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Savannah

Nope, this was no dreah he would be in a night to feel like one

I&039;d spent the past tenlot The longer I waited, the reeing to this date? No way could this be a good idea! I ht Did I have some secret wish to start a war between the Clann and the vampires? At the very least, I must have a death wish Because if o out with Tristan

Panicking now, I reached forforthe whole thing off It was easier to think when he wasn&039;t around; text o

But a familiar black truck pulled up beside mine just as my hand closed around the phone Crap I&039;d have to tell hi a pizza box and a plastic bag My heart shot up into s

"Hey," he said with a broad grin "Sorry it took so long They got the order wrong, and I had to wait for thee?"

Us The word sent a war so it easier to breathe "Ulanced down at the phone in rabbed it forso to

He stepped closer to me, a foot away now, and I could sne It slipped upit here Maybe he&039;d put some sort of spell on me

Okay One date with hi as the Clann and the va deal, right?

"Still got your keys?" hehihty

Oh The dance room Perfect! No one would even knoe&039;d been there

Stuffing the phone in nition then followed hi&039;s foyer doors

"Deja vu," Ithe doors while he stood besideout to caress ht air

He chuckled then followed me inside The moon lit the way across the foyer The stairas anotheropposite thethe day, the stairs usually had no need for artificial lights to guide the way Halfway up, the ely, I could still see Weird

On the third floor, I unlocked the dance-rooht switch But a warht?" he hts off, found the closet light switch around the corner, then pushed open the door so the sht could shine into the dance rooht was equal to a laht up the dance roo

"Sorry, I should have brought a blanket or sorin

"It&039;s fine" Feeling suddenly shy, I sat doith him on the floor in the center of the dim room and tried to remember that this was the boy I&039;d spent countless hours with as a kid

"I brought music if you want to put so

I took the hands The CD&039;s label read Stressed Out 1 S it in, then gradually turned the round level

I returned to sit near him "Stressed Out 1? Should I even ask how hed "A few The Clann are control freaks All their rules make life a littlestressful"

"I knohat youthe rules for ht?" He opened the pizza box, picked up a slice of cheese pizza and set it on a paper napkin for ry I could eat the whole thing by randh lady"

I sone a lot of the time" He raised his eyebrows in silent question I added, "She&039;s a sales rep for a safety-products company"

He nodded, and we ate for a few minutes I tried to chely, but it felt likeitself with i a dent in the hunger yet

He&039;d gotten us both bottles of orange soda He opened one and handed it to et the lid open The gesture was both sweet and a Then he opened the other bottle for himself

"Sowill you finally tell o on a date with me before?"

E up in my soda "Well, don&039;t be mad, but you&039;re sort of off-limits to ures You&039;ve been off-lirade"

Heat flooded ainst therinned "Hey, it&039;s not every day a guy gets hitched"

I played with e to ask, "Did your parents ever tell you e couldn&039;t be friends any how to ansithout lying or revealing too much "My mom broke some Clann rule before I was born So they kicked out ic"

"Huh Must have been akicked out of the Clann before Your grandma break the same rule, too?"

"U her daughter in the first place"

"I&039;d love to knohat that rule was" He sounded gri it myself"

"What? Why? Don&039;t you want to be the Clann leader so able to do " I alic a few tiave a short, hu So about the surprise on ic is the reason I&039; football now You knohen I shoved Dylan out on the field during that game?" I nodded

"I didn&039;t exactly hit hiic being used right in front of me and didn&039;t even know it Wow "What does it feel like? Doing "

"Is it like that for everyone in the Clann?"

"No, I don&039;t think so At least no one else see it"

Because he was the leading fa else in life You probably just need ht?"

"That&039;s what Emily says But that&039;s the proble up crap and setting fires right and left by accident It&039;s like keeping your hand clenched up in a fist every second you&039;re awake I can never relax, never forget about it I get tired of it And then there&039;s the whole issue of the Clann elders trying to run my life They don&039;t care what I want, only what they have planned for me"

"My parents told me descendants can read each others&039; minds Can you? Read minds, I mean?"

"Sometimes, if I try really hard and the other person is focused Mostly all I pick up are rando to understand"

"Aren&039;t you worried your parents will read your ht?"

One corner of his ot me covered" He lifted his left wrist and pointed at his watch "She gave o She told et to class on time What she didn&039;t tell thehts from them They just think it&039;s some kind of new ability I naturally developed with puberty, and a sign that I should be the future Clann leader"

Nice to know even the all-powerful Clann elders could get it wrong sometiood sister" I&039;d alanted a big sister to look out for me, tell me what to do, what to wear, how to act to fit in at school

"Yeah, she&039;s cool Though most of the tietting aith things"

I laughed, trying to fit Tristan&039;s description of his sister with the sweet, outgoing cheerleader ily coic is such a pain for you to control all the time, why stay in the Clann?"

He stared down at the pizza box for a long uess part of me isn&039;t ready to destroy my parents like that My dad still thinks he&039;ll convince me to follow in his footsteps I told them I&039;m not interested, but"

I studied the unhappiness in his eyes He really loved his family; that"If you don&039;t want to hurt your family, then why" I waved a hand at us, the pizza, the sodas

"Because asking ht to tellaze at his nose

"Maybe they&039;re just trying to protect you," I ht"

Oh, crap I had to tell him the truth about ht now, right here with him I opened my mouth-

Tristan rolled up to his feet then held out a hand "Dance with ulped Here was one of my fantasies just handed to me on a silver platter Okay, dance with him first, then confess At least then I&039;d have the memory to hold on to

I took a deep breath and placed my hand in his, then had to draw in another deep breath at the contact as tingling arced down ood idea, after all But he was already pullinghoh slipped out of ainst my lower back He held my other hand in his and led me into a two-step My hand fit perfectly in the curve of his

TheHe never hesitated as he leduy who can actually dance I&039; hadn&039;t been any where near this smooth

His chuckle sent a whisper of warh my eyelashes to find he&039;d bent his head down close to s me to a couple charity balls every year She insisted I learn how to dance right so I wouldn&039;t embarrass her"

"She teach you herself?"

"Yeah, much to my embarrassrin "At least every now and then the skill coainst his side "I see what you h twice more as he dippedon the pizza Then another slow song caed to half count so that we barelyit seeainst his chest and wrap an arether

I could both hear and feel his sigh He lifted our joined hands to his chest, as if he wantedthis close together, our thighs brushed, our knees and feet nudging each other at ti me closer than I&039;d ever dreamed possible for us I should be afraid of all the people who ht find out about this But all I felt was peace and total contentment I wanted to stay here, in this exact moment, for the rest of my life

My phone buzzed

Oh, no Nanna She&039;d be worried "Oh, crap I forgot to callhome" I started to pull away, but his arms stopped me "Savannah, wait"

I looked up at hi to tilt my head way back so I could see his expression And was surprised to find a hint ofwas that worry in his eyes?

"Can I see you again?" His voice was ies delicious on s I tried not to shiver

A second date?

Needing ti phone from my pocket and answered it "Hey, Nanna I&039;ot to call you" Good, no lies there Technically

"M worried You co home now?"

"Yes See you in a few minutes" I ended the call, put the phone back in my pocket and turned around

And nearly collided with Tristan&039;s chest

"I would really like a second date with you" He gave a crooked half sether

He wanted to seewith joy He wanted to see ain!

But the other part of o on another date with him Desperately But

He slid his hands up my arms to my shoulders and ducked his head until his mouth was an inch aboveme shiver

Oh, Lord Should I? No, I really shouldn&039;t

I nodded anyway

He touched his lips toThe need rose up, h the floor and fly at the same time Someone whispered, it couldn&039;t be rabbed his shirt at his lower back, hanging on to the soft folds for dear life as the kiss deepened This hat I had needed so badly in history today I kne to define that craving now His h to survive on for the rest oftoldthis kiss could be bad in a way I didn&039;t understand There was soht was gone, lost beneath the swa up that cold cavern inside that had tried to drownoff the kiss, and rested his cheek against the top ofwith a dazed s lower lip Wow I could swear I&039;d just sed the sun I was filled with light and heat Kissing Greg had never felt like this Not even close

When I eased back, I was surprised to feel Tristan shaking a little Wait Boring, plain-Jane uy in school shake? Iainst the ith a grin

"U goofy

He gave hed, too "Yeah Your kisses area whole new ball ga ather up our drinks and trash I let my hair fall forward to hide my face Could he tell I&039;d only kissed one other boy besides hiood I&039;ll probably need soet used to them" He startledon to his shirt for balance "Tristan, we have to go! I don&039;t want to go, either, but I told Nanna I would be home in a few s still left to be cleaned up

"I&039;ll do it I don&039;t want you cleaning up for me I meant it when I said I don&039;t need a slave" His hand coasted over lad I&039;d left it down tonight

"Helping others isn&039;t being a slave, Tristan It&039;s called tearunted in response, apparently unwilling to argue anyI waited for hiht, which Iup at first Temporarily blinded, I had to findthe soft sounds of his breathing For once,was actually helpful

I knew I&039;d found him when my hands touched the hard curves of his upper ar The darkness hid me, made , I slid my hands up to his cheeks, stood on tiptoe, leaned in and whispered, "May I?" before I kissed him

I understood then why humans have noses So we can find each other to kiss in the dark

I held the kiss long enough to make us both breathless Then I pulled ahile I still could and led hi was locked up again, we headed down the cement ramp to our trucks He shoved the pizza box under one ar the sloalk together across the campus in the dark, the silence broken only by the occasional cricket and our feet rustling over the grass, a sudden thought hit me

Mom had been a senior here at JHS when she&039;d met my father Had my parents done this? Walked side by side across this saether, risking starting a war, too, just because they loved each other?

They&039;d ended up getting married, yet even that hadn&039;t started a war between the va ain, what could the Clann do to us now? They couldn&039;t exactly kick us out again I was already banned fro about our starting a war anyways Not toa hypocrite! How could she have the nerve to tell me to stay away from all descendants when she&039;d married a vampire?

He followed ot in, snapped on ain next week?" he asked

I frowned All argu the rules "Tristan, let me think about-"

He leaned forward and kissed ain "Ohhh, no fair using kisses"