Not First Love by Jennifer Lawrence

admired the shape of the muscles. She noticed herself admiring his collar bones and chest that showed through the t-shirt and felt her desiring to see more of it. Cutting off the thoughts, she brought her attention back. But a feeling was rising from just below her navel. It was a desire, for that masculine touch. It threatened to rise above and make her lose her control. She got up and looked outside the window.
    Arthur saw darkness was settling outside. First things first, he needed to secure the place. He cannot afford to take chances with a Bloodsucker. He will tell his story tomorrow.
    “I have some work to do Jan. But I promise I will tell you tomorrow.”
    Jan nodded, she felt relieved that he was leaving.  The feeling was getting stronger and she was starting to feel pleasure spread in her body. She shouldn’t be feeling this way, she thought, not in his presence.
    Arthur went down and locked the windows. Using the things he had bought in the supermarket, he had made a bluish liquid. He sprayed it around the perimeter. It would dry clear but if a Bloodsucker crossed it, it would make a gray patch. It could do much more badly to a Bloodsucker if it was directly sprayed on it.
    Arthur checked the laptop. He calculated the Bloodsucker’s trail by permutations. If his calculations were correct, it wouldn’t be long before he met one. He just wished Jan would be out of here by then.
    The last time Arthur fought with a Bloodsucker was four years ago. He had saved Zilo then.  They are too strong for a human. They can sense a man’s fear and it makes them stronger. So the more it hunts, the more it scares, the stronger it becomes. Arthur needed to hone his fighting skills. He got the knife out of the sheath. Taking off his t-shirt, he practiced the moves. He needed to build more strength in the arms. He would have to strike a Bloodsucker swiftly and hard so that the knife would cut hard and fast through his body. The lesser strikes you made, the better were your survival chances. An injured Bloodsucker was worse, the pain of injury made it very aggressive. Either it survived or you. The only other weapon which worked then other than the iron knife was your courage.
    After two hours of practice, he decided to end it with push-ups. As he got ready, the doorbell rang. It was the delivery boy bringing dinner. Arthur was sweating profusely. He went out bare chested and felt cooler outside. There was a light wind.
    Patrick had been delivering the food everyday thrice. He worked at one of many Zilo’s cafes in town. He didn’t remember that, but Patrick said he did remember him. He had served him once when he had dined with Zilo there. Arthur dined with people rarely, he was more used to staying alone. If he ever was with Zilo in the cafe, Zilo must have called to discuss a ‘job’.
    Patrick came and handed him the packets. Patrick loved to talk, a lot. He looked at Arthur and said, “You have a great body man. How long do you work out every day?”
    Arthur looked at Patrick’s belly which was starting to widen on all sides. “I will tell when you promise to start doing your workout.” He would jokingly call him Potbellied Patrick and Patrick would proudly reply that chicks love men of his type. He would go on to tell Arthur who was the hottest girl to come to the cafe and which of the waitresses he slept with last night.
    “Hey doesn’t sex come under exercise? I would never miss a day without exercise then.”
    “Everybody would do so if they had your motivation, Patrick.” Arthur laughed.
    “Don’t laugh at me. If I had your motivation, I would have exercised like you.”
    “What about my motivation?” Arthur asked.
    “Your girlfriend.”
    “My girlfriend!”
    “Don’t mind me saying this man, she is pretty. If she wasn’t your girlfriend, I would have died to get a date with her. I just met her once and I knew she was something.”
    Arthur remembered Jan meeting Patrick the day he went to town. She had