Arlo’s POV

"What did you want to talk about?" She asked me once everyone was gone.

"How is your head?" I asked.

"Not as good as it used to be considering the decisions I have been making lately and not regretting them." She smiled vaguely which brightened up her whole face. As I inhaled to take in her scent. Zeph’s strong scent hit me like a boulder.

"I can smell him on you, hopefully, everything worked out between the two of you. If that’s what you are referring to." I told her while crossing my arms in front of my chest to resist the urge to touch her. She blushed at my remark and was caught off guard.

"Ummm, well yes, I think so," her reply was all over the place.

"Alright, I owed you some explanation and I promised you that I will tell you everything regarding Dria." I reminded her.

"Oh! yes, I am sorry your girlfriend got into trouble and was suspended." She replied sadly.

"It’s not your fault, she brought this on herself. I had warned her not to mix with the dangerous crowd, but she didn’t listen. Consequences of her own actions." I tried to make her feel less guilty.

"But you care about her. Why?" She asked curiously, her eyes met mine and held my gaze.

"I belong to a vampire family who is shunned by everyone in our realm. As a child, I had a really hard time getting along with others and was constantly bullied and made fun of. I had no friends so I was mostly alone that’s why I picked up the habit of staying quiet. One day some of the boys decided to beat me up and used me to test their powers. Although a vampire can only die if his heart is removed from his chest, we are sensitive to pain due to heightened senses. At that time I was seven years old and I could hardly defend myself. They beat me up for hours before Dria showed up. She had just moved to our school from another city, she was my senior in school. Dria is powerful and scary, she has the unique power of controlling other people’s blood. She beat them up and scared them by controlling their blood. All of them ran away, horrified. From that day onwards she always protected me and told me to train. She taught me some defensive moves. No matter what happened she was always by my side and we became best friends." I continued as she listened to me intently.

"We were inseparable but she began to develop feelings for me. One day we were sitting outside watching the night sky and suddenly she kissed me. As a reflex action, I pushed her away and asked what she was doing. She confessed to having feelings for me which sadly were one-sided. I asked her to give me time to think, I tried to bring myself to love her the way she wanted but it never happened. She began to become bitter with me and we had occasional fights. She always had a dark side to her but it began to surface more and it became hard for me to control her at times. When we came here I told her to keep everything private between us. I wanted to see what type of people we had here." I paused and hesitated before continuing.

"Then I saw you and you had that bright hue, a beautiful smile and a compassionate heart. You cared for everyone regardless of who they were. I just couldn’t get you out of my head. Believe me, I tried as much as I tried to love Dria, I tried not to fall in love with you." Her expression changed and that smile was gone she tried to say something but I held up my hand.

"I know I know, you don’t love me and it’s wrong of me to keep pestering you with all my feelings crap. But, I promise this is the last time you will have to hear this. I didn’t want her to hurt you because I knew she would if she knew I had feelings for you. So, I have made a deal with her. I will be her boyfriend as long as she leaves you alone. I told her that I will have to tell everyone about the schemes she had concocted with Lourden. She didn’t mind the punishment as long as she had me. She won’t lay a hand on you and I am sure Zeph and you will sort everything out too. So, it’s a win-win." I finally finished with a sigh.

"Except for you, that’s not what I want?" She replied sadly.

" We don’t always get what we want in this world and the sooner we accept this bitter reality, the better." I replied with a smile although my heart ached.

A single tear trickled down her cheek sparkling in the light filtering through the window. I had been resisting the urge to touch her but I finally gave in and with a gentle sweep of my thumb I wiped the drop filled with her emotions and made it mine.

" You don’t owe me anything you didn’t have to do all that for me." She said in a sad voice.

"I can’t hurt her and I can’t let you get hurt either. Don’t worry about me." I tried to assure her.

"Can I hug you?" She asked me in a trembling voice. I wasn’t sure I would be able to let her go if she did, it was taking everything in my power to resist the urge to kiss her. Of course, she respected my boundaries as I did hers, that’s the reason she asked me.

"Can I kiss you in return? I promise I won’t do it again and I won’t force you if you say no. But, I want to know what it feels like to caress someone you love." I knew I was burdening her with guilt and I hated myself for it right now. She could never be mine why couldn’t I just let her go without complicating things?

"I don’t think that’s a good idea but whatever. As I said I haven’t been thinking straight since I banged my head. Before today I had not kissed even a single boy and now I am gonna kiss two in a single day. Maybe they are right about me, I am a whore." She replied with so much sadness and despair.

"Don’t say that, I apologise for putting you in a tight spot." I reluctantly replied.

"That’s the least I can do since I am the one responsible for you putting up with someone you don’t even love." And she stepped closer to me narrowing the gap between us, her scent driving me crazy. I closed my mind and stopped thinking of the consequences for a few minutes. These few minutes were my eternity in which she was only mine.

I placed both my hands on the nape of her neck, clasping her face in my palms I rubbed her cheeks with my thumbs making her close her eyes as she put both her hands on my arms. I placed my nose on the side of her neck and inhaled, savouring every second of this time as her smell intoxicated me.

I glanced at her partially parted rosy lips which were delicate and smooth as silk as I gently placed mine onto hers I felt her tremble and melt in my arms. Not only did her lips respond to mine her body did as well, her hands were shaking, and her heartbeat was going berserk as she kissed me back. I moved my hands into her hair and let them loose and lightly pulled them to elevate her face up as I drew into her lips more tentatively.

I don’t know how much time passed when finally she took a step back and our lips parted. I wasn’t ready to let her go yet, so I gently pulled her close as she placed her head on my chest and whispered:

"I am sorry for everything life has thrown at you and I respect you for being this strong. Forgive me for not loving you back the way you deserve." With that, she stepped back and without looking at me, left....