The Dracula Discreet

Today is the first day of my sophomore year at Carmen College of Literature and Arts, where I study History and Classical Literature Studies. I walked out of my dorm and still felt very sleepy because last night my dorm was having an unofficial pajama party to celebrate the last day of our summer break. We danced, we sang, drank, and foolishly (tended to) forgot that tomorrow’s gonna be the start of a new semester. When I left the building at 7.30, hardly anyone was up. I stepped on my mustard flat shoes lazily across the street, glancing back before I walked away from that small three-floored building. The dorm only accepts female students so it’s pretty neat, even though the building is looking rather old with an exposed red brick, old-time style from the last century. I lived there with around 35-40 other students from various colleges and universities, but most of them study in a state university a block away from the dorm. I have lived in this dorm since I left my homet

After the bumping incident, every time we’re passed each other I always tried to manage a smile at him or greeted him. Sometimes he smiled back a little, some other times he just nodded cooly. But that was okay. As long as I get a slight response from him, I am totally fine. Well. I don’t really mean to get close to him, but that’s just me. I just can't help myself to try to get my way to someone I have a crush on and never had enough patience to continue having a crush on someone I don’t know. And counting the last summer break, I already have a crush on him for more than four months without approaching him in any way. Now I realized that he just got a few close friends at the campus, and it was only with them that he usually talked or walked together. There were three of them, all of them are also at their senior year, and the boys are usually sitting next to him at the cafeteria, or in the reading aisle. One of them is Pax, my theatre club senior, also in the same major a

I walked back to my dorm very late after everyone finished auditioning because I wanted to see how my friends and upperclassmen doing at their auditions. It was a little past midnight. Luckily my dorm wasn’t far, so I don’t have to rely on public transportation. As I walked alone right beside the campus gate, thinking about what had happened earlier, I saw a black Camaro slowly passed and pull over a few yards in front of me. Then, a guy came out. I recognized his silhouette from afar. It was Clayton, and he walked closer before talking to me. “ Hey, do you need a lift?”. “Nope, that’s okay. My dorm’s just three blocks away”, I said. “Well, then, I can take you there”, he answered. “No, really, you don’t need to. I can walk”. “ I cannot let a woman I know walk alone in the dark like this. It’s past midnight!” “No problem, I am already used to this, been doing it for more than a year. It’s safe”. “No, I insisted. I’m not

I didn’t call him, at last, all afternoon, or even text. I didn’t know what to say to him, with all these things that I had known and my mixed feelings were so getting in the way. But after a few hours thinking alone in my room that evening, while waiting for Sasha to come back from her campus activities and give me advice, I think I have to be true to myself, and to him. Even though it was almost 10 pm. I called the number that called me this morning. “Evening, Clay, this is Anita,” I said as soon as he picked up the call. “Hey, I was waiting for your call all afternoon. How were the casting announcements?” “Yes, I got the role. But there’s something I must ask you. Why didn’t you tell me that you’re also going to perform? I saw your name in the leading role”. Damn, I can’t help myself from sounding a bit upset. “So, my name is on the list? Sorry, I didn’t mean to hide this from you, Anita, but after the audition, Pax said they still didn’t h

We shared nice moments that night. I listened to him silently, sipped my beer, smoking and watching the gleaming city lights below, while he talked and talked for hours, blurting everything he wanted to be said. Suddenly I felt that I knew him pretty well, I can understand his emptiness, his vulnerability, while also admiring his strong-willed heart, and realizing that everything he owns and achieves right now just doesn’t fall right upon his lap, but he struggled for every tiny bit of it. “Sorry, Anita, I dragged you here and made you listen to all this. You must be really bored hearing me talking for hours.” He said, then puffing the smoke out of his mouth, glancing his beautiful blue eyes at me.  “Hey, that’s okay, Clay. You can always tell me everything. It’s really a pleasure to hear all of it, to have you confide everything to me.” I answered after lighting my cigarette. He took a sip from his bottle and continued, “I don’t know why, but since our