The Stepford Vampires

Somehow, James single-handedly beating up three guys was made into a bigger story than me. And thank God for that.

But Troy’s warning was still in the back of my mind, and it was brought to the front when I saw him waiting outside in the parking lot.

“You didn’t listen.”

“You and James have beef, I get it. Leave me out of it.”

“You’re going to get hurt, Liz!”

“Are you threatening me, Troy? Because, honestly, James has been more of a friend than you have. And no one other than you knew about what happened at my last school, so you’re kind of prime suspect here.”

“I didn’t tell anyone. And you think James is your friend, but he’s not.”

“Look, Troy, whatever this thing is between you and James? It has nothing to do with me. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself. If you’re worried about me, don’t be.

“And as far as James goes, he’s just some guy who happened to be nice to me one time.”

“Please, Liz. Please, be careful.”

James walked up, and Troy looked like he wanted to bail. I stood there watching and, for a moment, James’s eyes grew cold. I couldn’t really figure out what it was at the time but, for a moment, I was scared.

“James,” Troy spat.

“Troy Holland. Still trying to rain on my parade.”

“Heard you got into a fight with some kids. Thought that kind of thing was beneath you.”

“They had it coming.”

“Nothing ever changes, James. You’re a cancer.”

“You wound me. What have I ever done to deserve such cold treatment?”

“I swear to God, James… You’re going to get what’s coming to you.”

“You bore me. If you’re going to fuck off, then fuck off. If not, do something other than be boring.”

“This ends, James. One way or another.”

“Goodbye, Troy. Don’t let the closet hit you on your way out.”

Troy was about to rush at James, but I stepped in the way. James looked at me, surprised, but he kept his cool. Troy went red in the face.

“Let it go, Troy. It’s not worth it.”

“You don’t know what he’s doing.”

“Troy, go home,” I said.

Troy looked very angry, but then took a deep breath. “Be careful, Liz.” He got into his car and drove off.

“You wanna tell me what happened between you two to piss him off so much?”

“It’s boring. I don’t like boring stories.”

“I do.”

“Troy just has issues. Always has. Probably isn’t even my place to talk about them. But you de-escalated that quite nicely.”

“Yeah, well, I figured I owed you one.”

“Have dinner with me.”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t like you, James! You’re arrogant and childish, and you did one nice thing for me, but that doesn’t make us friends. It doesn’t mean I like you. It just means that you did a nice thing. Can’t it just be that?”

“I’m not asking you to have dinner with me because I want a thank-you. I want you to have dinner with me because I think you’re interesting.”

“I know that might sound like a compliment to you, but it’s not. I’m not a plaything. I’m not some shiny object for you to get bored with once you’re done with me.”

“I know you aren’t an object. I want to get to know you better. This is me trying, Liz. I’m trying to reach out. I don’t want a plaything. That’s Mary-Anne. And you’re right, interesting isn’t an adequate word.

“You’re beautiful and resilient, and I underestimated you. I didn’t know you went through all that and kept going. I just want to find out more about this person who showed up and made life less dull around here.”

“That was actually kind of nice.”

“Hoping I nailed it first time because I’m not all that good at big speeches.”

“Okay, yes.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll have dinner with you. But I have conditions.”

“Name them.”

“At your house, and it’s pizza, and you’re paying. I reserve the right to leave if it’s bad. And it’s super casual.

“No expectations, no big gestures, just two people eating together and maybe a movie, and we don’t make a big thing out of it.”

“Sounds fair.”

“You’re not just into me because I’m the girl in the leaked sex tape, are you?”

“I’m interested because you’re the girl who survived being in a leaked sex tape.”

“Where was this side of you when we met?”

I should have just left it at a no. But James somehow just said all the right things and, in that moment, I thought I could see that he wasn’t just an arrogant pretty boy.

I had no idea what the truth was.