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Darling lingered on the fringes of the amusement park ruins, leaning against a tree that toed the line where the wards were set. Even though Sam said the Solaire clan meeting finished at 11:30pm it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that it would run a little overtime. But that certainly didn’t stop them from getting more anxious as the minutes continued passing with no sign of their favourite vampire.
They checked their phone for the time and huffed impatiently when they saw the minute hadn’t changed yet since the last time they checked. Still ten minutes overtime. Roughly shoving their phone away into the pocket of their leather jacket, Darling leaned their head back to rest on the bark of the tree staring into the clear dark sky. A relentless jittery fluttery feeling had been stewing in their stomach all night leading up to this point and Darling was hoping it would just go away before he turned up. Sam had never asked to meet them at the park before and Darling was embarrassed by how much the mere thought of his request took up their thought space for the day.
Sam didn’t say much on what the meeting was about and Darling guessed that wasn’t the reason for the request. What they did know was that this was a full Solaire clan meeting and while he didn’t mention it, Darling couldn’t help but be anxious at the thought of Sam having to be near Alexis for any prolonged amount of time. And as much as they wished they could just barge in and pull him out of that meeting, Sam had warned them expressly not to breach the wards tonight to go find him – something about the clan being on high alert during these meetings.
Sounds and scents were rendered useless since they couldn’t breach the wards, so they’d selected a position which gave them a vantage point to look beyond a fallen fence into some kind of derelict plaza within the park and kept a keen eye for any movement. When each minute felt like an hour, Darling was about ready to risk the wrath of the Solaire clan by the time the clock hit 11:46pm accompanied with the buzz of a text.
Meeting ran longer than expected be out soon
No shit, Darling thought to themselves but sent a responding thumbs up instead. And sure enough, within a few seconds later thanks to that inhuman speed Sam appeared a few paces away. Unfortunately, that relentless jittery fluttery feeling didn’t disappear at all and only increased tenfold when Darling finally saw him.
“Sorry Darlin’, didn’t mean to keep ya waitin’. Bunch of the juvenates had a lot to say tonight apparently,” he said, sauntering closer. Darling pushed themselves away from the tree and moved forward to meet him halfway, taking stock of how he looked and searching for any signs of distress. It wasn’t until Sam gently cleared his throat that Darling realised they’d perhaps stared a little too intensely. “Is there somethin’ on my face?”
“Just a bit of a twig I think,” they lied, reaching up to brush an imaginary stick from his shoulder. “So what’s up? I’m here in the dead of night as requested.”
“In truth I didn’t have anything particular in mind. We could go anywhere ya like but-” he said, giving them a soft smile. “Just wanted to see ya.”
Darling felt heat begin to crawl up their spine and over their cheeks. “Oh… cool.” God they wished the fluttering in their stomach would shut up. “It’s good to see you too. How was it tonight?”
“The meetin’? Fine, I guess. Couldn’t wait for it to wrap up if I’m bein’ honest,” he answered. This time Darling caught the uncomfortable way he shuffled. The way he subtly stopped making eye contact. A slight hunching of shoulders.
They swallowed down the starting of a snarl aimed at someone they’d never yet seen. They reached out to take hold of his face with a feather-light grasp, ready to retract at the first sign they might have overstepped any boundaries. Gently and carefully, they urged Sam to look at them instead of staring into a phantom memory, allowing their hands to cradle his face a little more confidently when he didn’t resist.
“Hey,” Darling said in an almost whisper. “You doing okay?”
Sam leaned his cheek into their hands, relaxing into in their warmth and took a deep breath, taking comfort in their calming scent. “I will be.”
They gave them a wry grin and repeated back to him his own words from a few days ago, “I’m not talking about ‘will be’.”
Sam smiled down at them and reached up to take hold of each of their hands, pulling them away from his face but not letting them go either. He brushed his thumbs reassuringly over the backs of their hands, though whether he was reassuring them or himself he wasn’t completely sure. “Touché. I guess I always feel a lil’ slimy after these kinds of clan meetin’. Plus this one tonight wasn’t even about anythin’ important so there was nothin’ to distract me.”
Darling knew their situations were different but they could sympathise with the feeling of being forced to endure acting civil around people you weren’t on great terms with. “Yeah, I never liked pack meetings either.” Darling thought of a post-pack-meeting haunt of theirs from years ago, an old tree on the edge of scenic overlook not too far from where they were now. Back then the tree used to have a tire swing and they wondered if it was still there. Maybe Sam would like it? It at least had a good view of Dahlia… “Well, since you didn’t have anything in mind, I maybe have an idea for something we could do that might distract you for the rest of the night.”
At that Sam began to lean in inches from their face, closing the gap remaining between them and eyes gleaming with mischief. “Darlin’ I’m sure together we could find lots of things to do tonight that would be plenty distractin’,” he said with a smirk, relishing in the deepening colour of their cheeks as he let his words sink in. He had a feeling he understood now why Vincent teased his partner so often if this was the reaction he received from such a forward flirt.
Before Darling could formulate a response, he decided to have mercy on his adorable tank wolf. He let go of one of their hands but intertwined his fingers tightly with the other hand he still held. He gave their hand an encouraging squeeze and began walking them away from the amusement park.
“I’m just kiddin’ Darlin’,” Sam laughed, feeling lighter with each step. “Lead the way.”