Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(34)

Whether it was out of loyalty or because they felt bad for her, Kylie didn't know. But deep down, she appreciated it to no end. Who wanted to eat lunch alone? That would remind her too much of her old high school when Sara was sick or skipping school.

Thinking of Sara, Kylie pulled out her phone and checked to see if she had any messages from her best friend. It had been almost a week since Kylie had sent her several texts asking how things were going and telling her she would be home in three weeks for the weekend. It kind of hurt that Sara hadn't even gotten back in touch. Did that mean Sara didn't want to see her?

Sure, Kylie would be the first to admit that they no longer seemed to have a lot in common-Kylie not being human being at the top of the list-but what they had was a ten-year friendship, years of being each other's best friend. Didn't that merit her taking a few hours out of her weekend to at least pretend she still cared?

Kylie's phone rang. Thinking it would be eerie cool, almost psychic, if it was Sara, Kylie waited for the number to come across the screen. Not Sara. She cut off her phone and set it on the table.

"Don't tell me, either Trey or your stepdad," Della said.

"Two points for being right." Kylie grabbed her sandwich again.

"Which one?" Della asked.

"Dad. Stepdad." Even after meeting and learning to love Daniel, she sometimes forgot that Tom Galen wasn't her real father. Kylie sank her teeth into the soft bread, but didn't taste anything.

"Is he still banging his intern?"

Kylie swallowed. "Don't know. Don't care."

"Liar," Della said.

"Okay, how about ... don't know, wish like hell I didn't care?"

"Now you're telling the truth." She studied Kylie and passed her glass of blood under Kylie's nose. "Do you want a sip?"

Kylie frowned and pushed the glass away. "No."

"You're lying again." Della arched a brow.

"Fine!" Kylie snapped, and even to her own ears, she sounded like Della had earlier. "I want it, but I don't want it. And don't go thinking it's because I think something's wrong with being vampire. I think it's fine.

It's just that I ... I'm a bit overwhelmed with trying to figure out what I am."

"Believe it or not, I understand." Della continued to study her. "You know, your heart is still beating faster than normal."

"I know." Kylie pulled her hair over her shoulder. "And look. My hair grew, too." She sighed when she remembered how she'd only found one bra that allowed her to squeeze her size-bigger boobs into it.

"Damn." Della reached out and touched her hair. "Have you talked to Holiday about all this yet?" She glanced at Kylie's chest again. "I don't want to scare you or anything, but it's kind of weird."

Oh, great. Just when she'd almost convinced herself it was no big deal, Della was telling her differently. Kylie let out a deep breath. "No, I haven't told her yet. I have a meeting with her at two o'clock."

"You don't sound very happy about it," Della said.

"I'm not."

Della looked shocked. "What happened? You usually sing her praises. You pissed at her for something?"

"No. But she's gonna be pissed at me."

"For what? Going to the falls?"

"No. I don't think she'll be upset about me going to falls." At least Kylie didn't think she would. "It's what I did while I was there that's going to tick her off."

"What did you do?" Della looked confused as she sipped her blood. "I kind of told Burnett about Holiday having had her heart broken by another vampire."

"Really? What happened?"

"He asked me about her and then-"

"Not that," Della said. "I mean with the other vampire?"

"I ... don't know it all." Kylie realized she shouldn't have told Della, either.

"Okay, so what's wrong with telling Burnett that?" Della asked.

Kylie rolled her eyes. "It wasn't my place to tell him. Or you. So don't say anything."

"My mouth is sealed." Della reached over to Kylie's plate and stole a chip. "You know why you told him, don't you?" She studied the chip she held with the edge of her fingertips.

"Because I'm stupid," Kylie answered.

"No, because it's clear to you and everyone else that those two need to go bump uglies." She popped the chip into her mouth and made a face.

"I used to love potato chips and now ... ugg, they taste like toad ass."

Kylie completely ignored the potato chip/toad ass commentary while she tried to understand. "To do what? Bump what?"

"Bump uglies, bang each other, burn off some of those flaming hormones they put out when they're in the same room together."

"Uglies?" Kylie still couldn't wrap her head around it.

Della snickered. "I heard a comedian call it that. She was giving all the different names for doing the deed. Funny, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Kylie said, but couldn't be sure. Her sense of humor had taken a day off and so had her appetite. She stared at her sandwich, missing only a few bites. Was her loss of appetite a sign? Would she someday think potato chips tasted like toad ass?