I’m heading over to Dante’s house. He called the other day and asked me on a date, but I was right in the middle of weeding the garden, so I declined.
But as soon as he hung up, I started thinking about him. I wonder what his lips tasted like. What’s it like to kiss a vampire? Will he use his fangs? I can’t get him out of my mind.
So when he called up this afternoon to ask me to hang out at his house, I said yes immediately.
I don’t care that it’s pouring down rain. I’ve got my lucky rain boots on.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” I confess.
“I was worrying over spilled juice,” he says.
“You mean spilled milk?”
“Ugh. I hate milk.”
“I, uh, I. Um, thank you for inviting me over. I. I think I like you,” I blurt out.
He laughs.
“I usually only invite over people I like. So. Yeah. There’s that.”
Shadow, Dante’s cat, began to meow.
Shadow is trying to tell you something. Pay attention.
I feel a little freaked out that Dante is an actual vampire, but at the same time, I really like him. I don’t want to be prejudiced. What do I know of vampires? Only stereotypes. Here’s my chance to actually get to know one!
I realize I can actually do it, this thing I’ve been obsessively thinking about. Dante is right here. The mood is right…
“Dante,” I say.
“Yes?”
“This,” I say, and I kiss him. It’s a fast kiss, really just a brush of the lips, but it fills me up.
He gazes at me, and his eyes, those golden slits of eyes, look tender.
Shadow begins meowing, and Dante heads upstairs for a moment.
I find the kitty treats and feed Shadow. Maybe one day, I dare to think, Shadow might be my cat, too!
I spend the rest of the afternoon there. I head home in time to be there when Chauncy gets home from work. It’s my turn to make supper for the household.
Doreen Caliente drops by shortly after I arrive.
“What’s new?” she asks.
I show her this cute rubber duckie I picked up for a song, and she starts laughing at it.
“Look!” she says. “Its lips look like this!”
Doreen’s duck-lips haul me out of the romantic reverie I’d been in since my first kiss.
“Oh, good. You’re here,” says Chauncey. “Look, we got a place, me and Jin. We paid first, last, and a deposit. We’re moving.”
“Really? When?”
“Now.”
And just like that, I’ve got my home to myself again. When I think of the things I want to do with Dante, I realize that the timing couldn’t be better.
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 