Moments later. "Over here!" Stella waved, jumping up and down on her tippy toes.
Once her brother spotted her, he hiked our way through the icy snow. After he reached the sidewalk, he stomped the snow off his boots. "I hate snow!" he gruffed before his gaze found mine. "You must be, Victoria?" he smiled.
"Yup, she's the girl I was telling you about. Victoria, this is my little brother, Brandon," Stella introduced us with a chime to her voice.
"It's nice to meet you," I giggled as his dreamy gray eyes captured mine when he shook my hand.
"I apologize for ruining your plans to go to the Plaza Mall and for my sister's absence in class because of my surprise visit to see my big sis. Although, I believe my next trip will be in the summer." Brandon apologetically said before he grimaced his expression on that last part.
"It's all good," I affirmed. "We should head into the cafe. Our lunch breaks aren't that long."
"Lead the way, ladies." Brandon playfully bowed, and Stella smacked his shoulder. "Hey, what was that for!"
"You're such a flirt!" Stella giggled, and he beamed brighter when he peered at me.
"I'm already taken, but my friend Nora is single," I clarified that, this way he knew.
"All the pretty ladies are," Brandon chuckled, and then Stella held the door open for us.
We met Nora inside, and Stella introduced them. Nora seemed to be extra shy around him, so I knew she was drawn to him. Other than having some loss of color in her complexion, she looked a lot better from being sick with the flu.
"Come on, Nora," I gently snapped her awake when I yanked her wrist to get in line.
She peeked back at him coming to join us in line with Stella. "Gosh, he's so cute," she whispered when she faced me.
I couldn't stop giggling because her cheekbones were ripened like cherries from below her round-framed glasses. On time, we got our food and sat at the table booth together.
"How old are you, Brandon?" I asked across from him and Stella at the booth.
"Twenty-three," he answered as he dipped his french fry in ketchup.
"Yup, he's the baby out of our family." Stella seemed to tease him, and he blushed over it.
Brandon exclaimed. "We aren't that far apart!"
Their griping was so hilarious that Nora had her Pepsi bubbling out of her nose when she giggled. I was starting to feel like this was high school again.
"Are you OK!" I patted her back, and she only blushed beet red.
After blowing her nose, Nora shyly replied, "I'm good."
"I hate it when that happens." Brandon smiled diagonally across from her at the table, and it seemed like the two of them were sparking some interest.
Nora will be twenty-five, so their age wasn't too far off, but long-distance relationships may not be good.
"Are you ever thinking about moving here?" I decided to ask him.
He shook his head as his eyes enlarged much bigger. "Not in this cold. I prefer the tropicals. After I'm done with my trade school, I plan on moving to the Amazon. I want to help preserve the wildlife and the rainforest from illegal logging." Brandon earnestly replied, and it was pretty amazing to hear he had quite the ambitions.
"Before I got pregnant, I had big dreams too." I frowned, thinking about everything I would have to give up soon.
"And what was that?" Brandon nonchalantly asked me before he stuffed his mouth full of french fries.
"To be an archaeologist and a paleontologist, but I had plans to travel the world. My main interest was Egypt, but you know, sometimes dreams change," I frowned.
"Aren't you still achieving it? You're still attending college." Stella pointed out. "Pregnancy shouldn't stop you."
"I am, but I have my husband and soon our infants to think about before I can travel," I stated as I wished I could tell them the truth, but I couldn't tell them my husband was a perilous Alpha vampire.
"Doesn't he support your dreams?" Brandon seemed to pry, and I only smiled.
"Of course, he does. He may not be the friendliest guy, but he treats Victoria like she's a rare majestic treasure," Nora defended my husband, even though Kai has never once acknowledged her existence when she's around him.
Brandon chuckled. "He sounds a bit possessive and weird— Ouch!"
Stella randomly hit his shoulder. "Would you be nice!" she chastised him as he rubbed his arm and glared at her. The sister and brother pair were particularly comical together.
"Sorry. I wasn't trying to sound mean," he apologized to me.
"It's ok."
After talking for a bit longer, we each ventured our separate ways. Just as I entered a different building for my next class, Mia popped in from the draft when no one noticed. She pulled me away near the ladies' restroom around the corner, where nobody was.
"Hmm," she inhaled my scent, humming before she circled my body like a vulture in the desert as she tapped her finger on her chin.
"What are you doing?" I questioned her while eyeing her weirdly.
"A few Wing vampiresses were close by until they scattered off campus. I'm smelling your scent to see if the vampiress we are looking for was near you," she shared, and I felt worried.
"I was only around Nora, Stella, and Brandon," I verified.
"Brandon." She cocked her head to the side, and I couldn't understand her strange response.
"He's Stella's brother." I clarified.
"R-right. Yeah, I smelled him on you too." Mia answered with an intermittent stutter in her voice.
"Should we head home?" I asked since her eccentric behavior made me feel like she was hiding something from me.
Mia smiled. "It's safe to finish class. There have been many Wing vampiresses here today. She could be any one of them until we can figure out who she is."
With a slight motion of my head, we continued the afternoon classes until the last one came and went.
"I have to go to the vending machine to get a snack I've been dying to eat," I told Mia once we were outside.
Mia laughed at me. "We could stop at the store before we head home," she suggested, but I couldn't wait that long.
It's one of these must-need cravings I had to have.
"It will only be a second," I persisted before we entered a nearby building. Pretty much everyone has already cleared the building, including the professors.
"While you satisfy your pregnancy craving, I'll go use the bathroom," Mia told me before she turned into the ladies' restroom.