The Vampire Pirate's Daughter (6 page)

I do not resist. I would not want to start
a rumor regarding my strength. I pretend to fight back and then I
let my head sink under the water. He lets me go and I come up
laughing.

I see Andrew glance toward me. I know I have
a serious crush on him, according to movies and music videos, but I
wish that where he was concerned I did not have tunnel vision,
looking for approval from him in everything I do.

Duncan asks, “How well do you swim?”

I smile. “Well enough. You want to challenge
me?”

He laughs boisterously. “You up for it?”

Enquiringly I ask, “To the other side?”

He frowns. “You crazy?”

I notice that it is a great distance, so I
retaliate, “Chicken!”

“Let’s race toward that rubber boat over
there.” He points his finger a short distance away.

Laughing I dive down. When I come up swimming
freestyle, I hear him yell, “Cheating!”

I hear him splash behind me and I pace
myself. I only needed to win by a stroke. I was not going to let
him beat me.

I touch the rubber boat just before he does.
He exclaims breathlessly, “You cheated.”

Pretending to be sorry, I say, “Sorry. I am a
girl and you have to give me a head start anyway. That is how it
works. isn’t it?”

He replies indignant, “Maybe in the
fifties.”

He hauls himself over the side of the rubber
boat and then he extends his hand toward me. “I’ll row us back to
shore,” he offers.

“Let’s swim back.”

He looks back toward the shore and then back
at me.

I convince him, “It does not have to be a
race. We can float back.”

He contemplates for a moment and then he
dives back into the water. The water splashes into my face and I
turn away from him. I feel his hands around my waist as he comes
up. I turn my face around to face him and he smiles at me brazenly.
I move away from him, laughing. I kick water up into his face
playfully and then I start swimming away from him, toward the
shore.

He follows me and I hear him call after me to
wait for him.

I slow down and turn onto my back. I lay
there floating, drifting on the water and I wait for him to reach
me. When he catches up with me, we slowly drift toward the
shore.

When we are shallow enough to stand up, we
wade out of the water, and he asks me casually, “Do you have a
boyfriend?”

I smile, fleetingly remembering a time when
decorum was everything, and now boys, some boys, did not hesitate
to come straight to the point. I did not want to complicate things
with him, so I say, “Yes, I do.”

I turn toward him, and ask him, because I do
not want him to feel awkward, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

He answers, smiling shrewd, “Not yet.”

We walk toward Carmine and she is arguing
with Andrew. When Andrew sees us coming, he turns away from Carmine
and moves toward the fire Lionel is building in the barbeque
area.

Carmine turns to look at us. I instinctively
know that she likes Duncan by the way she looks at him
accusingly.

She smiles at me though and then Duncan walks
toward her. He wraps his arms around her waist and he hugs her
tightly to him. “Oh, Carmine. How I have missed you.”

She pushes him away and says adamantly,
“Leave me, Duncan. You are such an ass.”

Laughing he lets her go and then he follows
Andrew.

I soon hear them talking about rugby.
Carmine suggests we go back into the water, but I decline and I
tell her I would rather lie down on the blanket for a while. I add
jokingly, without thinking, that the race against Duncan had
exhausted me. I notice immediately the pained expression on her
face. I want to reach to her and explain that where I am concerned
she does not have to worry. I have no inclination to encourage
Duncan. I am just about to say something, when Jessica walks toward
us and says, “Carmine we are going for a walk. Do you wanna
come?”

Carmine looks at me expectantly, but I smile
and reiterate, “I am going to stay.”

Duncan comes walking toward us and says,
“Come on you two, let’s go. You need to walk off all that meat we
are going to be eating soon. Lionel and Andrew are going to stay
and man the fire.”

I say, “Not me, thanks.”

Carmine smiles thankfully.

I look at them as they walk away. Although I
predict that Carmine could become a pain with all her exuberance,
she is a nice person and I would not mind being a friend of hers.
We could never be close friends, because sooner rather than later,
she would outgrow me and move on.

I walk toward the blanket and I lie down on
my back. I close my eyes against the glaring sun and let it soak
uselessly into me. I sigh deeply, thinking of the meat I will be
eating soon and I wonder how rare I could get away with.

I feel a shadow fall over me and then I sense
someone lay down next to me. I grimace, thinking it is Duncan. I
open my eyes, squinting against the sun, bringing my hand up to
shade my eyes and I look into the face of Andrew, close to mine. He
is lying on his stomach, resting on his elbows. I see his dark
brooding eyes and I realize desponded no matter what I said or ever
did, he would never really know the effect he has on me.

Softly he says, “I wanted to talk to you, if
that’s okay?”

“Ya, sure.” I want to sit up, but decide to
stay where I am. Later I could fantasize and imagine that he leaned
down and kissed me as if he loved me.

He asks, “You never came the other afternoon
to work on the project. I wanted to apologize for attacking you in
class that day.”

“I am sorry I got you in so much trouble. I
did not presume to know everything and I do not have the answers to
all your country’s problems, but...”

He interrupts me, “I said I was sorry and you
do not have to explain yourself. Besides, I have something else I
need to ask you.” He looks down at me and then he smiles
mischievously. “I have been thinking and I cannot understand how
you caught that glass so fast the other day at the café?”

I close my eyes for a moment and without
thinking I say, “Reflex?”

He smiles brilliantly, unbelieving. “Your
reflexes are very good!”

I laugh, despite my apprehension. “When you
are clumsy, it is good to be quick.”

“It sure is.” He looks down at me pensively.
“I see Duncan likes you.”

I do not know if it is a statement or a
question, so I reply, “I don’t know, does he?”

“You must be a goose not to notice the way he
was carrying on this morning.”

“But, Carmine likes him though?”

He frowns. “She sure does and she always
falls for his charms. She is an idiot to be so fallen for him.”

I do not want to ask, but I have to know, “Is
this like a love triangle? Carmine likes Duncan, but you like
Carmine.”

Amused he says, “No, there is no love
triangle. Carmine and I have known each other since grade school.
Her parents adopted me when I was little.”

I look at him confused. “I did not
realize. She always says your house or her house?”

“Habit, because we have always pretended to
only be friends, although everyone who knows us, obviously do know.
When we were in grade school, she did not want her friends to know
that she knew me. I was skinny and emancipated back then and she
had a reputation to uphold. From there it became habit, so
sometimes even when I talk to her, I would say my house and your
house.”

I look at his arms and muse that he is most
certainly not skinny and emancipated any more. The muscles on his
upper arms are well defined.

“So, the principle is also her dad then?”

A shadow falls over his face, when he
replies, “Ya, actually only her dad - remember. He only tolerates
me. My adoptive mother is great though, she treats me no different
than she does Carmine.” He sits up abruptly. “Jeez. I am telling
you my entire life story.” He looks at me puzzled.

I sit up as well. “Is that so bad?”

He starts to get up and suddenly I do not
want him to leave. I want to know the reasons why he is the way he
is, what makes him whom he is. I put my hand on his forearm
gently.

He looks at me and smiling slowly, he
continues standing up. “I have to see if Lionel needs a hand. Don’t
go away.”

I lie down again and I turn onto my stomach.
The shadows are stretching and becoming longer, reaching toward my
little island in the sun. I lean on my elbows and rest my chin into
my palms.

Looking at Andrew from the corner of my eye,
I once again see his dark, short hair. His lean, muscular back is
turned toward me, so I cannot see his broodingly dark eyes. He is
very tall, I would say a head taller than I am and he has the most
amazing smile. I consider what I had just heard, that Andrew is an
orphan, just like me. What are the odds? It is weird that moments
ago he was here next to me, softly smiling and talking as if he has
always known me. Sharing himself with me until he realized he
was.

I hear Carmine returning before I see her.
When they walk into the clearing, I look up at them and then I see
Duncan walk toward me. Hurriedly I stand up and reach for my
clothes. I pull my shorts on and then my shirt over my head. I
shake out my sun-dried hair. Duncan reaches me as soon as I turn
toward the fire.

I smile friendly past him. “Hi, Carmine. How
was the walk?”

She comes toward me and excitedly she
exclaims, “You missed it. We saw buck on the other side of the
fence. It was great!”

I ignore Duncan and I walk past him toward
Carmine. Together we walk toward the fire, while she jabbers
excitedly about the antelope she saw.

I notice Duncan pretend to walk past as if he
never noticed me either and then he reaches toward his bag on the
ground. He pulls on a hooded jacket and then slowly he walks toward
the fire as well.

Carmine walks to Andrew and so I do not have
a choice but to stand next to Andrew. For a long moment, all three
of us stare into the fire quietly and then I smell the meat. Lionel
places the steaks and sausages on the grill and I ask hesitantly,
“Can I have mine as rare as possible?”

Lionel laughs. “You like your meat, like I
like mine. Just enough sizzle so that it cannot stand up and walk
away.”

I smile relieved. “I don’t know why,” I
start.

Lionel interrupts me, “That is how meat
should be eaten, isn’t it obvious?” He looks around at the others.
“Not like all of them who like theirs medium or well-done.”

Andrew guffaws, “Hey, I like to enjoy my
food. How can you even eat it when you can still see it swimming in
blood on your plate?”

Lionel laughs. “Yum!”

Andrew grimaces, “Yuck!”

Lionel retaliates, “Don’t dismiss it, if
you’ve never tried it.”

I am glad I have an ally, because I would
have hated to gag down a medium steak. The smell of sweet, singed
meat fills the air.

Later we eat, and Andrew sits next to me on a
log. We eat in silence and when we are finished, I lick my fingers
clean.

He bumps against me playfully. “Did you enjoy
that?”

Embarrassed I smile. “I did.”

“I honestly don’t know how you can eat it
like that. I prefer mine as well done as possible, before turning
it to charcoal.”

I shiver and he laughs.

We clear up and dispose of the plastic
cutlery and paper plates in the metal bins standing near
enough.

Everybody sits down again and then Duncan
starts to tell us a ghost story. I feel myself leaning toward
Andrew, but I do not lean into him.

Amused I wonder what they would say or how
fast they would run if I told them my scary story.

A few weeks later, I get into the backseat of
the Mini Cooper with Carmine next to me and I fasten my seatbelt.
Nudging her, I point to her safety belt uneasily.

I do not want to seem old before my time, but
I have an urgent need and I ask, “Are you sure you can drive,
Duncan. You seriously had too much to drink.”

He laughs from the front with Andrew
sitting next to him in the front passenger seat. “I am a good
driver and I am not that drunk.”

Trying to get rid of the nervous tension in
the pit of my stomach, I lean my head back against the
headrest.

We are leaving from a nightclub in the city.
Although we are underage and not allowed into the main dance floor,
we sat outside by the large wooden tables and benches. Duncan has
friends who are eligible to drink and with the present legislation,
you do not have to be too old to be able to drink yourself into
oblivion. Duncan kept saying that only one more year and he will be
eighteen, then he can stop begging his friends to go to the bar for
him. Although he refers to it as begging, he still got drunk. He is
not paralytic drunk, but I am sure he had too much to drink to be
able to drive.

We drive slowly away from the club and
through the city streets. I hear the doors pop and see from the
corner of my eye Carmine’s hand resting on the lock function of her
door. I reach out and hold her hand in mine, resting it on the seat
between us.

It is not advisable to drive in the city at
night for fear of hijacking. It used to be do not talk to
strangers, or do not take candy from strangers, and now parents
have to add to that list, lock your doors when you are in the car
and after twelve treat stoplights as yield signs. Try your best not
to stop at a red light late at night. Not long from now parents
will have to draw up a list, similar to the Ten Commandments and
make sure their kids learn it off by heart by the time they are
five.

We leave the city and take the off ramp onto
the highway going south. Duncan accelerates and moves over to the
fast lane. Drunk as he is he loses all sense of logic and now he
wants to show off. The entire evening he tried to get me alone.
Under the table, he moved his leg to rest against mine and I had to
move it repeatedly. The more he drank, the less he got the message
that I was not interested. At one point I wistfully wished that it
would be Andrew pursuing my so persistently, but he almost
pretended that I did not exist.