nine
The Swan house was cute. There really was no other word to describe it, at least for me. People posed in front of the mailbox and house from the street. A few were even bolder and stepped up to the door. I was a little shocked. I mean, didn’t real people live here?
Now I could see why they were thinking of moving. I wouldn’t want strangers traipsing all over my lawn and in front of my house day in and out. Still I was glad I got to see it.
Glinda dragged me over to the front of the house and snapped some pictures with Viktor and me. After that, Viktor didn’t really stay with us much; instead tourists, who wanted their picture taken with him, monopolized his time. He seemed only too happy to oblige. I guess, in a way, he looked the part to them with his pallid complexion, inky black hair, and towering height. The only thing he was missing was the sharp teeth and well, the messy, unkempt hair.
Glinda hooked her arm through mine. “This is fun,” she said, and snapped another picture of us.
She showed me and I cringed. “God, delete that.” I made a grab for her phone and she twirled away from me, laughing. My hair was growing in size from the dampness in the air. I wished I had a hat too. Glinda looked great in every picture. She had one of those pretty photogenic faces. I looked like a beast next to her. Self-conscious, I tucked my hair behind my ears, trying to smash it down, which only made it worse.
The tour guide announced we were moving to the next stop and everyone scrambled to take a few more photos. Some even picked up rocks from the driveway and shoved them into their bags or pockets. Once back on the bus, I sat down and Glinda climbed into the seat behind me, her back pressed against the window.
“Why aren’t you sitting next to me?” I asked, but before she answered, I felt a body press next to mine. I turned back around. Viktor was sitting beside me. His long legs stretched out in front of him.
“Having fun?” His brow lifted; a glimmer of something in his eyes that I couldn’t read.
My heart thumped. “Yeah, it’s been enlightening.”
He laughed. The sound warmed me.
“Where are we off to now?” I asked just for something to say. I felt so stupid suddenly. It wasn’t like the easy banter I had with Vincent. Thinking about him only made me feel strangely unsettled.
“The Cullen’s house,” he said and leaned forward to brush some dirt off his leg.
“Oh.” I chewed on my lip.
Glinda leaned forward, sticking her head between us. “So Viktor, where’s Vincent?” she asked as though she had been reading my thoughts.
“I don’t know.” He glared at her over his shoulder. “It’s not my day to watch him.”
Glinda’s face reddened and she sat back in the seat.
I gave her a questioning look and she rolled her eyes, shrugging.
“So,” I cleared my throat. “What happened last night?”
“Nothing,” he said and stared toward the front of the bus.
I gaped at him.
Glinda kicked the back of my seat and when I turned, she shook her head and mouthed, “Don’t ask.”
I widened my eyes and turned back around. “So, when do you want to talk about the paper?”
His lips twitched. He angled his body toward mine and placed his arm over the seat. His hand was almost touching my shoulder. “When do you want to hook-up?” He gave me that heavy lidded stare of his. I shifted in my seat and my eyes drifted to his lips. “Ah…” I took a breath. “Anytime is good.”
“How about tomorrow?” he said. His warm breath fanned across my face. I felt myself leaning forward. His lips slid into a slow grin and his beautiful face momentarily mesmerized me. I had an overwhelming urge to kiss him. Actually, my mind envisioned it a bit too clearly.
“It’s a date then.” He stood up.
I fell forward.
“You coming?” he asked, looking down at me.
I blinked and pushed off the seat.
Somehow I completely missed the bus stopping. Feeling disoriented, I looked around. Everyone was gone, including Glinda. “Yeah,” I mumbled, standing up, and followed him out.
Once I was off the bus, I lost Viktor somehow. I stood there feeling out of sorts. The wind blew against me, the sharp chill making me shiver.
“What were you two talking about?” Glinda asked bouncing up to me.
“Nothing really,” I said and pulled my jacket closer.
“It didn’t look like nothing to me.” She smirked.
I did a double take. “What did it look like to you?”
“You looked hungry.” She laughed. “I thought you were going to go Zombie on his face.”
“What?” I gaped at her. “I did not.”
“I know.” She laughed harder. “You were thinking about it though.”
“I was not.” I lied, my face flaming.
“Yeah,” she said, cutting me a look filled with disbelief. “You keep telling yourself that.”
We walked into the Cullen House, which was really a bed & breakfast but dubbed the Cullen house by the town. It had a large portrait on the wall filled with graduation caps, just like the movie, Glinda explained to me. I guessed it would have had a larger impact on me if I watched the movie. I was really going to have to do that.
The owners had a cardboard cutout of Edward-i.e. Rob Pattinson propped up in the main room. I heard someone say they took him on trips with them and they just got back from taking him to some convention in New Orleans. Lucky cardboard Edward.
After the short tour of the Cullen House, we all loaded back on the bus and headed back to the visitors center. This time Viktor didn’t sit with me and Glinda, instead he sat off with some girls visiting from Ohio—at least that is what their sweatshirts said. I felt another surge of unwarranted jealousy every time I heard one of the girls giggle and almost gagged when the big-busted blonde swung her hair around and leaned her boobs against his arm.
“You really need to make up your mind.”
I turned to Glinda. “What do you mean?”
“You know.” She widened her eyes and nudged her head toward the back of the bus.
I inhaled deeply and sighed. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She made a face. “Sure you don’t.” She lifted her phone in the air and snapped off a picture. I only realized after, that she was taking pictures of Viktor and the girls.
“Why are you taking pictures of him?”
“Calm down, tiger,” she said. “I will send you a copy of them.”
“Eww, I don’t want pictures of him with some other girls.”
“Ah-ha!” she shouted with glee. “I knew it!”
I frowned down at her. “What did you know?”
“You are sooo jelly…” she singsonged, seemingly proud of her deductive abilities.
“Jelly?”
“Amber,” she exhaled. “You really need to get with the program.”
“Get with what?”
“The lingo,” she said as though this explained everything.
“Whatever,” I muttered. The rest of the way back I stared out the window at the gray and too green blurring landscape while Glinda acted like a mad-texter on her phone, giggling off and on at something she typed.
The bus rolled to a stop.
Glinda jumped up.
I stood behind her and tried hard not to look back at Viktor. I did it anyway and immediately wished I didn’t. He was writing something down on a book one of the girls held. Probably his number. Great.