Page 10 of Dear Mr. Vampire

CHANEL

Blue was the color of the day. Depressed was the feeling of my current life. My best friend was gone, and it had been two days since I shoved my playful note under his door. I checked the flowerpot three times and there was nothing there. I guess our little game of cat and mouse was over. I looked forward to his communication and was disappointed when he stopped writing to me.

I went right back to my regular routine: work, home, clean the apartment, and cook. Today was laundry day. I let my dirty clothes pile up. I needed to wash my scrubs for work tomorrow morning. I wore my last clean shirt today. I took the elevator down to the basement. I got a glimpse at his dark door and there was nothing there. The flirty little party was over, and it hurt more than I thought it would. Whatever, I told myself. His loss.

I wheeled my rolling plastic hamper around the corner and into the laundry room. The lights were on. I wasn’t in the mood to be bothered by anybody, but he was there. Mr. Vampire was sitting on top of a washing machine, with his bare feet dangling in the air.Yuck, where are his shoes?The floor was hella dirty. I knew he was a weirdo and here was the proof, the pudding and the total grossness.

His chiseled face was buried deep into a hardcover book. He was wearing tattered dark blue jeans and an old black t-shirt. He didn’t bother to look up at me, although I was in the same room with him and my hamper was making squeaky noises.

I realized this could be because he didn’t hear me with the earbuds in his ear. Or he could just be a jerk. I was trying to give Mr. Dirty Feet the benefit of the doubt.

I tried to regulate my heartbeat. I had to admit he made me nervous. I laughed inside when I thought about his vampire status. I hope he can’t read minds. My eyes scanned all five washing machines, and it was clear. There were no available machines for me.Uh, what kind of fuckery is this?

Finally, he looked up at me with his abnormal but alluring amber-colored eyes. He slowly removed the earbuds from his ears. “Oh sorry, all the machines are taken.”

He had an actual voice. He talked. Oh shit, he was talking to me. His voice wasn’t what I expected. It was deep, clear, and pulsating.

I cleared my throat. “It’s okay. I can come back later.”

“I only have about ten minutes left on my machine. You should stay, so no one else gets my machine.”

“Ten minutes?”

“Give or take a few minutes.”

I was frozen in place. I didn’t know what to do with the information he provided.

His voice was like liquid fire. I’d never heard it before today, and he was actually talking to me.

His eyes blinked slowly. “Or you could just leave your clothes with me and I can put your load in the machine for you.”

What?He sensed my apprehension, or he could see it on my face.

I tried to brighten my face with a lift in my eyebrows. “Ah, no, that’s okay. Ten minutes isn’t long at all.”

He pushed his earbuds back into his ears, and then sunk his head back into his book.

I guess the conversation was over. I felt dismissed, disregarded and just dissed. That was all he had for me. He was rude. I said it, rude. He had the nerve to call me rude in his little note to me.

He doesn’t know I’m his special pen pal. I wondered if he would act definitely if he knew. Obviously, he’s not a vampire. I probably shouldn’t have joked with him like that.

Looking at him now, he didn’t seem so weird. He didn’t seem dangerous. He seemed regular. There hadn’t been any murders or deaths in my apartment building since I’ve been here. I’m sure he was harmless, but my judgment sucked ass. He reads, and a man that reads actual books is hard to find.

Mr. Vampire was even more attractive up close. He was well toned and muscular. He wasn’t as thin as I initially thought. Maybe I had him pegged wrong. He offered to put my dirty clothes in the wash. That was nice, right?

I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to flee from the laundry room, but that would be odd. Or was it odd for me to just stand here like a stalker? He did call me one. I smiled to myself, replaying the words of his note over in my head. I had the note memorized. I was pathetic for putting his words to memory, but I didn’t have anything else better to do. I was alone here in the city of Chicago, without any family or friends. I was letting my imagination run away with me. I had a lot of imagination.

He was reading Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep. I was impressed. Sadly, that was always my problem with men. I gave all their normal deeds more weight than they deserved. Reading books shouldn’t be looked on as anything special.

I reached down and took my laundry basket across the room. I pulled my cell phone out of my back pocket. I had to pretend to do something while I waited to get a washing machine. I opened my cell and turned the volume down. I checked my one hundred and eighty-seven emails. I started scrolling, SephoraInsider, DSW, Fenty Beauty, Best Buy, Bergdorf Goodman, Capital One?—

“Hey.” His voice jumped across the room.

I twirled around to see if he was talking to me. Of course he was talking to me. I was the only one in the laundry room.

“Yeah.” I said, as his amber eyes pierced me.

“Are you Taylor?”

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