Vampire Nightlife

The forest was quiet and still, the cold wind blew around the two Vampires and for a moment, no word was exchanged between them.

Lukas wondered if it was good to be honest with Stacy about the situation now. He had opened up with her before and it had done him real good, hadn\'t it?

Stacy on the other hand wondered if it was time for her to leave. She had stayed and lingered long enough. Stacy didn\'t care when it was them hanging out at VitaBlood, but in the privacy of the forest and at the time, it almost felt wrong.

"Well, Chaerin and I…" Lukas rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don\'t think you should discuss it with me." Stacy cut him off.

Lukas looked at her in surprise. He didn\'t think that she\'d say something like that, and it made him speechless. When he had problems at first, she was willing to listen to him but now she was saying that she didn\'t.

"Oh… that makes sense, doesn\'t it?" Lukas awkwardly smiled. "Sorry about that. I just thought that I could approach you and ask for help, like before."

"Er, well…" Stacy sighed and looked away. "I mean if the two of you had a fight, wouldn\'t it make sense to keep it between the two of you? I don\'t think I should be the one to hear it…"

"Yeah, you\'re right. I just… well, I\'ve never really had anyone to share these kinds of problems with before." Lukas followed her line of sight and didn\'t know why it was awkward. "Honestly, never really shared with anyone before since it was just me, but it helped when I did with you… you know?"

Stacy looked back at him quietly, and didn\'t know why she was hesitating all this time. Was it because it involved Chaerin? Hadn\'t she really not cared before and just stated what was on her mind all the time?

Why did Lukas have to make him appear so sad and lonely? Stacy rubbed her forehead and resisted the frustration building up within her.

"I… you\'re making it seem like–hah. Fine, I\'ll listen to you."

"You don\'t have to force yourself. It\'s good." Lukas coughed. "I mean, I can handle it–you were just asking a while ago, so I thought that it\'d be fine…"

"Honestly, I don\'t know why I\'m hesitating now." Stacy\'s shoulders sagged a little and she looked seriously at him. "I did tell you that it\'s not good to hold it in, didn\'t I? So, go ahead and tell me. I\'m here for you."

"Are you sure?"

"Do you still want me to change my mind?" Stacy crossed her arms. "I can leave now if you want–"

"Nono, you can stay." Lukas waved his hands. "I\'m just thinking back over your words, and you did have a point about how it\'s better to keep it between me and Chaerin. But if you\'re willing to listen, and I trust that you won\'t make it anything weird–"

"Why would I make it weird?" Stacy frowned. "How would I make it weird?"

"Er, forget what I said." Lukas rubbed his face and looked at her with a smile. "I\'m just happy that you want to listen to me. So uh, just stay right there and well listen to my problems, okay? Gah, why are we even making such a big deal about it?"

"I don\'t know–"

"Well, to be fair, you started it by shotting me down–"

"Hey, I asked you about it first and you were the one who wanted to pretend that you\'re okay." Stacy pointed a finger at him, and then sighed. "We\'re not going anywhere if we continue bickering like this."

"You\'re right." Lukas agreed. "But ah, I don\'t know where to start now."

"Seriously?" Stacy looked at him aghast. "Just start with what you were going with earlier. Or if you want, I\'ll take a guess at what happened."

"You\'re going to guess?" Lukas raised a brow.

"Er," Stacy sighed and leaned against one of the trees. She focused on the leaves and tried not to glance in Lukas\' direction. "I\'m not exactly blind. Earlier, you were so excited about getting a hut and you wanted to room with Chaerin, right?"

Lukas awkwardly glanced at her and sighed. "Yeah. I was–honestly, thank you for helping me. Your brother wanted to pair you and Chaerin together, but you went out of your way and pretended that you didn\'t want to room with her."

Stacy\'s lips quirked slightly. "Yeah…"

"Things didn\'t work out when Chaerin and I had a disagreement." Lukas scratched his head. "Honestly, I get it that she was worried about my safety, but…"

"But you\'re being a knuckleheaded idiot?"

"Ouch. Do you have to be that harsh?"

"Chaerin seems reasonable… to some degree." Stacy quietly said. "I\'d like to think that she\'d only get upset with you for a certain reason and if it comes to your safety, then doesn\'t that make sense? Why haven\'t you apologized to her yet?"

"Huh, I almost expected that you\'d side with me." Lukas chuckled. "I wonder what made me think that?"

"Just because you\'re the one confiding in me doesn\'t mean I wouldn\'t check on which made more sense or not." Stacy rolled her eyes and glanced at him. "What were you trying to say? She was worried about your safety and…"

Lukas sighed and leaned against the tree right next to her. "I honestly don\'t know, I could have just said yes–agreed instantly and the argument would be over right? But I guess I just wanted to insist on what I thought was right?"

"And was it worth it?"

"I thought I was communicating–but it just led to heartbreak." Lukas glanced at Stacy. "I… don\'t exactly regret my actions. It doesn\'t make any sense to others, but it made sense to me, you know? Does every single one need to understand why I do things?"

"Well… no," Stacy agreed, thinking about her brother. "But what about the ones you love?"