Decisions Ch. 08

Elena poked her head out from behind Stasi. "Yeah, a date. Not the fruit. A date. You know, when two people really like each other and they-..."

"I know what a date is!" She blurted. "I'm just... why didn't you text me so I could get ready?"

"I wanted to surprise you. I wanted to take you out because you deserve it." I answered.

"Where are we even going?"

"Somewhere. It's a secret. Now hurry up and get ready, please... even though you already look beautiful enough."

*****

"I can't believe you sometimes." Stasi said, positively bouncing in her seat. "How come you always surprise me with something amazing when I'm feeling crappy?"

"I guess I just have this weird telepathy thing with you." I replied, smiling.

Weird telepathy thing. Although we did have some sort of weird telepathy thing going on sometimes, when I could know what she was thinking by glancing at the expression on her face, that wasn't it. Right now, it was all Elena. Elena was my informant when it came to stuff like this. Even though Stasi and I had been inseparable since we were little kids and the love of my life since the beginning of the school year, I was still discovering new things about her every day, like restaurants she wanted to try, food she always wanted to eat, cool stuff she learned on the internet. The works.

"I'm so lucky to have you in my life." She said, putting her cold hand on my jaw and kissing me on the cheek. "God, I love you so, so much."

"I love you, too." I sighed, looking at her once I stopped at a red light. "I'm not sure how I got so lucky to have you either. I'm loud and pushy and obnoxious sometimes. You're beautiful, smart, witty, and amazing. Why would you ever want someone like me?"

"Chris," Stasi said, furiously. "Don't ever say that. You're perfect. You're perfect for me. You're generous, you're kind, you make everybody around you laugh. You give me your blood, you're everything I could ever ask for. You're perfect, you hear me?"

"You're uh... you're perfect too." I said, tentatively, looking at her. Even though it normally took a really long time for her to get ready, she only took minutes now. She looked beautiful, with her done up raven hair, jeans, white blouse, sunglasses, cream colored scarf, and excessive sunscreen. "You look amazing."

"You don't look so half bad yourself." She murmured. "But something is off."

"What?" I asked, alarmed.

"Something..." She leaned her head into my neck, her hot breath making me shiver. Thinking she was about to kiss me or suck on the skin, I tilted my head to the left ever so slightly. Imagine my surprise when she just sniffed my neck, making me gasp in surprise. She sniffed again and again, taking deep inhales. "Old Spice? You're using Old Spice?"

"Yeah, I am. It smells good,doesn't it?"

"Why are you using Old Spice?" She asked, raising her delicate eyebrow.

"You said that Axe gave you headaches," I said, defensively. "Remember?"

"Yes, I remember. But, you switched deodorants for me?" She asked, her face splitting into a fangy grin.

"First of all, it's actually body wash and yes, I did switch for you. I'd do anything for you, you know that." I replied, my face burning.

"I'd do anything for you, too." She breathed, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. I loved it when she blushed. It was easy for her to do that now that she fed and had her fill. Our last feed session last weekend went well. We experimented and instead of from the jugular, we tried the wrist. It took away the sense of helplessness that I had, being able to watch her in front of me. "Anything. Just say the word, and I'll do it."

"Even if it was my homework?" I chuckled.

"Yeaaaaaa-... no. That I would not do. You can do your own homework." She giggled, settling back in her seat as the car started moving. She hummed along to the radio, before turning back to me once I hopped on the freeway. "Papa wanted me to tell you that he's really proud of you, you know."

"Huh?"

"For what you did with the kids. He said it was the nicest thing he ever saw on TV in a while. Granted, it was only local. But it's a start. I'm proud of you, lyubov."

"I'm proud of you, too." I replied, focusing on my driving. Saturday afternoon traffic in San Francisco was abysmal. It was a good thing I was driving and Stasi wasn't. She had some serious road rage that was prone to screaming and swearing in Russian whenever she was cut off or in some serious traffic.

It was a while before we spoke, the both of us simply focusing on what was going on around us and sneaking adorable peeks at each other. However, when we got close to our destination, Stasi spoke first. A tentative, restrained voice bubbling with excitement.

"Lyubov? Where are you taking us?"

"What restaurant did you always want to have for dinner?" I asked.

"No!" She gasped. "You're taking us there?"

"Uh huh. We're going to Frances." I declared, wincing internally when I said Frances. Frances was one of the best restaurants in the city. It wasn't high-class. It was actually super compact and small, with some hard-to-get tables. It was expensive too, but it was all worth it, because it was for the woman I loved. Besides, I heard the food was good.

"No way." Stasi squealed.

"Yes way." I replied. She gave a cry and leaned over the center console, grabbing ahold of my head and giving me a kiss on the cheek, a pretty dangerous thing to do in a moving vehicle. But, since we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic... I'll let it slide. The reason Stasi and I were so excited is because we never went to five-star restaurants when we went on dates. Rather, we spent hours combing through the city, looking for the best hole-in-the-wall restaurants to eat at. We were firm believers that it was the 'ghetto' places that served the best food.

But hey, we liked to spoil ourselves.

Finally, after creeping forward for another mile, traffic began to lighten up and we were on our way. It only took us ten minutes to get to Frances and find parking. While that was happening, Stasi was absolutely beside herself, smiling widely and squeezing my hand tightly.

God, I loved her so much.

"Alright, we're here." I said, turning to Stasi. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just... U vas yest' chto-to na vashikh gubakh." She replied, shyly.

"I do?" I asked, reaching up to brush whatever I had on my lips. "I don't have anything on my lips."

"Yep. You do." She leaned forward and took ahold of my hand with her cold one, pulling it away from my face. She ended up giving me a kiss that turned my brain into a puddle. When she finally broke it off, the both of us were tinged pink and breathing rather heavily. "There... I think I got it."

"You sure?" I breathed.

"Not really. I'll have to check in every once in awhile."

"Wouldn't have it any other way. Shall we enter the restaurant, Ms. Anastasia Sokolov?"

"We shall, Mr. Christopher Williams." She giggled, exposing her fangs.

I let go of her freezing cold hand, regretfully. Maybe I was being a little too clingy... we were right next to each other and I was still feeling as if that wasn't close enough. I loved this girl with every fiber of my being so much that being away from her made me miserable. It made my heart wrench to have her away from m-... oh hey, we're holding hands again.

It was like we were a normal couple out for dinner. A couple where me being human and Stasi being a vampire didn't matter. No DTOSA, no racial tensions. Just a normal couple in love with each other.

We walked away from the car and onto the sidewalk, simply pressed against each other. There was no city quite like San Francisco, with it's unique architecture and location. I loved this city so much. Even with all the problems, it was my city. It was our city.

I opened the door for her once we arrived at the restaurant, letting her enter in first and warm up. I followed in after her. The inside of Frances was extremely compact, providing a very intimate and cozy atmosphere, not unlike Scaletta's. But where Scaletta's had a nice cluttered charm to it, France's was neat and classy.

"Hi!" The hostess chirped at the both of us. "Table for two, it looks like?"

"Yes, ma'am." I said. I always talked with the host. I was the one to always initiate conversations. I did the talking, Stasi did the listening. We were a team that way. She wasn't a big people person.

"I'm sorry, sir. It's going to be a two hour wait." She said, apologetically.

"I have a reservation." I said, rather quickly. I crossed my fingers behind my back, praying that there wasn't some hiccup in the system.

"Oh! Right on." The hostess said, checking the ledger. "Say, do I know you from somewhere?"

"No, I'm not sure." I laughed. "When did you go to high school?"

"Long time ago, I'm afraid." She replied. "I swear I've seen you before." Her smile wavered when she got to the bottom. "I have a table for two for... Christopher, it looks like?"

"Yep, that's me." I said.

"Come with me." She said, stiffly, picking up two menus. I followed her, slightly uneasy. The main reason I picked this place was because it was supposedly integrated, that means both humans and other species were allowed to dine here.

"Chris?" Stasi asked, behind me.

"It's fine." I murmured back.

"Here we are." The hostess mumbled, arriving at our table. It was small, tucked away in the corner. Nice and private. She waited for us to take our seats, before handing us our menus. She gave me mine without a word, but when she handed one to Stasi, she whispered something that made the both of us freeze. "Leech." She hissed.

My eyes widened. Calling a vampire a leech was an insult. It's derived from worms that suck blood out of you, but the word became an insult when it was associated with gangs of vampires who abducted humans and farmed them for blood. Strictly illegal, of course, but the word itself became known as an insult.

"Excuse me?" I asked, looking at Stasi out of the corner of my eye. Her lip slowly quivered and she looked down at her plate in sorrow.

"You heard me, traitor." She replied, stalking off.

I watched her retreating back, before turning to Stasi. Not only did she look horrified, but she looked like she was about to cry. I'd move heaven and earth to take pain away from her. Just looking at her like this made my heart break.

"Hey, hey." I said, soothingly, placing my hand over her cold one. "What's wrong?"

"She called you a traitor." Stasi mumbled. "Didn't you hear her?"

"I was kind of getting over the leech part. What kind of woman does she think she is?" I said, irritated.

"I don't care about that, lyubov. I'm used to getting called that." She said, cracking a weak smile. She was putting up her walls again, her defenses that only I could penetrate. "It's fine, really. I just... I feel wretched."

"Wretched." I gaped at her. "Why?"

"Because you're stuck with me." She said, tearfully.

"Stasi, I'm not stuck with you. God, I love you! Why would you ever think that?"

"I don't... I don't know." She mumbled. Her eyes trailed to over my shoulder and I looked, turning my head. The hostess was furiously whispering to a male waiter, pointing in the direction of our table. "Do you think they're going to spit in our food?" She asked, cracking a shy smile.

Ah, she was following the Christopher Method for Stressful Situations. Crack a joke when you feel stressed out.

"I wouldn't put it past them." I chuckled, squeezing her hand. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll light them up on Yelp otherwise."

"No, it's just... we're supposed to have fun on a date, right?"

"Yeah."

"Chris," She said, looking at me in the eye with those beautiful crystal blue orbs of hers. "I don't think I'm going to have fun here. The food is probably going to be amazing, but it's going to be expensive and after what she called us, I'm not sure if this restaurant is going to be so friendly to us. Do you just want to go somewhere else and pig out there?"

I breathed a subtle sigh of relief. I'm sure my wallet heaved an even bigger one. "Scaletta's?"

"Scaletta's." She beamed, leaning forward and giving me a kiss.

******

When the bored Giovanni Scaletta saw us walk into his lonely restaurant for dinner, all dressed up for a date, he sprang into action, taking us to a very comfortable and plushy booth tucked in the 'Belcourt' corner of the restaurant. Since Giovanni's was a well-known hangout for Belcourt students at the Pacific Mall, the area reserved strictly for students at our high school. It even fit the decor, with the royal blue wallpaper and hanged up memorabilia. Of course, there wasn't a lot, considering it was only our first year, but it had a few pictures and a jersey signed by the entire basketball team up.

Giovanni shipped out his food (delicious as always) and left us for the remainder of our date, leaving us in our own little love-filled world. I loved Giovanni's food. It was tasty and decadent, not greasy like some other places we ate at. Stasi and I were massive foodies. We liked our fast food, but we hated greasy stuff. We shouldn't have to put on a hazmat suit or contact the CDC for clearance to enjoy a piece of meat.

"Oh, that was so good." Stasi moaned, setting her fork down and leaning on the wall, looking absolutely adorable. She closed her eyes wistfully.

"Yeah, I know. I could practically smell the food emancipating from the kitchen." I replied.

Stasi opened an eye, raising an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"What?" I asked.

"You said emancipate." She said.

"Yeah? So?"

"It's supposed to be 'emanate.'" She said.

"What? No, it isn't." I asked, flabbergasted. "It's emancipate."

"It's emanate." She insisted.

"No, it is-..."

"Zaichik, I promise you, with all my love. It's emanate."

"Well," I began, my mind racing to find the definition of emancipate and emanate. It's supposed to be emancipate, right? Now that I think about it... "I'll look at a dictionary when I get home. But did you like the food?"

"It's emanate, but I loved the food, as always! Way better than that place we were going to eat at earlier."

"Frances?" I chuckled.

"Yes, Frances. The restaurant with a racist hostess." She crinkled her nose. She closed her eyes, moaning. "Definitely going to go into a food coma."

"I love you." I blurted.

She opened an eye, the crystal blue breaking through the fringe of raven. "Where did that come from, lyubov?" She asked, smiling widely.

"Nowhere. I just wanted to say it." I admitted.

"I love you, too, Chris. Always have."

"Always will." I declared. I picked up the dessert menu. "Want ice cream?"

"Uh..." Stasi hummed, suddenly looking bashful. "I don't think so. I think that ever since volleyball season ended, I've started to get fat."

I glanced at Stasi's figure, my eyes running over her delicious curves. She was still as slender as always. "No, you're definitely not getting fat." I laughed. "It seems like you're getting more beautiful every day. If you want, you can always come running with me in the morning."

That made her blue eyes sparkle in happiness.

"Well, in that case... I think I will get ice cream, then. Will you finally get some?" She asked, sticking out her bottom lip and pouting.

"Uh..." I stammered. During sports season, I wasn't allowed to eat anything unhealthy, especially with our team so close to clinching the playoffs. It was recommended by my coaches and enforced by Stasi. She was the one who meticulously watched my diet and quite literally examined every crumb entering my body. If she was the one asking me to get it... maybe... just maybe... "Maybe a little." I decided.

It wasn't a hard choice to make. I loved ice cream. Well, I only really liked soft serve and gelato. It was a good thing that was what Scaletta's served. Good old soft serve ice cream and gelato. Normal ice cream just never caught on with the both of us.

"Glad to see you come over to the dark side." Stasi said, putting a hand on the dessert menu I had in my hands and setting it down. "Have you started on that report for Gov, yet?"

"Not yet, no." I admitted. "I should really start it."

"You should." Stasi agreed. "Why is it that I'm always worrying about you, zaichik?"

"You have a bit too much free time on your hands, that's why." I laughed.

"You're right." Stasi said. "I do have a bit too much free time on my hands. Maybe i'd have less free time on my hands if you stopped shouldering the entire burden of school president, being the best student you can be, and an athlete to boot."

"You have your own job to do, Ms. Vice President Sokolov." I said, pointing my finger at her. She wasn't really the vice president. In the same way that I just hopped into the position instead of being voted in, Stasi just eased herself into the role with my gentle prodding. She and Lucy helped out so much that they were unofficially given official positions. "You're in charge of all the clubs now, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess I am now." She thumbed the menu, absentmindedly. "We make a good team, don't we?"

"We do." I said, leaning forward and giving her a quick kiss. "We make the perfect team."

Stasi reached forward and held onto my hands and simply just stared at me with those half-lidded eyes and that beautiful goofy grin exposing her fangs. I probably had the same dopey expression on my face. We were just so in love and in our own little bubble.

"Thank you, Chris..." She whispered in her heavy accent that I just loved. "For everything."

"No, Stasi..." I replied, my voice taking on a husky pitch. "Thank you, for everything."

"Sorry to interrupt," Emily said, sheepishly, destroying our little moment by showing up. "Do you guys want dessert? It's on us."

"Yes, we do." Stasi said, quickly, backing her face away from me. She fumbled with the dessert menu, glancing inside of it. "We'll pay, though, don't worry."

"Nope. The dessert is on us, Annie. It's standard for Belcourt students, not just for the golden boy and girl of Belcourt. You guys are in the clear. Besides, we always do free gelato this close to the full moon every month anyways. Do you two want another look at the menu?"

"Well, in that case, I'll have the vanilla gelato." Stasi replied, blushing at the words 'golden boy and girl'.

"I'll have a scoop of the cream flavored." I piped up, also tinged pink.

"Great," Emily nodded, refilling our waters. "Anything else."

"N-... oh! Can you make the vanilla gelato half-melted?" Stasi asked, slightly self consciously. She liked her ice cream that way. It was common for her to toss her bowl in the microwave for a quick zap before she ate it. I never found out why, but some things are just meant to be.

"Okay..." Emily said, a mirthful smile adorning her face. "Is that it?"

"Yep, I think that's it. Thanks Em."

"No problem, Chris." She chirped. "Anything for my favorite couple."

******

Many people (specifically Monster Right Groups) say we're their favorite couple, a bridge between two different species. We get this from almost everyone at school, our families, our friends. The kicker was that despite all the mass racism, Stasi and I were far from being the only interspecies relationship out there. Vik and Abby, for example, weren't the same species, being a vampire and a mermaid respectively. I'm actually sure it wasn't as rare as people liked to think it was. It was just rare for it to be portrayed on the media so much.

If we were human, would we still be the favorite couple of everybody? Or were we just their favorite because of how 'unorthodox' we were?

Kind of leaves you guessing, doesn't it?