Her second time on the motorcycle was way better than the first, there was less fear more thrill. As Gian swerved unto the residential roads Delia was comfortable enough to spread her arms out as they sped toward her house.
"That was fun!" Delia said as they walked toward her front door.
"I enjoyed myself too." Gian said shoving his hands in his pockets. He wasn't ready to leave her yet.
As they reached the door Delia spun toward him and whispered conspiratorially, "I'm not ready to go." Gian broke out in a smile, "What do you have in mind?"
"Well..." Dee said with that mischievous smile and a shrug, "Have you ever seen South Beach at night?"
Dee tiptoed into the house grabbed her sisters little green pouch and tiptoed back out. It was ten minutes before Gian and Dee were barreling down Collins Ave with the saltwater air whipping past them.
"We're here!" Gian said over the sound of air whipping past them, "What's next?"
"We chill out."
Gian parked his bike in a nearby parking lot and they set off onto the dark beach. Delia was the first to take off her shoes reveling in the cool sand contrasting against the warm damp air. "You are super tall," Dee said just making out Gian's form in the moonlight. She heard him chuckle.
"Well, it's the first time you've taken off those...stilts since I've met you."
"I love heels! Is that a crime?" Delia said chuckling along "It's just nice not to be the only skyscraper present."
Gian took off his shoes and walked along. They walked until they came across some abandoned beach chairs and Delia was the first also to plop down in one.
"Do you do this often...the beach at night?"
"Yeah, why not? It's much more peaceful now...and quiet"
They both sat back to listen to the sounds of the beach, and watch the moon sitting on the dark waters. The waves crashing onto the shore created white foam that was stark and eerie against the dark night.
"Reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe." Dee said
"No, that wasn't a totally random connection pulled out of midair." Gian said sarcastically and Delia chuckled.
Delia, remembering Denise's pouch, pulled it out of her pocket and went through it.
"What's that?" Gian asked kind of hoping it was food.
"'Happy' is the code word my sis uses." Delia said pulling out a small baggie of something and a glass pipe. "It's weed, and not very strong weed. My mom's boyfriend got it for their anniversary but my mom didn't want to smoke it with him." Gian felt his jaw drop in shock but then quickly recovered. Delia had a huge family, hippie mother, party girl sister and anxiety issues of course she'd smoke weed.
"Do you smoke that often?" Gian found himself asking. Of their own accord his fangs slid out, it had been at least five months since he had last fed from someone high or drunk.
"Not really, special occasions mostly, like my birthday or graduation, maybe Christmas with my cousins. I don't have the time to walk around high all the time."
Delia had fidgeted around enough with the pipe and had pulled out a lighter. Gian felt himself salivate. He couldn't bite Delia while she was high, he wanted to so badly though. The memory of consuming the spiked blood, the feel of it on his tongue the rush from the narcotics plus the adrenaline saturating it, it was almost overwhelming.
Gian switched his focus to the crashing white foam of the beach. "Why didn't your mom want to smoke it with her boyfriend? She's against it or something?"
"Ha-ha, my mom? Against weed? No, it's because her boyfriends a recovering drug addict. Apparently he was addicted to everything except meth. My guess is it's because meth wasn't that big in the eighties. He's fifteen years sober I believe, and my mom didn't want to be the one to rock the boat." Delia took another drag from the pipe before offering it to the dark form which was Gian. Gian declined, happy she couldn't see his fangs which he seemed to have lost control of.
"How do you feel about that? You know the whole drug addiction thing?"
Gian's voice was unreadable. To Delia it sounded as if he wanted to hear a certain answer, but she couldn't tell which answer he wanted...or maybe she was just high.
"There is no way to feel about it. I mean we all have our weaknesses and it's easy to just give into them. It's easy to succumb to defeat the harder our problems get. He wasn't infallible. I'm just glad he's found a healthier way to deal with it...other than drugs."
"And how is that?" Gian sounded more curious than he meant to lead on.
"My mama," Delia said with a little smile. "I don't know how he deals with her crazy ass but they are adorable together."
They talked on and on about the idiosyncrasies of the people around them. Gian found out that Delia's mom wasn't the only 'crazy' person in her family. Gian's teeth finally receded when he saw Delia yawn and rub her eyes, she looked so young and something within him stirred. He didn't question it he was just happy he could hide his fangs. A strong since of foreboding befell him.
