You rolled your eyes when Kevin stared at you for two whole minutes, mouth open, unable to move or to say anything. You sighed.

“Would you just stop staring at me like that?”

He swallowed with difficulty, closing his mouth before he shook his head.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just… you look… so stunning…”

After class, you had taken the time to go back home to take a shower and get changed. You had no intention of going to the restaurant in jog pants, after all. You had put on a long dress, since it was starting to get a bit cold outside, with a jean vest on top of it, and flowers in your hair. You hated makeup, so you hadn’t put any of it, but you had made sure that you looked fine before heading out. Your backpack was ruining the fancy image, but hey, you didn’t care. You sighed again.

“I look normal. Now, let’s just go and get this over with.”

He chuckled, his big black eyes expressing both happiness and sadness. He hugged his bag for a second before he put it on his back and hesitated. He seemed as if he were in a very delicate situation and had to make a crucial choice. You raised a brow, but didn’t say anything, letting him bug to death there and heading towards the street. You heard him run behind you, and suddenly, slender, long, delicate, cold fingers touched yours and slid between them. You shivered at the glorious finger , knowing you had felt them on your body earlier that day, but also knowing that you shouldn’t be thinking like that. You looked away.

“What are you doing…?”

“Taking your hand, of course.”

“And… why would you do that?”

“Because I like holding your hand, of course.”

“… that is not a valid reason.”

“Then, to make sure you’re not far from me.”

“…”

“What?”

“I’m your ex.”

“I know.”

He smiled sadly.

“I know that. You told me plenty of times. I’m the one who broke up. I know that.”

“Then why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“…”

“It probably is.”

“… whatever.”

He laughed, and you couldn’t help but notice how his upper front teeth were a long longer than his other teeth, and his canines seemed very sharp. You shivered again as memories came back to you in brief flashes, too quick for you to really understand them, but in the correct order this time.

You, lying on your back, breathing heavily as delicious sensations were overflowing in your body.

His voice, whispering tender words as his soft lips were tracing love marks on your body, his long, slender fingers sliding on your skin and drawing soft patterns.

His eyes meeting yours, and your heart exploding with love. You didn’t want him to leave you. You loved him.

Your voice, telling him your feelings. Over and over again.

Those teeth, softly biting at your neck before the bite was soothed by a feathery kiss. You loved it when he played vampire with you.

Pain.

The break-up…

Blackness.

“… right?”

You snapped out of it, only now noticing that you were crouched on the floor, hiding your face in your hands. Kevin was kneeling in front of you, his long, delicate fingers around your wrists. He wasn’t being forceful; they were just there, as a touch, as a human contact, trying to comfort you. His sad eyes were looking at you with sincere worry and concern. You swallowed, noticing that you were slightly panting.

“Are you all right?” he repeated in a soft voice.

“I… I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? If you’re feeling sick, that’s all right. I’ll let you go back home. I don’t want to bring you somewhere while you’re not feeling well.”

This was your chance. Your chance to stay home and not go out anywhere with him. With your ex.

“I’m fine,” you heard yourself repeat.

He kept silent for a moment, before he nodded and pressed a very gentle kiss on your forehead.

“Okay. Tell me if you’re not feeling well, and I’ll bring you back home.”

He got up, helping you up too, his fingers going back between yours, squeezing them gently. He headed towards the center of town and you followed, head low, trying to put more order into the mess of flashbacks you just had, trying to make them last longer so you could remember. You suddenly noticed that Kevin wasn’t walking anymore and you looked up. You weren’t anywhere near the restaurant, so why…? You looked at him, meeting his worried eyes.

“Are you sure you’re all right? You don’t seem too well…”

“I’m fine, I said,” you mumbled, looking away.

Two fingers touched you right under your chin, gently forcing you to look back at him.

“You’re not fine,” he murmured. “I know what you look like when you’re fine, and right now, you’re not looking like that. Don’t try that on me.”

“I said that I’m fine!” you ended up growling, offended that he thought you were that weak. But he shook his head softly.

“All right.”

You frowned. Shaking his head and saying ‘all right’ was kind of contradictory, wasn’t it? He made you follow him again, and you sighed. Oh well. That was fine, wasn’t it? Just… following him. Feeling his hand holding yours. You kept looking down, still trying to clean up the mess of memories.

It took a while, but he ended up stopping, and you looked around again. That was far from being the restaurant…

“Kevin?” you called out softly as he took out some keys and unlocked a door.

He didn’t respond, but he opened the door and went inside, pulling you with him. The building was slowly destroying itself, almost decaying on the spot, and you were careful not to touch the walls as you headed up some very dangerous-looking stairs. You held Kevin’s hand a bit tighter, scared, and you felt him do the same, reassuring you. You followed him and he unlocked and opened another door, heading inside. You followed again.

The apartment was tiny. Tiny, but tidy. Considering that there was almost nothing in it, it was probably not tough to keep it tidy. From where you were, you could see a very small kitchen with a basic cooking set, one plastic table and two chairs that didn’t match, one small fridge, a tiny oven in which you probably couldn’t even fit a small pizza and a single sink. No dishwasher, no microwave oven, no decently-sized oven.

You looked around some more and spotted two doors. Walking in, you could see that one of them was a bathroom in which you probably wouldn’t even have enough room to get changed, with an extremely tight shower, a toilet and a sink. The mirror above it was cracked near the bottom.

The other door led to a bedroom. One single bed. A small drawer. A cheap-looking lamp. Strangely enough, two pillows, one of them looking more comfortable than the other one. Thin bed sheets. An opened wardrobe, almost empty. One pair of shoes in a corner.

Nothing else.

No TV, no computer, no nothing.

You didn’t have time to observe the place more than that; Kevin had taken his shoes off and he was pulling you into the bedroom. You suddenly got scared and tried fighting back, but he was surprisingly strong despite having such a tiny, underfed body. He pushed you on the bed and made you take off your jean vest and your backpack, putting them down on the floor next to the bed. But before you could scream, or anything like that, he forced you under the thin blankets and sighed.

“Rest,” he said in a soft voice before heading out the room, closing the door behind him.

You stayed frozen there, wondering what he was doing, but you didn’t dare move for several minutes. You only started moving when you heard him start cooking, and you frowned. Had he… had he been that worried about you? You shifted, squishing the pillows, deciding that you preferred the feather one, and you hugged the other one. You didn’t feel too well, to be honest. Those flashbacks had given you one heck of a headache, and you felt a bit tired…

You closed your eyes and slowly fell asleep.