Why do I get stuck babysitting?

The next day Koi noticed that Aiden surfing the web. “Aiden how in the world do you afford the internet?”

“I don’t have too. I get it for free.”

“Oh, the publishing company gives it to you. Makes sense, it would help you turn in your work on time.”

“Nope, they don’t provide it. I just put the plug in the wall and it comes out for free.”

Koi lifted his eyebrows in confused shock. (How in the hell does this man live?!) He had to shake his head to clear the thoughts of stupid naivety that this baka must be living with.

“Hey Koi, what’s today’s date?”

“What?”

“What…Is…Today’s…Date?”

“The twentieth.”

“Ok, let’s go.” Aiden said as he put on his jacket and dragged the vampire out of the apartment, into the sun shine.

“Damn. You should have let me grab my shades”, Koi complained as he looked at the ground as they walked trying to avoid the glare of the sun of objects.

“A little sun isn’t going to hurt you.”

“I’m a vampire! When I come into contact with the sun if I don’t turn into a giant fire ball, I get really bitchy and want to kill things.”

“Just lighten up a bit. It’s a nice day. You’re not turning into a crispy cream, so were ok.”

Koi pulled away from Aiden and started to cross the street. Aiden grabbed him by the arm. “Where are you going?”

“If you wish to continue this little outing of yours then I’m going to go buy myself a pair of shades to help me to see where we are going. And if you want to walk me across the street holding my hand like I’m some little kid, then fine. But if people give you funny looks, you’re the one that has to deal with them.” Koi just smiled as he continued across the street, without Aiden. He had left the author standing there slightly awe struck. Even with that it took Aiden only a few moments to recover before he took off across the street after the vampire.

The only place that they could find nearby that sold sunglasses was a little tourist stand. This left Koi wearing blue and black designer clothes from foot to neck, and then from the neck up these big, orange, plastic goggle like sunglasses. If this wasn’t bad enough Aiden took him to a public park where there was a lot of people. One kid even ran up to him and asked what super-hero he was supposed to be. The only thing that was saving the author from his death glares was the fact that the sunglasses were tinted nearly black.

“I love this park. I come here the twentieth of every month and then get a surprise every time I go home.”

Koi turned his head just slightly towards the author with a look on his face that said ‘will you just die’. “Can we please just go back?”

“But Koi, we’ve only been here for a couple of hours.”

“Do you see that kid over there throwing a temper tantrum for his mother?”

Aiden looked. “Yep.”

“That is going to be me in a moment if we don’t leave”, Koi said raising his voice with each progressing word. Aiden actually pulled back a little.

“Fine let’s go.”

“Thank you’, Koi responded giving a little bow.

Aiden had stopped in front of a food cart to look at its menu. When he reached into his pocket he only pulled out 45 cents. Not even enough to get a can of pop. He looked at the money before he put it back into his pocket. He sniffed at the smells coming from the cart thoughtfully. Then turned and started to walk away. He was stopped by an iron hand wrapped around his wrist.

“If you want something then get something.”

“I’m fine”, Aiden said with a smile.

“No. You’re just saying that because you don’t have any money.”

“Fine, I’ll admit it. That’s why I said that I’m fine.”

“Then get something.”

“Even though I admitted to the facts it still does not change one of them. I don’t have the money to get anything.”

Koi just looked at him. (This guy must really have a death wish. He is annoying an already annoyed vampire). Koi reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. As he opened it Aiden leaned over it a little and saw that it was filled with hundred dollar bills. There had to be at least several thousand with has fat as the wallet was. The Author swallowed hard. Koi pulled one out and handed it to him. Koi then took off towards the nearest building to wait in the shade for Aiden.

Aiden looked down at the bill. (I don’t think that they’ll be able to make change). Aiden didn’t feel like tempting the vampire further so he just went up to the cart hoping for the best.

Luck was with him and he returned to the vampire with a large smile on his face. “Here hold this”, he said as he pushed his pop can into the vampire’s hand. With his now free hand he turned Koi’s other hand palm up, reached in his pocket, and placed the change into Koi’s hand. Koi just looked at the change as Aiden took his drink back.

“What’s this?”

“Your change. Most of the time those carts probably couldn’t make change for that large of a bill, but that guy must have been having a really good day.”

“He must be the only one”, Koi muttered.

“Not enjoying yourself?” Aiden said around a mouthful of hot dog.

Koi looked down at the change and his lips pulled back into a devious smile. Before Aiden could react, Koi stuffed the money down into Aiden’s front pocket. Making sure he had it pushed all the way down into the bottom. “Now I am”, he said as he slowly pulled his hand out and started walking off.

(I think I was just violated!! Oh well.) He continued chewing as he caught up with the vampire.

It didn’t take them much time to arrive back at the apartment. Koi was surprised when a gleeful squeal escaped from Aiden as he pounced at the bed. Koi closed the door behind them and then noticed the bed. On it were several shopping bags. All from high end stores. Koi had noticed that Aiden wore a lot of designer clothes, but all this time he thought that Aiden got them from thrift stores. Aiden hand his head buried in a bag and was pulling out items one at a time. He would admire it and then throw it behind him. One shirt he threw hit the book shelf and slid down to land on top of a pile of dirty clothes.

“Where did all of this come from?”

“Don’t know. Every month when I go out on the twentieth and come back new clothes or other stuff is waiting for me. Once I got a CD player. It was a really nice one too. I didn’t have any CD’s to play in it, but I like to carry it around and act like I was listening to music. Then one day I got mugged and they took it. Then there was this one time I got…..” Koi walked out of the apartment with Aiden still going on about all the stuff he had gotten.

Koi slumped against the wall while running his hand through his hair. It felt that what ever madness that the author had was rubbing off on him. He flipped open his phone. He needed some sanity, but there was no one on his call list that could provide it. So he decided to call the one responsible for the situation he was in.

“I’m sort of busy right now.”

“Get off of her. Right now I’m contemplating how is crazier: Aiden or you!!”

“Fine…what do you want?”

“How does he survive? There’s no way that any living creature could keep living like this without help.”

“I know and I thank you for taking such good care of him. Besides he wasn’t always like this. Maybe someday I’ll tell you about it.”

“I’m sorry Kiema that I caught you in the middle of someone, more then likely Vandra. But if I don’t get some explanation of what is going on I think I’m going to have to check myself into the nearest ward.”

“Aiden’s had a very rough past. Some of it isn’t mine to tell, but just know he has reasons for why he acts the way that he does.”

“Fine that may explain the mental instability and drinking, but what about all the other things?”

“Like?”

“I don’t know….there are so many. Like I never see any mail come here let alone bills which I know everyone gets. Bags of very expensive items show up as if by magic.”

“Oh, it’s the twentieth isn’t it.”

“Ya, wait…how did you know?”

“Koi, I know because it’s all me. That poor talkative fool would be dead out on the street if it wasn’t for me. It’s the least I owe her….anyway. I pay all of his bills, I arrange for things like clothes and food to be delivered to his house, and other things of the like. It’s a lot of work to do all of it. That’s why I thought you could take over for a while. If nothing else you could look at him as a very odd pet.”

“If I wanted a pet then I would have gotten a cat.”

“Not a good idea. Cats are a lot like women. Very temperamental. If nothing else I see you with a dog. Aiden’s a lot like a dog. Barks all the time, scratches himself, is messy and a few other things. So in short his perfect for you. He’ll probably even chase after your stick”, Kiema added with a laugh.

“You know that the next time I see you I’m going to kill you.”

“I’d like to see you try. Anyway I have things to do so bye”. Koi was left listening to the dead tone of the phone. He snapped it shut and leaned his head back against the wall.

(Fine) He thought as he got up and headed back to the apartment.