“So, how is it going?”, fragte Josef Mick, als dieser sich neben ihn gesetzt hatte. Er hatte Mick zu einem Pokerabend eingeladen, um ihn ein wenig auszuhorchen.

“What do you mean?”, fragte Mick verwundert. Er vermutete zwar, dass Josef von seiner Beziehung zu Beth sprach, doch er war nicht bereit mit Josef darüber zu reden. Seine Beziehung mit Beth war seine Sache.

“You and Buzzwire, of course. So tell me! How is it going? I want to know all the juicy details!”, erwiderte Josef mit einem Grinsen.

“Josef, you should know that I wouldn’t tell you anything like that. Juicy details, what do you think Beth and I are doing? I have other things in mind than just sex. I’m not like you, Josef.”

Josef stöhnte auf: “Oh, please, don’t tell me that you’re still only friends. You are both grown-ups and should stop kidding yourselves and get it over with. It probably would help you to relax a little bit more.”

Mick schien etwas entgegnen zu wollen, doch Josef ließ ihn gar nicht erst zu Wort kommen: “And please, don’t start talking about the difficulties of relationships between humans and vampires. The only difficulty at hand is that you and Beth are totally clueless about how to deal with your emotions.”

Mick grinste: “I guess you will be happy when you hear my news. Beth and I are officially dating.”

“Dating or fucking? If you are just dating I think I have to put up with your mood swings at least for another month.”

“Dating, of course. What did you think? Beth and I are getting to know each other first”, erwiderte Mick und unterdrückte ein Lächeln. Natürlich war das Blödsinn. Beth und er waren noch an dem Tag ihrer endgültigen Aussprache im Bett gelandet, aber es machte einfach Spaß Josef ein wenig hochzunehmen.

Dieser seufzte und rollte mit den Augen: “Mick, you and Beth are no longer teenagers and you know her since she was five years old. How much longer do you intend to wait?”

Mick fiel es schwer ernst zu bleiben, dennoch antwortete er: “You just don’t understand it, Josef! Sex was never an issue between us. I could imagine that it never takes place. Beth and I have talked about it, but we both have no real interest in sex.”

Josef schaute seinen Freund mit großen Augen an: “Are you kidding? You two are in love with one another. I can’t believe that you never want to have sex - that this is not about sex. Everything is about sex.”

Mick konnte nicht mehr an sich halten und prustete los.

„What’s going on?“, fragte Josef und dann fiel bei ihm der Groschen: “Well, now I understand. You were making fun of me. So the two of you had sex, I suppose.”

“Yeah, we had sex. Are you happy now? But once again this is none of your business.”

“None of my business?”, fragte Josef leicht beleidigt, “I had to save your life several times now, one time even because you were such an idiot trying to kill yourself, not to count the many times you tried to get yourself killed by others. And then I had to encourage Beth, because she believed that now you would hate her and never want to see her again, and so I told her that you are still in love in her – that you are still a love-struck puppy despite all that had happened. After all that talk with Blondie and all I did for you, old buddy, I have a right to get to know every juicy little detail about your liaison with Beth.”

“You have talked to Beth?”, fragte Mick verwundert.

“Yes, the night she found you after you went to bed or better to your freezer.”

“What did she say?”, erkundigte sich Mick. Von diesem Gespräch hatte ihm Beth noch gar nichts erzählt.

„She was rather upset, as you probably can imagine. And she asked for my advice, if she should stay with you or not.”

“What? She asked you about that?”, entgegnete Mick verwundert. War Beth vielleicht doch mehr aus Mitleid bei ihm geblieben, weil Josef es ihr nahe gelegt hatte?

“Yes, she asked for my advice. But don’t you dare believing that she stayed with you, because I said so. She wasn’t sure, if you would still like her to be around after all that had happened and all the things she had said to you. I told her that you loved her and she should figure out what she was feeling for you and should act accordingly. And it seems that she figured out that she loved you. It’s still hard for me to understand how the two of you took so long for realising that.”

“This was no easy decision, Josef! You know that, a relationship between a vampire and a human is very complicated”, verteidigte sich Mick.

Josef lachte: “It’s true that it is complicated. But Beth and you had been more than just complicated. You behaved like immature teenagers, especially you, Mick. It’s still hard to understand that you are nearly eighty already with you acting like this. So how was it with Blondie? Was it worth all the trouble?”

Mick schnaubte empört: “Josef, you better stop that, if you aren’t up for a fight. After having had a marriage like mine, you would also have thought twice about giving it a shot again. And, yes, Beth was worth all the trouble. And no, I won’t tell you more about it. Get yourself another hobby than sniffing about my private life.”

“You still have no sense of humour, Mick. This is something Beth should teach you. Probably I should talk to her about it. But as you obviously seem very happy and relaxed, get yourself back to your lovely reporter. You would have lost anyway. You know the proverb: Unlucky at cards, lucky in love. However, you never have been good at poker, whether you had been lucky in love or not. Give all my best wishes to Beth. And beware yourself! If you are not going to tell me any details soon about your relationship, I will ask Beth about it.”

Josef zwinkerte Mick zu und dieser wusste wieder einmal nicht, was er sagen sollte. Das war typisch Josef ihn so auszufragen und aufzuziehen, aber er wusste, dass sein Freund auch sehr erleichtert war, dass er so glücklich mit Beth war.

Mick verabschiedete sich mit einem Grinsen. Beth würde sich freuen, wenn er sie gleich noch überraschte. Ob sie schon im Bett lag? Sein Lächeln wurde breiter, während er daran dachte, wie sie ihm verschlafen nur in T-Shirt und Shorts die Tür öffnen würde.

“Stop thinking about it and get over there“, kommentierte Josef, dem Micks leicht verträumtes Lächeln nicht entgangen war, “And Mick, let me never hear from you again that you tried to give it all up. It was not nice of you of intending to leave me like this, although I am a tough one, but now you have to think of Beth, you should never forget this.”

Mick nickte bedächtig. Nein, er würde nie mehr vergessen, was er an Beth hatte.

In einem plötzlichen Impuls umarmte er Josef, der ihn schnell wieder abwehrte. Er war nun mal alles andere als sentimental, doch Mick wusste, dass Josef bei seiner Ermahnung nicht nur an Beth gedacht hatte. So sehr Josef es auch immer herunterspielte, letztlich war er Josefs einziger richtiger Freund, was natürlich auch umgekehrt galt.

Gut gelaunt machte er sich auf den Weg zu Beth. Ob sie ihn wohl erst einmal schimpfen würde, weil er sie noch so spät störte, oder ihm gleich um den Hals fallen würde? Er würde es herausfinden. Eines war jedenfalls klar. Früher oder später würden sie in ihrem Bett landen. Es wurde langsam Zeit, dass er sich auch mal ein Bett kaufte.