Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Reuben

N ow that the seal had been broken, Reuben figured he was safe to reach for Amber’s hand to lead her toward the escalator. There was something...empowering about openly acknowledging his relationship, real or not.

Amber accepted Reuben’s hand and followed him to the escalators. She stepped onto the moving stairs, wobbling a little as her feet were swept away faster than the rest of her.

Reuben steadied her by placing a gentle hand on her lower back. “Oh, careful there.”

The escalator emptied into the gift shop, as expected. A soft hum thrummed in her throat, her happiness finding its own way out without her noticing. Her eyes scanned the variety of brightly colored, aquatic themed merchandise.

“Hey, Reuben, what is your favorite animal? On land, I think I’d say mine are wolves. Underwater, stingrays.” She wandered over to a display of various plush creatures and ran her hands over the fluffy fabric. “Mmmm, soft,” she murmured, a smile crossing her face.

Reuben couldn’t help but notice the little pep that Amber had in her step. He again followed his date around for the most part, not interested in the overpriced, logo-covered items, but enjoying watching the other person. “My favorite animal? Land is penguins. I love how fluffy the emperor babies are. For sea creatures, it would have to be the octopus. They’re highly intelligent and I love how they can change colors.”

Stepping up to the plushie shelf, Reuben stroked a very soft stingray. With a mischievous grin, he picked it up and moved it up and down so the wings would flap like they did in the water. He flapped over to Amber and gave his date’s head a soft bop with the plush before setting it down on the shelf and walking away like nothing had happened. Amber stared with widened eyes while Reuben strolled away as if he hadn’t done something ridiculous and adorable.

He stopped at a spinning display which held little keychains with various names on them. He turned the display, frowning at the ‘A’ section. ‘Amber’ seemed to be sold out. “How do you feel about nicknames? Like Gem? You know, since amber is a gemstone?” Reuben had to admit, he found it kind of adorable.

“I’m okay with nicknames. Whatever you want to call me is fine, as long as it’s not ‘late to dinner.’” Amber chuckled a little at her own dumb joke and began scanning the mugs, thermoses, and tumblers. "How do you feel about Benji?"

The same shelf had caught Reuben’s attention as well; he walked over, his eyes scanning each glass. They did have a stingray mug that Amber could use for her hot cocoa. "Benji, huh? Well, it's definitely not something the public would expect. I like it."

Reuben smiled and continued browsing, feeling an odd warmth in the pit of his stomach. “Would you like something? A stuffed animal or a mug? I might pick up an octopus thermos for myself.” At least it would be useful; Reuben used thermoses to keep his breakfast blood warm.

Normally he used a solid color to keep up his perfect vampire politician persona; the public probably wouldn’t take kindly to a ‘Come to the Dark Side’ thermos filled with blood. But maybe a cutesy octopus supporting the local aquarium would be fine? At least it would be easy to keep track of, ensuring his human coworkers didn’t get a mouthful of Joe instead of their cup of joe.

Amber looked at the mugs, spotting a purple one with a little spotted stingray. She picked it up and examined it for a few moments before nodding. “This one is pretty cute. I think I’ll get it so I can remember our first real fake date.” She turned a particularly cheesy grin in Reuben’s direction. “I think, so far, that it has been a particularly successful one. At least, from what I have gathered empirically through studying other relationships.”

Once the pair had purchased their finds, Amber grabbed Reuben’s hand and placed a little item in his palm with a grin. “There. This way you can subtly proclaim that you are taken. Or at least you can show the paparazzi parasites something to convince them. I guess it depends on if you want to qualify yourself as taken or not...” Amber’s voice faded away and, yet again, her ears reddened. “I...I think I would. Even though it’s for show, I feel like it counts.”

When presented with the little object, Reuben was deeply confused. He looked down to find a keychain of a baby penguin with “Gem” emblazoned across the bottom.

It had been a long time since he had received a meaningful gift. Most ‘gifts’ were from his office, handed out to everyone, and were mostly pens, logo-covered mugs, and other useless merchandise that cluttered his office.

He blinked at the little penguin a few times in shock before responding, “Thank you. I will use it right away.” Reuben slipped the keychain onto the set of keys that were devoid of anything fun, smiling at how embarrassed Amber got from handing it over. “It might be for show, but I appreciate the thought nonetheless. I am happy to be claimed by such a wonderful woman.”

* * *

Amber

A mber grabbed Reuben’s hand and half-dragged him toward the parking lot, mostly to keep people from seeing her blush. She found herself wishing that they didn’t have to part ways so soon, but her mind was spinning emptily on ways to keep Reuben at her side a little longer. They’d already done coffee...but maybe she could swing a movie? He had said that his work could do without him for a few hours.

It had been so long since she’d had a friend she could ask to do things with that Amber wasn’t sure how this whole thing worked. She was also surprised how comfortable she felt with Reuben after spending a grand total of a few hours together. Even when this whole relationship farce was finished, she found herself hoping they could remain friends.

And so, Amber took a deep breath and did something brave, yet again. That was seemingly becoming a pattern these days. “Hey, if you don’t have to hurry back to work...do you want to maybe catch a movie? I don’t know what is playing, but I’m not feeling like I want to go home yet. I’m having way too much fun.”

But Reuben was too distracted to answer. By the sun. With his one free-ish hand holding the gift shop bag, he lifted it up, grabbed his sunglasses, popped them open in one smooth move, and slipped them on with another. He tried his hardest to walk at Amber’s pace; however, the sun had risen higher in the sky, giving off stronger midday rays. Even with his sunglasses on, he squinted and tensed up slightly.

His hand gripped a little bit tighter on Amber’s, like a kid would to a parent when they were scared. “A movie? Uh... yeah. Yeah.” He held his gift shop bag hand up to offer a little shade on his face and looked over to Amber, whose ears looked like they could be sunburned, too. “Can we move to the parking garage? My car is parked there and I didn’t put on sunscreen today, thinking I wouldn’t be outside much.”

Reuben’s long, even strides were a little bit faster than a person desperately trying to leave a Walmart. Once they reached the shade, he let out a grateful breath. He let his hand fall away from Amber’s and reached for his keys.

“Weird fact to know about vampires, which you might have noticed.” Reuben said the ‘v’ word softer than the rest, as if afraid who could be listening. “We will not burst into flames like a few overexaggerated movies. We will, however, burn easily. There’s a kind of sunscreen that helps us walk during the day.”

Amber nodded, “I see, I see! That certainly makes a lot more sense than Hollywood. Though that’s not hard...Hollywood is not known for their attention to fact.” She patted Reuben’s hand. “I guess I’ll have to purchase a bottle of this sunscreen so I can make sure my boyfriend doesn’t turn into a tomato next time.”

“Please don’t worry about me,” Reuben insisted stubbornly. “I can handle that on my own. I was a little nervous about our first date, is all.” He placed his fingers on his cheeks, his fingertips acting like little ice packs to his rosy skin. “I’m sorry. I should have taken more precautions. But the movie: I could go for whatever. Scary, comedy, romance... Whatever it is, I don’t mind. I enjoy spending time with you.”

Reuben made sure to dig into his pocket and at least have the door unlocked when Amber reached it. He then jogged to the other side of the car, hopping in while scanning the lot.

Amber climbed into the now-familiar black car and buckled the seat belt, feeling far more comfortable than she had the last time she was inside. As such, she took a little more time to examine the spotless interior. Was Reuben’s entire life this meticulous with attention to detail?

If so, Amber made a pact to never allow Reuben to take a single step into her apartment. It was far from meticulously clean...okay, it was a disaster area. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone other than Jade had been over, so there was a thick layer of ‘nobody is going to see it anyway’ lingering on every surface.

She found herself growing uncomfortable with the thought and cleared her throat, looking to Reuben for a change of thought trains. “I enjoy spending time with you, too. I’m glad that if I have to get out of my shell, it’s with you.” A genuine smile graced Amber’s face as the car engine roared to life. “I’m going to pull out my phone to see what is playing, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Please do. I don’t stay up to date with current theater movies.” Reuben waited patiently while Amber searched for their options, fidgeting with the keys in his hand while trying his best not to stare.

“It looks like there are a couple of comedies, a slasher film, yet another Fast and Furious sequel, and a romance called One Evening in Prague. ” Amber’s finger appeared to move on its own accord as it tapped the romance to pull up the description. It sounded like something the author would enjoy, though she eyed Reuben from the corner of her eye and cleared her throat to force her voice to function. “Would you mind watching the romance with me? For research purposes, obviously.”

“One Evening in Prague , huh?” Reuben’s voice was unconvinced, but he nodded in response. “I would love to. And not just for research. Romance is one of my favorite genres. I hope it’s not the stereotypical, cookie cutter romance that lazy producers churn out like butter.”

Amber put the phone back in her pocket and settled back into the seat. She was simply pleased to still be in the company of the handsome political figure, no matter what they decided to watch. The more time they spent together, the more she found herself attracted to Reuben.

With another side glance, she reached out and rested her hand on top of Reuben’s, enjoying the sensation of the vampire’s marble skin under her fingers. Her toes curled up in her shoes from happiness and she felt the muscles near her ears tighten. “It’s nice to play hooky with you for a while, you know. There’s something fun about knowing I’m keeping such an important man all to myself. Makes me feel like maybe I am more than a shut-in author with no friends pretending to date a politician.”

She ran her thumb up and down Reuben’s knuckles, imagining how much better this would feel if Reuben had feelings for her, too. An impossible scenario, she knew, but such was life. In the end, this whole setup would at least result in a unique and hopefully best-selling new novel. Perhaps a ‘relationship of convenience to reality’ trope?

Reuben’s eyes shifted to their hands touching. His hand rolled over to caress Amber’s warm fingers as his eyes shifted up to his date’s. “You have at least one friend, Amber: me.” With a huge smile, Reuben turned his attention back to the parking garage, turned his hand back over, and put the car into drive.

Amber pulled out her notebook with her free hand and allowed it to fall open on her lap, her cheeks a lovely shade of cherry blossom. She withdrew her left hand long enough to scribble a note before returning it to its place in Reuben’s.

Rather than fidgeting around to shove the notebook back in her pocket, she allowed it to remain open so she could glance through her notes. They were scattered, nonsensical, and fairly illegible to anyone else, but somehow, between the brown leather covers rested a new novel.

They pulled into a parking spot near the movie theater door. A few scattered cars spotted the parking lot, while only a handful of workers could be seen through the windows. Reuben unbuckled his seat belt after the car turned quiet. “You pay for the tickets? I pay for the snacks? I’m thinking a cherry Icee.”

Amber nodded and didn’t hesitate to take Reuben’s hand for their short walk. She was proud to have such a kind, good-looking man by her side, even if it was tainted by their arrangement.

Before entering, Reuben placed his hand on his date’s lower back, ushering her into the building as he followed close behind. The rush of cool air from the air conditioning hit his face and the muscles in his shoulders relaxed. He let out a sigh and began looking around for the ticket desk.

Amber blushed deeply as the vampire’s gentle hand rested in the curve of her spine. She was surprised how natural and pleasant it felt. She, too, took a look around, though mostly to locate the snacks.

The lobby was quite empty and the marquee flashed that the romance film would begin in fifteen minutes. It almost appeared that the fates were lining things up for the faux couple. Perfect first date almost achieved!

They walked up to the ticket desk where Amber purchased two tickets to One Evening in Prague. The woman behind the desk looked at the pair of them strangely, but didn’t say anything as she handed over the tickets and Amber’s card.

Amber smiled to the ticket lady’s face, but as soon as she turned around, it fell from her lips. A gross feeling swirled in her stomach as her brain recycled the image of the ticket lady’s judgy expression. What was her problem? Did she notice Reuben’s vampirism? Was she judging Amber’s fashion sense? She grew a little anxious about who else might be judging the couple, but Reuben’s calm presence helped ground her flightiness.

With tickets in hand, it was time to peruse the overpriced snacks. Faced with the entirety of the theater snack section, Amber carefully scanned the list as if she were making the most important decision of her life. “Medium popcorn and soda deal, root beer,” she said, nodding contentedly.

“And a large cherry Icee for me,” Reuben finished.

“Anything else?” asked the attendant.

Not seeing any lollipops or hard candies, Reuben shook his head and handed over his card. The bored teenager at the counter soon returned the card and handed over the snacks.

With the popcorn tucked in her elbow and her soda in one hand, Amber offered an empty hand to fill it...with Reuben’s.

Theater Four was their destination, and after pausing for a moment at the podium to have their tickets checked, the pair made a bee-line for the proper doors. They swung open and Reuben held them open for Amber, the manners that HOME had drilled into him coming out in full force.

Not a single seat had yet been filled. “Do you think anyone else is going to be at such an early showing?” Amber asked, grabbing a bit of popcorn with her lips from the top of the container. “This has been out for a while, so I guess it would be possible for us to have the entire theater to ourselves.”

“I wouldn’t complain about a private showing,” Reuben laughed, his eyes lighting up as he saw this theater had been equipped with comfortable recliner seats. “Sweet, I love these seats! After you, my dear. ” Reuben followed Amber up the stairs and the couple settled in. The middle armrest could be lifted out of the way, which was an added bonus.

Reuben set his drink in the outside cupholder, in case he felt like practicing his moves later. He could be far more subtle without having to relocate the Icee first. “I think we have perfect timing. Must be fate.” He relaxed back into his recliner and allowed the leg rest to go up before taking a satisfying sip of his cherry drink.

The blush returned at the pet name, but Amber grinned and settled herself into the comfortable recliner seat. She, too, placed her drink in the outside cup holder and gently put the bucket of popcorn in the seat next to her. “Fate indeed,” she replied, leaning toward Reuben as the lights dimmed and the previews began to play.

Amber's hand started on the arm rest, but inched toward Reuben of its own accord. Soon they were again holding hands as comfortably as if they’d been dating for a lifetime. She couldn’t help glancing to the side as the previews played, finding her stomach full of butterflies again. No, she wasn’t allowed to feel like this! It was all a front, after all. No more real than the stories she wrote.