.

Ezra laughed. “I mean, I probably won’t seem that tall for too much longer” he said with a laugh. “Up until 12 or 13 and they start having growth spurts. It’s pretty cute, for sure. The funny part was that she was just so serious, there was no way I could say no. I feel like I would have disappointed her  if I’d done that, I would have felt so bad.”

Bianca shook her head. “That’s a lie. You seem tall to me and I’m a fully grown adult. If I didn’t wear heels all the time, I’d look up with all kinds of envy to be honest. Except, you can reach all the books on the top shelves, so I’m not complaining.” She grinned, shrugging. “If you said no, it really would have crushed her, but I don’t blame you for playing into it. Let the kid have her imagination for a little while longer.”

“Thanks, yeah I’m alright.  I mean, raised the heart rate a little, but no injuries,” he said, though pat himself down to make sure.  “I mean, I think I’m a little hardier than to become roadkill, but it sure would have been painful.  You didn’t see who the driver was, did you?” 

“In hindsight, I probably should have been looking to see who the driver was, but would you judge me if I said I closed me eyes because I thought you were going to get run over and didn’t want to witness any sort of possible death?” she wondered.

“Definitely not lame,” Zoe assured her before smiling brightly.  “But if that’s the case we might need to watch a horror movie.  I’ll protect you from whatever goes bump in the night.”  Of course Zoe was only half teasing.  She wouldn’t want to scare Bianca just for fun.  “I like romcoms, horror, and I do love a good action movie now and then.”

Bianca grinned then. “I mean I wouldn’t mind just getting up close and personal even without the horror movies. We could always just have a movie marathon. You pick a movie you like, I pick a movie I like and it’d be a perfect way to get to know each other a little more. I can cook you dinner, how about that?”

“No, no, it was working for you, the beautiful, mental girl at the end of the bar; Virginia Woolf meets Daisy Buchanan.” Scout teased. “It’s my pleasure.” He replied just as cornily, no shame in his grin. “I’m just… having a night out, enjoying myself, so on and so forth.” Scout lied. He could hear her heartbeat, figuring she was human or a witch, yet despite the fact that she undoubtedly knew about the supernatural, admitting that he was was here to drink blood was weird. It was different with other vampires, they understood, they had to, but it was something that was so innately inhuman that he found that others sometimes didn’t get it. “And now I’m talking to you, so my night is looking better and better.” He added with a devilish smile. 

Bianca felt a blush creeping into her cheeks at his compliment. “You know I’ve never been called mental and actually liked the way it sounded until you said it.” She admitted, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. The girl had absolutely no flirt game and she knew this about herself but she still tried. “I’m trying something different, trying to get out of my comfort zone, but it’s not working one bit. Well until now. That you’re providing me company.” It wasn’t like Bianca could say, ‘you’re a vampire, right? Wanna bite me?’ That was far too forward, but it was what she wanted to ask. “What the heck I can tell you the real reason I came out tonight? You’re going to laugh.”

Listening as Bianca spoke, Phoebe couldn’t wipe the smirk from her face. The blonde was no more than a stranger to her, but even she couldn’t help but admire the surge in her confidence.  Though she wouldn’t say it outloud, it was a marvel to see the difference in her personality upfront. “I encourage you to do it more often,” she said, kicking her legs to circle around Bianca teasingly before pausing when she was in front of her again, this time closer than before. “You could always get luckier,” Phoebe mused suggestively, one hand reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind the girl’s ear. “If that’s what you want.”

I may very where just take that encouragement under advisement,” she agreed. Bianca’s bottom lip fell captive between her teeth but she still smirked at Phoebe’s words. “Hypothetically speaking or not hypothetically at all…what if I actually want to get luckier…then what?” She asked it almost like a challenge of sorts to see if the two of them were on the same page here or if she was misinterpreting things. Though she was sure she wasn’t.

Zoe smiled and nodded.  “That sounds wonderful to me,” she replied softly.  “Dinner and a movie, be it the theater or Netflix, is the perfect date night.”  It had definitely been awhile since Zoe went on a legitimate date with someone she was actually interested in for a relationship.  It was a little scary, but she was excited.  “What sort of movies do you like the best?”

“Good, I’m glad it’s not totally lame of an idea.” She felt so relieved that this wasn’t something that was completely lame. “I’m a fan of literally everything. I like cheesy rom coms, I love horror movies. But I’ll hide my face and practically be in your lap because I like the movies but I’m also scared of literally every bump. What about you?”

Scout had needed a night off. He loved Briar beyond anything he could have imagined prior to her, but there were times where he felt like he was drowning in her. It wasn’t a bad drowning, but more that with her he forgot about other things, he’d happily spend his days playing with her, teaching her to walk, reading, anything. The drowning was worst at times like this, his stash of bagged blood had run out a few days before, and he’d been so preoccupied with his daughter that he hadn’t thought to get more, it was an after thought. ‘I’ll get some tomorrow’ he had thought, and then said the same thing the next day, and the and the day after. He only noticed how long he’d been without blood when he went into Briar’s room and could hear her blood pumping, the animal part of his relatively new nature coming out. 

So here he was, enjoying a night out at Purgatory, planning on having a few drinks upstairs before heading down to where the feeders were. At the bar he was surprised at the words a blonde beside him said. “You’re having a drink and talking to me.” He said to her with a cheeky smile. “I’d say thats the start to a pretty good night, hopefully.”

Bianca hadn’t expected anyone to say anything and  hadn’t really realized that she’d mumbled it loud enough to hear, but of course she realized too that she was in the vampire hangout and she didn’t even have to speak loudly for someone to hear her. But it actually wasn’t a bad thing that he had if he was giving her an option other than talking to herself. “That sounds like a lot better option than what I planned to do, which was sit here in all of my nervousness and probably mumble to myself.” Bianca clutched at her chest dramatically. “My hero.” She laughed and shook her head. “That was entirely corny, I’m sorry. So what brings you out tonight?”

“You’re kidding, right? Shy maybe but– dorky’s such a stupid word, and besides if we’re going down that route, wasn’t Phoebe kind of– dorky?” As if to prove a point, Holly crossed her arms across her chest. “Yes, a sign of the twins, a sign of the crazies.”

“My apologies for the use of the word dorky,” she said, correcting herself. “But I guess you’re right. I get caught up in how fun her personality seems and how amazingly beautiful she is to even stop and remember she was sort of dorky too.” Bianca laughed. “But crazy can be kind of fun.”

Zoe chuckled, color rising in her cheeks when Bianca said that.  It had been a very long time since someone seemed that interested in her.  It definitely hadn’t happened since before she became a mother.  “Not too forward at all.  I’ll get my dad to watch my rugrat so we can have a proper date.  Saturday evening?”

“Saturday evening is perfect actually. Maybe we can check the movie listings and see what’s playing and what we like. If it’s something that’s not that great, Netflix is always an option after dinner,” Bianca suggested. She actually just wanted to have fun and not be a nervous wreck. She hadn’t been on a date since college and that was years ago.

“There’s a lot of interesting parts of these stories. I like the way cultures tried to explain how things happened or came to be. It’s a hell of a lot more interesting than the big bang, I’ll tell you that.” He laughed as she spoke. “Yes, Helen of Troy was a cautionary tale in her own way. Beauty can get you more trouble than you bargained for. But speaking of beauty I think my favorite in Greek mythology is probably the story of Medusa. Though not the oft told version.”

“That’s the really cool part, it makes you think a lot more than the big bang. Don’t get me wrong it seems scientifically interesting but I’m not much for science. Literature was my jam in school.” Bianca smiled she knew that medusa story as well. “Which version do you like then? I think I’ve the main stream version of it.” She find the man and his interest in greek mythology fascinating. Then again Bianca did love to learn and hear about things from a different perspective.

“Well– not Ross. Anyone but Ross.” Moving back just the slightest bit, Holly tilted her head as if to study her. “You could totally be a Phoebe if you really wanted to, that’s the beauty of Phoebe isn’t it?” Instead of giving an answer, she shook her head instead, lips curving slightly as she pocketed her phone. “What’s not wrong with Geminis.”