Part 3:
Whatever Eddy and Google had said, Jason seemed completely normal when he picked her up. He drove a used corolla, like any average student. He paid for dinner, mostly with crumpled ones. He was just the right amount of awkward that was required on any first date.
By the end of the night, Mandy had completely forgotten about anything weird or occult. Jason was a normal kid. A nice, kind of cute normal kid.
“I feel like I talked about me way too much. Tell me something about you.” She said as they walked down the sidewalk after the movie.
“Nah. I like talking about you better.”
“Come on. One thing. Favorite... I don’t know... favorite book?”
“You’re going to think I’m such a dork.” Jason said with a laugh.
“Try me.”
“Alright, favorite book, and I’m not ashamed, Harry Potter. Specifically the seventh one.”
“Me too!” Mandy blurted. “Well, almost. I like prisoner of Azkaban the most.”
“Well, that’s certainly not the reaction I usually get.” Jason replied, and he sounded relieved. “Girls usually look at me kind of funny, and say ‘oh.’ You know, in that ‘I’m so disappointed that you’re a nerd’ tone of voice.”
“Well, you’re safe with me. In fact, me and my best friend Eddy dressed up for the last premiere. We’re not talking just any old costumes. It was epic.”
“Just tell me you didn’t do Harry and Ginny.” Jason asked worriedly.
“No way. When I say epic, I mean we were fantastic.”
“Ooh. Do tell.”
“Well, Eddy was Dumbledore. Full out robes and beard. The works. And it was good.”
“Nice. And you?”
“Luna.”
“Eh. I was hoping for a bit more than that. She’s kind of over done. 3-D glasses and some radish earrings, and people call it good.”
“Not me. Full-sized, complete with roaring, lion head hat.”
“Now that is something I have to see.”
“We can arrange that. Actually, me and Eddy watch the movies all the time. You should come hang with us. I think normally you two would be good friends.”
“Normally?”
“Well...” Mandy didn’t know exactly how to tell him what Eddy thought without offending him. “Don’t take it personally, okay, but Eddy thinks you’re a killer vampire. I tried to reason with him. He’s not normally like that...”
She trailed off because Jason was laughing too hard to hear. It took him a minute before he could breathe again.
“That definitely has to go on my list.”
“What list?”
“Well, you know how a lot of people keep a quote wall or a notebook. A place where they write down all of the most random and absurd things that people say. I’ve got something kind of like that. It’s my “Hilarious, but why is that even real” list. Stuff I see in the news, or overhear in the hallway that’s just too funny-but-dumb not to record.”
“Now that really is dorky.” She laughed. “But I like it. So you’re not offended?”
“No way. I totally get it.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. I can tell he likes you. Sometimes guys go overboard with the weird-ity when they like a girl enough.”
“Weird-ity. Nice. Well, I’m glad you understand, because it’s been throwing me totally off my groove. I’m not used to him acting like that.”
“I guess it’s kind of my fault. For asking you out, and everything.”
“No. He should have had the guts to ask me a long time ago, if he was that worried about me being taken by someone else. He did finally spill his guts today, though. We’re going out tomorrow. Like officially. It’s going to be awkward, because we’ve known each other for years, and we never even thought about each other that way. Or at least I never did.”
“Well, I hope it goes alright. But not too alright. I’d like to see you again.”
Jason open her door, and she got into the car, grinning like the cheshire cat. The whole ride home, they talked, perfectly at ease with each other. She had absolutely no problem with seeing him again.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Jason said apologetically, “but my mom really wants to meet you. She’s not too weird or embarrassing as a mom, except when it comes to girls I take out. So I’m just letting you know up front, she might ask some weird questions.”
“I don’t mind at all.”
They pulled up in front of a clean-cut little suburban house, complete with white picket fence. As they got out of the car, the front door opened, and a blonde woman appeared. She wore an apron and yellow rubber gloves, and looked like she had just walked out of a magazine about 50's house wives.
“Hey, mom. This is Mandy.”
The little lady danced down the stairs with a huge grin.
“Hello, Mandy. So nice too meet you. So, what do your parents do for a living?”
“Mom!”
“Jason.”
“Please don’t act weird. She’s nice and gets good grades. I promise she’s not a psycho.”
“Alright. Alright.” She said, but she had a gleam in her eyes that warned Mandy that the questions weren’t over.
Once they climbed the steps, Mandy found herself in the entry way to a long, dark hall, and her breath caught in her throat. Instantly her palms started sweating, and her stomach did several terrifying somersaults.
The hallway was epitome of gothic. Gargoyles. Weapons. Unlit torches in brackets. All dimly lit, and all screaming “creepy”. If there was any place in the world that was suitable for a family of vampires, that was it.
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