Garret is quite a good kisser. That is a fact and not an opinion.

            At first, I was too shocked to respond. But then I kissed him back, positioning both of my hands on his neck, pulling him closer to me. He moaned then placed his hands on the back of my leg. Immediately, I wrapped both of my legs on his waist and there, on that very spot of the vacant room, I knew I actually love him.

            But then everything crashed down when Garret pulled away and dropped me to the ground with a very loud thud. I groaned as my ass hit the floor. “What was that for?”

            I looked up and saw Garret stepping away from me, looking at me, horrified. My heart broke on the sight of him. No… He couldn’t detest me right now. Right now was supposed to be perfect, for him to kiss me senseless and for me to love him.

            “Me—Melanie… I’m sorry!” he suddenly apologized and fell to the ground.

            I stared at him as he placed both of his hands on his head. I stared at him as he closed his eyes, clearly thinking hard.

            “What do you mean ‘I’m sorry’?” I asked carefully. “That you don’t mean what you just have done?”

            He opened his eyes and looked at me. “You don’t deserve me, Melanie. I’m a vampire and you’re… you’re a human.”

            “What are you saying? I can’t understand you,” I said, furrowing my eyebrows.

            Garret took a deep breath. “What I’m saying is that… is that… I…”

            “You…?” I urged him to continue.

            “I like you,” he blurted out, looking at me straight in the eyes. “I like you too damn much, Melanie. I like you more than a friend. I like you in a way that a vampire isn’t supposed to feel for a human.”

            I opened my mouth to make a reply but I can’t find my voice. And so he continued, “I like the way your curly blonde hair sways with the wind. I like the way you sing your songs. I like the way you talk, the way you smile when you find something funny, the way you laugh when you’re amused. I like the way you tilt your head whenever you consider a question. I like the way you talk to me straightforwardly—not like the others who try their very best to flirt with me. I like way you talk to my mother, like she doesn’t scare you. I like the way you’re everything that I wanted. I like you because of all of these things. I like you because you’re Melanie Meyer.”

            He sighed deeply as he finished. My mouth was open, shocked with his confession. Garret… likes me? He actually likes me? But—but that’s impossible! I’m just a nobody, a nobody who doesn’t give a damn to anyone who doesn’t care. I know I’m pretty, beautiful even, but I never thought I deserve someone like Garret to like me.

            “I sound like a complete idiot to you now, right?” he asked and smiled slightly. “I bet you thought that I don’t like you. You’re wrong.”

            And so I just sighed and walked to him. I sat across him and did the only thing I know that will ease the tension.

            I kissed him.

            I kissed Garret Stone.

            It was only a small, brief kiss but it means everything. That kiss means that I like him, too. That kiss is everything he needs to know.

            When I pulled back, I looked back at him. “I like you, too, you know,” I confessed.

            He stared at me, his expression confused. “But—but that’s impossible. I thought you liked Jasper?”

            I shook my head. “I like Jasper as a friend, Garret. I know it’s very hard to believe, but I like you, too.”

            He gave me one small smile and then grabbed my hand. He placed it on his chest. “My heart doesn’t beat, Melanie,” he said. “It doesn’t beat like yours. In a way, I’m dead. It stopped beating when I was eighteen—the time when I became officially a vampire—but I know that I have a heart because it beats for you.”

            “I don’t care if you’re a vampire,” I whispered, but enough so that he could hear. “I don’t care if you’re a zombie or a werewolf. I don’t care if you’re a wizard from Hogwarts. I don’t care if you’re some alien from the Lorien planet. I’ll have you no matter what.”

            Garret smiled sadly at me. “I want you, too. But I can’t. The only way we could be together is by turning you into a vampire.”

            “What happens if I turn into a vampire?”

            “You’re going to leave your family.”

            I gasped. “What?”

            He nodded. “You need to leave your family. Run away or something. And I don’t want you to be stuck in this damned curse, Melanie. Some of us were born to be a vampire. Some of us are already born vampire—like me. But you… you’re born to be a human. You must stay that way.”

            “But Garret—.”

            “I don’t want you to suffer,” he interrupted. “By being a vampire, you should drink human blood. And not any blood will do.”

            I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

            “If you wanted to turn to a vampire, you’re going to drink someone’s blood that you truly love.”

            I shook my head. “But I love you. I—.”

            “What did you say?”

            “I said I love you,” I said honestly, staring at his grey-blue eyes. Seriously, that color is the best color that I have ever seen.

            Garret smiled tenderly as he touched my cheek. “I feel the same way, too. But I’ll tell you that phrase on the right time. I want it to be special.”

            “Huh?”          

            “Anyway, I can’t let you to be a vampire,” he said, shaking his head firmly. “You’re not going to kill someone you love just because you wanted to be with me.”

            “Kill?” I echoed. “You didn’t say anything about kill. And I thought that vampires don’t drink all the blood of the human?”

            “No,” he agreed. “But when you’re a human and you wanted to be a vampire, you have to drink every drop of blood the person has. In other words, you have to kill someone you love.”

            “But I want to be with you!” I argued. “I want to spend the rest of my lifetime with you. I want to spend eternity with you.”

            “Believe me, Melanie, I want to, too. But I don’t want you to kill someone.”

            “So you want me to stay like this?” I asked in disbelief. “What happens if I grow old? What happens if my skin will wrinkle and my hair would turn to gray?”

            “And that is why we can’t be together,” he said. And I know, as I stared at his eyes, he means it. He loves me and he wants to be with me, but he knows that we can’t be together.

            “So what are you saying? That I’ll forget you and go on with my life? That I’ll dismiss this—this love that I felt for you?” I asked, my voice choking. Is he refusing me?

            “We can still be friends,” he suggested.

            “Don’t you get it? I don’t care if you’re a vampire!” I suddenly screamed.

            Big mistake.

            Very, very big mistake.

            The door suddenly opened and in came a blonde girl. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. “What do you mean he’s a vampire?” she demanded.

            Garret stood up and turned in a flash. His eyes were wide and I can see his whole body tremble nervously. I stood up and positioned myself beside him. I stared at the blonde girl, who is my best friend.

            “Amanda,” I began, “what are you doing here?”

            “I was reading a book at the library. I read at the farthest corner of the library and I accidentally fell asleep. When I woke up, the library was close but I managed to get out of the library. I was on my way home when I heard you scream,” Amanda explained. Then she narrowed her eyes at us. “What are you doing here? And what do you mean he’s a vampire?”

            “Amanda, calm down,” I instructed.

            “How can I calm down?!” she cried out. “A vampire?! What the fuck?!”

            “Amanda!”

            What happened next was a blur. Garret was beside me and the next second, he was in front of Amanda, gripping both of her arms using both of his arms. Amanda gasped and tried to struggle free but Garret was too strong for her. “Let go of me!” she demanded.

            “You don’t need to know about us,” Garret hissed.

            “Let go of me! Melanie! Help me! Help!”

            “Garret, let go of her!” I commanded him. “Let go of Amanda—NOW!”

            “She’s not supposed to know about us!”

            “I’m not supposed to know about you, too!” I retorted. “But I still knew, right? Let go of her! She’s not going to tell somebody! You can trust her, she’s a friend!”

            Rather reluctantly, Garret let go of Amanda. She was panting heavily and then ran to my side. She grabbed my wrist and turned me around so we could be face-to-face. “What is the meaning of this, Melanie?” she demanded. “Tell me now!”

            I took a deep breath. “Remember the time when I disappeared? I saw Garret and Roxanne drinking some blood of some humans—.”

            “Roxanne?! She’s a vampire, too?!”

            “Oh shit,” Garret swore.

            I ignored him. “Yeah, she is. Anyway, I saw the two of them drinking some blood of some humans. I’m not supposed to know and so Garret tried to drink some blood of mine. Something about their venom makes people forget about recent memories.”

            “Maybe we could try it to her,” Garret said nonchalantly.

            “No,” I told him with a glare. I glanced back to Amanda. “But I haven’t forgotten it. And so they took me to Springfield—where they belong. They learned that my blood is not like the other humans. My blood is too sweet and they said that whoever would drink my blood would make the vampire the most powerful one in the whole world. And so I came back so that no vampire would bother me.”

            “Vampires exists?” Amanda whispered, terrified.

            I nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

            She took a deep breath and then stared at Garret. “You’re a vampire?”

            He shrugged. “Last time I checked, yes.”

            Amanda glanced at me. “And what were the two of you doing here? Aren’t you suppose to be at home, too?”

            I gulped. Well, I don’t want to talk about this topic… “Well, Garret was asking me about some Biology stuff. He’s my Biology partner after all…”

            “Cut the crap, Melanie. You’re a bad liar.”

            I sighed and raised my hands exasperatedly. “Okay, fine! Garret and I were confessing our true feelings.”

            An awkward silence followed. Garret developed a sudden interest on the floor while Amanda was staring at me with disbelief. And then she decided to break it by saying, “You mean you fell in love with a vampire?”

            I nodded slowly. “Yeah…”

            “And he loves you back?”

            “Yes,” Garret replied before I could.

            Amanda considered this. “But isn’t that wrong? You’re a human and Garret’s a vampire. No offense, but you aren’t suppose to be dating.”

            “We were talking about that,” I said, shrugging.

            Amanda offered me a smile. “One advice, Mel? Follow your heart. Even you think it’s wrong, but you feel its right… go for it. Opportunities to fall in love doesn’t happen everyday.” Then she turned to Garret. “Your secret is safe with me. I can keep a secret, Garret. But promise me you wouldn’t hurt the feelings of my best friend.”

            “Won’t even think about it.”

            Amanda nodded, satisfied. “Fine. Then I better leave you two here.” She smiled at me one last time and left the room.

            When she was gone, I sighed and the next thing I knew, Garret was in front of me; his hands were enveloping me into a hug. “We can’t be together, Melanie,” he said. “But I want you to feel wanted.”

            “I love you,” I sighed as I snuggled closer to him.

            “Same.”

            “Why won’t you say it back?”

            “I want it to be special,” he replied. “I wanted to be sure that you won’t… that you won’t turn away from me. Like the way she did.”

            I gulped. “Who was ‘she’?”

            He chuckled. “You know who I’m talking about, Melanie. Xayranne has already told you.”

            “How did you know?!”

            He lightly tapped my nose. “I just do.”

            I pouted. “That’s no fair.”

            “And it’s not fair that you knew about… about her.”

            I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

            “It’s okay. You don’t know her, do you?”

            I shook my head. “Xayranne doesn’t know her name. She said Flynn refuses to tell.”

            “Flynn doesn’t know. No one knows her name except my parents.”

            “Seriously? What was her name?”

            Garret hesitated. Then he said, “Annie. Her name was Annie.”

            “Annie?” I repeated. “Sounds like ‘Melanie’ at the end.”

            He nodded. “I know. I think you’re reincarnated from her.”

            “You believe that nonsense?”

            “My mom does.”

            “Well, your mom doesn’t give a damn,” I said with a careless shrug.

            He laughed. “I love my mom, Melanie, even though she’s like that. So stop insulting her,” he said teasingly.

            “I wasn’t insulting her.”

            “Yeah, right.”

            “Anyway,” I said, changing the topic, “was I the girl that you were talking about? The girl that you liked at school?”

            He nodded. “Duh.”

            “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

            Garret laughed. “You think I’m the kind of person who would in front of you and say ‘Hey, I like you’?”

            I shook my head. “You’re a coward,” I teased.

            “But I am your coward,” he replied and kissed my lips softly.

            “True,” I whispered, kissing him back.

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I quite like this chapter! :) Hahahahaha, especially the last ones before Amanda came. I think this is my favorite part of this story. :) A comment or vote will make me so happy. <3 Thanks so much!

The song of this chapter is My Immortal by: Evanescence. :>