I dug into my food with abandon. The crash of emotions had left me famished far more than I was expeg. My pancakes were fluffier than I remembered and the strawberries and blueberries tasted all the sweeter. I was pletely lost in my food until I had only a quarter left. I finally looked up then, to see Juniper smilingly bemusedly at me. She was carefully pig up a small piece of her chi, biting it off the fork almost suggestively.

  I swallowed. My face grew hot as my mind started rag with possibilities. Wait, does she actually like me? Even like this? I mean, she hasn’t ughed in my face yet, so maybe? I looked away shyly and slowed down to be more -dignified- in my eating. Juniper giggled at my behavior and my face grew even hotter, though I didn’t dislike it.

  I finished first and started nursing my water while waiting for Juo finish. Her eyes never left mine, even as she was cutting her food. I wasn’t quite certain how she ma, but she did. I opened my mouth to speak when she swallowed and cut me off. “You’re not the first cute girl I’ve held eye tact with while eating. Though you certainly have the greatest range of facial expressions. They’re all really cute, you know?” I buried my head in my hands. My words weren’t ing to me and were ing out as a jumble of noises. She giggled again at hearing my flustered noises and her voice turned suggestive. “Mmmm, yes. I’m definitely looking forward to spending more time with you.”

  When my mind started w again, I brought my face back up so I could look Juniper in the eye and she had already finished with her food. Just how long was I out? The waitress came by and hahe check to Juurning in such a way that she didn’t look directly at me. Juniper didn’t even grace her with a gnce, she just put her card in the folder and ha back. “So,” Juniper said after the waitress left, “wanna e bay pce? y dress up, hang out, py video games… Your call, really.”

  I thought about saying yes. Part of me really wao. Another part of me really wao for other reasons. It was hard to identify which was strohe urge to see her or the urge to hang out with her. I looked down and sighed, “I’m not sure I’d look good in your outfits. Maybe just hang out?”

  I looked back up at her with just my eyes, and saw that she had a toothy smile on her face. I’d seen it a lot before, so I didn’t think anything of her fangs. They were just a part of her as a vampire. “Maybe I ge your mind? You’re wearing the same size as me right now. But I’ll give you some time to think on it on our way bao o decide right now.”

  Juood up, walked around the booth to my side, aended her hand to help me down. I blushed and took it gratefully. When I was standing, she leaned into my ear and whisper, “ime, make sure to pat your skirt down so it’s against ys rather than fring out and bung up behind you.” I didn’t even realize I’d done so and was truly embarrassed now.

  She led me out of the restaurant, my eyes never leaving her and how gracefully she was walking. I felt myself start to imitate her walk and was doily well of it by the time we’d made it to the sidewalk. We talked more on what kind of outfits we liked for our characters. I was certain Juniper was just trying to get me into the idea of pying dressup for her, but I found myself being more and more enamored with the idea. Is it really all that different from dressing up in an MMO? Especially one where I self-i so hard.

  Her home wasn’t too far away, though it was grand. It looked almost like a mansion and had a driveway running under part of the sed story of the house, isoting a k from the rest. I gaped at her in disbelief. Juniper smirked, “What, did you expect vampires to not have a lot of money? Especially ones who have lived as long as I have. You have to be good at making just enough moo not piss people off ahe entire church breathing down your neck. That’s where most of those vampire stories e from, anyways.” She seemed almost bored with her reting of vampire history. I suppose she’s entitled to that. I might be bored of talking about something I lived through, too.

  I followed her inside and she led me through room after room until we came to her bedroom. The hallways were tall aravagantly adorhe rooms looked like period pieces in their hts, and the art was from so many different styles and movements that I couldn’t make heads or tails of what the theme was supposed to be. “What’s up with all the different art?” I let out before immediately g my free hand over my mouth, hoping I didn’t upset Juniper.

  She shrugged, “I’ve been with a lot of people in my life. Some of those women have been artists. Some have been musis. Still more were writers.” She opened her walk-in closet that was as big as my bedroom at my apartment and walked inside. “I like to keep some of the more personal works of theirs, if they let me. Not everything should be dispyed in a museum, but by those they were made for.”

  I tentatively walked in behind Juniper, almost overwhelmed by all the different clothes she’d amassed. One rack had nothing but pantsuits in bck with the oo it having navy or tan ones. On the opposite wall was a bunch of dress blouses, all with different styles. Racks were hanging out, creating rows to walk down. I reached the third one and turned in after her to see her going through some dresses that were rather fancy. I was about to protest when she roughly shoved one of them at me. It was a green, shoulderless suhat tied up behind the neck. “Here,” she said while tinuing to rifle through her outfits, “try that on while I find some others.” I started leaving to go find somewhere to ge when I heard her call out. “There isn’t a ging room, this is a home. Go ahead a ged here.”

  I became very nervous but didn’t want to disappoint her, so began stripping. I was so nervous and covered myself reflexively. The dress she had sent me spilled to the floor as I let go of it aively reached for the sundress. I almost backed out of grabbing it when Juniper calmly pced her hand on mine and soothingly whispered into my ear, “It’s okay. I promise you’ll look good in it and ter I’ll help with your self-image issues, okay? I just want to see what looks good on yht now.”

  I smiled at the thought. We’d talked about the way that vampire bites worked, so I knew I wouldn’t be put under her thrall. Though, now that I was here, the thought didn’t actually seem all that io me. I shivered, imagining being with her. My form in my mind was blurry, but definitely feminine. I couldn’t wait.

  I took a deep, steadying breath, the out and grabbed the sundress with a firm hand. Juniper helped me fit it oop, and I let her do the work of tying it up for me. Something about this just felt sht, so normal. Her hands made quick work of the knot and she excitedly pulled me towards the front of the closet again where she had a full-length mirror.

  I gasped. She was right, I did look good in this dress! I slowly moved side to side before turning around and looking at myself from behind. No matter how I tried to cut it, I was just a girl in a pretty dress. A ft-chested one, sure, but it really fit me well. Tears burst forth. This is really possible. Even without her ging me.

  I whirled around a at Juniper, ing her up in a hug as I thanked her repeatedly. Something she’d always seen in me even though I’d pushed it to the bay mind. Something I’d always wanted but couldn’t ht admit even though I hio myself and others, about it quite often. She just held me tight and brushed my hair with her hand while I calmed down.

  Once I did, she gently grabbed my between her pointer finger and thumb and lifted my face to look in my eye.

  “So tell me, do you wao ge you?”