Chapter 8: Jealous Arguments
The elevator ride down to the main floor was awful. My eyes are strained from trying to hold angry tears at bay, the feeling in the pit of my stomach won't go away, and my mind kept running over its own thoughts like a multiple car crash.
What the hell is his problem? Why are men so stupid? Is that what he really wants in a girl? Why did he lie about Mitzi? How can he not understand my position on this? Does he just not care about my opinion?
These thoughts kept assaulting my mind as the doors finally slid open. I knew I was being over dramatic about this, but I couldn't help it. I rushed out of the elevator and was almost out of the door when someone called out to me.
"Stella! Where are you going?" Flora asked as she caught up to me near the exit.
"I'm leaving, what does it look like?" I respond in a shaky voice. Pull it together Stella. You're stronger than this.
"What? Why? I thought we were all going out for dinner together." Flora looked so innocent and confused, but I didn't have time for that now. My anger was starting to seep back in.
"Look, Flora, I have to go. If you want to know what happened just ask your brother." I turn to walk away but she grabs my arm.
I spin back around fast. "What?!"
"How are you getting home? Didn't your friend drop you off?" Dammit, she did. Bloom gave me a ride before she went to work. I couldn't call her from work to pick me up just because I'm mad at my boyfriend.
"Uh, yeah. I'll just walk or something."
Flora shook her head. "No way! Just… wait for like five minutes, okay? I'm going to get Riven from Brandon's office and I'll give you a ride home."
"Oh, no Flora. I'll be fine just wal-"
"Come on Stella, it's the least I can do," she pleaded. I bit my lip and thought. It is a pretty long walk from here to my apartment…
I sighed. "Okay. Alright, I'll wait outside." Flora smiled and gave me a quick hug before rushing towards the elevator. I walk outside and immediately feel the chill in the air. Even with my light jacket I shiver slightly. It wasn't nearly this cold earlier. That's November weather for you. My phone chirps in my purse and I pull it out to see it's my Dad texting me again. He's been texting more than usual lately to see if I was coming down for Thanksgiving.
I toss my phone back in my purse. I'll deal with that later. Maybe going back home will be a good idea or maybe not. I sit down on the wooden bench against the building. Closing my eyes, I exhale slowly, trying to calm down some more.
"Excuse me, miss? Is this seat taken?" My eyes pop open at the smooth voice. I didn't even hear the man approach.
"Not at all. You can sit here." I reply. He smiles and gently sits down next to me. From what I can tell he's a pretty tall guy with long hair way lighter than mine; it was almost white in color but looked very nice on him.
He turned towards me slightly. "You look familiar. Have we met before?" He asks in that silky voice yet again. I shake my head, not remembering ever meeting this man.
"Oh, well let me introduce myself. I'm Baltor Ridely." He holds out his hand.
"I'm Stella. I believe I've heard my boyfriend speak of you before." And if I was correct, this is the same Baltor Ridely who tried (and is still trying) to take Brandon's company from him.
Baltor's eyebrows rose. "Who would your boyfriend happen to be?"
"Brandon Woods." I pointed to the building right behind us. "CEO slash owner of Alfea Corpor-"
Baltor waved his hand in the air. "I know Mr. Woods very well actually. We go… way back." He grinned again. I wanted to say it was an evil grin or a creepy one, but I couldn't. He simply had a very nice smile. As we all know, though, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
I was about to respond when a hard shiver rocked my body. Damn this cold. Baltor noticed and quickly took off his jacket. Before I could stop him, he put it around my shoulders.
"You really didn't have to do that. I'm fine."
He chuckles. "You certainly didn't look fine shivering like you did. Now tell me why Brandon would let his stunningly gorgeous girlfriend sit all alone in the cold?" I blushed slightly at the compliment but also in discomfort. I may be mad at Brandon, but I'm most certainly not going to flirt with other guys with or without his presence. I was about to hand Baltor his jacket back when the voice that both stops and speeds up my heart spoke from the main entryway.
"That, Mr. Ridely, would be none of your damn business." Brandon was talking to Baltor but looking at me. I couldn't exactly read the look on his face. It was a cross between anger and something else. Behind him were Flora and Riven.
I stood up and stared Brandon right back down. He narrowed his eyes at me and spoke to Baltor again. "What I would like to know is why you are alone outside with my stunningly beautiful girlfriend." His gaze slid to the man in question. Baltor just grinned.
"Well, if you must know, we were just having a lovely chat. The poor thing was so cold though, so being the gentleman I am, I gave her my coat." He smiled at me and I turned away, looking back at Brandon. He was staring at the coat like it committed murder or something. I rolled my eyes and shrugged off the coat, handing it back to Baltor.
"Thank you, but I'll be leaving now. It was nice to meet you." I walked over towards Flora. Before I reached her, Brandon's arm shot out and wrapped around my waist. I turned around and glared up at him but he just tightened his hold.
"Whatever business you wanted to discuss with me can wait until a later time, Mr. Ridely. I would like for you to get away from my establishment before I have to gather security to escort you away." Brandon stated like he was explaining an easy math problem. The words don't sound like they were new coming from his mouth.
Baltor nodded and smiled at me again. "It was nice meeting you Stella. I hope we can get together sometime and cha-"
"Get the hell out of here!" Brandon shouted. Baltor laughed and with one last wink at me, he jumped into his car and took off. We all just stood there for a moment before Brandon turned his icy scowl to me. "What were you doing with him?"
I shoved him away from me so his arm fell away from my waist. "I didn't do anything, Mr. Friendly. Baltor just-"
"Oh, so you two are on a first name basis now?" Brandon interrupts.
I huffed. "Excuse me? What are you insinuating?"
"I just want to know how you can get so buddy-buddy with someone you just met. Let alone my biggest business competition!"
"Well, I wouldn't be out here at all if it wasn't for your dumbass! 'She's the best choice Stella. Why wouldn't I choose her Stella?'" I imitate his voice angrily.
Flora pipes in. "Um, guys? You both are getting too angr-"
"Oh, don't start this crap again, Stella! You getting all cozy with the enemy has nothing to do with her!" Brandon shouted.
"It has everything to do with her! You know how I feel about this and you just go against my wishes anyway."
Brandon pulled at his hair. "What wishes?! You haven't told me anything! All you did was run out of the office like a four-year-old!"
"Oh, screw you Brandon!" My face had to be red with the effort I was putting into yelling at him. "Flora, take me home, please. I can't even look at his face right now."
Brandon barked out a harsh laugh. "Yeah, I'm sure you can't. You get mad at me so you throw a temper tantrum and flirt with the first guy you see. That sob story you gave me before was all a joke, huh? That ex-boyfriend of yours wasn't the cheater. It was obviously the other way around."
I don't remember doing the action exactly. I just remember the sound that my hand made when it collided with his cheek. His head turned to the right and stayed there. I got closer to his face. "How dare you," I hiss. "You really are the ass I thought you were when we first met."
I felt Flora pull me away from him. "Let's go Stella. Now." I turned around and let her guide me to her car, tears freely flowing down my cheeks now. I didn't look back. Not even when he called out to me.
"So let me get this straight. You got jealous because this chick was trying to be Brandon's assistant and he got jealous because this dude was flirting with you. Then you slapped him for mouthing off at you and you haven't talked to each other in two days because both of you are too stubborn to pick up the phone first. Did I get it all?" Bloom asks while I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"Three days actually," I answer. It was all true but sounded so stupid and juvenile when it was said out loud. I haven't seen, spoken to, nor communicated with Brandon at all since our falling out Thursday. It is now Sunday and I've been itching to just go to his house and squash all this drama. I don't want to fight anymore but every time I pick up the phone to call him I think that if he wanted to talk to me, he would call me first.
Bloom shook her head. "You two are the most pathetic, stubborn people I have ever met. Just call him or something! You've been moping around all weekend." She pulled me up out of bed much to my displeasure.
"Leave me alone, Bloom. I'm tired," I groaned, standing up.
"No can do, Blondie. I have company coming over and I need you out for the night. Go get dressed and make up with Mr. Rich pants already."
The doorbell rang and Bloom smiled. "Well, there's my company right now." She skipped over to the door. "Get dressed," she called over her shoulder before closing the door. I sighed. Normally I wouldn't listen to her when she got all bossy like that but she's actually right this time. I need to get a grip of myself.
After taking a quick shower and everything, I head out of the room to see Bloom's guest. I already knew who it was since I heard Bloom giggling from the kitchen.
"Sky. So great for you to join us." I grin at him. I notice a beautiful bouquet of Roses in full bloom on the table. Sky can be really romantic when he wants to be. I like his positive influence on Bloom. She's never been this giddy over a guy before.
He smiles back. "Hey, Stella. It's good to see you." I start searching for my Froot Loops in the cabinet when I hear him clearing his throat. I turn around slowly, already knowing what he was going to say.
"Um…" he glanced at Bloom and she smiled encouragingly. "Have you… thought of seeing Brandon anytime soon?"
I breathed out slowly. "No. He obviously hasn't made any effort to contact me so why would I try contacting him?" I turn back around before they saw my eyes start to tear up. What about this man makes me so emotional?
"Look, Stella, he's been extra cranky and rude the last few days at work. All he's done for the past three days is mope. If anyone so much as tries to sit in your chair in his office, he flips out." My chair? Oh, yeah. I always tend to sit in the chair on the side of Brandon's desk. I kind of named it my chair but I didn't think he thought of it as mine too.
"He misses you, Stella. I know he said some hurtful stuff to you, but I can promise you he didn't mean it. He was just really angry at himself and you've got to understand th-" I spun around quickly to face him and held my hand up.
"I don't want to hear you advocate for him. If he was really sorry about what he did then he would be here apologizing, not you." I'm proud I actually got that out without my voice shaking.
"You're right," a voice said, coming into the kitchen. I knew it was him before I even looked up. It was like I could feel him coming in the room. Brandon swallowed hard and looked me dead in the eyes. "That's why I'm here."
A/N: Hello my lovely readers. Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooo much for reading and reviewing. You're all awesome!
So… you mad yet? Do you think Brandon totally over reacted? I do, but it's not only Stella who has a little bit of a trust issue….
Now I'm going to give a choice on which revelation you guys want to come out first. Do you want to know what went down between Brandon and Mitzi or what went down between Flora and Helia. You got to tell me because I can't decide!
This chapter wasn't my best but it was longish, right? Our favorite couple needs to get past some barriers and this was the best way to get through the first. Anyways, I'd love to know what you think.
So…Review!