Fate and Cherry Icees

The engine produced smoke.

Anthony batted it away with his hand.

Then he just stared for a prolonged minute. The sun beat against his handsome features, highlighted his glowing skin. Somewhere deep inside me I asked myself if it were possible, even close to possible, that this man were a vampire.

Not in the religious sense.

Not in the sense that he had supernatural powers.

In the sense that he had a craving for blood.

Specifically, human blood.

And for some reason an image flashed through my mind of him biting my lip. And he was shirtless, and I was holding his broad shoulders. And I liked it. Feeling desire as I looked at him, he returned my stare, and said:

"Yeah, you're gonna need to take this to the shop."

I took a breath and came back to reality.

Anthony took out a card from his pocket and handed it to me. "I know a great place. Good rates. Give me a call."

I looked at his card. The sun was hotter than ever, or at least it felt that way to me. It blazed against the card-stock paper. The design of the card was fancy, gold patterns around the edges, framing in the name and phone number and the title: ATTORNEY AT LAW.

"You're a lawyer," I said.

"Blood suckers," said Aunt Jenny, which I thought was strangely appropriate. "The bad ones," she added. "Which kind are you?"

Anthony let his coat fall from his arms, taking it off. He pushed the hood of my car down, slamming it closed, and lay his coat against the rusty top.

Clearing his throat, he said, "I'm bad news."

I bet, I thought, picturing him shirtless once more.

"Remember when cars used to fly?" he said.

The early 2040s. I'd heard things. I was too young to remember.

"My mom had a flying Jeep," Anthony said. "It was fun. We used to get cherry icees together. Every day."

I cut off his story. "Sorry, Anthony, I have a meeting I have to get to. Like, right away."

"Need a ride?" he said. And my heart missed a few beats.

"Yes!" I said, before Jenny could interrupt.

"Are you sure?" said Jenny, moving her gaze from Anthony to me. The look she gave me could barely conceal the pride I knew she felt for me in this moment. Audrey is getting a ride from a hot young man. Audrey might have more going for her than I thought.

I nodded.

Anthony said, "Pro bono work never hurt a good lawyer before." Though he emphasized the word good, I didn't want to believe it. He looked as bad as they came.

As if his pretty face was only a pretense, a covering, a veil to mask his wicked, beautiful self. Am I taking it too far? I don't want to jump ahead. Remember, I'm new to this writing gig.

Okay.

So.

This was when Aunt Jenny said, "Audrey isn't doing much with her life, but she is single." And I could have been mistaken, but I thought I saw Jenny wink at Anthony.

"I'm writing a novel," I offered, feeling defensive. "But I need to go, like NOW." To Aunt Jenny: "Thanks for the coffee."

Then I followed Anthony to his car. And pity and embarrassment threatened to bury me in an early grave when I saw that the man drove an AUDI R8, top specs, full stop, dead-ass, on God.

It was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen.

My dream car. But I didn't tell Anthony that.

Instead, I said, as I climbed into the passenger side, "I'm Audrey Jane. You can call me AJ."

The slide-up doors fell closed, encasing us within the beautiful car.

I soaked it in.

The front seat was a bench seat. Tinted windows blocked out most of the sun's rays. Blue lights glimmered on the dash. I held my phone over the GPS feature and the car pulled the address. Then the car pulled into the street, autonomous.

We'd arrive in ten minutes.

Checking my clock, I realized I would only be seven minutes late. Somehow and against all odds, I would actually make it to the meeting. Feeling relieved, I allowed myself to relax.

After passing two cross streets, the car turned onto McVicar, which I took as a good sign. I didn't realize McVicar could take me to the meeting place.

"Do you believe in fate?" Anthony asked.

"No," I said.

"Why not?"

"Shit happens. And we deal with it. And that's all there is to it."

"You don't believe in God?" he asked.

"Judas-Priest no," I said. "Do you?"

He turned a knob on the dash and light jazz music began to play.

"Of course you listen to jazz," I said, smirking, folding my arms, feeling younger than I had in a long time. I lived on my own. I made my own money. But being in the presence of this guy I felt like a little girl who had no idea who she was or what she was doing with her life.

Aunt Jenny's comments were getting to me.

But they usually didn't.

I'd gotten pretty good at ignoring them.

"I think meeting you was fate," he said.

And for a moment I thought he was flirting, so I waited, hoping that was the case. Hoping his next sentence would clarify. Hoping he'd give me an indication that I was appealing to him.

I stared straight ahead.

But he never continued his sentence.

I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable.