Blood, Broth, and Noodles

Four people were sitting down at a wooden table that had benches for seats. Wooden Ladle was a cozy place in Jupiter to get some ramen, and it hit the spot when the weather was cool, like it was on that November afternoon. 

The servers came out and placed the hot bowls of ramen in front of the group, the smell of spicy miso wafting into Jason’s nostrils from his and Isaac’s bowls. Before they got started on the noodles, both of them took turns adding some sriracha sauce to their bowls. 

Victoria and Rachel stared at the guys from across the table, their mouths slightly open in surprise. 

“Is it hot enough for you?” Victoria asked with some humor. 

Isaac chuckled. “This is a habit of ours whenever we come here. It started with this guy.” He pointed his chopsticks at Jason sitting beside him. “He has to have his ramen spicy. It doesn’t have much flavor otherwise.” 

“It has flavor,” Jason corrected his friend with a smile. “The sriracha just adds more flavor.” 

“Right,” Isaac replied with a shake of his head. “Anyway, Jason, Jules, and I got together here one time and tested ourselves to see if we could handle not only the spicy miso, but the sriracha on top of it. Jules was one and done. Jason and I kept it going.” 

“Just wait until you see how he reacts,” Jason chimed in with a smirk. “He’s usually sweating by the time he finishes his bowl.” 

“Whatever,” Isaac said with fake bitterness. 

“Pass me the sriracha,” Victoria said with a smile. 

Jason’s raised an eyebrow at that. Isaac laughed, but passed the bottle of sriracha to Victoria. 

“You don’t usually eat spicy things,” Rachel commented as they watched Victoria add a generous amount of sriracha to her ramen. 

“I don’t, usually. But maybe I’m feeling a little competitive.” Victoria set the bottle down once she had enough, then stirred the sriracha into the ramen. She used her chopsticks to eat some of the noodles. She slurped them up and let out a satisfied moan. “It’s good.”

“Alright!” Isaac exclaimed, digging into his own bowl of ramen.

 “So,” Victoria said after eating some more noodles. “How did the two of you meet Juliet?”

“She was drawn to this guy,” Isaac answered, bumping Jason with his elbow. “Jules and the girls of the cross country team at school had been eyeing him like he was a celebrity. One night at a local block party, she approached us.”

“We couldn’t believe she actually went up to you,” Rachel chimed in, looking at Jason over her own bowl of ramen. 

Jason was a little surprised. He hadn’t really thought of Rachel being amongst the giggling girls back then. But it made sense. Rachel was on the same team as Jules, so he could see them being in the same circle. 

“She said you had the most beautiful eyes,” Rachel added in a whisper. 

“Yeah,” Jason muttered. Jules had told him that was his best feature. Well, that and his smile. Not to mention his charm.

He cleared his throat, feeling like something was cutting off his airway. It wasn't the ramen. 

“Speaking of, what’s up with you still wearing sunglasses?” Victoria asked.

It was an innocent question, Jason thought, but a bit of anxiety hit him. He didn’t make it a habit of wearing sunglasses inside. In fact, he didn’t make it a habit of going outside during the day, considering what he was. Yet he didn’t want to let that stop him from attending the funeral of his first love. His parents told him they would come up with a reason he couldn’t show, but he wouldn’t have it. 

Now, he had paid the price of being stubborn. He was still paying the price, his skin feeling like it wanted to peel off with his clothes when he eventually removed them. He had forgotten about the sunglasses on his face. The sun was still high in the sky outside, but considering they were inside, he figured he could take them off. Even though his eyes still burned a bit. 

Jason slid the sunglasses from his face and blinked a few times. “I have a light sensitivity. It still stings a little even when it’s cloudy outside like now, but it’s not so bad when I’m inside.”

A small gasp came from across the table. Victoria was glaring at Jason now that she could look into his eyes. 

“That’s about right,” Isaac commented. “His eyes usually get that reaction.”

Jason didn’t think Victoria’s reaction meant she thought his eyes were beautiful. Maybe that was the case. But her brow was slightly furrowed, and she looked like she had seen a ghost. 

“Jeez, Tori,” Rachel said playfully. “You’ll start drooling if you stare any longer.”

“What? Oh…” Victoria blinked a few times and shook her head. “I’m sorry. Your eyes just caught me by surprise. They really are beautiful.” She put a smile on her face, but it looked a little forced. 

“The ramen too spicy for you?” Isaac asked Victoria. 

She gave him a smirk and ate some more noodles. “It’s not too bad,” she answered once she swallowed. “You’re looking a little red, though.”

Jason looked at Isaac and noticed Victoria was right. His face had turned a shade of red, beads of sweat appearing on his nose and forehead. 

Jason then turned his gaze to Victoria. She was faring better than his friend, but she wasn’t totally immune to the effects of the sriracha. Jason could tell she had some sweat forming on her upper lip. Not only that, but her heart rate was up. 

Being a vampire, Jason’s senses weren’t like the average human. He could see farther and better, hear things from far away, or whispers that were meant to go unheard. He could even hear heartbeats if he listened carefully. 

Victoria’s heartbeat was slowing down after speeding up suddenly. In fact, Jason believed it was when she saw his eyes. 

I’m probably overthinking.

“Anyway,” Rachel said, shaking her head in amusement at Victoria and Isaac, “how have you been, Jason? It’s been a long time.”

“Yeah, it has,” he replied. “I’m good, though. I’ve been taking online classes at Tallahassee Community College. I’m still deciding what I want to major in. But in the meantime, I’ve been doing different jobs here and there. Mostly contract work.”

“He refuses to join me in local law enforcement,” Isaac muttered. “We could use the help.”

“For the millionth time, drop it, Waterhouse.” Jason’s words were spoken jokingly, but he also meant what he said. He told Isaac more than once that he didn’t want to be an officer. He didn’t want to even work with them as an asset if he could help it. When Isaac found out about Jason being a vampire, he took it well. He was actually excited. His best friend was like a super being. But when Isaac had a string of bad cases, he felt like Jason should be doing more to help. They got into a heated argument about it, Isaac mentioning that there was no point in Jason having his abilities if he wasn’t going to help the greater good. Jason interpreted that as he shouldn’t even exist. Obviously, it stung, and they drifted apart. Until now. 

Jason turned his attention back to Rachel when Isaac raised his hands in surrender. “How about yourself? How’s life?”

“Nothing too extravagant,” she answered, waving a dismissive hand. “I went to Florida State and recently got my law degree. I’ve been working as a paralegal at Smith Rogers for the last year.”

Jason almost choked on the piece of pork he just put in his mouth. “Nothing too extravagant? Isn’t Smith Rogers one of the top law firms on the east coast?”

Rachel laughed. “It is. But as I said, I’m just a paralegal. I still have to pass the bar, and Florida’s test is no joke.” 

“Come on, Rach,” Victoria chimed in. “We got this! Plus, you’ve studied sooo much.”

“Easy for you to say. You’ve gotten A’s on multiple tests in college.” 

“Wrong. There was that one time in Comp II.”

“So you two went to FSU together?” Jason asked. 

“Yeah,” Victoria responded. “We shared a dorm room. We quickly became friends and haven’t separated since.” She shared a warm smile with Rachel. 

“I’m guessing you’re working at the same place, then,” Isaac commented. 

“Yup. As Jason said, Smith Rogers is one of the top firms on the east coast. Rach here actually got a spot first. She vouched for me after she got in.”

“Good for you,” Jason said. He grinned at Victoria, and she smiled back. Her eyes then went to his mouth. Jason felt slightly embarrassed, thinking that he might have something in his teeth. Great, he thought. He closed his mouth and used his tongue to rub his teeth, just in case.

“She may actually be on her way to getting a promotion sooner than I,” Rachel teased.

“Oh, stop it,” Victoria chided. “Tyler won’t do me any favors if I keep being late.”

Rachel and Victoria continued talking about whoever Tyler was at their job. When Isaac asked, Victoria said he was her boss. Rachel made it seem like there was more than a working relationship. Jason only partially listened. He’d heard someone in the kitchen curse, as if they were in pain. 

“Dammit,” they said. 

“I told you to slow down,” came another voice. “I’ll get the first aid kit.”

The smell hit Jason right in the nose. 

Blood. 

He quickly covered his face with his hand and looked at Isaac.

“Are you ok, bud?” 

“I’m feeling sick,” Jason replied behind his hand. “I’m due for another dose of my medicine.”

Isaac’s eyes widened. He turned to the others at the table. “Sorry ladies. I have to get him back home ASAP.”

Jason mumbled an apology to Victoria and Rachel as he and Isaac got up from their table. He felt bad for leaving them so suddenly. They shared shocked looks on their faces. But he had to get out of the restaurant. 

He had to get some blood.