Not Another Vampire Story - 16
16. Matt . . . to the Rescue?
PG13. Tween, humor, middle school, angst, vampires, serial, teen, fiction, summer. #ReadFree
Read from the beginning.
Suggested Music: MJB/Soojin Chang on AudioNetwork
Lab class takes on a special meaning for Sylvia. . .
The prescription number was on Sylvia's mind for the next few days and through the weekend. She dared herself not to look it up on the computer, especially not when Julia was home.
But by Monday, her curiosity was getting the best of her, and she anticipated computer lab. After whizzing—maybe not quite whizzing, but making a good pace through her Mavis Beacon typing program—she looked up Dakmarr-Moore Pharmaceuticals, and looked over the accounts section.
She was so engrossed in trying to find out how to inquire about the prescription number she'd been avoiding thinking about that she didn't realize Matt had sat down beside her. Until he did.
Milky breath breathed into her neck, nicking Sylvia's gag reflex.
"Ooh, looking up refills on your birth control pills?"
If it was an attempt at flirting, it failed sorely to impress Sylvia. She sent an elbow into his stomach beside her, surprised at how soft he was. Eww.
"Pervert," she mumbled, leaning closer to the screen.
Matt coughed for a moment, drawing Holly's attention from the other side of the computer lab. "Sorry, Sylvia. It was just a joke," he said meekly.
"Yeah, well, you just shot down any chances of getting me to go to any dance, Matt." Her eyes found the search box she was looking for onscreen, and she typed 7877 into it. It took several minutes for the page to load, and then Valtieri Dakmarr's chemical life loaded before her eyes. At least, his history of prescriptions with the company.
She clicked on the most recent refill under the heading 'Drug Composition.' Maybe it was a medical form of controlled substance, she thought. It certainly didn't look like insulin to her.
"Who's Val—?" The page flipped to another screen. Matt frowned. "Hey, I was reading that, Sylvia."
"I know." Her blue eyes went over the new screen page. "Androstenedione DHEA, DHT. Erythrocytes 5.8, Ferritin 17-H, Alpha-2, OXY Transcort. . . Uric A. 5.1," she read slowly, confusion mounting. "What the heck is all that?"
"It's human, liquid, probably a synthetic form of an organic substance naturally occurring in the body." Matt looked pleased at her perplexed expression. He looked back to the screen, then his face dropped. "But that's not what the prescription is. That's what it's prescribed for. Who, rather."
Sylvia looked back to the monitor. "Who? It's not what's in the prescription, but the person?"
Matt leaned closer, nudging his chair nearer to hers. "Looks like it. I think so." He grinned, looking to her. "What'chya up to, Red?"
Sylvia exited out of the website. "Don't call me red, Matt," she growled. She looked to Holly across the room, who was hidden behind her computer screen with Jamie.
"So, have you decided yet about the dance?"
She looked to him incredulously. "Yes, Matt. I—"
"Yes? You're saying yes?" His eyes got wide, mouth dropping.
She groaned. "No, I said yes meaning I've decided. I already answered, no. Three times."
He looked crushed, and she felt a little bad, until he slid an elbow onto the table and propped his chin on his palm, staring at her. "There's always the Halloween dance next month."
She made a disagreeable face. "I don't think so."
Terry joined them for dinner. Julia was home making her famous eggplant spaghetti and garlic bread, complete with Caesar salad and homemade croutons. Sylvia narrowed her eyes at the smell of warm, enticing garlic wafting through the house as she looked at her sister and him in the kitchen.
Garlic bread? Wasn't Terry supposed to be allergic—deathly allergic—to garlic?
"There she is," Terry said, spotting Sylvia in the doorway to the kitchen.
Sylvia backed up slowly as he approached.
He grinned at her, a warm expression that made her pulse jump despite the innate urge to run grabbing at her legs.
"How was school?"
She nodded. Dumb answer, she thought. "Good. How, how're you?"
He nodded, returning her careful attention. "Good." His voice dropped lower and he leaned closer to her, his breath warm on her ear.
The hairs along her neck bristled.
"I got the pendant. Want to see it?"
She nodded dumbly at his stunning smile so close to her.
Vampire? she thought. Vampire who? How could she have connected that word to him? To that fascinating smile, those dark, engaging eyes? She looked to his smile again. Every tooth perfect, she thought.
She found her voice. "Is it here?"
He nodded, slinging one arm casually around her shoulders in a movement that nearly brought her to her knees. "I'm kidnapping your sister for a minute," he called into the kitchen.
"Don't be too long," Julia said back.
She'd just give me over to a vampire like that? Sylvia thought as she was escorted out the front door to Terry's black Mustang in the driveway. Her steps were stilted, halting, and he seemed not to notice her reluctance.
They went to the passenger side front door and he reached into the glove compartment through the open window for a small, blue velvet box. He opened it to reveal a blue star sapphire in a gold setting, the chain tucked beneath the satin cushion upon which it rested. The milky white rays of the star were centered on the blue cabochon, splaying out to all sides of it as Sylvia turned the box.
She felt herself nod, mesmerized by the beauty of that simple stone that she knew would endear Julia to Terry like no other gift. "She's gonna love it," she murmured.
"Good."
She handed back the box to Terry as Julia looked out the door at them.
"Got a phone call, sis!"
"It's real nice," Sylvia said to Terry, smiling at his grin.
"Thanks."
When Sylvia got to the phone in her room, she fully expected it to be Holly, even if it wasn't her cell phone. Instead . . . it was not.
"Hello?" she said into the earpiece, plopping onto her bed.
"Hi, Sylvia," Matt's voice said.
Sylvia's posture lurched so hard her stomach hurt. "Matt?"
"Hey."
"Who gave you my number?" Then she recalled it wasn't her cell phone.
"Your number's in the phonebook, Sylvia." He cleared his throat. "I was wondering—"
"The answer is still no." A wash of guilt came over her for a few seconds. "I really value our friendship, Matt. That's it." Jeez, it sounded even hollower out loud, she thought.
"Well, the question—this time—is do you want to know what you were looking at on that website in computer lab today?"
She sat up quickly, glancing nervously to her bedroom door. "Sure. Of course. Do you know?"
"Well, it wasn't what was in the prescription. It's an equation that makes up a fluid. The content for a specific individual."
"What does that mean?"
"You were looking at the chemical breakdown of blood, Sylvia. Someone's particular make-up, not just the basic components."
"Eww." She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Like, real blood?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"On the good side, the HbCO was well under point-five percent, so they're not a smoker. Probably never have been."
Sylvia felt her brain run cold.
"Yes. Male blood. Alpha-Two male, the site listed him as." There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line before Matt continued. "Whose is it, Sylvia?"
"A blood report for a prescription. Why would someone have to have that?" she asked more to herself, focusing on her CD player that was popped open.
"Only thing I can think of is for hemophiliac purposes. Maybe whatever you were looking for treats a clotting disorder."
She felt weak. "Is that the only reason?"
"The only one I can think of."
"Oh. Thanks, Matt." She hung up before he had a chance to say anything else.
She looked slowly to the door as Julia and Terry's voices drifted to her, the smell of garlic bread getting stronger.
"Come on, Sylvi!" Julia called. "We're eating now!"
Thanks to Sakurapu for sharing her story!
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