Page 19 of Bloodlust
“I’m glad you wanted to come. I was getting bored,” Jasmine said as we drove into Lovika Creek again.
“Yeah, me too.”
As much as I wanted to hang with Jasmine, I’d also suggested our little trip into town for a different reason. I desperately wanted to see if I could find that old lady from the markets again. Unfortunately, the town that had been brimming with life the day before was eerily quiet when we got there this time.
“Wow, this is quieter than Angel Falls on a Sunday. I didn’t think that was possible.” Jasmine chuckled and closed the car door.
I nodded. “It’s very quiet. Should we have a little walk around? Maybe we could find a café and get a hot chocolate or something?” I suggested, feeling slightly disappointment. My chances of meeting the lady again seemed close to non-existent, as I observed the lifeless town ahead of me.
We started to walk towards the town square where the markets had been yesterday. Everything was closed, and we were about to give up and drive back to the house, when Jasmine spotted a café with a sign up outside. We walked over and felt the doorhandle. It was open. As soon as we stepped inside, the smell of freshly baked cinnamon buns welcomed us, and my mouth started watering straight away.
“I know what I’m having.” I inhaled the delicious smell. “I could live on cinnamon buns – honestly.”
Jasmine laughed. “I bet you could. Well, the apple pie with vanilla custard is to die for as well.”
We walked up to the register and ordered before finding a table in the back by a window. The cosy little café had tea candles on all the tables, and the furniture looked like it’d been taken from an old Italian country house. They even had the white and red check tablecloth on every table, and there was a black and white old photo of the Leaning Tower of Pisa on the wall.
“Have you been here before?” I asked and sat down across the table from Jasmine.
“Yep, many times. Not recently though, it’s been a while. Do you know what? This is really nice for a change. We always hang as a group.”
“It is,” I agreed. “Have the three of you always been friends?”
“Yes, we’ve known each other since preschool. It’s a small town. There aren’t that many choices when it comes to friendship. I’m lucky I have Lexi and Mia, and now you of course.” She smiled. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Well, did you leave any good friends behind in Paris?”
“Actually no. I’m a little bit of a loner, I guess. I mean, I knew people, but I haven’t really had that special group of friends throughout my life, you know? This is all very new to me.”
“How come?” Jasmine asked.
“Well, we moved around a lot. Paris was just another city we came to live in. I never really made the effort there, come to think of it. I found it harder, because I was a little bit older. In Vancouver I had a few friends I used to study with and stuff.”
“Hold on, you lived in Vancouver?”
“I did.”
I told Jasmine how Mum and I had moved around, living in a few different places around the globe.
“And now you’re here, living in the country town of Angel Falls. It must be so boring for you.”
I laughed. “No. It’s not boring. Just…different. But believe it or not, I actually really like it here. It’s growing on me.”
“Must be the company.” Jasmine chuckled.
“It actuallyisthe company. It’s nice to have friends to hang out with and to be able to do things like this with. I’ve never had a weekend away with friends before.”
“You’re kidding?”
“No, it’s the truth! Anyway, let’s talk about something else besides me. What about you?”
“What do you want to know?”
“What’s your story?”
“Well, I’m a born and bred country girl. We live on a farm that my dad runs, Mum is a preschool teacher. I have an older brother, but he moved away a couple of years ago for university.”