Decisions Ch. 05

I was pretty much the only one with that opinion. Everybody that I went to for advice on what to do took sides to an extreme. Ricky said I should let humans attend if they wanted to, Lucy and Jazz said no, we should be able to do our own thing. Stasi saw my reasoning and agreed that while my arguments were sound, she was on the same side as Lucy and Jazz, but she'd support me with whatever decision I made because she loved me. My mom told me that it was my own choice to make and my dad agreed with her. Secretly, however, he told me to to just let 'God take the wheel', flip a coin, and go off that.

My dad's decision-making process was eerily similar to my own 'Screw it, let's do it.' impulsiveness.

"Chris?" Lucy prodded. "We have to make a judgement and submit it to Ms. Euthixie by tomorrow."

"I know, I know." I said irritably. I continued to pace the room, before sighing. "I need to clear my head. Can I go get a glass of water?"

"Sure. Want me to come with?"

"No, it's fine. Where do I go?"

"Kitchen. My mom can show you."

"Sweet. I'll be back." I said, heading for the door. Lucy nodded and went back to examining her notebook. I left her room, softly closing the door behind me. I padded down the wide hall, walking into the living room and entering the kitchen. Stephanie looked up from the table as she entered.

"Hello, Chris." She said, her lips upturning in a smile. "Heading home already?"

"No, unfortunately not, Ms. Bohannon. I still have some stuff to do with Lucy. I'll be out of your hair soon, though." Stephanie blinked all eight of her eyes. I wondered how spiders wore glasses.

"Oh, don't you worry bout a thing, honey." She said. "What can I do for you?"

"I was just hoping to clear my head and get a glass of water." I replied.

Stephanie pointed to one of the cabinets and stood up. I waved my arms, gesturing for her to sit back down. "Please, let me." I said. I crossed the kitchen, opening up the cabinet and pulling out a glass. As I was filling it up from the tap at the sink, Stephanie spoke.

"So, what are you two working on, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Huh? Oh." I turned around from my examination of the wall, looking at Stephanie. "We're working on the Fall Carnival." I felt the water overfill the glass as I wasn't looking, dripping onto my hand. "Oh damn." I muttered, shutting off the tap and taking a cautious sip of water over the sink so I didn't spill any.

"The Fall Carnival? Oh, that's right. Lucy told me about that. She told me about the dilemma that you two were facing. Have you made your judgement yet?"

I shook my head, sighing tiredly. I could feel a migraine come on because I was thinking too much about a single thing. I was always 'Do First, Ask Questions Later.' I left all the thinking to Stasi. "No, I'm still trying to decide. I don't know why such a small detail is becoming such a big deal."

Stephanie smiled softly. "Small things can become a big deal. It's all based on perspective. Like when a young man who had everything in his previous school decided to transfer to an all-monsters school to be with his friends, a label that I'm glad is attached to my daughter. To someone in say... China. They wouldn't care. But here in this city? It's big. It's not only big, but it's a great thing, what you did, you know." She drummed her fingers on the countertop. "If you don't mind me asking, would you like my opinion on what to do?"

I nodded, utterly enraptured with what she had to say. Not only did she look so uncannily like Lucy, with the same silver hair and stormy grey eyes, but it appeared that she was going to be an advice giver as well, just like her daughter.

"You should follow your heart, Chris. It seems to be the only thing in this world that knows what it's doing. After all, wasn't it your heart that told you to follow that vampire that you have a cute relationship with? What was her name... Anna?"

My cheeks burning, I nodded. "Yes.. Stasi... I mean, Anna. You're right, it was my heart that told me to follow her, and it was a great decision." I drained my glass, setting it in the sink. "Thank you for the advice, Ms. Bohannon. I'll get back to Lucy now. She's probably wondering where I am."

"You're welcome, Chris. I'll see you next week at the Fall Carnival."

I nodded, leaving the kitchen. As I was walking back, I was thinking on what Stephanie had said. Follow your heart. What did my heart say to do? My heart told me to let everybody attend, but my brain said that was stupid. It only took one moron to ruin everything. But, Stephanie told me to follow my heart, not my brain.

"Screw it." I said, walking into Lucy's room. "Let's do it. Humans are allowed."

Chapter 2.5:

We spent the next thirty minutes finishing up everything. The bulk of the security would be focused on keeping any protestors out, and a handful of officers, as many as we could spare, would patrol the interior of the event. Even though we didn't expect a lot of volunteers from our local precinct, it was probably enough of a measure to prevent things from turning into a full-blown riot.

Say what you want, but I was secretly hoping that there was going to be a riot or a brawl. Sure they weren't good, but I've never been in one and they looked like absolute blasts. Don't judge me.

After saying goodnight to Lucy and Stephanie, declining their invitation for dinner, I left the apartment, taking the elevator down. As the elevator doors dinged open, I exited the decrepit lobby, walking out into the cold November air. It was already dark out and the street looked a bit... sketchy.

I glanced around the street, looking for... there it is. I put my hand in front of my face, covering it up from the blinding light radiating from the LED headlights of Stasi's car.

I waved at the tinted windshield, walking over to the passenger door. The door clicked, unlocking, and I opened it.

"Hey, zayka." Stasi said warmly. I threw my backpack into the backseat. I climbed into the car, leaning in and giving Stasi a deep kiss. "Hey back, Stasi." I breathed once I broke it and closed the door.

"Even though I last saw you not even a few hours ago, I missed you, lyubov." Stasi murmured in her soft accent. I felt the same way she did. Anyone else would've called Stasi and I clingy, but I liked to say we were just in love. I turned to get a good look at her. Her raven hair was all over the place and she was wearing her pajamas, her sweats and a t-shirt. Her fangs were prominent.

She probably just woke up from a nap and never looked more beautiful.

Stasi put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb, heading back to her house. We drove in silence for a few minutes before she finally peeked at me from her spot. "You're awfully quiet. How was it?"

"I'm just a bit tired and how was what?"

"The planning for the carnival. Did you guys reach a decision on the human-or-no-humans thing?" She was always the one prodding me to make a judgement on the issue.

"Yeah, we did." I said.

"Well..." Stasi stopped at a red light. She turned her head to look at me. "Are you going to tell me?"

"We decided to allow humans to attend the event if they want to." I mumbled, looking out the window at the buildings. The light turned green and off we went again.

"Really?" Stasi glanced at me worriedly. Even though I was looking in the other direction, I could feel her crystal blue eyes boring into the back of my head. I turned my head away from the window, and sure enough, Stasi was peering back at me. "Do you think that was a smart choice, Chris?"

"I don't know if it was or wasn't. But I felt like it was the right choice."

"Are you sure you weren't being impulsive, lyubov? I mean, when have humans ever done anything good for monsters? All they do is discriminate us, persecute us, and segregate us." Impatience began bubbling in my stomach like lava.

"I'm human." I said stubbornly. "I haven't done any of those things."

"You know what I mean, Chris. Most humans, excluding you and your family, haven't done anything good for us. We should be able to do our own thing. All it takes is one idiot to ruin everything. You told me yourself that..."

"I know what I said!" I snapped rather loudly. I had no idea where my tone had came from, but I was raring for an argument. She said she'd support me through any decision I made, so why was she going against me now?

My voice had shocked the both of us, silence overtaking the car. As soon as Stasi's Mercedes came to a stop at another red light, Stasi turned her head sharply at me, her beautiful crystal blue eyes narrowing.

Anyone else, I would've expected a tongue lashing for yelling, a dressing down, a scolding, or a... god forbid, full-blown argument complete with fangs and screaming. But, anyone else certainly wasn't Stasi. Anyone else wasn't my best friend who saw me through my highs and my lows. We rarely ever fought and Stasi would've walked to hell and back rather than fight about something as trivial as this. So when Stasi finally finished her visual examination, she spoke, her voice as soft as it was when the first day I met her.

Four simple words that were enough to take any will to fight out of me. It actually wasn't the words that took away the fight, it was the loving and comforting tone.

"Are you ok, Chris?"

I looked at her, deflated, any want of letting some pent-up anger out vanishing. Why was I getting mad at her? She did absolutely nothing wrong and I was taking it out on her.

"Yes, I'm ok, Stasi. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just tired. I haven't eaten lunch yet and it's almost dinner, so I'm hungry. I'm worked up from today too. I just want to spend time with my beautiful girlfriend without worrying about anything; the carnival, school, college applications, the DTOSA."

"So you're hangry?" She asked, after a moment of silence.

"I'm... wait... what?"

"Hangry."

"Repeating the word isn't going to make me automatically know the definition."

Stasi giggled. "It's like being angry as a result of being hungry. Look it up, it's an actual word. I'll accept your apology if you tell me you're hangry."

"Well in my case, I think it's..." Ok, let's do some basic word inventing. I was tired... hungry... frustrated... worried... Tfw-hangry? Could I even pronounce that?

"I know, don't worry. Apology accepted." Stasi laughed. She reached over with my right hand, gently massaging my neck with her pleasantly cold fingers. "Tell you what, I'll drive home so you can get some food in you since you're so 'hangry', and then we can just relax for the rest of the day. I promise I won't mention anything that remotely has to do with school, work, or the DTOSA. It'll be just the two of us... or maybe Elena and Viktor if they want to third wheel." Stasi made a face.

"Deal." I said. "Thanks, Stasi. I feel better already."

"No problem, zayka. Anything to make you feel better." Stasi gave me a kiss on the cheek, leaning over the center console.

The car honked behind us, making us realize that the light was green for about ten seconds already. Slightly embarrassed, Stasi started driving again, heading back to her house. As soon as we pulled up onto her driveway, without her breaking any more traffic laws, we exited her car, interlocked fingers, and walked into her house through the garage.

My parents were already here. I could see our car parked to the side of the road down the street.

"Mama, papa. We're home." Stasi called out as soon as we walked into the house and into the living room.

"Hello, you two." My mom said. She was sitting on the loveseat next to my dad, both of them were talking to Anton and Yulia. "You guys are home early. We weren't expecting you guys until eight at least."

"Chris finished early, Mrs. Williams." Stasi said, politely.

"Haven't I told you to call me Susan?" My mom asked brightly. "And of course he did. Always going off on his gut."

"Yes... sorry Mr-... I mean, Susan." Stasi said, slightly flustered. She never did catch on to calling my parents by their first names, especially my mom. It was always Mr. and Mrs. Williams, just like how I called Anton 'sir', all the time. "I'm sure going off your gut isn't such a bad thing."

"It certainly has it's merits and detriments." Yulia said. "But thinking too much isn't exactly a good alternative either."

Stasi blushed furiously. She always had a problem with what Anton coined as 'paralysis by analysis'. She thought and overanalyzed everything, never acting and making her decision until it was far too late. "Yes, mama." Stasi mumbled, meekly.

"Don't be so mrachnyy, Anna. We are simply just teasing and admiring the fact that you two balance each other out. It's good to have you help Chris think more and it's good to have him push you along when you need it. It's also good that the two of you are home early. That means dinner will be ready faster." Anton laughed in his boisterous Russian accent. "We were getting mighty hungry."

My ears perked up at the thought of food, especially Yulia's food. I had a one track mind. "What time will dinner be ready, Anton?"

Anton looked at Yulia, who looked at the grandfather clock. "In around... 10 minutes?" She guessed. "We are not sure. Why don't the two of you go upstairs and relax for a little bit? We know how awfully boring it must be for the you two to stand around and do nothing. We'll call you down when dinner's ready."

"Yes, let the old, boring grown ups talk." My dad added, laughing. "You two go have your fun and plan your wedding." He yelped in pain when my mom elbowed him softly in the ribs.

"He's only teasing." My mom said, hastily.

The both of our faces were as red as tomatoes. Stasi nodded, taking hold of my hand to drag me upstairs. "Spasibo, mama, Susan. Come on, zayka." Both of our moms sighed in happiness when they saw our interlocked fingers. I swear, they were already planning the wedding. I waved over my shoulder to my parents, happily following Stasi. It wasn't often that we got a respite from being forced to sit in the living room with our parents, and we were happy to get some decompression time.

Stasi led me upstairs, past Elena's and Viktor's room and to her room. As soon as she opened the door, she flicked on the light, crossed the bedroom, and plopped down on the bed face first, sighing in relief. She patted the spot next to her, gesturing for me to lay down. I followed after her, plunking myself onto her soft bed. "That's better." I sighed into her pillow.

"Mhm..."

"I could stay here all day."

"Mhm..."

"And be with you all day..."

"Mhm..."

"Are you just going to say 'Mhm' for everything I say?"

"Mhm..."

I laughed and turned my head, finding her gazing at me intently, propped up on her elbow, her long and lustrous hair creating a curtain of midnight in front of her crystal eyes. I realized that she was awfully close to me, so close in fact, that the hair on the front of her face was tickling my nose. So much, in fact, that I thought I was going to sneeze... on my girlfriend's face. Not one to accidentally sneeze on people's faces, I brushed her hair out of the way, stretching my neck and kissing her deeply on the lips. She sighed, her hand stroking my cheek.

"Lay back." She breathed. Not one to disobey orders, I leaned back on the bed, looking up at her. She brought her hand down from my cheek, snaking it around to work the tissues of my neck.

"So... our wedding." I began mischievously.

Stasi bopped me with the palm of her hand, laughing. "Don't even say anything about that, zayka. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it... but if we do get to that bridge, and trust me, we're going to get to that bridge whether you like it or not, you best believe that I'm going to plan the whole thing."

"Mmk.." I chuckled into the pillow, grunting as her fingers worked at a particularly tense spot. "You're the better plann-.. Ough, that's a fat knot."

"Ease up." She remarked, poking at the muscle knot. "Your neck is super tense."

"Long day." I breathed. Between juggling school, leadership, sports, extracurriculars, and trying to get an appointment to talk with a Monster Rights Activist group, it'd make anyone's shoulders as tense as steel.

"I know it has been, lyubov, but you should relax more..." She gave me a naughty grin, her tone adopting a sultry whisper. "You know, if our parents weren't here, we'd probably find a better way to relieve all this pent up tension, but you'll just have to deal with this now."

I groaned, making her giggle in delight. The sexual innuendo was not helping! Stasi was as insatiable as I was, sometimes. "I love those reactions you make when I say these things. I can watch them all day. Now, get on your belly over so I can massage your back."

I rolled over onto my stomach, turning my head to the side so I could breath. I jumped slightly in shock when I felt Stasi's cold hands roll up the back of my T-Shirt. Whenever she touched me, it was like electricity had passed between us.

The mattress squeaked as Stasi came to a kneeling position, using her hands to work and knead the muscles on my shoulders and back, paying careful attention to working out the knots. I groaned in pleasure. The way her cold hands touched my skin was delightfully pleasant.

She was good at this. Really good at this. There was a big reason why she was so good at this. She just had an abundance of practice, like when I always came over to her house after coming home from sports and I complained of sore muscles. Of course, the massages tapered off when things started to get a bit awkward... (like when I realized I was in love with her), but I was glad they were back.

"Remember when you were as skinny as a stick?" Stasi laughed, her fingers squeezing a little harder into my skin, making me groan again.

"I'm still a bit skinny as a stick." I replied. "Oh, that feels so good."

Stasi snickered. "Yeah, but..." She brought her face down to my ear so she was whispering directly into it. Her wonderful breasts scraped against my back and her extended fangs, signifying she was either ready to feed or just emotionally charged, nipped at my ear. It was probably the latter, as she wasn't supposed to feed for a few more days, at the least. That, combined with her hot breath and raspy voice sent electricity down my spine. "You're more muscular now. You filled out great. I told you the weight room would pa-... oh damn it."

A door opened noisely in the hallway. Damn, it looks like our free time was up. Elena was on her way. When Elena walked in on Stasi and I making out a month ago, we made her promise she'd give us five minutes of grace to get settled before she ran to Stasi's room to greet us.

Stasi groaned and fell to the side on her back, looking up at the ceiling, absolutely miffed that our intimate time was snatched from us again. "Vot tak." Stasi mumbled in Russian.

"It's not that bad." I smiled, closed my eyes and envisioned a doomsday timer in my head: 5, 4, 3, 2-

"Your time is up, ready or not, you're about to see wassup!" Came from the hallway. Not a half second later, Elena poked her head into the how-could-we-leave-this-open door. "Honey, I'm home!" She sang out. It was just like clockwork. Even though I wanted to relax and enjoy my time with Stasi, you couldn't say that I wasn't looking forward to seeing Elena! The little blonde ball of vampiric energy could put a smile on anyone's face.

Like now.

She bounded into the room and sat down on Stasi's desk chair. She grinned like a cheshire cat, her fangs extended. "Hullo, guys!"

"Hey, Elena." I replied. "How was soccer?"

"It was great! I forgot to tell you when you picked me up, Anna, but I'm glad the both of you are here because I have something to say." She paused, as if to make a dramatic announcement. "Coach is making me the starter on the soccer team! I finally got over that stupid succubus bint."