20/11/2009

I don't know if he recognized me but I couldn't pretend I didn't recognize him, the was the only vampire I'd ever met and if he was any example, they tend to stand out. But they probably weren't all as tall as him, he was really tall. He would stand out anywhere. He was looking at me, catching me looking at him, so I did the only think that wouldn't make everything completely awkward and said hi with my hand spread open in a little wave. That was probably a little awkward. "I know you. We met at Carl's once?" My voiced ended up in a question mark, but I couldn't help it. I felt a bit out of sorts and like a total dork; I hadn't been very social in a long while so I felt completely out of touch with how humans did things like casual conversation. Of course, he wasn't human, but that wasn't an excuse to act like a big spaz. Who knew how vampires acted with each other, probably a lot cooler. At least I didn't have to pretend to be like them, there was no chance I'd be mistaken for a vampire. "Carl's." he said. "He went out of business." "Did he?" I hadn't seen him for well over a month. "Huh. That sucks. I guess it happens all the time. Do you know why?" "I think he just decided to retire." "It happens," I repeated myself. It did suck. Carl was a decent guy with out any of the usually associated scumminess of drug dealers. He only sold pot and rarely some hallucenigenics and had the hallmarks of someone who would eventually chuck it all when it got inconvenient. I wondered if this meant he's stopped doing drugs all together or just selling them, which he probably only did to offset his own use. Carl wasn't one of those guys who obligated you to socialize with them for an hour or two in order to do business, but who you might hang with just because he was a fun guy. He didn't deal in large quantities and had hooked me up with someone he knew because I had wanted some when he happened to be out one time, this guy Billy. Billy had that look of someone who was into harder drugs, that thinness that looked like it was from poor nutrition, but at least he got straight down to business without any of that faux social shit. It was just in and out and I appreciated that. Without anything else left to say, I just asked the vampire if he wanted to go smoke one, and his eyes light up. "Like you wouldn't believe," he said. "I haven't had any since Billy shut down." "How long is that?" "Three weeks." "Well, we can just walk down to my place, if you want." I said. "Great." he replied, and he looked both relieved and genuinely happy. I was kind of surprised. I thought vampires were all cool and connected and could probably get whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Maybe he was use to the way it was in bigger cities where they delivered it straight to your door or had clubs and coffee houses you could go to whenever you wanted. As we walked down the street to the alley that was a short cut to my apartment, I started to wonder if maybe I should be worried about letting a stranger into my place, but he still had that grin on his face. It was boyish, almost child like. "Do you have anywhere you have to be?" I asked. "No," he said, "I'm free for the evening," still smiling that very likable smile. "You're a real life saver." "It's no big deal," I said. I was starting to worry though, worry that he was expecting to smoke my entire stash. I didn't have that much left, but if he hadn't had any in three weeks, that first joint was going to knock him on his ass, if vampires got high the same way humans did. I really didn't know much about vampires at all. Questions started percolating in my head but I didn't want to be rude and grill him with a bunch of stupid questions. Oh well, it'll come out. At least there would be stuff to talk about.
I hadn't been expecting company and hadn't been having company for a while. Mostly I'd just been getting high on my own and had been pretty content with that, so when fresh eyes came into my place, I was suddenly seeing it for the first time as well, and all I wanted to do was tidy up. "It's a mess," I said and I started grabbing this and sweeping stuff aside. It wasn't as bad as it could have been but there were stacks of things everywhere and nothing was put away. I heaved a pile of clothes off the couch and threw them on the bed from the doorway, shutting the bedroom door, and grabbed the pillows from one end, marking out some place to sit. "Here, have a seat." I said, throwing two pillows onto each end of the couch. It wasn't pretty but it was very comfy. I cleared a stack of paper off the table and a stack of books off the end table and left them on the dining table which was already just a giant shelf of projects and paper. That would have to do, I thought, as the vampire was making himself comfortable on one end of the could. "I'm sorry, I don't remember your name." I said, unable to think of a better way to put it. I couldn't keep calling him the vampire, even in my own head. It seemed kind of racist. "You can call me Michael." he said. "Okay." Did that mean that wasn't really his name? "And you?" "Oh, I'm Edna, sorry. Some people call me Ed." "Should I call you Ed?" "If you want. Can I take you coat?" I asked, feeling awkward again. I sounded like a hostess in a restaurant or a butler, but I'd just gotten to easing mine off and hadn't thought about his long black peacoat until I had mine in hand to toss it on the arm chair. "Okay, sure." he said, getting up again to take it off. I tossed it on top of mine, wondering if I was accidentally obligating him to spend more time with me than he wanted. Maybe he just wanted to get high and get out, but he looked perfectly at ease. Finally, I got to sitting down and pulling the box out from under the couch. It was an aluminum box I'd found at a thrift store, about the size of a shoebox but flatter with 1950s boomerang patterns on the lid, which came of and acted like a tray. "Do you want to have on the teevee or listen to some music?" I asked abruptly. I really was being a big dork, I thought, feeling self conscious in sudden bursts. "Whatever you want is fine with me." he said, relaxed at his end of the couch. I grabbed the remote from the arm chair seat and flicked around, thinking I should have turned on some music, but figuring out what kind of music to play seemed like another pointless hurdle to jump, so I found a sci fi movie and left it on. Michael's eyes wandered from the television to the box, looking over my stash. I had about an eighth left but it was all in medium sized buds, fragrant with red hairs all over them. I almost offered to let him smell them but it seemed stupid, he could probably smell them from there. Instead of bothering to roll a joint, which I didn't usually do, not liking to overhandle the pot, I picked apart a small bud and loaded a glass pipe made with swirling colors and dots throughout the body. It was pretty well black with resin but I didn't think he'd mind too much. After all he was here to get high. I handed it to him with a lighter so he could start the bowl. "Thank you," he said and it really sounded like he meant it, taking in the first hit. He held it in as he passed the bowl, held it in as I took my hit. I was starting to wonder if he was going to exhale at all when he made his mouth in to an O and let out a thick plume of smoke. "Leeloo," said the teevee, as I realized the movie on was The Fifth Element. "It's strong stuff so this next hit might be all you need, " I cautioned, instantly feeling stupid. I had no idea how marijuana effected vampires. "I mean, as far as I know." I added, feeling lame. I flicked between watching him and the television. Michael passed back the bowl, also watching Bruce Willis eating noodles in his apartment window. "It's been a while," he said, sitting back, "but it's the same, if that's what you mean." The bowl was done after my turn and I crushed the ash with my thumb, glancing over at him, still holding my breath. "The same as it is for humans, for the most part." He grinned again. "It's been so long and now I'm so high. Thank you." He rubbed his face with his hands. "Sure, no big." I paused. "So you use to smoke before?" I ventured "Yeah. It's the only drug that's the same, well, almost the same." He was cute, and that might have been part of what was making me so self conscious. More than cute, pretty. I wanted to ask if all vampires were pretty but it sounded too stupid. I thought so but that might have just been all the stories and books and movies bleeding together. He was pale but not that different from really pale humans, and his face was very symmetrical. Both largish blue eyes had long lashes and I imagined a mirror splitting his face down the length of his nose, and him looking the same as he did now. His mouth reminded me of Lee Pace's mouth in the Fall when he's tied up in the desert and his head is thrown back with his mouth open, turning it into a series of perfectly sculpted curves. I was high, too. It was the first time today, and I always wanted to make the most of the first day's buzz. It was the best and most profound alteration. All the muscles in my face relaxed and tingled slightly. "So what's the difference?" I prodded further. "No munchies," he volunteered, "and it feels tinglier all over. It feels very in the moment, exciting but not paranoid. There's no more paranoia." "Huh." I breathed. "Did you get paranoid a lot before?" "Not that much but it's happened before, for whatever reason. Also it depends on the weed, you know. This stuff is energizing but I feel relaxed." "Me, too." I almost said that I didn't want to waste the buzz but I couldn't think of something to suggest we do. "I'm going to have to get more soon enough. I hope I can find something close to as good as this." "Could I get in on that?" "Oh sure, no problem." I pulled out my phone. "Just give me your number." "You, too." he said, pulling out his own phone. I felt myself smiling a probably goofy big smile at the idea that I was swapping digits with this guy. We spent a minute in silent thumbwork. "How much would you be wanting?" "I'll probably try to stock up so at least half and ounce or more. That will last a while." "I can go in on an ounce with you no problem." "Cool." "So Carl was your only source?" "It ended up that way." I wanted to ask if all vampires got high. I wanted to ask if he usually got high with other vampires but then he would have a connection and he didn't. i wanted to ask why he was here instead of a big city but I didn't want to answer the same question right now. Right now it was just cool sitting on the couch, half watching a movie, being high with this guy that happened to be a vampire, but I felt like I should be a better conversationalist. He wasn't volunteering much on his end. Maybe he was just waiting for more pot. "Have you seen this movie before?" "Oh yeah, but it's always good when you're high." "Yeah, me too. I mean I agree." "I like saying Leeloo." I added. "Leeloo. Lee-loo." He laughed. "How tall are you?" "Six four." "You're a whole foot taller than me." "Let's see," he said, standing. I came up to his chest. "Shorty," he smiled. "Do you want some water or something? I don't have much around to drink." "Water's okay." he said, and I went to get two glasses, and pulled out some nicer pint glasses instead of the recycled pint jars I used most of the time. Did he get dry mouth or was he just being polite? He might not need the water, but maybe he liked some anyway. He was easy to be around, relaxed. If only I could stop feeling awkward and just be awkward. He didn't seem to mind.