Page 31 of Ghoul Kisses

“Tell me about yourself, Eric. What do you do for a living?” Her eyes assess him.

“He’s a CEO of a company,” I blurt out.

“Yeah, what she said.” Eric gives me a crooked smile.

“What are your intentions with my friend?” Vanessa demands. Oh God, I was afraid of this. I didn’t want to talk about this topic so soon. We haven’t discussed the extent of our relationship. We just started having sex last night.

“I plan to be with her for a while,” he says smoothly.

“Are you guys serious?” Vanessa peers at the both of us.

Neither of us says a word. Eric squeezes my hand, calming my anxiety.

The waitress comes with our food. I bite into the black and bleu burger; delicious. Vanessa and I eat in silence. Once we’re finished eating, the waitress cleans our table. Vanessa asks how we met. Eric lies and says through a mutual friend. She embarrasses me with stories about my drunken exploits in college.

“Here is the deal, Eric,” Vanessa continues. “Sarah is my best friend. You’re the first guy she ever showed interest in, so if you break her heart, I will cut your balls off. Do I make myself clear?” she asks, plastering a fake smile on her face.

“Yes, ma’am,” Eric says.

“Excuse me, I have to go to the ladies’ room.” Vanessa gets up and leaves.

“Sorry about Vanessa’s threat,” I say apologetically.

“I can understand what the female is saying.”

“What are we?” I bite my thumbnail, avoiding eye contact.

He tilts my chin so I’ll look at him. I gaze into his dark eyes.

“Whatever you want to be.”

Thrown by his words, I wave at the waitress to bring me beer and cider. What do I want? I want a serious relationship, but with him being a ghoul, could I possibly keep up the demands of being his girlfriend? I don’t know. I do know I like him a lot, and I want to spend more time with him. He doesn’t want to pressure me into being with him. I don’t know the first thing about being a girlfriend. What makes the situation more complicated is the feelings I have for him; he has the power to crush me, and it scares the shit out of me. I don’t like this hold he has on me.

Another thing that I’m worried about is age, Eric ages slowly and when I’m eighty, I will be old and wrinkled, assuming I live that long. That could be a problem for our relationship too. I don’t know if there are ways for a human to become a ghoul. Am I cut out to be in a committed relationship?

Vanessa comes back to the table, and we chat for a few more minutes. She tells us that Adam wants to meet with her after work. We walk Vanessa to her car, and she gives me a hug as she says goodbye to Eric.

I step into the car, strapping on my seatbelt. Eric’s words still play in my mind, as I lean my head back onto the leather seat. I turn on the radio to drown out my thoughts as we head to the mansion.

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