Just Making Sure

[daniel_stacy]

Daniel’s knuckles tapped on the apartment door. With his hands in his pockets, he waited. He began to casually study the paint on the door frame, all the while hoping he didn’t look misshapen through the peep hole. Wait… what if he hadn’t knocked loud enough? Should he knock again? But if the first time had been loud enough, wouldn’t that seem obnoxiously impatient? Like the physical equivalent of shouting, ‘I know you’re in there, now open the door!’

He opted to shuffle uncomfortably and scratch his stubble.

He hadn’t tried Holly’s apartment in ages. It was the most obvious place to look for her, but he didn’t want to be pushy. He just wanted to make sure she was alright. If she was, great! They could hang out or he could hop the stairs and walk back into the night, assured that she had a pulse. The afterlife was good.

He coughed for no real reason.

Comments

[holiday_pirner]

Holly had been in the middle of a lifestyle change. That's what she liked to think of it as. The first step was a complete overhaul of her home decor scheme. That meant making her apartment look as if someone actually lived there.

The brunette paused when she heard the knock, setting a lamp down on the carpeted floor. It was probably the deliverymen with her new sofa. She swung open the door, prepared to do some ordering around, when she caught sight of the vampire.

"Hey."

Holly had forgotten how welcome a sight he was, and instantly felt the unpleasant warmth of guilt creep up the back of her neck. "Do you want to come inside?"

[daniel_stacy]

He blinked. “Whoa.” He froze for a second, but then Daniel’s fingers traveled from his jaw to the back of his head, where he messed with his hair. “I uh… I didn’t expect you to answer.” He laughed because he didn’t know what else to do. “But yeah. Sure.” He stepped over the threshold – why did he always wonder if it would work? – and into Holly’s apartment.

Once inside, he looked her over again, just making sure this wasn’t a high octane hallucination. Nope. Actual Holly stood right in front of him.

[holiday_pirner]

"I've been back a few days."

Holly closed the door, then leaned against it. "I know I haven't been the most...communicative." She glanced up at him. Same electric blue eyes, same artfully tousled hair.

"I went home. My old home." The brunette managed a smile. "I've decided to move here. For good."

[daniel_stacy]

“Really? Great. Um…” He frowned in confusion at himself because he wasn’t sure which part was great, her getting a chance to go home or deciding to move to Vegas. Probably both. He looked around for a place to perch but she didn’t have a couch, so he crossed his arms.

“It’s okay. About the communication. You don’t owe me anything.” He reconsidered. “Well, I was worried, but after a couple weeks of checking in with morgues, I figured you were alright.” He smiled. He wasn’t trying to be passive aggressive so much as making fun of himself for being That Guy who actually called morgues. “By the way, that is weird, like… hey, I’m going to describe this body to you, do you have it in stock?”

[holiday_pirner]

She led Daniel to the dining area, which also happened to be the kitchen. She had a small table there with two chairs. "You checked for me in morgues?" Holly felt oddly flattered, then wondered what that said about her. Then she remembered she was conversing with a vampire.

"Did you get any false leads, like in movies? You know, you come in to identify a girl and it turns out not to be me. But first, you only get the dramatic shot of a toe."

[daniel_stacy]

“No. Apparently there was a run on blondes this year. You’re in luck.” He collapsed into a chair and looked around at her collection of stuff, which was pretty small. Damn. He thought his place was Spartan. “Also – and this I learned by trial and error – you can’t just walk into a morgue and ask to look at the bodies. They frown on that. You have to file a missing persons report or get a phone call from the police first. I guess that makes sense.”

He rested his arms on the tabletop. He was wearing a hoody, which was the kind of wardrobe faux pas a new vampire sometimes made. Nobody in their right mind would have on a hoody in Vegas in April, unless they had a raging case of anemia.

[holiday_pirner]

"Must be the warm weather." Holly shrugged and took the seat across from the vampire. "They probably thought you were into dead girls." That was too ironic to even comment on.

"But I've decided not to be that way anymore. You know, just disappearing. Never really settling anywhere. Things like that." The brunette exhaled, the puff of air making a few strands of hair sway. "Old habits are hard to break."

[daniel_stacy]

Daniel started laughing. He rubbed his palms over his face. "I'm sorry." He sniffed and his eyes were watery. "I just realized I' ve never been into a dead girl. I think I'm doing this whole thing wrong." He returned his hands to the table., but he chuckled again, and part of it was knowing he didn't drink human blood either.

[holiday_pirner]

Holly smirked, and was secretly pleased that she made the vampire laugh.

"Do you want something to drink? I have soda, wine, and a few beers, I think." She stood and crossed the small space to the quietly humming fridge in the corner.

[daniel_stacy]

“A beer would be great.” He sat up straighter and wiped his palms on his jeans. He tried to decide on his next line of conversation. Should he tell her he ran into Julianna? Saw an alien? Got in a fist fight with his sire? There was a lot to catch up on. But to just plop down in someone’s house and start running your mouth… Wasn’t that rude or something?

So he opted for, “What was England like?”

Sitting was overrated. He got up and started looking at whatever she’d unpacked. Music, accessories, eyeliner - the truly critical stuff. While he walked, Daniel chewed on a hoody string.

[holiday_pirner]

She removed a bottle, examined the label for a moment, then handed it to Daniel. She watched his eyes as he scanned her surroundings. This was an entirely new experience for her.

"England was...exactly the way I remembered it, but emptier somehow," Holly replied carefully. "After finding out what exactly went down, I've lost my taste for it."

The brunette shrugged. "I like it better here anyway. The weather, the nightlife. Almost being killed. Already feels more like home than London ever did."

[daniel_stacy]

“Eh, being killed isn’t so bad.” Daniel took the beer and popped the cap. “Do you want to talk about it? What went down?” He was interested but he also knew Holly preferred turning the conversation to others. Should he push?

He took a sip and watched her over the glint of gold-brown. Holly looked just the same, pretty and sharp-featured. Daniel’s eyes automatically went to her neck and he checked himself, feeling as guilty as a guy who’d gotten busted staring at a woman’s cleavage. He wasn’t sure if he was looking to make sure she hadn’t been bitten or because he wanted to do the biting.