"No way."
There was an edginess in his voice I hadn't heard before.
"What's in your room, Alexander?"
"What's in your room, Raven?" he asked, glaring at me. "Let's go back to your place."
"Uh...well..." He was right. I couldn't bring him into my house and subject him to Billy Boy and my white-bread parents. Not on our first date. "My room's a mess."
"Well, mine is, too," he said. "I don't have to go home, really."
"I don't want to get you in trouble."
"I always get in trouble. My mom wouldn't recognize me if I wasn't in trouble."
But the streets we walked, hand-in-hand, led back to my house, and no matter how slowly I walked, before I knew it we were standing on my doorstep, saying good-bye.
"Well...until...next time..." he said, his face shining beneath the porch light.
"Next time the mortuary?"
"I thought we could watch a movie at my house."
"You have a TV?" I said. "It's powered by electricity, you know."
"Sassy girl, I have Bela Lugosi's Dracula on DVD, since you like vampires so much."
"Dracula? Awesome!"
"Then it's a date. Seven o'clock tomorrow, okay?"
"Sensational!"
We had made another date and there was nothing to do now but say good-bye. Primo moment for a luscious kiss. He put his hand on my shoulder and leaned in, his eyes closed and his lips full.
Suddenly the door locks rattled. Alexander stepped out of the light and into the bushes.
"I thought I heard voices," my mom said, opening the door. "Where's Becky?"
"She's at home." It was actually the truth. "I don't like you running off without telling me," she scolded, holding the door open for me.
Longing to have that moment back and one moment more, I looked over at Alexander.
"Did you guys go to the movies?" she asked as I reluctantly stepped inside.
"No, Mom, we went to the cemetery."
"For once, I wish you would give me a straight answer!"
For once, I was giving her a straight answer.
And as I looked over my shoulder for a final glimpse of my Gothic Dream Mate, she closed the door on my heavenly first date.
Chapter 18 Movie Madness
I was always late for everything--dinner, school, even movies--but tonight I was early, as I arrived at the Mansion at 6:45. Alexander opened the door himself and kissed me politely on the cheek. I was as shocked as he at his sudden display of affection.
"That never happened when Jameson opened the door!" I said.