I raise my glass and clink it against hers, keeping my movements gentle. I nearly broke my toothbrush in half this morning, so I need to be aware that I have more strength than I used to.
“Thank you,” I tell her, and my nose starts to sting from the feeling of tears building up at the back of my throat, emotions suddenly running through me. All those nights in the house and I thought I would never be in this situation again, thought I’d never see my only friend, be free in this world, pretending to be normal.
But I know I’m not really free.
That this is a pause in my life, just like the pause between the lust and the bloodlust. Soon I’ll have to make decisions about how much of my old life I can have back without endangering myself and my parents.
My guess is not much.
“Lenore,” Elle says after she has a sip. “Cut the shit. What’s happening?”
I shake my head, wishing I could tell her everything. She’d never believe me.
“I had a fight with my parents,” I tell her, which isn’t a lie.
“Oh,” she says, making a face. “I’m sorry. On your birthday? That sucks. And you were stuck out in the desert with them.”
Just then the waiter approaches our table, an old reed-thin man with a thick mustache. He eyes the two of us with quiet disdain. Probably isn’t used to girls like us as his normal clientele.
“Hello,” I tell the waiter.
“Can I see some ID?” he asks me in a clipped voice.
I glance over at Elle, brows raised.
“Well, it’s your lucky day, sir,” she says to him. “Because she just turned twenty-one.”
He gives me a bland look, expecting me to get my ID out.
“I forgot my ID at home,” I tell him. Not my home, but Solon’s home.
“Well, then I’m afraid you’re not allowed to drink,” he says to me as I push the sunglasses up on my head. The light is still bright but I ignore it, keeping my eyes locked with the waiter’s.
“How
about you just believe me when I say I’m twenty-one,” I say to him, continuing to stare at him with the most intense gaze I can muster. Believe me, believe me.
He hesitates.
Or I’ll kill you, I add for good measure.
The waiter flinches. Blinks. “Okay. Forgive me for asking.”
Then he turns and walks away, shooting me a frightened glance over his shoulder.
Elle barks out a laugh. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m not sure,” I say, slipping my sunglasses back on. I shrug and take an elegant sip of my champagne. I’m not lying either. I don’t know if I just compelled him like a vampire, or persuaded him with magic. All I know is that it worked.
I have to admit, it felt kind of good.
“You know, you’ve always had that way about you,” Elle muses, picking up the menu. “Men and women always fall for it.”
I hesitate before asking. “What way?”
She glances up at me and wiggles her fingertips around, making circles. “You. Just being you.”
I take another sip of my drink, swallowing the bubbles down. “And you? Do you fall for it?”