Page 23 of Thirsty
It was remarkably at odds with every other expression Charlie had ever seen on his face, including the one he was wearing now. “Shut up,” he said weakly.
“Never,” Charlie said, taking a picture of the license. He slid it back to Lorenzo. “There you go. Honestly, I don’t know why you’d even want to replace that. It’s perfect.” When Lorenzo didn’t answer, he continued, “How are you even driving around, anyway? You just never get pulled over?”
Lorenzo shrugged. Charlie wondered if he had mind control powers—a classic vampire thing—before deciding that, no, he definitely would have used them to drive Charlie away by now. He seemed annoyed enough.
The bartender walked back toward them, wiping the bar with a dingy towel. “You’re bringing humans to my bar now?” he asked Lorenzo conversationally.
“Sal, please,” Lorenzo said, scrubbing a hand down his face.
“Sal,” Charlie said, turning to him with a hundred-watt smile. “Loving this place, and this vibe. It’s like one of those diners where the waitresses are rude to you.”
Sal raised one bushy, offended eyebrow and said, “Rude?” And then his leather-beaten face—flickered, briefly, the illusion of it spacing out just enough to give Charlie the sense that Sal wasn’t made of flesh at all, but some sort of billowing, chalky smoke, trapped inside a thin candy shell that just so happened to look like a middle-aged bartender. It was pulsing and wet and deeply terrifying.
Charlie flinched, he knew he did, but then he shook his head, put on a poker face, and said, “You think you’re the first creature to manifest in front of me this week?”
Sal snorted. “What’re you, a groupie?” He glanced at Lorenzo, unimpressed. “Checking your vampire box?”
“What?” Charlie asked. “No, I—”
“You should know better, Lorenzo,” Sal said, flicking one last resentful look at Charlie. “You can’t trust them.”
Charlie felt a twist of something uneasy in his gut as Sal walked away, and swallowed. “Um...” he said quietly to Lorenzo. “Should I leave?”
Lorenzo frowned, seeming distracted. “No, he’s just in a mood.” It took him a second, and then he scowled at Charlie. “I mean, yes. Leave. Please.”
Charlie smiled wryly as Lorenzo retreated back behind his grumpy facade. “Look—I know you, like, pretty much still hate me from when we knew each other before,” he said, watchingLorenzo’s shoulders tense up even as he started. “But—I’m gonna get this license for you. And when I do, you’re going to have to guide me around town as my supernatural Sherpa, and show me everything I need to know for my thesis, just like we agreed.”
Lorenzo said nothing, so Charlie continued on. “And since that’s the case, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together. So, y’know,” he said, tentative and open. “Would it be the worst thing in the world if we started over, and maybe even tried to become...friends?”
“I have plenty of friends,” Lorenzo grumbled.
“Hmm,” Charlie said. He idly checked his phone and saw a text from Ava that set his heart pounding.the numbers just spiked again!!! we need another COLUMN COLUMN COLUMNNNN. when??
He put the phone away, trying to ignore the band of anxiety tightening around his shoulders. “Okay, not friends then,” Charlie said. “Just—professional colleagues.”
“We’re not colleagues,” Lorenzo said flatly. “We’re not anything.”
“I told you, I’m going to get you this license,” Charlie said. “You might as well answer my questions now.”
Sal dropped off Charlie’s next beer and said, “He’ll leave if you answer some questions?”
“Or,” Charlie said, “ifyou’reinterested in talking about your life or your relationships—”
Smoke seemed to be pouring out of Sal’s ears—literally. Charlie shivered. “Handle this,” Sal said to Lorenzo with finality, giving them both a threatening look before walking away.
Charlie grinned at Lorenzo.
“Five minutes,” he growled.
“Okay, great,” Charlie said. “So—you mentioned that a lot of the people you date are human.”
Lorenzo rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yes, all my many conquests.”
“Is that hard?” Charlie asked. “Dating humans?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, y’know,” Charlie said. “There must be—differences between vampires and humans that could be hard to bridge. The day and night thing, for one.”
