Jean had agreed to go out to eat with Tesia, although he still couldn't figure out why he had gotten nervous when she asked him.
After thinking about it for a while, they agreed that she would pick him up at seven that evening, right when his shift ended.
"I promise I'll be on time!! Wait for me outside."
That was the last message Tesia had sent him before Jean went back to work.
And sure enough, at exactly seven, Jean walked out of the office.
He stood in front of the building.
He looked to one side.
Then the other.
Nothing.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Then fifteen.
Jean looked at his phone again.
"…"
The building was practically empty.
Jean started feeling a little bit anxious.
Did she change her mind?
He checked their conversation again.
Did something happen?
Then, after a few seconds, he remembered something rather important.
"Oh, crap."
He put a hand to his forehead.
"I never told her where I work."
Jean quickly opened WhatsApp and started typing.
"Tesia, I'm sending you my location. Sorry, I completely forgot something so obvious ☹️ If you can't make it because of my stupidity, it's okay, don't worry. We can meet another day."
He was about to send the message when he heard a voice.
"Jean!"
The voice came from above.
Jean looked up and froze.
A few feet beside the building was Tesia.
Floating.
Completely lost.
"Which one of these offices is your workplace?"
Jean's eyes widened.
"WHAT?!"
He accidentally pressed the send button.
"Shit…"
He quickly looked around.
"Tesia, get down from there! Someone could see you!"
"It's fine, hehe."
"No, it's not!"
"Nobody saw me."
"TESIAAA!"
She calmly descended until she was standing in front of him.
"Sorry I'm late."
Jean stared at her.
"How did you even know where my work was? I completely forgot to tell you. I thought you got lost."
Tesia started whistling.
"Fiu, fiu, fiu…"
Jean narrowed his eyes.
"Tesia?"
"Ohhh, look."
Tesia held up her phone.
"A message from my suicidal human friend saying…"
She whistled again.
"Fiuuu, fiuuuu…"
"…"
"Are you ready to go get something to eat?"
Jean stared at her.
Why is she suddenly acting so weird?
He crossed his arms.
"Can vampires read minds or something?"
Tesia blinked.
"Ummm… uh…"
Jean looked away.
Because that would be embarrassing.
Before he could think about it any further, Tesia grabbed him by the arm.
"Come on, buddy! Let's go to a nice restaurant! My treat."
"You're paying? No, no, I can't accept that. I—"
"Shh, shh, shh."
Tesia put a finger over his lips.
"I'm paying."
Jean went completely silent, and Tesia started walking, pulling him along by the arm.
"Come on."
"Okay, okay, I'm coming."
Jean made a small grimace.
"You're hurting my arm a little, Tesia."
She immediately let go.
"Oh! Sorry."
"It's okay."
And so they started walking.
At first, they talked about completely normal things.
Then they talked about completely ridiculous things.
And eventually, they somehow ended up talking about things Jean couldn't even remember how they had brought up in the first place.
Tesia had a strange talent for saying whatever happened to cross her mind, and for some reason, Jean simply went along with it.
He didn't have to think too hard about what to say, and he didn't have to worry about keeping the conversation going.
It's refreshing…
It felt like talking to someone he'd known for years.
As they walked, Jean began noticing something.
Whenever Tesia said something stupid and laughed, the corners of her lips formed a little curve that he found strangely beautiful.
There was also something about her red eyes.
Whenever they passed underneath the yellow streetlights, her eyes seemed to glow in a way Jean had never seen before. He couldn't think of any other way to describe it.
Magic.
Jean caught himself staring at her for a few seconds.
He quickly looked away.
She's pretty…
He immediately decided to ignore that thought.
Eventually, they stopped in front of a taco stand.
Jean looked at Tesia.
Then at the stand.
Then back at Tesia.
"So this is it? We've already stopped at four different place—"
"Yes!"
Tesia smiled.
Oh, looks like this is the one then.
"Tacos! I love tacos!"
Jean let out a small laugh.
"Didn't you say you love sushi and you were taking me to a nice restaurant?"
He was clearly teasing her.
"This is a nice restaurant!"
"And what happened to that expensive place you wanted to take me to?"
"It was too expensive."
"So…"
"You said you didn't want me spending too much."
Jean smiled.
"Well… yeah."
They sat down.
After ordering, Tesia started asking him about his job.
"So you're having trouble coming up with a story for the magazine you work for?"
"So so."
"Is it a magazine or a publishing company?"
"It's a publishing company with several different publications, but I'm in charge of writing a weekly article for a magazine about supernatural stuff and weeb things."
Tesia smiled.
"Then I have an idea."
"What is it?"
She picked up one of the tacos.
"Okay, say 'aaah.'"
Jean stared at her.
"Really?"
"'Aaaah.'"
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
Jean sighed.
"Aaaah…"
Tesia brought the taco to his mouth and took a bite right out of it.
Jean froze.
Tesia started laughing.
"Hahaha."
"What are you doing?"
"I was feeding you and giving you a great idea at the same time!"
"I figured that out. Wait, what do you mean, a great idea?"
She laughed again.
"Why don't you write about vampires?"
Jean wiped his mouth.
"Vampires?"
"Yeah. More specifically, write about things humans would never believe could happen between a stupid, suicidal human and a beautiful, elegant vampire. You have material! You could write about how they met, and how, on the very first outing, the beautiful vampire fed the hungry, stupid human."
Tesia struck a little proud pose.
"Everyone would think it's fiction!"
Jean thought about it.
"That… actually isn't a bad idea."
"See?"
Tesia smiled proudly.
"It's genius!"
Jean picked up another taco.
"Although I'd have to do a lot of research about your kind so I don't accidentally write something that could offend you. Now that I know vampires actually exist, I don't want a whole crowd of angry vampires waiting outside my workplace to beat me up… or eat me…"
Tesia burst out laughing.
"Eat you? Hahaha! You're an idiot, but I can help you!"
"You?"
"Of course, Captain Obvious. Are you really this dumb, or just slow? How many other vampires do you know?"
Tesia raised a finger.
"You and I can go out together and have adventures that fill your head with ideas for your articles. Writing will be so easy because…"
Silence.
They both froze.
Jean felt his cheeks getting warm.
It took Tesia a second to realize what she had just said.
Her eyes widened slightly.
She blushed too.
"As friends."
Jean looked at her.
"…"
"Friend dates—no! Outings and adventures!"
Tesia quickly grabbed her soda and started drinking through the straw.
"Hahaha… obviously. As friends."
Jean nodded.
"Yeah."
He lowered his eyes toward his plate.
"As friends."
Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.
The night went by much faster than Jean expected. For the first time in a while, he looked genuinely relaxed, and when they finally reached the entrance to Jean's apartment...
"Thanks for walking me home."
He looked up.
"And thanks for agreeing to walk like normal people instead of flying me here."
Tesia stretched out her arms and closed her eyes.
Jean simply looked at her, smiling a little, confused.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh… nothing… I was just… stretching. Yeah, that's it."
She smiled.
"I like talking to you. You don't have to thank me for that."
Jean remained quiet for a moment.
"Will you be okay getting home?"
Tesia blinked.
"Huh?"
"Do you want me to walk you home?"
The moment he said it, Jean realized how ridiculous that sounded.
Walk her home?
She is a vampire.
She can fly.
She could probably defend herself against just about anything better than I ever could.
Jean let out a small laugh.
"Never mind. That was a stupid question."
Tesia, however, didn't laugh.
She looked at him for a few seconds.
"Thank you, Jean."
He looked up.
"This time, I'll fly home, hehe."
Tesia smiled.
"But if you want to walk me home another time… maybe when you don't have work the next day."
Jean was surprised.
He had expected her to tease him. Something more vampirish like, "I'm a vampire! You think a mere human needs to protect me? HA!"
But she didn't.
Tesia had actually considered his offer and that brought a little small smile to his face.
"Okay."
Tesia smiled too.
"See you tomorrow, Jean."
"See you tomorrow, Tesia."
Jean opened the door to his apartment.
"Good night."
"Good night."
The door closed.
Tesia stood outside the door with a sweet smile, but little by little, her expression changed.
The smile disappeared.
She turned around and walked toward the balcony.
She looked down.
The street was quiet, and the lights from passing cars could be seen in the distance.
Tesia remained alone and silent for a few seconds.
Then she rested her face against the railing, her expression serious and somewhat melancholic.
"You…"