Аманда Хокинг - Flutter

“Why?” Milo raised an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine what you’d tell me that was exciting. My room is right next to yours, and I know that you slept alone last night, so… it can’t be that good.”

“Ugh!” I groaned. “Good. Now I’m glad that we’re moving out. I’m sick of your attitude.”

“You’re what?” That got him. He sat up, propping himself up with his arms, and looked at me hard.

“What did you say?”

“Jack wants us to move out,” I lowered my voice so Mae wouldn’t be able to overhear.

“He’s out looking at apartments right now.”

“When you say ‘us’ you mean….” Milo waited for me to fill in the blank.

“Me and him, and you and Bobby, if you want to.” Then I tilted my head. “Does Bobby actually live here? Or does he have a residence somewhere else?”

“He technically lives in a dorm, but he hasn’t spent the night there since we met,” Milo shrugged.

“Don’t you think you’re moving a bit fast?” I asked. “You’re incredibly young to be living with a boyfriend.”

“Did you really say that to me with a straight face?” Milo raised an eyebrow at me.

“You’re younger than I am.” I thought about trying to make some kind of point about his situation was different than mine, and then I just forgot about it. If we were normal kids living a normal life and going to high school and living with our mom, yeah, this would probably be weird and wrong. But we’re not.

“Never mind. That wasn’t the point.”

“So you’re really moving out?” Milo asked.

“I don’t know. Jack really wants to, and he has a lot of good points.” I knew that Jack was probably right about moving out, but it still felt weird to me. “This house is getting too small for all us, as crazy as that sounds, and neither of us should be living under the same roof as Peter.”

“Yeah but… you want us to move with you?” Milo sounded nervous.

“Yeah, only if you want to.” I probably sounded a little hopeful. I really wanted him to live with us.

“Jack’s looking for places in the area that would be big enough for all of us.”

“But… what about you?” He looked at me very seriously. “I know that you’re still having problems getting your bloodlust under control, and you obviously don’t trust yourself enough yet to even sleep with him. How is that gonna work living together? Without Ezra to fix everything if something goes wrong?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I’ve thought of that too. But I don’t know what else we can really do.”

“Not move out,” Milo suggested.

“I just don’t see how staying here could really work.” I was starting to resign myself to moving out even though I wasn’t sure that’s what I really wanted. It just didn’t make sense to do anything else.

Milo lay back in bed and didn’t say anything for a bit. He was always better at coming up with logical solutions to things than I was. My actions were based more on my heart and temper, which is probably how he managed to more success as a vampire than I did. It was still pretty surprising to me that he had been the one that nearly killed his boyfriend, and not me. That was actually because he was so much more in control than I was, that everyone had given him too much credit. The fact that I had no impulse control had inadvertently helped save me from murdering Jack.

“No, I do not require your assistance,” Peter groaned wearily from out in the hallway, and I heard his bedroom close a second later. “Jane, I suggest you just back to the room and rest.” I glanced over at Milo, and from his expression, I could tell he was listening to them as well.

“I don’t need anymore rest. I’m bored,” Jane put on her baby talk voice that vacillated between slutty and whiny. Peter must’ve gone to his room to get something, and Jane had followed him out, much to his dismay.

“Try reading one of my books,” Peter said. “Or, if you cannot read, you can try one of Jack’s movies.

Or perhaps you can pester one of the six other people living in this how to entertain you.”

“Come on, I bet you know plenty of ways of entertain me.” Jane was outside of a shut bedroom door, so I couldn’t actually see her, but I had enough experience with her to know that was touching Peter in some way. Running her fingers down his arm or putting her hand on his chest. I’d love to see his reaction to that.

“I can assure that I am no good at entertain anyone,” Peter had started sounding uncomfortable, and Milo smirked.

“Well, maybe I can entertain you.” Her voice had gotten even lower and sultrier. She had it really bad for him, and I wished that I had some advice for her, but Peter was a hard thing to ignore.

“That’s why I got a book. I can entertain myself,” Peter said, his words clipped. His patience with her was very rapidly running out.

“Don’t you get sick of entertaining yourself?” Yep, Jane was still working the sexual innuendos.

“Jane, just go back to your room,” Peter sighed. That was it. He was done with her. If she was touching him, he had just taken her hand away.

“Not unless you join me,” Jane said coyly, clearly oblivious to his rebuff.

“No, I most certainly will not,” Peter snapped. “This slutty little girl act may work for some people, but I can’t see how. You are so filthy and dirty that I wouldn’t bite you if I was starving to death. The only reason I am tolerating and allowing you into my room is because of how much you mean to Alice, although, for the life of me I can’t see why. You are insipid and vain beyond what I had understood humans were capable of, and it would serve you well just to steer clear of me.”

“Jeez,” Milo whispered, shocked by how much he had torn her apart.

Jane didn’t say anything, but I heard the door open, and she had started crying before she shut the door behind her. Peter stood outside the bedroom for a minute, but when he started walking away, I decided that I had to give him a piece of my mind. I probably should’ve gone out and defended her earlier, but I didn’t think he was going to go off on her like that.

“Peter!” I snapped quietly, so Jane wouldn’t overhear. She didn’t have as good as hearing as I did, but she wasn’t deaf either. Sighing heavily, Peter reluctantly turned to look at me. “Don’t you think that was a little harsh?”

“Not really, no,” Peter said, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. I heard the shower turn on in Jane’s bathroom, her attempt to cure her crying, so I walked over to him to yell at him. “I didn’t mean for you to overhear that.”

“I don’t know how that makes it okay.” I crossed my arms on my chest and glared up at him. “Jane is annoying, but she’s harmless. And she’s recovering. We’re supposed to be helping her and encouraging her, not bringing her down.”

“I didn’t want to bring her down,” Peter rubbed his eye. “But you didn’t see how she was around me!

It was constant and more than annoying.”

“God forbid someone have a crush on you, Peter!” I rolled my eyes. “You were such a dick to me when I was into you, too. You just can’t handle anyone flirting with you and gawking at you for like five seconds?”

“No, I can! I handle it all the time!” Peter retorted defensively. “Everyone I meet is like that, and I have to tolerate it!”

“Oh, what a rough life!” I scoffed. “You know, Jane isn’t the only one that’s vain and egotistical.” It was Peter’s turn to roll his eyes at me. “So you’re saying that your curse in life is that everyone in the whole world finds you irresistible?”

“If I say yes, I sound like an ass, but it’s true!” He rubbed his temple and shook his head. “I am sorry if I am not doing well with tolerating her. She just won’t stop staring at me, constantly, and… you won’t even look at me.”