Blood of The Rose

Chapter 39: Longing

Morningside High School

Inglewood

"Julia Brown."

"Here."

"Alex Canton."

"Yeah, here."

"Reese Chloris."

"..."

"Reese Chloris."

Reese let out a small squawk as her elbow was jostled. "H- Here!" she stammered, blushing brightly at the snickers her classmates sent her way.

Undeterred, the aged, stooped high school teacher, peering blearily through his spectacles, moved on.

"Richard Davis."

She turned to send a chagrined half-smile to her friend sitting next to her. "Sorry!" she whispered.

May just shook her head, rolling her one visible eye.

Facing frontward again, the nineteen-year-old slumped onto her desk. Mondays were the absolute worst. Especially after having stayed out late Saturday night at a club in nearby Santa Monica. Well, yesterday morning, really, by the time she'd gotten home.

Especially after the night she'd had…

She let out a soft groan of discontent as she clenched her hands in her purple hoodie. To distract herself, she watched her feathery green-dyed bangs as they swayed back and forth in front of her face, the air vent directly overhead on full blast as usual.

There was a reason she wore her comfortable hoodie in this class, no matter what the weather was like outside.

She gave a little jump at May's "Here!" from her left, evidently the teacher finally got around to 'Zedong'. And now would come the five solid minutes of dithering about as Mr. Dorn shuffled the attendance records into the proper slot of his briefcase and searched for the day's lesson plan. More likely than not, it'd be one they already covered, possibly even the Friday before.

God, she hated Mondays.

Reese slouched back in her chair, picking up her pencil and doodling idly in her open notebook. She was actually a fairly decent artist, with sketches at least, and the face she'd been working on was slowly taking shape. Round cheeks, pert nose, wide eyes framed by messy locks of hair that she'd shaded lighter at the ends to denote their red tips…

I should dye my hair again, it's been awhile since I did so… my roots are showing… Wonder if I should try a different color? Would she like that? Or maybe she likes the green because it-

Irritably, she squeezed her eyes shut to cut off the internal monologue.

Stop it. Stop thinking about… her… Otherwise you'll start thinking about the last night at the club, and how amazing… how fantastically, incredibly amazing it felt…

Involuntarily, her free hand slipped free from where it was fisted in her hoodie still and began to drift lower, brushing along her stomach to rest in between her thighs…

"Reese!" her friend hissed worriedly.

The green-haired girl jerked upright with a start. She was breathing heavily, panting as if she'd been running.

Holy shit, did I just almost…?

Suddenly the walls seemed entirely too close, the presence of her classmates stifling, the air thick and choking…

With a lurch, she got to her feet, grabbing her notebook and pencil to stuff into her backpack before staggering towards the door, ignoring the stares and judgmental frowns and ridiculing grins from her so-called peers.

"Reese, wait up!"

She ignored the quiet call, ignored Mr. Dorn who didn't even glance up from his archaeological dig into his briefcase, ignored everything save for her need to get out, get away from it all. Now.

Reese was already at her locker, pulling out her skateboard, when a puffing May caught up to her.

"Reese, what the fuck, you can't just walk out on-"

"I gotta go, May," she implored quietly, unable to look her best friend, her only friend, in the eye. "I can't… I can't stay here, I just gotta…"

"Okay, okay, breathe…" May took her by the shoulders, worry shining in her gunmetal grey eyes. "Look, lemme just go grab my board-"

"No, May, I can't let you skip out too!"

The rose-haired girl snorted softly. "Like you could stop me, dork."

"Pfft, I could take you, Zedong," she grinned slightly, her humor somewhat restored.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Chloris."

Before another five minutes had passed, the pair of girls were sneaking out the back entrance by the band room and soon thereafter riding their skateboards down the sun-drenched streets towards nearby Darby Park. They traveled in silence, passing the Costco, the Starbucks, the Home Depot... The sounds of traffic and their skateboard wheels against the concrete were enough to obviate the need for conversation.

Once inside the park, Reese quickly dismounted, kicking her neon green and black skateboard up and into her hands. She headed across the grass until she reached the shade of a tree, collapsing unceremoniously onto her back with her bag and board lying above her head where they'd been flung.

May sat next to her with considerably more restraint, setting her own red and black board next to her upside-down while resting her backpack on top of it. She pulled her legs up and hugged them to her chest as she stared blankly out across the lightly-populated park.

"You know I'm your friend, right, Reese?" she eventually murmured quietly. "You can talk to me."

Reese let out an amused snort. "You mean only friend? Bestest friend in the whole world who got held back junior year with me, stuck with me every time I fucked up or got kicked out of my home for whatever dumbass reason my dad came up with lately…? The kinda friend who followed me into a club without even really knowing what…" She swallowed hard, emotion overcoming her. "I'm sorry," she finally whispered.

"Sorry for what?"

She glanced over at the beanie-wearing girl who wore a genuinely confused expression on her face.

"Well… for getting you mixed up in all of this… this… whatever it is I'm mixed up with."

"Hmm." May turned her head again to gaze across the grassy fields. "We never really talked about… the other night."

"No, we didn't."

"Well… I mean, obviously, you were right…"

"Yeah." Reese stared up at the clouds, just barely visible through the tree branches. "She's definitely a… um…"

"Vampire."

"Yup."

"And her friends, too," May added softly.

"Yeah…" She sighed, her voice taking on a pensive edge. "I mean, she… R- Ruby… she doesn't really look like what I expected one to look like, right? Even her sister… What was her name again?"

"Yang."

Reese looked over sharply to see a small smile on May's face, one that was quickly wiped away until she wore her usual indifferent mask. "Uh-huh. Yang. Anyway, she was all bright and… y'know… Now, the other girl, she fit the bill, all cold and regal and… icy… But not…" She sighed morosely. "Oh, May… I am so fucked…"

Her friend laughed quietly. "Well, I gotta admit, it felt really… nice… You were right about that, too."

With a grunt, Reese turned on her side and propped her head up on an arm so that she could see May easier. "Y'know, I didn't think you, um… felt… that way about… girls…"

"Oh! Well…" May blushed brightly, pulling her beanie further down on her head. "I guess?" she finally squeaked. "I mean, I've always been kinda curious, not like any boys were ever beating down my door or anything…"

"So…?"

"Well, I'm definitely bi, if that's what you're wondering." May glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "I know we've never really discussed it, but from the way you'd described Ruby and all, it seemed to me that you, er…"

"Yeah, flaming lesbian, here."

"Huh, okay."

"Straight as a circle."

"Yeah…"

"So bent I can't even walk straight."

"Okay, fine, I get it!"

The two of them dissolved into giggles as they could only ever do in each other's company.

"Funny this never came up before," Reese finally murmured.

"Eh, we always had more interesting things to talk about than boys. Or girls."

"Suppose so. So, then…"

"Hmm?"

Reese swallowed nervously. "Do you wanna go back, see if we can meet up with them again?"

Sighing, May rested her chin on her knees. "Reese… I mean, yeah, I'd definitely like to see Yang again and… Um… Yeah, do the… thing…"

"Have your neck bit?" Reese smirked.

"Fine, yes," her friend groused half-heartedly. "Anyway, I don't think it's healthy to just, y'know… hang around the club every single night in the hopes that they might show up!"

The green-haired girl flopped onto her back once more. The silence between them lasted for a good minute or two before May glanced back over, startled to see tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

"Reese…"

"I can't get her out of my head, May," she whispered brokenly. "Every waking minute, I'm thinking of her, and how she makes me feel… Every single fucking time it's more intense, and… and…"

"But I thought that was only, like, the third time you-"

"I fucking orgasmed, okay?"

May pulled back slightly at the shouted admission, glancing around to make sure they hadn't attracted anyone's attention before leaning forward once more. "Really?"

"Yeah, really," was the now-whispered reply.

"Damn."

"I think I just lost my virginity without actually having any part of my body but my neck touched."

"Um, I guess?"

"It just sucks, I always thought my first time would be special, another girl who would treat me… I mean, y'know… I just thought…" Reese closed her eyes wearily. "This is so fucked up, I'm so confused, and all I can think is that I can't wait to see her again… It's like, my body is physically aching for her touch and it makes absolutely no sense but I can't even care anymore and-"

"Okay, Reese, breathe," her friend advised softly, briefly reaching out to run her fingers through her friend's bangs. The green-haired girl stopped her manic rambling and obligingly took several deep breaths.

"Sorry."

"I get it, this has kinda messed you up, somehow…" May frowned. "I hate seeing you like this… And I really don't know if we should ever go back, now…"

"What? No, I have to!"

"Okay, easy, Reese, breathe…"

Reese settled back down from where she'd almost bolted upright, once again taking deep breaths.

"Sorry," she apologized again.

"And stop saying sorry."

"Sorry."

May slapped her on the arm, the two of them sharing a brief grin before they sobered once more.

"I wonder…" Reese swallowed and closed her eyes again, her voice dropping into the barest of whispers. "I wonder if she'd want me to… actually… stick around…"

May frowned uncertainly. "I don't understand…"

"I don't either, I just… I need to be with her."

The beanie-wearing girl nodded slowly. "So… are you gonna just, what, run away from home and try to find her, ask her to take care of you?"

Reese laughed bitterly. "Sounds stupid when you say it out loud… But, seriously, what do I have waiting for me here? Dumbass 7-Eleven fired me yesterday, so no job…"

"Because you skipped out on work again."

"Whatever. Only family I got is my dad, and he's never around, when he is all he does is yell at me, call me a slacker, and complain about the mess around the apartment… Fucking school, I'm barely passing, with my luck I'll have to repeat Senior year as well…"

"What about me?"

She sucked in a sharp breath at her friend's soft question. Reese sat up, turning so that she faced May fully.

"May… Yeah, you're the only thing worthwhile in my life here, you're like a sister to me. If… If you don't want me to go, I won't, because there's no way I'd leave you alone."

Gunmetal grey eyes looked back at her, the beanie usually pulled over her head now clasped in her hands. Reese couldn't remember the last time she'd actually seen her friend's full head of dusky-rose hair.

"I don't want to stop you," May finally whispered. "But I don't want you to go, either. You're my only friend, too. I…"

"What, May? What do you want?"

A single tear trickled down her friend's cheek. Reese watched the trail it left before looking back up into her eyes.

May finally let out a long, slow sigh. "I want to go with you."

"But… What about your mom, your sister…?"

"Lisa works the late shift at the bar still, she gets home long after I'm in bed, even after I've been out with you. And mom… she's been on nights at the hospital for as long as I can remember, I don't see her except for the weekends, if that." May smiled sadly. "I doubt either one would notice me missing anytime soon."

"Okay…" Reese breathed, excitement mounting in her chest. The prospect of this daunting adventure, of leaving everything behind for the unknown, was suddenly far more feasible with her best friend at her side. "Okay, then, let's… We'll go home and pack, see if there's anything we could maybe find to bring along that's useful… like, to sell or anything… And then, tonight…"

"Tonight we'll go look for vampires," May finished with a confident smile.

A/N: Another (shorter) chapter in an entirely different point of view. I tried to convey somewhat a particular perspective, that of those on the receiving end of a Kindred's attentions. So, Ruby, as if your hands weren't full enough with Heather… Side note, I've actually had this chapter written for about six months now, waiting for the right time to insert it into the lineup. Another side note… has it really been a year and a half since I posted the first chapter?

Next up, let's have a chapter in yet another new point of view… our favorite Ice Queen, Weiss!

Much love to my fabulous Beta and collaborator, SilvanaCrowe, and hugs to you awesome readers and reviewers! Spartandude928, AntonSlavik020, Jane, Blacsparrow, Knight of Everwatch, Sani2341, EteDesp Jirachi Of Frost, Erenor, TacoKing23, noone297, kinigget, thanks for all the kind words!

Stay shiny!