I knew from that moment on, there was nothing I could say to change Brennan's mind. He had found his love and I knew that they only wanted to be alone. So I gestured to Adam and Sam to get out of the room. I wanted to stay, but Adam pulled me along. I sulked and said, "It's not fair, because of what I did, I brought them together. I should be able to watch."
"Yeah, because you caused the whole mess in the first place," said Adam.
"Oh!" I said as I complained. "It was an accident."
"Yeah, so that means you bringing them together was an accident also," answered Adam. "You didn't really mean to help them but to cause trouble so you shouldn't be able to watch. Not even me or anybody. They want to be alone."
When they finally came out, they were both smiling and had their arms around each other. I was going to ask them what happened, being the busy body and big mouth I was. But of course, Sam is also the same. But Sam is more mature in her behaviour than I am, so she didn't ask. Me, on the other hand, I was walking up to them, but Adam pulled me back on the way.
I grunted in disappointment when I was stopped by Adam and stuck my tongue out at him. I pouted the rest of the day because every time I tried to ask Brennan or Shalimar something, I was pulled back by Adam. I became aware that Adam was keeping an eye on me. Sam was also aware of it and she giggled in amusement every time she saw me being pulled back.
"Hey, no fair!" I yelled at Adam, as he yanked me by my t-shirt. "I'm curious! I want to know!"
"Curiosity killed the cat," Adam said.
"Well, I'm not a cat!" I yelled at him. "Now let go of me if you don't want to end up in the hospital or your own lab on a stretcher!"
"Alex," he said in the tone that told me he wasn't fooling around and that he was serious."
"Well, okay," I said reluctantly and he let me go. I walked grumpily to my room and stayed there.
I fell asleep on my bed and woke up two hours later. I got up from the bed and rubbed my eyes. I walked towards Adam's lab and heard some light footsteps and voices so I crept softly towards the shut door and pressed my ear against the door lightly. I was hoping to hear some secrets but there were no secrets. I opened the door and went in.
"Adam," I called when I saw him. "It's so boring here. Can we go out?"
"Yeah," Shalimar agreed, who was in the lab also. "Maybe I should take the girls out shopping. Do you see what they wear? Only t-shirt and jeans, no fashion in that at all."
"Hey!" I said in defense. "We like what we're wearing. We don't dress like sluts like someone we know but we won't name or point fingers," I said as I stared at Shalimar accusingly.
She stared at me in disbelief when she realized I was staring at her. "I do not dress like a slut!"
"I didn't say you did," I said simply.
"You accused me of dressing like a slut!"
"No, I didn't. I didn't point at you or say it was you."
When Shalimar couldn't say anything after a rapid argument between us, she turned to Adam for help. "Adam!"
"I won't say anything," he said. "You two work this out by yourselves."
"See!" I said, smiling triumphantly. "He won't say the truth because he's afraid he might hurt your feelings and end up being minced meat."
"I didn't say anything," said Adam with both hands raised up in the air. "Don't include me in this problem. Though it doesn't fail to amuse me how Alex or Sam comes up with the craziest ideas that cause problems most of the time."
Adam walked away. Shalimar folded her arms and tapped her right foot, waiting for an apology. I had lost interest in the argument so I apologized to her half-heartedly. She tried to make me apologise again but I was too bored and my attention kept wandering around. She knew that there was no way she could make me apologise whole heartedly so she had to be satisfied with that apology.
An hour later, Sam, Emma, Shalimar and I were in a coffee shop enjoying iced tea. Shalimar and Emma were talking about the latest fashions while Sam and I tried not to fall sleep listening to them. We tried to walk outside somewhere but they wouldn't let us. They were discussing about what clothes they should buy for us. I stood up and went to look at some framed art on the wall. Sam went to get a magazine to read.
I looked closely at a piece of art that had caught my eye. It was a painting of a beautiful woman holding a glowing sphere in the palms of her hands. Her long red hair was flying and her eyes were closed. In the background, there were swirling patterns of different colors. There was a faint outline of a figure in the background also. It seemed menacing and mysterious.
As I stared at it for a few moments, I realized I wasn't the only one enjoying the piece of art. I turned to look at the person standing beside me. I let out a gasp when I saw him. I was met with intense blue eyes. He had hair that had different shades of brown and was tall. He was the most handsome guy I've ever laid eyes on. He looked a few years older than me. He saw me staring at him and he smiled. I blushed and turned thirteen shades of red. I looked away shyly.
He had a warm smile. It made me weak in the knees. They felt like jelly. His intense and adorable blue eyes made me blush even more. I felt like I was going to collapse. He looked at me and said, "Hi, I'm Brad. What's your name?"
"I-I'm Alex," I managed to give him a weak smile.
"That's a nice name. I like it."
While I was trying not to say anything stupid, Shalimar, Emma and Sam were giggling and whispering to each other. They were watching Brad and I, and they saw my nervousness. I quickly excused myself from the conversation and went back to the table. I sat down in my seat and drank some of my iced tea. They all stared at me with mischievous and questioning eyes. I looked up when I realized they were all staring at me.
"What?" I asked, annoyed.
"Who was that?" they asked eagerly.
"Oh, he's Brad," I said casually, pretending like he didn't matter and he was just some ordinary person I met on the street. Unfortunatly, he wasn't. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him. It never did that before, except with someone I wouldn't name.
"Come on, Alex," said Shalimar. "Spill it. I saw the way you looked at him. I must admit, I never thought that tomboys could actually have crushes."
"Alex, we all saw your shyness," said Emma. "You're never shy."
"Yes, I am!" I said. "I'm shy when-when………uh…..I'm shy when……..Okay! Maybe I'm never shy but that doesn't mean that just because I was shy in front of him means that I like him!"
"Yes, it does," said Shalimar knowingly. "I should know."
"Oh, yeah," I replied. "Of course, you should know. You're in love with Brennan and half a dozen guys before him!"
"Hey! Don't change the subject!" said Shalimar.
"Just admit it, Alex," said Sam. "I know you like him, and I'm the person who knows you the best."
"Hmp. That still doesn't mean that I like him."
After the argument with the three of them that I lost, we decided to go buy clothes. We went to huge department stores that Sam and I got lost in every single one. But Shalimar and Emma seemed to know their way around really well. We bought bag after bag of clothes.
At one of the department stores, I stepped outside to get some fresh air and to get away from all the clothes. I looked around and noticed a little restaurant across the street. I told Shalimar over my com-link ring that I was across the street in a restaurant if she was wondering where I was. To my surprise, I saw Brad sitting at a table with some other guys. I quickly turned around to leave but Brad saw me and called to me.
"Alex, wait, don't leave," Brad said as he stood up and walked towards me. "Come and join me for lunch. We'll get another table."
I tried to refuse his offer but he wouldn't let me. He led me to a table and we sat down. He ordered us two glasses of coke.
"What would you like to have for lunch?" he asked.
"I'll have a salad," I said.
He ordered us two salads and turned his attention back to me. "So, fancy meeting you here again." He gave me one of his heart melting smiles and I blushed. 'Yeah' was all I could get out of my mouth. Our salads came and we ate our salads in silence. He didn't know if I wanted to talk to him or not and I didn't know what to say to him and I was also too nervous.
I looked at the open restaurant doors and saw Shalimar, Emma and Sam walk in. I smiled in relief. They walked towards our table smiling. They all gave me I-told-you looks. I greeted them when they reached our table and introduced everyone. Then they went to sit at a table near us.
"So, what are your hobbies?" Brad asked.
"Oh, I like beatin…….I mean I like being creative. I like painting."
"Oh, that's nice."
"What are your hobbies?"
"I take wrestling and shooting classes," he said.
"Wow, you sound like you're some kind of secret agent," I said smiling. "That's cool."
Brad chuckled. We were talking about his shooting classes when a beeping sound interrupted the conversation. He took out a device that looked like a very advanced and hi-tech cell phone. He excused himself and went outside. When he came back inside, he had a very serious look on his face. He apologized and said his boss needed him back at the company. He paid the restaurant and with that, he left without a goodbye.
I stared after him wondering what would be so important that he had to leave right away. Shalimar, Emma and Sam who were watching us the whole time came over when they saw what had happened.
"That jerk!" Shalimar said. "He just left you all alone. What was that thing he was holding? Maybe I shold go grind it into tiny pieces."
"It's okay," I said reassuringly. "He has a job and his boss needs him back. Besides, I don't want him to get fired."
I just shrugged and stood up. We were exhausted and needed to go back to Sanctuary for some rest.