“Oh, thank God.”
I shot a narrow-eyed stare over my shoulder, where I found Vlad perched at the dining-room table, eyebrows raised over the top of his open laptop screen. “That ice-cream girl was giving me a toothache.”
I pointed my spoon at him. “When did you get here?”
Vlad gave me his disenfranchised-youth grunt. “I’ve been here.”
God, I hated that supersilent vampire thing.
“I’m buying you a bell,” I said.
Nina raked a hand through her glossy black hair and gave me a parental “I’m not angry, just disappointed” look. “Did you forget what today is?” she asked.
I shifted my cereal bowl, chasing a slew of marshmallows with my spoon. I took a heaping bite. “It’s Saturday.”
Nina looked at me expectantly.
“Saturday, the seventeenth?” I asked. “Wait, did I forget our anniversary?” I chuckled, then choked on a particularly substantial marshmallow.
Nina’s face remained stony. “It’s Saturday, the seventeenth, and my beau—and possible future afterlife mate—”
I raised my eyebrows at her, and Nina waved a hand.
“No one lives forever, Soph.” She stuck out a fat lower lip. “Harley is reading from his book today, and you promised you’d be there. You promised you’d come and support me.”
“I did?”
Nina nodded. “You did.”
“I don’t remember that.”
Nina shoved a single suede pump underneath one of my butt cheeks. “You were just about to get in the shower and wear that cute cashmere twinset that I bought for you, right?”
She bared a fang, and I snarled.
“You don’t scare me, Nina.”
She bared another fang, and I lumbered off the couch, shoving a final enormous scoop of the cereal into my mouth, watching in dismay as a shower of crumbs slid from my lap/dining tray. I turned around quickly, fairly sure my blush was visible from the back of my head, too.
“And hurry up! I told Harley we’d be there early to help him set up!”
After the shortest shower in the history of man or vampire, I shimmied into my birthday twinset and a pair of regular jeans, which had somehow turned into skinny jeans. (Maybe I should give up donuts and marshmallow pinwheels?) I was yanking on a sock and fumbling for a pair of boots that matched each other, when Nina came in and silently glared at me, hands on hips, lips pursed.
Though she was my best friend, and by far the most gentle pointy-toothed afterlifer I’d ever met, there is just something about a vampire staring you down that sends shivers up the spine, and made me suddenly have to pee.
I didn’t dare.
Instead, I pasted on a smile and beelined for my shoulder bag. “Ready to go!” I sang.
“In the car!” Nina bellowed.
Nina and I hurried toward the door, but Vlad stayed put. His dark eyes were intent on his computer screen; its light reflected eerily off his pale features. A series of gunshots, screams, and something that sounded squishy exploded from the computer’s speakers. He grinned.
“Shut it, Vlad. We’re going.”
Vlad looked over his screen, and Nina pointed a finger at him. “And don’t even think about protesting this one.”
Vlad rolled his eyes and clicked his laptop shut, grumbling and sighing the whole time.
Note to self: Find teenaged vampire summer camp. Stat.
I was waiting for Nina to grab Vlad by the ear, but she didn’t. We both went out behind Nina, who marched purposefully down the hall. Will popped his head out as we passed his door.
“What’s going on here?”
“We’re going to see Nina’s new boyfriend,” I whispered. “Shh, she’s scary.”
Vlad must have heard my whisper because he spun around. He and Will shared one of those exceptionally manly head nods—you know, the one that basically says, “Hey, dude, I see you and acknowledge you without showing any actual emotion.”
“You’re all going?” Will asked.
My left eye twitched and I dropped my voice to a barely audible whisper. “Nina’s making us.”
Will grinned; then he disappeared into his apartment and returned a millisecond later, sliding a red Adidas jacket over his football jersey. “Then she won’t mind me coming along.”
We made it down to Java Script with the minimum of issues, and with my spine almost completely intact. The four of us huddled and squirmed in Nina’s Lexus as she vaulted through intersections. Her pale hand blared the horn as she yelled out admonishments and quirky warnings about tearing out people’s throats.
“She’s charming,” Will said, his smile hinting on crazy.
“Shh,” I hissed. “She can hear you.”
Nina slammed on the brakes and we all catapulted toward the dashboard, where my heart now rested. She turned to us and batted her lashes. “Okay, guys, listen up. Harley is a professional, and there are going to be all sorts of media types and likely some other big-name writers. These will be my peers.”