My Ice Prince

– Uh-huh. – Mary sat down at my laptop.

Ever since she'd forgotten her shower gel in Scotland, we'd been using mine: Mary still hadn't bought a new one, but I did it regularly, but I thought it was a friendly, neighbourly thing to do.

I went into the bathroom and immediately heard my smartphone ringing: since I had specially set different tunes on all my relatives, I knew that if Kaiser Chiefs was playing, it was my mum calling me.

– Misha, there's a call for you! – Mary shouted. – I'll get the phone for you!

She ran into the bathroom and handed me my smartphone.

– Thank you! – I quickly undressed, got into the bath and only then answered the call.

– Good evening, sweetie» Mum said in a friendly voice.

– Hi, Mum» I replied.

– Are you busy?

– A bit: I'm in the bath.

– OK, call me back.

Mum switched off, and I put the smartphone on the sink.

– Misha, will you be long? – Mary shouted.

She might not have had to shout for me to hear her, but she didn't even know she was living under the same roof as a vampire.

– I don't know, why? – I shouted back at her.

– Let's watch a cartoon!

– What cartoon? – I got excited, because I loved watching cartoons, almost to the point of insanity.

– Something from Disney!

– Great! «Beauty and the Beast»! – I clapped my hands in delight. It was my favourite cartoon.

– No! I know, let's watch The Walking Castle!

– You wanted a Disney one!

– Some other time. Well, I'll look it up on the internet?

– Go ahead.

I'd seen the Japanese cartoon before, but only once, with Martin and Mscislav, and they were laughing and joking and interrupting me the whole time, and all I did was shush them and yell at them to calm down, so the idea of watching the story of Sophie's girlfriend quietly with Mary (who was silent as a fish during the film) appealed to me.

Literally flying out of the bathroom, I put on clean clothes and came into Mary's room. We put the laptop on a small table, lay down on the bed and in absolute silence started watching The Walking Castle. I was overwhelmed and couldn't find the words to tell Mary how excited I was about the film. I liked the idea of Beauty and the Beast: the main beauty is not physical, but mental. And the fire-demon Calcifer seemed cute to me.

After watching I was sniffling my nose: the cartoon touched me to the core. Mary shook me by the shoulder.

– What's the matter with you? It's all right» she said.

– It's beautiful… I always get upset when I watch cartoons. Especially the dramatic moments. And the directors draw them on purpose to make children cry!

– You're a sensitive little lamb! – Mary stroked my hair. – Let me braid it for you. You'll be curly tomorrow.

«Oh, Mary, I wish I were a sheep instead of a wolf in sheep's clothing.» – I thought regretfully.

Mary braided my hair, and then her friends called her and invited her to go for a walk. They called me, too, but once again I declined. Mary switched off the phone, got out of bed and went to the door, but suddenly stopped and turned to me with a confused smile.

– Misha… I have a favour to ask of you.

I raised my eyebrows in agreement to hear her request.

– Your clothes are so cool… Can I wear something? Please!

Of course, Mary's request surprised me, but I didn't feel disgusted that someone else could wear my clothes: when my sisters came home to Warsaw, we often borrowed things from each other.

– Do you still ask? Take whatever you like» I replied with a smile.

Mary flew over to me, kissed my cheek, shouting, «Thank you! I'll do all the laundry!» she ran out of the room, and I immediately heard the poorly-lubricated wardrobe in my bedroom open, the rustle of clothes, and a song Mary began to hum.

It made me feel good that she trusted me enough to ask for such things, and it was so natural! All the girlfriends in films and TV series who live in the same house wear each other's things all the time, but I didn't like Mary's clothes – they were too colourful and bright: Mary had the taste of a teenager.

Ten minutes later my friend came into my room: she was wearing my knitted grey jumper, a white T-shirt underneath, and my tight light blue jeans on my legs.

– So, how was it? – She asked, twirling in front of me like a mirror. – It's cool, isn't it?

– It looks good on you, and the colours are good» I said. – I didn't realise we were the same size.

– I knew that a long time ago, when you were away, I tried some things on» she said.

– You're fast! – I laughed.

Her curiosity had embarrassed me before, but now I took it for granted.

– Why don't you come with me? – Mary asked.

– No. I'm doing a tutor's assignment» I said.

– Well, whatever you want. If you change your mind, come along! We'll be in the pub. The Big One! – She quickly put on her shoes, put on my coat and headed for the door. – Oh, I nearly forgot! – Mary went back to her room, right in her boots, and opened her wardrobe. – I have a great hoody, but it's tight in my chest, and you have almost no chest, so it's just right for you!

Mary pulled out of the wardrobe a light green hoody with white inserts on the chest and back in the shape of teddies.

– How lovely! – I said, so as not to offend my neighbour: in fact, this hoody seemed silly and teenage.

«Yes, looking at this green wonder, it's clear why Mary liked the horrible pink bicycle!» – I thought involuntarily, giving the hoody an appraising look.

– 'Glad you like it! I bought it in London this summer, but I've put on a bit of weight since then . No, it's just that my breasts have grown. Well, Misha, a gift!

I looked at Mary perplexed: she gave me her thing? Me?

– You can run in it even in winter: it's very warm. – Mary put the hoody next to me on the bed.

– That's a great idea! I'll run in it tomorrow» I smiled, taking the hoody and holding it to my chest.

«Like hell I'm ever going to wear it again!» – I thought, but pretended to be grateful for this unexpected gift.

– This is cool! Maybe tomorrow I'll run with you. – Mary headed for the door. – Okay, see you tonight! I won't be too late. Bye!

– Bye! – I said.

Mary left, and I didn't believe her promise to go jogging with me for a second: she'd promised me a thousand times, but she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed at six in the morning.

Throwing the hoody into my cupboard, I went to the kitchen, drank some blood, then rang my mother and, having told her a stream of lies, I calmly took up Chateaubriand and continued reading. I was already reading the second volume, and the book was given to me unusually hard, but it presented such original ideas and views that I could not abandon it. I needed to learn new things and grow spiritually. Grow morally.

A ringing smartphone tore me away from the interesting Chapter, but I couldn't be angry for long: it was Mariszka calling!

– Hi, Mariszka! – I exclaimed happily, hastily slamming the book shut.

– Hello, darling! Will you be able to come to London tomorrow?

– Yes, of course, why?

– Markus and I are flying in tomorrow: he's meeting his best friend, and while he's with him, you and I will go for a walk and have a chat.

– Cool! What time should I be there? – I got excited. – And where?

– At ten o'clock in the morning we'll meet near Big Ben! – My sister sighed. – I miss you.

– I miss you too! But we'll talk tomorrow: I don't want to spill everything right now.

– Is there something to tell? That's great. – Mariszka's voice suddenly became sad.

– Hey, what's wrong with your voice? – I was worried.

– It's okay, you're imagining things. Okay, see you tomorrow, Misha.

– Bye! See you tomorrow!

The prospect of seeing Mariszka and Markus excited me to no end, and I wanted to know how Cedric was doing.