Chapter 35

Hannah

I quickly ran into the bathroom, used the toilet, and splashed water on my face. I exited the bathroom without even looking into the mirror, already knowing I looked terrible.
I ducked out into the living room on the way to the kitchen. Our house was so small. When you first walked into the house, you were already in the living room. If you kept walking, you came to a small area that constituted a dining area and then walked through a doorway to the small kitchen. When I walked into the living room, Emmy looked up from the book she was reading, and after checking me out, her eyebrows shot up.
What?” I said, somewhat defensive already.
“You have a hickey,” she said matter-of-factly.
I reached up and slapped my hand over the spot I remember Nikolai biting and sucking on last night, feeling heat rush to my cheeks. I ran back into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Holy shit, she was right. There was a huge hickey on the right side of my neck. Jesus, was Nikolai part vampire? How the hell was I going to hide that thing?
As I stared at myself, contemplating the different strategies I could use to camouflage the bruise on my neck, my sister appeared in the doorway.
Emmy arched a dark brow at me. “So, want to tell me about your date?”
Again, Emmy was, by far, the most mature person in the family, which was noteworthy because she was also the youngest. She was a total genius and had been her whole life. She was accepted to a private school in town, Briar Ridge Academy, on scholarship. That’s why, even though she was a sophomore, we didn’t attend the same school. I had always been relieved because she was never exposed to the situation with Jeff. I had been tempted to confide in her many times, but she couldn’t do anything about it, so why burden her with that whole mess?
Emmy was also very beautiful with black hair, which was now piled on top of her head in a bun, and the mysterious blue-yellow hazel eyes. She was taller and thinner than I was, willowy, I suppose. She had what I would call a dancer’s body, though she wasn’t a dancer. Right now, curiosity burned bright in her cat-like eyes.
I cleared my throat, not sure what to tell her. Again, with this dilemma. What made it even more murky is the fact that I definitely was not faking anything anymore.
“I had a date with Nikolai Ivanov.”
I shot Emmy furtive glances to see her response to this information. Did she even know who he was? She probably would have grilled me about this last night had she been home, but the school let her use their harp Friday nights. If my sister wasn’t so awesome, I would be totally intimidated by her level of achievement. She was a gifted harpist, having learned from Barbara, an old lady who used to live next to us. Barbara loved her harp and was eager to teach it to anyone who was willing to learn. When Barbara eventually moved into assisted living, she would let Emmy visit her to practice. Emmy continued to teach herself from YouTube videos, until she attended Briar Ridge, where she is now taught by professional musicians. People tended to forget about the harp when considering musical instruments, but she played it beautifully. She came alive the minute she sat in front of it and started plucking its strings.
Emmy’s eyes bugged out slightly. “Nikolai Ivanov?”
“Yep,” I replied glibly, like he was some band geek or something.
“Even I’ve heard of him. They talk about him at Briar Ridge, and he doesn’t even go there,” Emmy said, with a degree of reverence for Nikolai’s notoriety. “How did you end up dating him?” Her eyes were alight with curiosity. I couldn’t say I blamed her; she knew how I usually dressed for school. Even if what she knew about Nikolai was mostly related to his reputation for being associated with a crime family, she probably knew he was freaking hot, too.
“Um, he asked me out?” Once again, Emmy’s black eyebrows jumped up and her eyes bugged out.
“Were you tutoring him or something?” Again, this is a fair question. How could I create a reasonable explanation for me and Nikolai crossing paths?
“Um, no, my friend, Ava, is interested in his friend, Jack.” Well, that lie just flew off my tongue, although it was technically true. I darted her a guilty look as she frowned again.
“Who’s Ava?” she asked in puzzlement. Ugh, again, I had to come up with an explanation. Lying was freaking exhausting. I stared at her stupidly while considering if I should just spill my guts about the whole thing. Again. I was saved by my mother sailing in the front door and blew out a sigh of relief at the reprieve.
My sister left the doorway of the bathroom to greet my mom and help her with the bags of groceries she was carrying. I stared in the mirror trying to think of a way to cover up my hickey, then grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my neck like I was just about to take a shower. It was just so stupid, but if it worked, I would be able to dodge another flurry of questions from my mom. She had always been very frank about sex, having had me when she was nineteen, but I had no desire to have another “sex talk” this morning.
I walked into the kitchen with my ridiculous towel around my neck, holding on to the ends like my life depended on it, careful to keep the evidence of my make-out session with Nikolai hidden.
Jessica Prescott was still a pretty woman, with her dark hair cut shoulder length, framing her brown eyes. She was shaped more like me, with perhaps a couple of extra pounds around her mid-section, but still in good shape. I’m sure she’s had men interested in her, but she hasn’t really dated anyone since my dad left. I think you could say she had trust issues. Emmy and I constantly encouraged her to let someone take her out, but since she worked as a waitress, she usually didn’t meet the most quality men. She’d worked at the same diner for as long as I can remember. In all honesty, Emmy and I didn’t understand why she didn’t try to find a better job, but she liked the owners, who were elderly and had given her a job when she’d had no experience and two small children, so I think she stayed out of loyalty.
After depositing the groceries onto the counter, Emmy looked at me and burst out laughing. I shot her a quelling glare, and caught my mother looking at both of us as with a puzzled frown. “What’s so funny? And Hannah, why are you wearing a towel around your neck?”
I decided to blow off the first question. “I’m about to hop in the shower but wanted to make sure you didn’t need any help with the groceries.”
My mother knew this was weird, but ignored it and said she was fine, that I could go take my shower. I beat a hasty retreat back to the bathroom to take a shower and ponder how to deal with this stupid hickey.

*****

After my shower, I ran back to my bedroom in order to find makeup to cover up my neck. As I rubbed on the concealer, silently thanking Katya for putting this product on my radar, I wondered if I should text Nikolai. I wanted to talk to him, to see how he was doing. I also wanted to thank him for giving me such an amazing time and for handling Jeff for me. After checking my neck from several angles and concluding that the mark was adequately covered, I picked up my cell phone to text Nikolai. I was pleasantly surprised to find a text from Katya on there.
Katya: How did the party go?? What happened with you and Nikolai? I want details, girl!
I texted her back about how the party had gone and what had happened with Jeff. She responded with shock that it had gotten that out of hand. I told her I had more tell her, but it was too much for text, so we made plans to meet up on Tuesday after school.
Look at me: two whole friends and a maybe fake, maybe not boyfriend!
I laid on my bed and dithered about whether to text Nikolai, then decided to just go for it.
Hannah: Hey, I just wanted to thank you for everything last night. I had a great time :)
I hit send before I chickened out.
Then I waited.