too much. And couldn't help but wonder just when his condo had turned into my home. A home that my actions caused him to flee. I bit my lip and stared down at the pages. My chest felt about a thousand times heavier than normal.

That's how I spent the rest of my evening. It was rather boring. The book wasn't particularly entertaining. One of those classics of literature that is only still relevant because it is old. It was putting me to sleep. But I got a good portion of it done by the time eleven o'clock rolled around. I didn't feel like being awake then, and he still wasn't back, so I changed back into pajamas and crawled into bed. I turned the TV in the bedroom on and watched some old movie until I fell asleep.

I don't think I slept very well. At least not very soundly. But I should thank that. Mostly because the bedroom door closing woke me. It was still dark out, but I got the feeling it was very early in the morning. I felt like I had slept for a decent amount of time at least. I sat up like a shot and saw him standing there. I knew my eyes were side. I laughed a little bit when I saw him. He looked tired. He spoke softly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I assumed you had not returned to your dormitory when I saw your school supplies were still here," he said softly. He had hung up his coat in the hallway, but he was not wearing the pajamas that he left in the night before. Instead he had on jeans and a dark green button up t-shirt. He peeled off the shirt slowly and hung it in the closet. I blinked.

"Did you want me to leave?" I asked.

"No," he replied quietly. "I just was not sure what you would do." He took off his undershirt and lazily tossed it into the laundry basket.

"Oh. Where did you go?" I asked.

"I wandered around the city until the sun came up. Then I went to the office for most of the day. Changed and caught up on some work. Then I wandered a bit more, trying to find someone to feed on. I didn't, though. Why did you read my e-mail?" He asked. I blushed and spoke quietly.

"Curiosity killed the cat?" I asked sheepishly. He laughed a little bit and I felt better.

"Oh. I am not upset. Merely curious," he said.

"Well, I was merely curious," I admitted. "And I wanted to see what Dalia said." He nodded a little bit.

"I would have probably shared it with you anyway," he explained as he took off of his pants and found some athletic shorts to slide on. "But I noticed at work that it had already been opened."

"I won't do it again," I said quietly. He laughed.

"Oh. Don't worry about it," he said. "It is unimportant." He walked over toward the bed. "Are you still mad at me?"

"I never was," I said quietly. "Are you still mad at me?" I asked. He made a face and I blinked.

"Garlic?" he asked. I paused. Was that myth true? None of the myths were really true. But well, they all seemed to have a facet of the truth in them. I stared at him.

"Yea, is that bad?" I asked. He laughed.

"No. Just a bit overpowering," he said, kissing me softly. "And I was never mad at you, either." I pulled away from the kiss, suddenly self-conscious of my breath. I slid out of the bed and ducked into the bathroom, causing him to laugh rather loudly behind me. I brushed my teeth, furiously. I wouldn't be surprised if I made my gums bleed. But my mouth felt minty fresh, so that was a plus. I walked slowly back out into the bedroom, he was laughing a little bit still.

"Hey. None of that," I said.

"You did not have to do that," he said, shaking his head and laughing a little bit.

"I know. But come over here and kiss me," I demanded. He laughed and took a step toward me and gave me a soft kiss. I returned it much more deeply. After a moment he pushed me away.

"That is a bad idea. I still have not fed. I just wanted to sleep first. I figured I would feed when you left tomorrow for class," he said, putting some distance between the two of us. I didn't care then. I'd let him. Just this once. Just to make him happy.

"Just do it," I said, softly, pressing my body to his, tilting my head to the side. He paused a little bit and leaned down, kissing my neck softly.

"Are you sure?" he whispered, his breath hot on my neck. I just nodded a little bit, making a quiet noise of approval. I closed my eyes and felt my body tense. His hands ran up my back, comfortingly. He kissed my neck a few more times and then I felt him bite me. To my surprise, there was no pain. He was right that it didn't hurt. Quite the opposite, really. It felt amazing. I moaned slightly, pressing myself to him. He sucked gently on my neck and it felt sort of like I was getting a hickey, except better. Much, much better.

When he finished he kissed my neck softly and I could almost feel the small incisions his teeth made close. I blinked. It didn't feel at all like I had given blood. I wasn't light headed. We were both panting a little bit. I stared at him and then just whispered.

"Woah. That was. I'm not sure what that was. But wow." I gasped.

"Indeed," he whispered. "Thank you, Bennevolyn. You are delicious." He smirked then and I rolled my eyes. I felt more awake than I should. I shifted a little against him and whispered.

"I want to dance again." He was silent for a moment.

"It is a little late for that. Perhaps tomorrow?" he responded. I shook my head.

"No. I want to dance now," I said, and I stepped away from him and started to dance with him. Dancing to the music in my head. It was nice. My body pressing to his. He groaned a bit and I couldn't help but be amused by that. I wanted him. I kept dancing. I lifted my arms above my head during the dance and he pulled my tank top off. I smirked and turned away from him, backing up against him. He laughed. His hands rested briefly on my hips, and then slid up my sides. He leaned back and unclasped my bra, before letting his hands slide back down my body.

I turned back to him and gave him an appraising look. I tried to make it coquettish. To make my expressions say 'that's now how you dance, Anton'. I'm not sure if it worked. But he smiled sheepishly as I slid my arms to his sides, not caring as my bra fell to the ground between us. I pressed my body to his and continued the music-less dance. He groaned as I pressed my hands to his chest and pushed him down onto the bed.

He laughed and fell onto it. Sitting up after a moment. I moved close to his lap and continued the dance. He stared up at me. His hands found my hips again. I swayed them. I spun around and continued the dance. I felt his fingers hook into my pajama shorts. I spun around again and he blushed sheepishly as I shook my head at him. I reached out and hooked my hands into his shorts. He lifted his body up as I pulled down, disregarding the rest of his clothing. He lay back on the bed, staring at me. I laughed a little bit, pausing the dance.

"That worked better than I expected," I smiled. He just laughed. Sitting up in the middle of the bed.

"Come here," he pleaded. I shook my head.

"Not yet," I said, twirling a bit and slowly resuming the dance. He moaned loudly and just stared at me. After a few more moments of dancing I shimmied out of the rest of my clothing and crawled back onto the bed. He just stared at me. Admiringly. He sat up a bit on the bed and I crawled into his lap. We kissed, and moaned, and I continued the dance. Slowly. So very slowly. Everything got more intense, more passionate, but the tempo stayed slow. I didn't speed it up at all. His hands slid all over my body, everywhere he could touch. His lips kissed everywhere he could kiss. I let him, controlling the dance, my arms around his neck. The dance continued for a very long time. We both lost ourselves. It was wonderful. Completely wonderful. I just kept moving, swaying into him and away from him, reveling in his touch, in his complete attention on me. Our eyes stayed locked, our breathing was matched. We just focused on each other. Because, for that moment, absolutely nothing else mattered.

When it was finally over he fell back onto the bed. I didn't move for a moment before curling on top of him, resting my head on his chest. His hands slid up my back and into my hair. I could tell, without seeing, that he was playing with one of the streaks. I closed my eyes and snuggled a little bit closer to him.

"Dancing is fun," he said dumbly. I laughed a little bit.

"I told you," I said softly. He continued to twirl my hair.

"Yes, you did," he said before resting his hands on my back. I sighed gently.

"Please don't just walk out again. I mean, you don't have to tell me everything that you do. But please don't just leave and not come back again," I said softly. He didn't respond for a moment.

"Okay," he said softly. I nodded a little bit against his chest and started to drift off to sleep.

I awoke the next morning to a pair of hands sliding all over my body. It was slightly unnerving. I was not sure how I felt about being felt up in my sleep. But it stopped almost as soon as I opened my eyes, and I soon had something else to think about.

"Good. You are awake now. Your phone alarm has been going off in the other room for about a half hour," he said softly, with no hint of annoyance at that. I rolled off of him, taking most of the blankets with me and groaned.

"What?" I asked. I noticed he winced then and pulled a blanket back on top of him. He held it up in a strange way, blocking the window.

"Ouch, Benne!" He said. I blinked before I realized that when I moved off of him it exposed him to the sunlight.

"I thought the sun was okay!" I exclaimed. "You said you can go out during the day!"

"I can. It still hurts though. And it is rather unpleasant when it catches me off guard!" he said. I blinked and looked at him and then just broke out laughing. "What!" he exclaimed.

"You. You're like curled up under a blanket hiding. It's adorable. Big bad Anton Tepes, ruler of Chicago! And here you are hiding from the sun. It's funny!" I kept laughing. He joined me after a minute.

"I suppose you have a point," he admitted. I nodded, still smiling. He changed that rather quickly though. "Too bad for you that you still have class in a half hour." My face fell.

"I'm never going to make it on time!" I jumped up, dropping the blankets onto the bed and ran into his bathroom to shower. I may have set a speed record in the shower, and with dressing. I was running toward the exit, determined to not be too late to class when he spoke.

"Wait a second, Lyn," he said. I paused and looked at him.

"Kind of in a hurry, Anton," I said, standing there impatiently. He looked up at me and sipped his coffee. He did like caffeine. He said it helped during the day. Perhaps vampires weren't all that different than many of us.

"Why?" He asked. I blinked.

"We just went over this. Late for class," I said.

"It is only about a fifteen minute drive, even in the worst traffic, to your campus," he said. I looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Yes, and I have to pray I don't miss the bus, then hope it doesn't take forever at the stops, and hope that I can cover the two blocks to the campus quickly," I explained as if I were talking to a four year old. He smiled.

"Or you can grab my coat and the keys to the Maserati and I can drive you to your class," he said softly. I looked at him for a moment and then smiled brightly.

"Would you?" I asked.

"Of course," he responded. "I should probably consider getting you a car, too," he said. I shook my head.

"No. That's way too much money. You're not doing that," I said sternly. He nodded.

"Then I will just have to drive you. I really don't mind," he said. Then he added, "And I do have business to take care of up in Evanston, too," he explained as I grabbed his coat and his keys and walked back to the table. He took them both from me. Standing to put his coat on, and then taking the keys and walking with me to the elevator.

"Thanks. I do appreciate it," I said as we entered the elevator and started to head for the garage. "What business do you have up in Evanston?" I asked.

"I got a tip on someone who may be aware of Larson's current whereabouts. I am going to pay him a little visit and see if I can convince him to tell me those whereabouts," Anton explained as we stepped into his car. He started it then and I was greeted by the same familiar purr of the engine. Even knowing nothing about cars I still liked that noise.

"Where did the information come from?" I asked. We had not talked about my assailants in a while. I was rather curious. I looked at him then, and he gazed back, almost appraisingly. He seemed to be thinking about whether or not I was worthy of receiving an answer to that question. I paused and added, "If I'm allowed to ask questions like that."

"You can ask. In fact, if anyone should be allowed to know, Bennevolyn, it would be you. It is just strange talking so openly about it. My information came from Dalia," he said. I nodded. Of course it did. This vampire chick seemed to be just about everywhere in his life. I didn't want to be annoyed by that, but I was.

"When did you see her?" I asked. It would have annoyed me more if he immediately ran back to her when we were fighting. If what we did could even be called a fight.

"She stopped by my office shortly after the sunset yesterday. She had remembered something about Larson that she had been trying to recall for a few days, and figured it would be best to relay that information to me in person rather than electronically," he said. I nodded a little bit.

"That's nice of her," I said. "There's really nothing between you two?" I asked quietly. He laughed.

"Nothing at all," he said. He paused for a moment. "In fact, you should probably thank her."

"Why is that?" I asked, wondering what I would have to thank the vampire for.

"She asked me about you after we discussed the bit about Larson. I told her we were having a fight. She thought that was silly and asked me to explain what we were fighting about. She called me an idiot and told me to, and these are her exact words, 'get my stupid ass back home and apologize.'" He said. I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Well you obviously didn't explain the story fully then. Why I couldn't just leave the room and not be such a baby is still beyond me," I admitted. He smiled a little bit.

"Anyway, after that she pretty much kicked me out of my office and dragged me back to the condo. I almost expected her to come up with me to make sure I handled everything properly. I came up and you had already gone to sleep. I didn't want to wake you right away so I sat around for a bit before trying to sneak into bed," He finished his little story. I smiled a bit at him.

"You know. You never really did apologize," I teased. It occurred to me that I'm not sure if I apologized, either, but I hadn't brought it up. So I was rather amused.

"You are right, Lyn, I do not believe I have," he said, as he pulled into the small parking lot on my campus, near my classroom building.

"Well are you going to?" I asked as I unfastened my seatbelt and gathered up my backpack. He just smirked at me.

"You are going to be late for class," he said. I laughed a little bit and got out of the car. But before I could close the door he spoke again. "Oh, Lyn?" I turned and looked at him.

"Yes, Anton?"

"I am sorry. I will see to it that it never happens again," he said, smiling fully at me.

"Thank you, Anton," I couldn't help but continue to laugh. I noticed other students were walking toward class and staring at me as I got out of the fancy Italian sports car. It was somewhat flattering, even if I couldn't tell if the boys were looking at me, or the car.

"Now get to class before I make you more late," he jokingly ordered. I laughed again.

"Yes sir. Good luck with your business ventures," I smiled as I spoke. It was his turn to laugh.

"Thank you," he said as I closed the door and started walking off to class. I could see other students watching the car as it drove away and I felt proud of myself. I'm not sure why I did, but I felt happy and very content. I saw two of my almost friends walking toward me and I couldn't help but smirk to myself. This was going to be one hell of a thing to explain.

Fortunately, I managed to avoid them until we walked into the classroom. Veronica sat next to me while Megan, the same Megan from Grand Lux, sat behind me. Veronica was a much closer friend than Megan. She had been my roommate before, but elected to find an apartment instead. We hadn't spent that much time together this year, though.

"Who was that?" Veronica spoke first.

"Was that the guy from the bar?" Megan asked.

"Yes," I replied as the professor walked in. I reached into my bag and took out my notebook and the books I needed for class. "His name is Anton. We're dating," I said. That sounded like such a lame term. Both girls looked slightly jealous.

"His car looked very nice," Veronica admitted. The professor started to write something on the board. He tended to do that, write random ideas on the board before class. It was slightly irritating to try to figure out where the lesson was going to go. But it gave me an excuse to postpone the conversation.

"Well we're all free for lunch after this. Let's grab a bite and I'll tell you all about it then," I said.

"Ooh. I'll invite Sara!" Megan said. I stifled a groan as the professor began to talk. I don't remember what the lecture was about. It was a required philosophy class that focused on world religions. Well, at least that's what the class description said. There was little focus on world religions. Rather more European religions, specifically Catholicism and Protestantism. I took it because the 'rate my professor' said the professor was boring but incredibly easy. So far it was proving to be correct.

I spent more time wondering whether or not Anton had some interesting stories of the religious changes of the time. I should really question him more about events in his past. I scribbled down notes as I listened to the lecture, however the notes didn't seem to have anything to do with the class. Thinking back, I probably just wrote down random words that I overheard during the class.

It occurred to me that I should be spending more time practicing dance. I'd been rather lazy with it lately. Mostly because of Anton. My routine usually had more time spent in the school's studio, mostly because it got me out of my room. But as I was spending more time with Anton that had gone away. I needed to rectify it. And what better time to rectify that then after the dance class I had after lunch? I took out my cell and craftily texted him while the lecture was going on, hiding it carefully under my desk. I'm sure the professor knew, but it was still courtesy to act like I wasn't texting, I suppose.

"I'm going to spend some more time up here for dance practice tonight. Think you could pick me up around nine?" I sent. I wasn't sure if the dropping off instituted that he would be interested in picking me up. For a moment, I felt like a spoiled child. But, he had commented that he didn't want me out alone at night. I'm not sure if sitting on the bus is quite alone. But, frankly, the thought of a fifteen minute ride home in his Maserati was much better than a half hour on a bus. When I checked my phone a few minutes later he had responded.

"Will do," was his simple response. I put my phone away then and half-listened to the rest of the lecture.

Lunch was an experience as well. Veronica and Megan made sure that I couldn't escape. Perhaps that's phrasing it too harshly. Perhaps it isn't. Megan had indeed gotten hold of Sara, who was waiting for us with a booth at a Chili's a few blocks off of campus. We shuffled into the booth. I took the seat next to Sara. A waiter came by and took our drink order before Sara spoke.

"So good to actually see you, Lyn," she said with a rather obnoxious smirk. I rolled my eyes, but I could feel the blush rising to my cheeks.

"I was in the room a few days ago when you were there," I said.

"Yes, you were, for about two hours," she said. I shrugged. "And now, if the rumors are to be believed, these two have seen the mysterious Anton."

"You have too, both that night at the bar, and when he stopped by the dorm," I said, tilting my head at her comment.

"Yes, but I had a test the next day and wasn't paying that close of attention!" she exclaimed, causing all of us to laugh a little bit. "And he was just watching you for fear you had a concussion!"

"Why would you have had a concussion?" Veronica asked.

"She was mugged," Sara commented offhandedly.

"What?" Veronica asked, gasping a little bit.

"Yes, but Anton stopped them. He took me back to his condo since I refused to go to the hospital. He wanted to make sure I was okay," I explained.

"What, is he a doctor?" Megan asked.

"Well he has a Ph. D," I responded.

"In what?" Veronica asked.

"European History," I responded with a smile.

"And what does that have to do with clarifying whether or not a concussion?" Megan asked.

"Nothing," I said. "But I'm fine. We started talking a lot more then, and he asked me out with him. We realized we rather liked each other, and I've been spending a good deal of time there ever since."

"Yes well, tell us about it!" Sara said. I blushed.

"I'm not sure it's entirely your business," I said as nicely as I possibly could.

"Oh come on! There's no reason to be shy," Sara protested. I just shook my head. Megan intervened on my behalf, perhaps sensing that Sara was being slightly overbearing.

"Or just tell us about him!" she said. I could do that.

"Well what do you want to know?" I asked.

"Well all we know is that he has a car that looks incredibly expensive. He has dark hair, and looked to be in pretty good shape," Veronica took her turn to speak.

"It's a Maserati," I said. I could tell from their expressions that that meant about as much to them as it did to me.

"Yes, whatever, we don't care about the car," Megan said.

"Well he's like you said. He's twenty-four. He's smart. He has dark hair, although it's not as dark as mine. He's in incredible shape, he usually works out after waking up," I felt sort of like I was reading a bad profile synopsis of a made up person. The last bit was true, too. I found it slightly odd. Why would he need to work out. He had just smirked when I asked and said that he did still need to keep in shape, just, like many other things, it took much more time for his muscles to deteriorate.

"What does he do?" Veronica asked.

"He works in the Wrigley building," I responded, as if that settled the matter. Unfortunately, it didn't.

"But what does he do?" Sara asked.

"I'm actually not sure. He never really explained it fully. I get the feeling he's some type of administrator," I explained. "He said it's very boring work."

"Sounds like he works for the mob," Veronica joked. I laughed with the rest of the girls. Strange, how close they were.

"Oh hardly. I think he helps people out who come to his office, with whatever it is they may need help with," I said.

"So yea, the mob," Sara said.

"Sounds more like a social worker to me," Megan commented.

"Me too," Veronica said. "And if he can afford that car perhaps I'm in the wrong field." That elicited more laughter from our table.

"He likes to read all sorts of economic publications too, he's probably really active in the stock market," I said, hoping that would provide a better excuse for however he made his money. Truth be told, I wasn't quite sure what he did to actually generate an income. I'd learned that Dalia still gave him a cut of the club's profits, but he usually donated that to some cause or another. He was strange about accepting money for things he didn't directly do. I could tell that much. I suppose that when one has been around forever they find ways to accumulate money. He had referenced being involved in all sorts of businesses. Again, I suppose that when you have an eternity you can take a gamble every now and then. What's that Kipling poem? If you can gamble everything on one toss and start afresh or something. I should pay more attention in class.

"I need to figure out how that all works," Sara said with a wistful sigh.

"Me too," Veronica agreed.

"Alright, enough. Tell us more about him," Megan interjected. I sighed.

"He's pretty normal, although a bit nocturnal. He likes sports. Seems to watch a lot of auto-racing. He's originally from Romania, but he's been here for a while," I spoke slowly, trying to think of basic ways to describe him.

"Accent?" Sara interrupted.

"No. His English is flawless. I think he speaks a few other languages, but I've never asked. Most of the books I see him reading aren't in English. He loves history and movies. You should see his movie collection, it's amazing. He also likes video games. He makes me play them from time to time. It's somewhat annoying. But, I do have to admit, an amusing way to pass the time." They weren't satisfied with my answers.

"Where does he live?" Megan asked.

"He has a condo on Michigan Avenue," I said softly. The girls gasped.

"I hate to think of how much that costs," Sara shook her head as she spoke. I knew that she was thinking of exactly how much that would cost.

"Is it nice?" Veronica asked.

"Very," I said. He has like four bedrooms. A kitchen, a few standard living areas, and a study-library."

"That sounds huge," Megan said, a look of awe in her eyes.

"Well, it is the penthouse in the Ritz Residencies," I said quietly. All three girls gasped in unison.

"You are a lucky bitch," Sara said. I smiled a little bit. It wasn't the best term, I'll admit, but I certainly felt like a lucky bitch.

"Thanks," I said with a full smile. The waiter returned and took our food order. Surprisingly, we each ordered a different salad. I was the only one who didn't ask for some part of it left off. I sipped the coke I had ordered before. I hadn't even noticed when the waiter returned with it. After a lull in the conversation Sara decided to toss all forms of nicety out.

"So, how is he in bed?" she asked. Again, I could feel the color rushing back to my face.

"That would be none of your business," I said sternly.

"I bet he's selfish," Veronica said. "All that expensive stuff he has, he probably thinks he's the center of the universe."

"No, not at all," I said softly, feeling the distinct urge to defend him.

"So you two have done it?" Sara asked. I just rolled my eyes. I decided to try to change the subject. I knew Sara was incapable of not talking about herself for too long.

"Shouldn't you be more interested in your own love life, Sara?" I asked. She frowned.

"My love life is perfectly fine, albeit a tad one sided, at the moment," she snapped. "But, we're talking about you right now."

"Really?" I asked. "What about that one boy you mentioned that one time." Yes, that was the best I could come up with. Strangely, Sara managed to gather some meaning out of it.

"Oh, Jim?" He's nice. But he is so not my type. He'll never become more than a friend, no matter how hard he tries," she said, nodding as if her word was law.

"Oh come on. He's cute, and very nice," Megan came to the boy's defense. That was interesting. Perhaps there was more to this Jim story than I had cared to learn when Sara was gushing a few nights back.

"Well if you like him so much, ask him out," Sara snapped. Megan frowned.

"When he's chasing after you like a love-sick puppy?" Megan snapped right back.

"Well you're a smart girl, you'll figure something out," Sara said, taking a sip of her lemonade.

"She does have a point, Sara. Perhaps if you would steer him a bit toward her things would work out better," Veronica said. Sara glared at her.

"Maybe they're right," I said quietly, which simply caused Sara to glare at me.

"Oh fine. I'll see what I can do," she said, sounding as annoyed as she possibly could. Our waiter took that moment to return with our food. He blushed furiously as Sara started to flirt with him almost immediately. I unrolled the napkin that held my silverware, placed it in my lap and began to slowly eat.

The conversation carried on, mostly without me. I interjected my opinion on occasion. Sara and Veronica began to argue about the cuteness of the waiter. Megan took that time to discuss our English final paper with me. Neither of us had a topic yet, so the conversation centered mostly around how impossible the entire assignment seemed, despite the fact that we both knew it wouldn't be overly difficult once we finally decided to put forth some effort.

Eventually, the check came. Sara, of course, had forgotten to bring her purse. I picked up her share of the check without commenting. A few months ago this would have really annoyed me, but I wasn't so preoccupied with that now. Megan and I got up to leave, assuming the other two would follow us. They didn't. Sara had decided she would rather focus on flirting with the waiter. We both laughed quietly and walked back out onto the chilly street.

"You have dance next, right?" Megan asked.

"Yea." I nodded. We both started to walk toward the arts center where my classes were. We were continuing Jazz dance this week. I was looking forward to it. At least more than I was for Ballet, which would be next semester. We walked about half a block in silence until I spoke again. "So you like this Jim?"

"Yea," she responded quietly. "Sara's being a bitch about it too. She flirts obsessively with him. Makes sure he doesn't look at anyone else. But has no intention of dating him or anything. She's just mean." Megan seemed very bitter about this. I had a strange idea.

"Do I know him?" I asked.

"Yea. He's the one in our English classes. Tallish, brown hair. A tad too thin, but you know," she said. I thought back a bit. I remembered him vaguely enough to put a face to him.

"Oh. I see. He seems nice. I don't think I've ever spoken more than a sentence to him," I said.

"He's very nice. Smart too. He's actually pre med, which is how he knows Sara, and just getting a minor in English because he liked the general credit class he had to take.

"Oh," I said softly. "That just sounds like the bane of Sara's existence. A future doctor who is actually interested in the humanities."

"Totally," Megan laughed.

"What are you doing this weekend?" I asked. I had an idea, although I wasn't sure if it would work.

:"I don't have anything planned. I was debating going home, but break is coming up anyway," she said.

"Well, let's ambush him tomorrow in Victorian lit," I said with a slightly devious smile. I was craftier than most people gave me credit. At least I liked to think so. "I'll start in with some story about how I'm afraid to go on a date with this guy alone. Ask you if you have someone you can make it a double with, and we'll get him to overhear and bam, white knight to the rescue!" I clapped my hands at 'bam' and laughed a little bit. Megan shook her head.

"You're silly, Lyn. Do you think that actually has a chance at working?" She asked, laughing a little bit at my enthusiasm.

"No idea. But it's worth a shot. Boys love to think they're important and helping," I said. "And if it doesn't work, then I'll just tell him the truth."

"And what would the truth be?"

"That Sara's a bitch and you want to go out on a date with him, of course," I explained in as dry of a tone as I could manage. Megan laughed and shook her head.

"You're almost as bad as she is!" she exclaimed as we approached the arts building.

"I know. It'll be fun though. And you'll like Anton."

"And he won't mind you just arranging a date out of the blue?" she asked.

"I doubt it. He's rather laid back. He'll probably insist on paying too, which is always a plus," I smirked. Megan just laughed.

"I like your hair, by the way," she said, changing the subject. No one else, barring Anton, had commented on it. I smiled a bit.

"Thanks. I use to do more stuff like it when I was younger. You should have seen the look on the stylist's face when I asked for a dark blue," I said with a laugh.

"I bet." Megan smiled. "It looks good on you. I'd never be brave enough to do something like that."

"Oh it's not about brave. If you're interested, just buy some cheap dye from like Walgreens and try it out. Just make sure it's the kind that can wash out. If you like it, try something that lasts longer," I said. That was how I started streaking my hair.

"I may," she responded . We both knew she wouldn't, but that didn't matter. We arrived at the arts building then. "Enjoy class," she said, walking off in the direction of the library.

"Thanks, I will," I said as I swiped my school ID at the door and stepped into the building.

Author's note: Thanks for reading. I appreicate it. It occured to me about halfway through this chapter that I probably should have ignored the fact that the last one would have just had 12000 words and resolved its own conflict perfectly fine. So this winds up a bit disjointed. But such is life.