Dusk and Dawn

The sky is a brilliant orange, the sun hanging low on the horizon. Streaks of purple and blue come from the opposite direction as night quickly approaches. The light creates long shadows on every surface making objects look distorted. Fluffy clouds roll high above me as I step out of my car.

Another long day of work is finally over and I can relax into the night. My keys jingle in my hand as I fumble my belongings. The heels of my shoes click up the stone walkway with every step I take.

Night insects start to come to life, chirping away while staying hidden in bushes. My bag is slung over my shoulder, but slowly falling down, while my lunch bag is clutched in one hand. With the same hand that holds my lunch bag, I hold; my wallet, phone, headphones, and a mug. It’s a miracle that I don’t drop anything.

I wonder if my roommate left yet, it’s not completely dark out so I’m not sure.

Juggling everything on one side of my body, I push the key into the lock and turn it. The door swings open with my arrival and I kick my shoes off at the door. It feels so nice to be done with the heels for the day. I hate that my job requires something like it. I have to look formally presenting in case the boss shows up to brief us. The perks of working in an office… Not.

The house smells of food, making my stomach rumble and my mouth salivate. My tired feet carry me to the kitchen where I place all of my stuff in an organized chaos to deal with later. Turning around I find a pot on the stove and a note hanging off of the microwave.

I walk over to it and open the lid. It’s a basic pasta dish with a red sauce. It smells so good that I can’t think straight. I haven’t eaten in hours. I look at the note and smile at it.

"I made dinner for you in case you were hungry. - <3

P.S. Garlic bread in the oven"

Oh, he knows he can’t be near garlic, why did he make this for me? I also don’t know why he always signs little notes with a heart. I guess I will never know, because we don’t run into each other often. He works at night and I work during the day. The only time we see each other is this time of day, or at dawn. It’s quite sad, but we live with it just fine.

I open the oven and peek at the garlic bread on a sheet pan. It looks delicious. I have to change into comfier clothing and eat something before my body eats itself out of hunger.

I turn around to head to my bedroom, when I hear a door close from down the hall. I stand still by the table and wait. My roommate rounds the corner and jumps when he sees me.

“Just gettin home, I see.”

I nod, “just leaving?” I ask.

He nods and walks into the living room where his bag is sitting on the couch. I follow him to say goodbye and goodnight.

“Don’t you get tired going out at night?” I ask, leaning my back against the wall.

“Do you get tired going out during the day?” He chuckles, throwing his bag over his shoulders.

“No,” I reply.

“So, no. I don’t get tired of the nighttime, because I naturally stay up late.”

Silence fills the room as he moves to the door. I tell him to have a good time tonight and he wishes me goodnight. The door closes behind him and I hear his car rumble out of the driveway and off down the road.

I turn down the hall and put pajamas on before coming back out into the kitchen to have some dinner. I have a bit of work to get done before I go to bed and then the whole process starts over again.

I wake up early in the morning and get ready for work. When I come into the kitchen I make myself some breakfast and make something for him when he comes back from work herself.

He walks in the house and we exchange a small conversation. Normally, I have to go to work straight after that, but sometimes I stay a little bit longer just to talk with him more. We’ve been roommates for a while, I’d say close to a year now, and nothing has really come between us besides our schedules.

It’s sad that we don’t really spend a lot of time together but on the weekends we hang out for a few hours during the day. Although, we mainly talk at dusk and dawn. That’s just how it works in our house.

The next morning I sat at the kitchen table waiting for my roommate to come home. He’s late by a few minutes, but early morning traffic sometimes does that. I check my watch and stand up when I hear the lock turn. My bag sits on the couch in the living room and I go to grab it.

“Hey, I didn’t think you’d be here when I got back. They had me stay another hour longer than usual.” His voice is distant and drained from a long night. Understandable, I am like this in the evening.

“Wow, I’m surprised, that doesn’t happen often.” I pick up my bag and face him. He kicks off his shoes and runs a hand through his hair.

“Hey, I’m taking a half day today,” I say.

He gives me a confused look, “Oh? Why?”

“Because I thought we could do something later in the afternoon, switch it up a bit.” I walk over to the door grabbing my keys from the table as well.

“Oh… Yeah, that would be really fun. I will try to get some sleep now. You can wake me up when you get back, or I can set an alarm for… Two?” I nod and he smiles.

We say goodbye and I go out to my car with a triumphant smile on my face.

The sun is rising now, still with the same orange glow as last night. This time it’s a new day, a new dawn. Later today I will be pulling back in this driveway to pick him up and try to do something fun in the afternoon. Maybe I can just pick something up at the store and bring it back here instead of going out. He can’t really go out in the daylight for very long.

The drive to the office is quiet and lonely, and all I can think about is my date later with my roommate. Is this a bad time to tell him that I think I like him? I’ve never liked one of his kind before. I can’t get any work done because of the nerves I’m facing. This makes me anxious, but an exciting kind of anxiety.

When the clock hits 1:45 PM I make a dash to my office to grab my stuff and head to my car to get home as quickly as I can. The drive back is short and my nerves are kicked into high gear. I pull into the driveway and hop out of my car quickly. I’m not sure if he’s awake yet or not, but I guess I’ll find out…

I open the front door and hear music playing from the bathroom. So, he’s awake. I push the door closed loud enough for him to hear and go to my room to freshen up. A knock at my door interrupts my thoughts and I see it open in my mirror.

“Hey, before we go out I wanted to tell you something.” He comes into my room and shuts the door, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. I turn and face him.

“I, uh, I kind of like you too.” His voice registers loudly in my head. Did he just say what I think he said?

“You knew?” I ask, stunned.

“Yeah… I can smell your pheromones when you’re around me. Perks of being a vampire, I guess,” he chuckles.

My face heats with embarrassment and I turn away from him. This is the first time I heard about him being able to do that. I didn’t realize that I let off that much of a scent for him to pick up.

“Well, I was going to tell you today if that makes you feel better,” I chuckle too.

He comes up to me with a gentle demeanor. I’ve never seen this side of him before. Besides his notes in the evening, he doesn’t seem to care about me that much. We never really talk.

“I do have a question though,” he nods, “why would you make me garlic bread if you can’t be near it?” I ask.

“I’ll do anything for the people I care about,” he smiles.

The End