"Exactly," he agreed. "But you must have had some other theory. You must have wondered why you spent all day in hair and make-up, why we were in my father's stretch limo, why you were wearing this dress... Didn't you wonder?"
"I guess." Yes, instant regret. "But I didn't want to tell you."
"You promised," he objected.
"I promised to tell you just now, not earlier."
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Well, tell me."
I knew he thought it was mere embarrassment holding me back; is that the only emotion he thought I could truly feel? "I think it will make you mad—or sad."
His brows pulled together over his eyes, like a man pulling his raincoat closed against a storm, eyes spinning as he thought this through. "I've decided that I still want to know. Please?"
I sighed. He waited.
"Well... I assumed it was some kind of... occasion. The fancy clothes and the limo... it all added up. But I didn't think it would be some trite human thing like prom!" I scoffed.
"Human?" he asked flatly. He'd picked up on the key word.
I looked down at my dress, fidgeting with a stray piece of chiffon. He waited in silence.
"Okay," I confessed in a rush; I couldn't hold it in anymore. "So I was hoping that you might have changed your mind. That you were going to dress me up like a Parisian whore, fly me to Paris, take me out to dinner and then turn me into a vampire. Right there under the stars, over a bottle of wine with soft music playing. I..."
A dozen emotions played across his face. Some I recognized: anger... pain... and then he seemed to collect them and his expression became amused.
"You thought that would be a black tie occasion, did you?" he teased, touching the lapel of his tuxedo jacket.
I scowled to hide my embarrassment. "I guess... I guess I hoped it would. I don't know how these things work. To me, at least, it seems more rational

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Chapter 25

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