Impossibly Love (5 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Moya

    
I wasn’t
sure why I accepted like that
, now there I was waiting inside Charley’s
while Branden got us a table. I browsed the restaurant to see how everyone was
dressed, and as I expected, the women wore formal dresses and the men suits, or
dress shirts and slacks. I felt foolish for listening to Branden.

     He
approached me as the hostess left to go find us a table.

     “What the
hell!” I snapped, low enough so only Branden could hear me. “You said I was
fine, everyone’s dressed formal in here. I’m leaving.”

     I made for
the door to storm out of the restaurant. Branden reached for my elbow and towed
me back. “Moya, don’t freak out. We’re eating outside on the balcony. It’s more
of a casual setting. Trust me, you’ll like it.”

     I scoffed
then, deciding to give it a try. “Fine, but if it’s not, I’m leaving.”
Something about the gentleness in his clear blue eyes when he looked at me, and
the way one side of his mouth curled into a charming half smile made me want to
lower my defenses.

     Branden
appeared smitten by my flare. I couldn’t help think that maybe he was enamored
by every single thing about me and that placed a funny tingle inside my
stomach. Maybe I should be nicer to him.

     Not a moment
too soon, the hostess returned and led us outside to a table aligning the edge
of the balcony. My anticipation of whether or not the area would be interesting
wasn’t strong enough to ignore the strange prickle within when Branden gently
placed his hand against the small of my back.

     I really had
to shake
it
off, or else I’d lose myself completely.

     When we got
outside I couldn’t believe my eyes. Branden was right, the view was
spectacular. I peered over at the water below, listening to the rushing and
soothing sound of the stream. I was so caught up in the setting Branden had to
take my menu after our waitress for the evening introduced herself. I didn’t
even hear her name.

     “I knew
you’d like it,” he asserted after she left, handing the menu across the table
to me.

     I rolled my
eyes as I took it from his hand. “It
is
nice.”

     Opening the
menu to decide on what to order, a thought popped into my head. “Do you bring
all the girls here?” I had to ask.

     “No, only
one other,” he answered shamelessly.

     “Oh.” I glanced
up from the menu. Branden kept his eyes down. Suddenly, the place didn’t feel
all that nice anymore. I wasn’t sure why it bothered me but it did.

     Branden
continued, “Yeah, she liked it too.”
Oh just rub it in why don’t you
. He
finally peered up from his menu to meet my gaze, revealing a grin. “It was my
mother, Moya. My family came here to celebrate her birthday last year.”

     The waitress
returned with water to fill our glasses, just in time to bring me back down to
earth. Why did his bringing another girl there trouble me? Still, I was
relieved to hear it was his mother and no one else.

     Branden
brought the glass to his lips and stared flirtatiously at me before taking a
sip. “You weren’t jealous were you?”

     “Of course
not,” I answered too fast.

     He smirked.
“That’s funny, the look on your face said otherwise.”

     I gasped and
shifted uneasily in my seat as Branden continued watching me. His desire for me
was written all over his face. My heart started to race against my will. Good
thing the waitress returned. Her presence disrupted the lustful moment. I told
myself it was only dinner. The night would lead to nothing more.

     “Okay, what
would you like to order?” she asked.

     Glancing
over to Branden, he gave me the nod to go ahead. I was remarkably shy as I did,
because it felt as if he still had his eyes on me.

     We handed
our menus to the waitress after deciding on both our entrées; even then I
caught Branden at the corner of my eye. His gaze was fixated on me.

     The waitress
walked away and Branden and I fell into an odd depth of silence. I glanced up
at him after playing around with my fingers on my lap. Then I became the one
unable to look away from his blue eyes, mesmerized by the rawness that regarded
mine.

     “So,” he
began, breaking the intense atmosphere, “what are you studying at Easton U?”

     “Finance,” I
answered, relaxing a bit.

     Branden
appeared impressed. “That’s awesome. Does that mean I can hire you to handle my
money?”

     “You can’t
afford me,” I joked, taking a sip of water before asking, “How about you?”

     He glanced
down on the table and picked at the table cloth as he replied dryly,
“International Business.”

     Before I
could inquire about hockey, Branden picked up quickly by asking, “What do you
normally do for fun?”

     “Hmm…not
much, I’m usually studying, and on weekends I’m home watching movies with my
Momma or hanging out with Nessa.” I said.

     He tilted
his head to the side as a perplexed look appeared on his face.

     “What?” I
asked.

     “I don’t get
it.”

     I took
another sip of water. “Get what?”

     He played
with the silverware. “You’re full of so much life. Yet, you seem so afraid of
enjoying it. Instead, you spend your time being cold and defensive.”

     Had I not
been in such a place I would have blazed up at him. “Look, Branden, you don’t
know me. Please stop coming up with all these assumptions; you really don’t
have me figured out, no matter how much you try to make it seem otherwise.”

     He leveled
in his seat. “You’re right. I don’t know you. You won’t give me the chance to
do that, Moya.”

     My cell
phone buzzed at my feet, breaking my focus from Branden.  Deciding to
answer and make up an excuse to leave, I reached down to get it out of my bag.

     “I’m not
trying to offend you. I only want to know what’s making you so angry.”

     His words
held me back. I withdrew my hand and sat up straight, the phone continued to
vibrate.

     Branden stared
at me with genuine concern. His gaze made me shiver as I spoke, “I’m not angry,
per se
. It’s complicated.”

     “I’m all
ears,” he smiled, and for a second, that strange tingle returned in my stomach.
I all but melted away with those intriguing eyes taking me in.

     Luckily, the
waitress brought out our meals and I snapped out of whatever weird vibe that
almost had me spilling my deepest thoughts to him.

     Dinner with
Branden was better than I’d expected. Though he avoided bringing up anything
that would place me in defense mode or mentioning anything about hockey, we
both enjoyed talking about the overall atmosphere of our college. I considered
that maybe, just maybe, Branden and I could be friends after all, but there
wouldn’t be anything more.

     No. There
couldn’t be anything more.

     After
dinner, we walked in the direction that led back to campus. Branden seized my
hand before I could enter the gates, stirring me in another direction.

     “Hey, where
are you taking me?” I asked.

     “You’ll
see,” he said, with a mischievous grin.

     We
walked-ran down a lonely, grassy path I hadn’t taken before that led out to
Severn River. I almost crashed into his back when he came to a sudden stop.

     “What is
it?” I asked anxiously.

     Stepping
aside, Branden unveiled what he wanted to show me. “I’ve been watching them
since last Tuesday. I thought you would like this too. Isn’t it awesome?”

     “Oh, wow,” I
reveled at the sight. A bunch of fireflies had gathered over the still water.
It was indeed lovely because I hadn’t seen a single one in so long.

     As night
fell darker, I sat on the grass with Branden, then I began to glance around,
consuming nature: The glowing moon lighting up the sky, crickets providing a
soundtrack in the dark, and the sound of Branden’s heavy breathing.

     Looking over
to my right, I saw he had his eyes closed—no longer watching the fireflies. I
wanted to move closer to slip my fingers in between his, losing myself within
his touch. I had dismissed the feeling I had earlier when Branden tugged me
down the path. His strong hand was tightly gripping mine as if he never wanted
to let me go. Still, there I was once again, considering the possibility.

     Maybe I
should be friendlier to Branden.

     Taking me to
that nice balcony for dinner back at Charley’s was great, and now here at the
river. He was definitely doing alright if he was still trying to win me over.
But what if it’s all just part of his game?

     Fortunately,
I snapped out of it as his phone vibrated in his pants pocket. Branden took it
out and checked the screen. His face dropped, like he had been caught doing
something wrong. I assumed the worse. It must have been his girlfriend.

     I decided to
leave as a pang of jealousy rose within me. Where that feeling came from I had
no idea. I wanted to escape the moment.

     “Thanks for
showing me this but I have stuff to finish up for class tomorrow morning,” I
said dryly, getting off the ground.

     Branden
turned to say something. I was already walking away.
                   

     “Alright,”
he muttered instead, saying nothing else except for a lowly, “Goodnight, Moya.”

Falling onto my bed, I finally
checked my cell phone. I had three missed calls from Vanessa so I decided to
call her back because I knew I would never hear the end of it. Perhaps she
wanted to let me know she got back on campus alright after driving up with
Calvin instead of with me.

     “I’m glad
you’re alive,” she joked, picking up after one ring. “How come you didn’t
answer?”

     I sighed. “I
was having dinner with Branden.”

     Vanessa
squealed so loudly I had to move the phone away from my ear.

     “Oh. My.
God! Moya, finally! So, how was it? Where’d you go?” she asked excitedly.

     “It was alright.
We went to a nice place called Charley’s.”

     “That’s it?”
she snapped. “
Hello
, details. Are you going out again? Does this mean
you’re ending your days of ‘I don’t need nobody’?” she mimicked my voice and I
nearly burst out laughing.

     I rubbed my
eyes instead as sleep crept up on me. “Vanessa, I don’t know. Besides, dinner
was on a whim. I don’t know if I’ll do it again.”

     “What!” she
screamed. “I always knew there was something wrong with you. Now, I’m convinced
there’s something wrong with you BIG TIME!”

     “I…I can’t
open up to a guy. I can’t trust him, or anyone, Nessa. It’s too hard. Can’t you
understand that?” I explained.

     Vanessa blew
hard. “I know, girl. But…you can’t keep living like that.”

     Sitting up
on the bed, I moved away the burgundy curtain and peered up at the star filled
sky. It was breathtaking.

     I groaned as
I continued the phone conversation, “Yeah, you’re right, but—”

     “Have you
ever thought about seeing your Dad? Maybe that will change things?” she
suggested. That definitely took me by surprise.

     I flared,
“No way. He already had his chance and he failed to take it. There’s no way
I’ll ever meet that man and no way will I
ever
forgive him.”

     “Okay, okay.
I get it. But don’t you see your hatred for him is keeping you from enjoying
life?” Vanessa tried to calm me down but her words only recapped what Branden
said in the restaurant.

     “Look, I’m
tired. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay.” I hung up before she could protest.
    

     As I tied
down my curls with my hair wrap and slipped under the covers, I considered on
what Vanessa said.

     I began to
remember all those times I’d waited for my father to show up like he promised
me he would on the day he left. But after all the missed birthdays and
holidays, I ended up feeling disappointed over and over again. I hated him for
that.

     I tried to
calm my mind, but if my thoughts didn’t focus on my father, they insisted on
finding their way back to Branden and that text he received earlier tonight. A
shard of anxiety shot through me and I wasn’t sure who to blame for upsetting
me.

    
Argh
,
I shook my head, rolled on my side and closed my eyes. Instantly, I fell into a
land where dreams were like movies. I could choose the starring roles that
wouldn’t have my emotions all over the place. Then I remembered that Branden
never gave me the number for that job.