Enchanter (6 page)

“Interesting.” Vanessa’s tone hinted at something that I did
not like at all and I was quick at letting her know it too.

“I don’t like that tone.”

Vanessa laughed, turning her attention to me for a second or
two before gesturing down the hallway. I followed the direction of her gaze and
spotted Brandon standing on one side of the hall, completely engrossed in a conversation
with Mr. Lynne.

The teacher’s back was to us, but Brandon faced the direction
we were coming from. The second his pale blue eyes singled me out, I nearly
stumbled. Even though Mr. Lynne was babbling in front of him, Brandon kept his
gaze locked on me.

“You tell me that you haven’t given the man much thought yet
you know exactly how his gaze makes you feel.”

“Tell me you don’t get that feeling too?”

“Yes—”

“See, it’s not just me—”

“But only when my husband looks at me,” she finished with an
assertive smile.

I turned away from Brandon and locked gazes with Vanessa.
“You’re kidding me with this, right? You can’t compare those two things.”

“Let me tell you what I see when I look at Brandon.”

“I don’t think—”

“Brandon is a tall, handsome, and very elusive creature. The
difficult times he had during his young life have made him quiet, reserved,
private, and even rude at times. However, underneath that angry exterior hides a
young man ready to take life by the horns.” She flashed her straight, white
teeth at me and nodded. “Maybe our friends don’t think much of him, but what of
the people who are close to him? They might know a Brandon we’ve never seen and
you will never know what kind of man he is until you burrow under that hard
shell that keeps him distant and discover all his secrets.”

“You’re getting all philosophic on me now.”

“Maybe because I’m a little older and perhaps wiser than
you.” At twenty-six, Vanessa did happen to speak as if she was far older than
her years entailed, but I was not going to readily admit that she made a good
point.

“Now, you’re calling me dumb?” I teased and she laughed.

“No.”

“Sorry, Vanessa, but I don’t see what you see.”
Or at
least I don’t want to take a second glimpse. One was enough.

“That’s because you’re not looking hard enough.”

As we approach the middle of the hallway, I turned my
attention from Vanessa and focused on Brandon’s impassive face, noting how he
seemed to frown when he caught me gawking.

“See that look, it’s dangerous,” I muttered, not daring to
talk too loud in case he could actually hear at great distances.

“Nah, he’s not as bad as you all make him out to be. As a
matter of fact, I bet he’s sweet, charismatic, and a great kisser too.” Vanessa
laughed loudly when her last words caused me to stumble.

“Great kisser? Aren’t you a married woman?”

“I said that for your benefit, not mine.”

“Kissing Brandon is not something I think about, or will
ever benefit from.”

Although, now that Vanessa planted the idea in my head,
unwanted thoughts of his lips on mine started to cross my mind.

“So what then? The real deal would be better?”

“What the hell…?” I rewarded her efforts with a scowl.

She found my expression and my tone hilarious.

“You should have seen your face, Leah. I believe it grew
pale.”

“I’m glad to be the source of my friend’s amusement.”

“I’ll see you later on,” she said as we reached the area
where Brandon and Mr. Lynne were still speaking. “And remember to take another
good look, you might find the mysterious a lot more appealing than you
originally thought.”

My body completely froze when she uttered those words
because Brandon looked right at me, his eyes intent on assessing my face.

“Vanessa!” I said, but she walked away, laughing and joining
another group of friends who normally accompanied her to her first set classes.

“Interesting topic?” Brandon’s voice was so close to my ear it
caused me to jump.

The conversation with Mr. Lynne now over, he decided to
follow me down the hallway.

“Not interesting, just crazy,” I snapped as I started
walking away, hoping in the process that he would not follow me.

“You should relate to that quite well then.”

I stopped and turned to glare at him.

“Did you just call me crazy? Because if that’s the case, you
can’t really talk, now can you?”

He was deliberately pushing my buttons, but instead of
walking away I fell right into his trap.

“Now I’m crazy, too?” Despite his frown, his voice sounded
anything but offended. “I’m ill-mannered already and now you’re adding another
item to my growing list of defects?”

“You are—” The scene from the day before came back to mind
and I stopped myself before actually spitting out a few hostile words. “Such a
nice little kitty.”

“Kitty? Me? Now you’re being offensive.”

The stupidity of our conversation made me want to laugh.

“I could’ve said something else, but I just remembered that
we’re have a meeting on Saturday and I want to come out of it alive.”

With that, I walked away, smiling as I heard him scoff
behind me.

Friday morning arrived too soon for my piece of mind. For
the next two days after what I renamed the second-worst birthday of my life, I
took it upon myself to ignore Brandon completely. More so than I normally did.

Since the incident where I stupidly fell after interacting
with my dark companion, people started to spread the rumor that Brandon had
pushed me down the stairs. Despite the fact that I
now
disliked him more
than before, I did not want those who already hated him thinking that he had done
something so awful, so I clarified that rumor at once.

However, to my friends, it was obvious that something had changed
between him and me. Instead of fleeing as soon as I caught sight of him, I now
raised my chin and glared right back. It became a battle of wills between us
and I began to wonder how on earth we were going to work together if we could
not even be in the same room for more than five minutes without causing the
tension in the air to increase to the size of an F5 tornado.

Sonya was not very fond of my sudden boost of bravado
because despite the fact that she usually made fun of him, she was actually terrified
of Brandon. And I came to the understanding that most people were too.
Nevertheless, I did not want him to think that I was in any way intimidated by
him, so whenever he shot me a hateful frown I did the same.

As I sat next to Sonya during our first class, Brandon, who
was usually one of the first students to come through the door, walked in a few
minutes late. Even though Mr. Lynne noticed his tardiness, he said nothing and
Brandon strolled on back to his seat. As he caught sight of me, I glared and he
snickered before continuing on.

“What is the deal with you two?” Sonya whispered next to me.

“What do you mean?” Of course, I pretended not to know what
she was talking about.

“For the past few days everyone in the classroom has been
waiting for the bomb to go off.”

“What bomb?”

“One of you is going to explode and everyone is waiting to
see who it’s going to be.”

I laughed softly as I imagined Brandon’s head popping like a
balloon.

“Well, how awful that so many people are that caught up in
my life that they actually notice Brandon and I are sending silent but deadly
messages to one another,” I teased.

Unfortunately, I was not far from the truth. Brandon might
not think I was that important, but apparently every other person in the room
disagreed because they were paying close attention to the ongoing battle
between us.

“This is serious, Leah.” She frowned. “Every time you guys
look at each other it feels as if one is going to kill the other. It’s
incredibly creepy and completely unnerving.” She visibly shivered. “And dammit,
I’m caught in the middle here.”

“You’re not in the middle; you’re sitting next to me.”

“You’re making jokes?” She shook her head. “You must’ve hit
your head harder than I thought.”

Why does everyone keep telling me that? Was I acting
crazy?

“Yes, well, what can I say for myself?” I smiled. “My
attention has spanned elsewhere. For the first time in my life I happen to be
paying more attention to someone aside from myself.” I made sure to say that
loud enough for Brandon’s benefit. Judging by his snickering, I was pretty sure
he heard.

Now, I could easily say that trying to have a social life
aside from school and work was no longer my number one priority. I was
determined to annoy Brandon to prove to him that I was aware of others aside
from myself. Since he made a point to indicate I never paid any attention to
him, then that’s exactly what I was determined to do.

Hopefully I would not end up in a ditch somewhere.

“Yeah, and he’s big enough to hurt you without even trying.”

“Like that would ever happen.” Even as I said it, I could not
help but wonder just how far aggravating Brandon was going to take me. What if
he turned out to be this crazy psycho killer and used me as the first of many
experiments?

The thought forced my body to break out in goosebumps.

“Don’t put that theory to the test.”

“I’m not trying to.”

“Then quit with this battle with our
companion
over
there.”

“But see, if I turn my head away every time he glares at me,
he’ll win, and I’ll be damned if I let him win.”

“Since when did this turn into a competition?”

“Since he accused me of being conceited.”

Her mouth dropped open for a few seconds. “Have you
forgotten that tomorrow you’re going to be stuck in a house all by yourselves?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Then what are you planning to do? Stare at each other until
the other one dies?”

I arched my eyebrows. “Is that even possible?”

“Not funny, Leah.”

“So I have a new interest in life, sue me.”

“Now you’re just being difficult.” She chanced a glance back
and, judging by her expression, Brandon was overhearing our conversation. “I
don’t think being your friend is what
he
has in mind.”

“Really? What do you think goes on in that head of his?”

“I honestly don’t want to know.” Sonya pulled on my arm.
“But I don’t want to lose you either so stop with this nonsense.”

“I think you’re exaggerating, Sonya. I don’t think he’s a
killer.”

“Do you know that for sure?”

“No, but—”

“Then you’re determined to be his first?”

“Seen too many movies lately?” I half-asked, half-accused. “There
is nothing but animosity going on between us.”

“Leah!” She blushed and I knew Brandon overheard us. “Don’t
say things like that. I’m afraid that once he’s alone with you we’ll never find
the body afterwards.”

I wanted to break out in laughter. “Now I know you’re
exaggerating.”

“Honestly?” She shook her head. “Whatever happened between
you two just let it go because I don’t think anyone in this room can take any
more of the tension building up day by day.”

“Nothing happened,” I said, wanting to put her mind at ease
because I was pretty sure that she still thought the rumors about Brandon
pushing me down the stairs were true. “We argued. I said a few harsh things to
him and he did the same. That’s all, I swear.”

She did not appear convinced.

“You must’ve pushed his buttons real good, because he never
talks.”

“He pushed mine too, so we both got even. Now stop conjuring
up all these crazy scenarios.”

“You’re sure?”

“Why would I lie?”

“Then how come you ended up hurt?’

“Do I really have to explain that again? People have been
asking me the same question almost every hour of every day. It’s annoying. I
told you guys, I fell. As hard as that is to believe, it’s still the God honest
truth.”

“Well, only if you say so.”

“Now, tell me. Have you started your end of this assignment
yet?” I opted for changing the subject because I did not want to give Brandon
any more importance than what I already had.

Sonya’s face lit up immediately after my question. “Yes.
Harry and I got together last night.” She giggled. “He’s so amazing.”

“Uh, sounds like you had fun.”

“We did.” She smiled. “And he wants to see me again
tonight.”

We both stopped talking when Mr. Lynne began to dismiss the
class.

“I’ll be right back.”

Before I could respond, Sonya was gone.

As I packed my textbooks inside my big purse, Sonya headed
toward where Harry was standing on one side of the room, waiting for her. The
way she fidgeted with her top and giggled every time he said something to her
made me conjure up images of our days in elementary school, when the attention
of a boy was reason enough to behave like total idiots. She might be in her
early twenties now, but Sonya still acted like a love-stricken school girl.

I could not help but laugh softly as I watched her make a
fool of herself.

As soon as all items were resting comfortably inside my
purse, I stood. In my haste to rush out of my chair, I knocked over my phone,
which had been lying on top of the table, and it started to fall. A huge pale
hand, the same one from before, ended up rescuing it, again. I glanced up to catch
Brandon’s huge form looming over me.

“You should really keep this thing somewhere safe.” He held
his hand, with my phone in it, outstretched in front of him.

“Why do you care?” I tried to snatch it from his palm, but
he immediately retrieved his hand and placed my phone in the front pocket of
his jeans. Horrified, I could only stare openmouthed as my favorite item in the
whole world disappeared.  

“See, when someone does something nice for you, your
response should be something like
thank you
.”