Impossibly Forever: Two Books in One (Impossibly Duology) (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 all right 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.   

  
“All right,” 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 all
right 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 all right. 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.