Why do I get stuck babysitting?

Long Beach, California
1998
Kiema was leaning against the bar pretending to drink his beer. Aiden was late. He was supposed to have been there over half an hour ago. (This is great. He owes me one and when I want to collect he doesn’t show). Just then he sees Aiden come out of the restroom. He was always so easy to spot. He was tall and strong boned, and yet still did not seem like he was big. Then there was the hair. It was down to the bottom of his shoulder blades. It was an odd color of silver that picked up whatever light hit it. That would be blue and green right now with the lights of the club. Then there was that little patch of black on the left temple.
There was nothing normal about Aiden. He always wore this long black coat over everything. He kept his nails cut to a point. His eyes were a shade of grey blue that reminded Kiema of the fog he had once seen in England. Then there were the ear cuffs, three on the left ear and 2 on the right. He did manage to get every woman in the place to take a double take on him, all of them wanting him to buy them a drink. The only thing is that Aiden would never admit it. Kiema just rolled his eyes as Aiden walked over to him. (This might work).
“Hi”, Aiden said as he flipped his hair. It made him look like he was gay, yet he was strait (for now anyway).
“You’re late.” Kiema said as he set the beer on the bar and turned towards him.
“Hey, your English has gotten better. Hardly any accent at all. And no I am not. I have been in the bathroom for the last hour.”
“Got a backup?”
“No. I needed to fix my hair. I heard about a new brand of shampoo coming out. They are going to need hair models. I thought I might try out for it.”
“Maybe you could put your hair to work for me?”
“What?”
“I have a friend that is coming here in a few days. He has been in the US a few times and can speak English, but still needs to have babysitter. He has a habit of getting himself into trouble.”
“Can’t you just watch him?”
“No because I want some time away from him. Maybe even track down Vandra.”
“Where would he stay? All I have is my one room flat.”
“That’s fine he’s not picky. He does need to relax. Maybe you could show him a good time. Take him around town. Besides you owe me for that time I saved your life.”
“Are you going to throw that up to me every time you want a favor?” Kiema just nodded as Aiden asked this. “Fine when does he get in?”
“Tonight, you have an hour before his flight is due to arrive. Here’s his flight number.” Kiema wrote the number on a napkin and slide it over to Aiden.
“Thanks for the head notice”, Aiden said as he looked at the number.
“Sure. Oh, by the way he is a vampire but he can feed himself. I will send some money to your account to help pay for him.”
“Fine, I really don’t have enough money to pay for myself. Starving writer does sum up my situation.”
“If you can buy me some extra time with Vandra with no Koi around I will be forever indented to you.”
“Really, does this mean that you will never throw up that you once saved my life ever again?”
Kiema liked having someone to do things for him and if he said yes he would lose this luxury. “Fine, but you keep Koi out of the way as long as you can. Got it?”
“Sure thing”, Aiden said as he turned and left happily from the club.

While waiting at the airport Aiden suddenly realized that he hadn’t asked what this Koi looked like. (Maybe he looks like a fish) Aiden thought. Aiden watched the people come off the plain. Some took off by themselves, while others were greeted by friends or family. Then he saw a guy standing off by himself looking around. He looked Asian. His hair was black with a good two inches of blond roots. He was a good foot shorter then Aiden and was wearing all dark green. (I should have paid attention to whether Kiema said he spoke English or not). Aiden walked over to him hoping for the best.

Koi examined the airport as he briefly set down his bag to give his shoulder a break. It was dirty and noisy and busy, exactly the same as the airport back home. He glared at the Americans who seemed to tower over him, even children of 12 were looking down at him. He didn’t like it. What the hell was in the water over here? And where was Kiema? His eyes settled on a tall, pretty man with silver hair. (Wait, is that a man? It could be a woman. What if it’s a transvestite? Wait… It’s coming my way. Hide! Hide! Hide!) Koi looked around for a suitable place to avoid the approaching figure. Unfortunately, the person was in front of him before he could do anything.

“Koi?” Aiden asked.
“Yes. Who are you?” Koi eyed the man, looking down, (definitely a man) warily.
“I’m Aiden or Aid for short. I’m a friend of Kiema’s. There was a change of plans and he sent me to pick you up. You will also be staying with me.”
Koi dropped the bag he was holding and started going off in Japanese. Aiden just looked and him and waited for him to finish. “He’s doing this in an attempt to get some alone time with Vandra isn’t he?”
“Yep, sorry. But hey you can look at it this way; you get to be shown around town by a native and maybe go to the beach and get a tan.” As Aiden said this he knew he had screwed up. ”Sorry, I forgot there for a second. There are still a lot of things to do around town.”
“Let’s get the rest of your luggage”.
After going to baggage claim they headed out to the parking lot. Aiden walked over to a car that looked like it could be older then Koi. It was an old Cadillac with peeling green paint all over and one of the back doors was being held on by duct tape.
“This thing still moves?” Koi asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
“She may look like nothing, but she can beat most other cars. I supped up the V-6 engine. When I get her started you will hear her purr like a kitten.”
Aiden had to shake the door a little before it would open. Once he put the key in the ignition the car coughed to life.
“So when will this purring start?” Koi asked with a smartass smile on his face. Aiden didn’t even bother to respond, but drove off to his apartment.

They had to climb the stairs all the way up to the sixth story because the elevator was broken. Aiden pushed the door to his apartment open and the two stepped in. There was only one room. The computer desk was right next to the stove. There was laundry in the “kitchen” sink. There was one book case that had books and paper hanging out of it except on one shelf that had several bottles of alcohol on it. The queen sized took up most of the room and was unmade. There were clothes sticking out from underneath it. Then there was one little nightstand beside the bed.
“I would have cleaned up if Kiema would have given me more notice,” he said as he kicked a pile of clothes under the bed. “There’s only one bed which you can see. So we’ll have to share. The bathroom is down the hall, the whole floor shares.”
“I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting time,” Koi said as he sat down his stuff.
During the day Aiden worked on his stories while Koi stayed inside reading a book. After dusk Aiden would take Koi around the city showing him all the sights.