Vampire University (Book One in the Vampire University Series) (5 page)

“You’re not eating?” Hannah asked, looking in the direction of the brothers.

“Not pizza,” Joseph re
plied
.

“They’re pizza snobs,” said Taylor.

“I bet they are,” said Hannah.

Hannah then proceeded to chew her pizza without taking her eyes off Eric. Meanwhile, Joseph stared only at his brother, who seemed happily oblivious to the attention of anybody but Taylor. Taylor found Eric’s self-confident indifference appealing, but his cluelessness, feigned or otherwise, made the situation even more uncomfortable.

“So,” Eric said, resting his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands while leaning forward eagerly. “Tell me all about yourself!”

“What is this, an interview?” Joseph interjected.

“Either that or a staring contest,” Eric quipped and then turned immediately back to Taylor.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“We moved a lot growing up, so I wouldn’t say I’m
from
anywhere,” said Taylor.

“Ah, so military brat?" guessed Eric.

“No, we just moved around a lot.”

“Your dad was a contractor then?”

“No, he...”
Taylor
began, but was cut off by Hannah.

“I don’t think she wants to talk about her father,” she said.

“Hey, hey,” Eric said, holding up both hands in mock surrender. “I’m just asking. What would you like to talk about, Taylor?”

Taylor was right, she didn’t want to talk about her late father, but she felt perfectly capable of handling innocent questions about him without Hannah’s assistance. Everyone at the table appeared to be in some way testing her in this situation. Hannah seemed to regard every interaction with these boys as a test of roommate loyalty, Joseph seemed to have a personal interest in ensuring that Eric did not hit it off with anyone, and Eric was clearly interested in defying both of them. Taylor began to wonder if Eric's interest in her wasn't more about pissing off his brother than anything to do with her.

Taylor resolved then that her interests came first and though she wanted to stay friendly with Hannah and she didn’t want to divide siblings, she was beginning to feel that everyone in this conversation had an agenda for her that did not at all take into consideration her feelings. Taylor decided that what she desired most at the moment was space. It was only her second day on campus and everyone already had expectations of her.

“You know what?” Taylor said. “I think I could use some fresh air.”

She stood and all three of her lunch companions stood up with her.

“Which is code for ‘me time’,” she said with a sigh.

Eric and Joseph sat back down but Hannah didn’t move.

Taylor walked towards the door, but she could hear Hannah following behind.

“Hannah,” Taylor said, turning to address her.

“I’m coming with you."

“Look Hannah, I appreciate it, but I haven’t had a moment to myself since I got here. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Hannah appeared poised to protest, but Taylor did not wait to hear it. She pushed open the door and disappeared into the commons.

-5-

Taylor walked briskly away from the Redmund building in the opposite direction of the dorms. Given Hannah’s apparent need to be with her at all times and Joseph’s ability to pop up seemingly out of thin air, Taylor was more than a little paranoid that one of them would be following her.

It was only when Taylor could no longer see the Student Life Center behind her that she slowed her pace. She realized she didn’t know where she was going and she was nowhere near the path that they had followed on the tour. She didn’t know precisely where she was, so it was unlikely that anyone else did either. Finally alone, she felt the weight of the expectations of strangers evaporate.

She looked around to see if anything looked familiar. In front of her were grey buildings much like her dorms, only shorter and even more drab and depressing, if that were  possible. A sign in front indicated that these were
the
East Side Dormitories. Taylor had only the vaguest sense of where her own dorms were in relationship to where she was standing, but she knew that they were located on the west side of campus. She realized she had managed to cross the entire campus and now that she stopped to think about it her legs were sore.

Taylor found a bench at the edge of the sidewalk and plopped down gracelessly.
She
thought about how this new life still felt very much unlike real life. This campus world did not exist to her two days ago and now it was her entire universe. The buildings lacked the familiarity that reassured her that they were there yesterday and would be there tomorrow. Taylor would have accepted her new home without reservation, but she knew firsthand that homes could vanish when you were not expecting.

Taylor reminded herself not to dwell on the past  and instead turned her thoughts to the events of the day. She understood where Hannah was coming from, but the brothers were a mystery to Taylor. Especially Joseph, whose intentions she could not decipher. She didn’t believe that Eric was dangerous and would assume some sort of sibling jealousy, but she was absolutely certain that Joseph did not like her and thus
she
couldn’t imagine what he was jealous of.

Looking at her phone, Taylor saw that an hour had passed since she left the group and she remembered that she had told Eric that she would hang out with him this afternoon. Though she was feeling stifled by all three of them before, it wasn’t really Eric’s fault. He had been nothing but nice and even though some of his ideas weren’t up Taylor’s alley, she didn’t feel pressured by him like she did by Joseph and Hannah when they were all together.

It wouldn’t be fair to stand him up just because Joseph and Hannah didn’t approve, so Taylor got up to try to find her way back to her dorm. She wasn’t really sure where she was going, but she could see the top of the Redmund building and headed towards it.

A few minutes after getting up, her phone beeped in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that there were four missed calls: one from Hannah and three from Eric. No voicemails. She couldn’t decide whether three calls from Eric was excessive or flattering, but she did agree to spend time with him after lunch and here she was. She pressed OK and another window popped up with a text from Eric.

you OK?

A perfectly nice and pressure-free text, thought Taylor and she was suddenly embarrassed that she had left so abruptly. She wanted a break from the attention, not more of it and she realized that her sudden exit probably did not help her cause. If there was a situation brewing, she needed to defuse it. Still, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to jump back into the limelight either. She typed a response.

oh yeah, im fine. sorry... not feeling well

Taylor hit SEND and looked at the message. It was
kind of pathetic-
sounding. She sent a follow up.

must be the pizza ;-)

The reply came almost instantly.

where ru?

Taylor looked around, still not quite sure where she was besides somewhere on campus. She could see the Redmund building still, so she assumed she was going in the right direction. She looked around for some indication of where she was besides the top of the Redmund building in the distance, but everything was unfamiliar to her. Since it was the only building she recognized, she continued on after sending a reply to Eric.

getting some rest. can we hang out later?

This time there was no immediate response, so Taylor continued walking in the direction of the Student Life building.

His reply came a few minutes later.

2nite?

Taylor thought about it for a moment and responded.

how about tomorrow?

Eric’s reply came immediately this time.

k. will call u

Taylor began to type out something about missing him or seeing him later or looking forward to tomorrow but couldn’t settle on how to sound flirty but not obsessive. She settled with hard-to-get and sent nothing.

Looking up, she realized she was approaching the dorms. She had been so distracted by the texts and thoughts of Eric that she didn’t notice at first that she had found her way back almost by accident. Glad to be back in more familiar territory, she slipped her phone back into her pocket and approached Summers Hall.

—
-

As Taylor approached her room, she could hear Hannah talking inside. Taylor couldn’t hear any other voices, so she assumed Hannah was on the phone. Taylor was about to push on the door handle when she heard Hannah say her name. Taylor hesitated for a moment.

Then she heard Hannah say, “I don’t know why she just won’t listen. I just met her.”

The phrase “just won’t listen” stood out to Taylor. Taylor wondered if Hannah was talking about her. She looked around her to see if anyone was in the hall. Satisfied that she was alone, Taylor leaned in to listen through the door.  The voice was fading in and out as if Hannah was pacing back and forth. Taylor couldn’t make out every word.

“Yes, I know… it… right… well why don’t you?”

Taylor couldn’t tell what was being said, she wasn’t certain it was even about her
,
and she was starting to feel self-conscious listening through the door. She was about to stop eavesdropping and enter the room when Hannah raised her voice.

“I don’t care. Y
ou need to keep your brother away from my roommate or I will do it myself!”

Taylor was stunned to hear this. It was pretty clear that Hannah was not particularly enamored of Eric but she didn’t realize it was this serious and she certainly wasn’t aware that Hannah somehow saw herself as responsible for controlling who Taylor was allowed to hang out with. Taylor was debating whether or not to enter the room. She was upset, but she didn’t want a confrontation. She had been avoiding confrontations all day though. If she left now, she’d still have to come back at some point.

“Are you locked out?” came a loud voice behind her.

Taylor jumped. It was Addison.

“Just looking for my key,” Taylor said and then shuffled around in her pocket for a moment before holding a key up to Addison’s face.

“Oh, here it is!” Taylor said, trying to appear nonchalant.

Addison just grunted at her and walked away.

Taylor nervously inserted the key into the door, but it swung open without her touch. Hannah was standing on the other side looking concerned. She must have heard Addison, thought Taylor. Taylor pushed past her without a word and flung herself face first onto her bed. For several minutes, neither said anything until Hannah broke the silence.

“So…”

Taylor waited for her to continue, but Hannah didn't say anything further. Instead, Hannah looked around the room, apparently carefully counting the cracks in the painted cinderblock walls. After several more minutes of this, Taylor decided to get to the point.

“So who were you talking to?” Taylor asked.

Hannah regarded her for a moment and then answered, “Joseph.”

“About?”

“Look Taylor, I know what it sounds like and I’m really, really sorry. Please believe that I’m on your side here,” Hannah pleaded.

“And my side is not pro-Eric, I take it?”

Hannah looked down at her feet.

“I know, it’s none of my business. I just get a
really
bad feeling about him. Like, sick to my stomach bad,” she said.

Taylor made an exaggerated display of rolling her eyes.

“Well, apparently you and Joseph are on the same page then. You must both think I’m helpless.”

“Well…” Hannah began.

“And,” Taylor interjected, “you are so convinced that I am incapable of choosing my friends that you have to step in to choose them for me?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“AND,” Taylor interrupted again, raising her voice slightly, “you are not just content to choose my friends, you then feel justified to go behind my back and sabotage any friendships that don’t meet the high standards of your
stomach
. Is that right?”

“I’m sorry,” Hannah said, sounding defeated.

Taylor was primed for an argument, but Hannah’s simple apology took the wind out of Taylor’s sails. Still, Taylor was determined to be righteously indignant, even if only for the principle of it, and she wasn’t ready to concede. After knowing Taylor for only 24 hours, Hannah had inserted herself into Taylor’s relationships behind her back and Taylor felt justified in being upset. A nagging voice urged her to consider Hannah’s good intentions, but at the moment that tiny voice could not make itself heard over her anger.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not enough. I’ve just met you, I’m supposed to live with you, and I already can’t trust you,” said Taylor.

“I know,” Hannah replied. “I understand if you’re upset.”

“If?”

“I know you’re upset and you are justified. Can I make it up to you?”