Chapter 13: Coincidental Acquaintances

The car ride is quiet at best. My Dad is being really annoying at the moment. Anytime Brandon would try to nicely engage him in conversation, he gave him clipped, one-worded answers. What the hell? My Dad needs to get out of this funk of his.

Brandon is currently rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand to cool me down. I decided to sit in the back with him since Dad is being a butt-hole. I could never say that out loud though.

"I'm going to pull over for gas. If you want to get out or something, you can." My father stated flatly.

"I think we'll stay in," I snap. He looks back at me with that 'What-did-you-just-say?' look parents get sometimes. "Sorry," I mumble.

He stops at a gas pump and jumps out of the car. I inhale deeply.

Brandon turned his head towards me. "It's okay, princess. Your Dad just doesn't like me very much," he said with a bitter smile. "Not many Dad's like the boyfriend anyway."

"I don't care. He didn't have to be so rude! I'll go talk to hi-" I started to sit up.

He grabbed my arm. "No, Stella." I looked back at him in slight shock.

"You want him to keep acting like this to you?"

"Of course not, but I'm pretty sure he would have even less respect for me if I sent my girlfriend out to defend me."

"Oh," I didn't look at it that way. Something still needed to be done about this, though. Brandon must have seen the look in my eyes because he said, "I mean it, princess. Let me handle it."

I raised my hands in a surrendering gesture. "Alright, alright, Mr. Big Shot. I won't say anything."

He looked at me warily, but nodded and sat back in his seat. Guys and their egos.

Dad got back in the car and drove the rest of the way in silence. Fine by me. We arrived at Aunt Faragonda's house ten minutes later. She was out in the front yard, picking at her flowers. When she saw our car pull up, she straightened out and gave us a bright smile.

"Well," she wiped the sweat beading at her forehead, "What a lovely surprise! Stella, you've grown so much." I roll my eyes slightly in my head, but can't help smiling. She says that every time we see each other, but it's endearing nonetheless.

"Hi, Auntie." I give her a hug. My Dad pats her on the back.

"Where's the food, woman?" He demands playfully.

Aunt Faragonda glared at him. "Don't you start. I'm not your maid." She teased back. Then she noticed that we weren't the only three on the yard.

"And who is this?" She asks, looking at Brandon. I'm sure she already knew, but I should make introductions anyway.

"This," I stand next to Brandon and grab his hand, "Is Brandon-my boyfriend."

Brandon smiled charmingly. "Hello Miss…"

She waved her hand. "Just call me Faragonda. It's a pleasure to meet you Brandon."

"Thank you. Likewise." He held out his hand. She took it and pulled him into a big hug. I grin at Brandon's obvious shock. He recovers quickly and hugs her back. Auntie looks at me over the shoulder and mouths 'he's strong'. I giggle and she winks back, releasing Brandon. My Dad rolls his eyes in annoyance and goes inside the house.

"Well, come on in you two. I have some food cooked up and there's probably some people who-"

"Mom! Where is the TV remote?" Mitzi shouts as she walks out of the front door. She spots us all, but her sights instantly zone in on Brandon. To some point, I don't blame her. Brandon is definitely a sight to see. But, that's a small point. She better keep her eyes and hands to herself today. I won't be liable for what happens if she doesn't.

I press closer to Brandon as Mitzi says, "Hi! You must be Stella's guy friend. I'm Stella's cousin. The name's Mitzi. And yours?" She asks coyly. Is she really doing this right in front of me? I answered before Brandon had the chance.

"His name is Brandon. Not my guy friend but my boyfriend," I retort. She looks at me with a slight smirk and nods. I stare back challengingly. The stiff silence was too much for Aunt Faragonda because she said, "Let's go eat now, shall we?"

The food was great and the flowing conversation was even better. I love how my aunt is welcoming Brandon in. Her approval of him is really important to me. Dad even seemed to be warming up to him.. I had to check Mitzi a few times, but nothing major. This dinner is really helping me get my minds off things as well. I felt truly relaxed. That is, until Baltor showed up.

It was towards the end of dinner when the doorbell rang. Mitzi jumped up and switched to the door calling lazily behind her, "I'll get it." Well, obviously, if your already getting up. Idiot.

A few moments later, Baltor walks through. I always kind of liked Baltor. I don't know why exactly. Probably because he's the only one besides me who can put Mitzi in place. Plus, he's always had this sort-of crush on me. Nothing more than a little flirting, but it ticks Mitzi off nonetheless. There can't be any of that anymore, though.

"Hey everybody!" He says in his silky smooth voice, smiling.

My Dad was too busy stuffing his facing to answer, so he just nodded. Aunt Faragonda only says, "Baltor," before she starts eating again. She never liked him for some reason.

Baltor saw me and sauntered over. "Hey Stella Bear. Been a while, huh?" I smile, standing up to politely give hug him or shake his hand. He envelops me in a huge bear hug, like he hasn't seen me in years. Stunned, I pat his back awkwardly. When his hands start to venture too far south on my back, I squirm and pull back. He doesn't seem to notice my discomfort and just smirks. "Way to long if you ask me."

I hear a chair screech as if someone is pushing it back, and Brandon appears beside me. I smile up at him, but that smile quickly fades when I see his face. He is not-to-friendly when looking at Baltor. He must have seen the whole venturing hands thing.

I cleared my throat. "This is my boyfriend, Brandon. Brandon, this is-"

"We've met," Brandon interrupts flatly, offering no more information about how they met.

"We have? Oh, yes. We have." Baltor tilts his head and continues to gaze at Brandon. "You were the one in charge of joke of an event yesterday, right?"

Brandon simply stared back. "I was one of the planners of the Back-to-School event yesterday, yes."

"Um, excuse me," I broke through the icy testosterone floating around the room at the moment. "Why do you two know each other? I mean, did you talk at the event or something?"

Baltor opened his mouth, but Brandon stopped his intended explanation by saying, "It doesn't matter. Let's finish eating." He grasps my hand and leads me back to our seats. What the hell was that? I glance at Brandon in confusion, but he purposely looks down and eats his food slowly.

Baltor walks around the table and sits across from me, while Mitzi stands behind his chair. "I'm sure you all want to know what Baltor is doing her," Mitzi says, putting her hands on Baltor's shoulders.

"Yes, I would love to know why." Aunt Faragonda smiles tightly.

"Well…we sort of have an….announcement to make. Mom, you have to promise not to freak out." I have never heard Mitzi sound this nervous before; she usually sounds so confident and slightly arrogant. This must be some big news.

Aunt Faragonda narrowed her eyes. "What is it, child?"

"Baltor and I…are taking some time off from college," She said it in such a rush that her words mashed together, but Aunt Faragonda understood it clearly.

"You are WHAT!?" she exclaim, her face beet red. Wow, she's pissed.

Mitzi sighed. "See, mom. This is what I'm talking about. You always overreact." She sat down sideways in Baltor's lap, putting her arm around his neck. "It's just for a year. Nothing major."

Aunt Faragonda stood up. "Noth…nothing major?! Do you have any idea how much I pay for your tuition? Over 11 thousand dollars, Mitzi. You think you can just throw that away?" She is getting really worked up now. Dad stood up as well and put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, Faragonda," My Dad tried to reason. Auntie shrugged his hand of and pierced her stare at Baltor.

"It was you wasn't it. You put this idiotic idea in my daughters head." Baltor looked slightly outraged and Mitzi scoffed.

"He didn't do anything, mother. We need to work on our relationship and we can't do that with all that work," she stated, like it was obviously the best solution to her relationship problems.

Aunt Faragonda sighed wearily and if I wasn't mistaken, I saw unshed tears in her eyes. "I don't know what happened to you Mitzi, but you're not the same. My daughter wouldn't do something this…stupid for a little boy." She looked at Baltor with disgust and shook her head. "I think I need to lie down. It was nice to meet you, Brandon." With that, she headed up the stairs, my Dad in tow.

I glared at Mitzi. "Great job, genius. You made your mother cry. Do you have any brain matter working up there?" I tapped my temple .

"Shut up." She scowled then sighed. "I guess I'll go talk to her. Be right back babe." she gave Baltor a quick peck and walked up the stairs. I shook my head like I was trying to clear it.

"Well…that was interesting, huh?" I laugh slightly and am a little insulted when no one reciprocated. I now notice that Baltor, Brandon, and I were the only ones in the room. It might not have been so bad if they weren't giving each other a stare-down. What is up with them? Is Brandon just being protective over me again, or is there something more going on?

I squeezed Brandon's hand to calm him down. He felt really tense beside me. He squeezed back, but still stared icily across the table. I should get a conversation going.

"So, uh, Baltor?" Baltor looked at me with a sly smile.

"Yes, beautiful?" Oh, crap. He didn't just call me that, did he?

"How's…life?" I didn't mean for my lame statement to come out like a question, but I had no idea what to say.

He chuckled lightly and leaned forward. "Nothing much going on without you, beautiful. I've been thinking about you late-"

"Really? You're going to pull this shit right in front of me?" Brandon's harsh voice startled me. I looked over at him in surprise.

"What is this 'shit' that you're speaking of, Landon?" Baltor cocks his head to the side innocently. I narrow my eyes. What's he doing?

"Don't play stupid. Or maybe you're not playing that much….nonetheless you need to watch yourself."

"Watch myself? Why would I do that? I'm just having a friendly conversation with your stunningly gorgeous girlfriend over here…" he winked flirtatiously and I slightly recoiled. Um, no. No one calls me gorgeous like that expect for Brandon. I'm pretty sure Brandon agreed with this sentiment since he stood up abruptly and slammed his fist on the table.

"Shut the hell up, now," Brandon warns in a deathly calm voice. He's starting to lose control. I had to get him out of here. I stand up and put a hand on Brandon's forearm.

"Brandon, relax," I say as Baltor merely shakes his head.

"You don't have to do that, sweetness. You're not his slave. He needs to control his own temper." He puckered his lips slightly. "He seems like a dangerous force to be reckoned with. Are you sure he's safe to be around?"

Brandon leans forward on the table. "I would never hurt her," he says, menacingly.

"Sure that's what you say now, but what about when you make that first 'mistake' and slip up?" Baltor shook his head in mock sadness. "That's how it always starts, beautiful. With a 'mistake'. He's out of control. You should spend the day with me sweetness, and I'll show you what a real man is li-"

I don't remember exactly what happened next. One minute, Brandon is standing next to me and Baltor is sitting calmly in his chair. The next minute, Baltor is knocked out of his chair and Brandon is standing over him. I didn't register the screech for help that came out of my mouth. I didn't even know I made it. Apparently it was loud enough to make everyone come running downstairs.

Mitzi screamed at the sight of Baltor laid out on the floor. Brandon pulled him up by his shirt and threw him against the wall. That's when Dad intervened, grabbing Brandon and pulling him away from Baltor.

"What is going on in here?" My Dad shouts over Mitzi's insistent crying and Baltor's attempts at standing straight. The look on Brandon's face is ferocious almost animalistic. I have never seen this side of him before. Where is all this anger coming from? I mean, I know he was mad at Baltor's rude comments, but to go this far? There is something serious going on with him right now.

Baltor wiped blood from the under his nose and winced heavily. "Pretty boy here lost his temper. I would have to caution you to watch him around your daughter, Mr. Solaria. If he is capable of this, who knows what's next." He smirked evilly as Brandon tried to lunged for his throat. My Dad is having a tough time restraining him now.

"Leave him alone!" I screech at Baltor. Mitzi swerves around to glare at me.

"He's the one who hit Baltor!"

"Baltor started it, dumbass." I didn't have time to watch my language right now.

My Dad had gotten Brandon to the door now. "Get out now," He bellowed and practically tried to throw Brandon out the door. Brandon regained his balance and looked back to Baltor.

"Maybe I should tell Mitzi why she's wasting her time off from college on you," he spat.

Mitzi perked her ears up at that. "What? What are you talking about?" She turned back to Baltor. "What is he talking about?"

Baltor just smirked and called out, "See ya, Landon," before Brandon was pushed out of the house, the door slammed shut behind him. I kind of just stood there, shocked for a second before I moved towards the door. My Dad stopped me.

"You don't need to go out there, Stella."

I blinked. "Yes, I do." I pushed him out of the way to open the door and run outside. I stood on the porch and scanned the yard. Nothing. No, no, no! Where could he have gone that fast? I run out onto the side walk and see him walking ahead of me with his hands fisted in his hair.

"Brandon!" I shout. He stops but doesn't turn around. I jog in front of him and see his face. It's completely closed-off. His anger was only shown in his eyes.

"Not now, Stella," he says, but I ignore him and throw my arms around his neck. He was rigid and didn't respond to the hug for several seconds. When he realized I wasn't letting go, he slowly wrapped his arms around me. I lightly stroked the hair at the nape of his neck and he relaxed further, burying his face in my neck and holding on to me for dear life.

After a few minutes he spoke up. "I'm sorry," he whispered. His voice was muffled by my hair so I pulled back and framed his face with my hands.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I just…I don't understand what happened in there," I said. His eyes widened as a thought obviously occurred to him.

"You know I would never hurt you like that, right? That's not me, Stella. Please tell me you know that." He looked at me desperately.

"Of course. I know that Brandon, I know." I whispered. "He was just saying that to get you riled up."

He blew out a breath and laid his forehead onto my shoulder. "I don't know what happened. It's like…I was so angry…I've never felt that way before."

"Is everything…okay? At home, I mean." I ask curiously. There has to be something.

I felt him still for a second and then take a shaky breath. "Nothing you need to worry about, princess." I smile slightly at his use of my nickname, but then frown.

I pull his head back and put my hands on either side of his face again, so he can look at me. "Nothing I have to worry about?" He averted his eyes from mine. "Hey, you can tell me anything." I gently tell him.

He nods. "I know just…not now." He pressed his forehead against mine. "I just want to be with you right now, alright?" I smile in agreement and he leans in further to kiss me. I was expecting it to be a rough kiss, considering how much anger he projected at Baltor today, but it was very soft. Almost feather-like. He rarely kissed me like this nowadays. Looks like I'm going to have to initiate going a little further.

I pressed myself against him more and attempt to deepen the kiss. He gets the hint and kisses me firmer than before. I was in such a daze that I didn't completely understand the throat clearing behind us. Brandon did.

He pulled back slowly with me groaning in protest. Chuckling lightly, he nodded his head to something behind me. Turns out that that something was my Dad. Oh.

"Get in the car. We're leaving, now." I grasp Brandon's hand and start walking back towards the car, when Dad calls out, "Stella, let me talk to you." I look up at Brandon and he gives me a small smile before pecking me on the lips and walking towards the car.

I inhale deeply. I really didn't want to talk to him right now, but whatever. I spin towards him and he has his arms crossed.

"I'm dropping him off at his house and I'm telling his parents about today."

I groaned. "Dad, come o-"

"And after that, I don't want you seeing him anymore." My jaw dropped. Was he serious? By the expression on his face, he was.

"That's not going to happen," I hiss at him. He may be my Dad, but he doesn't run my life.

"He's dangerous, Stella."

"No he isn't! Baltor-"

He held up his hand. "We're not going to play the blame game right now. The fact is that he threw the punch, not Baltor. Baltor has the fractured nose, not Brandon."

"You- you c-can't do this," I sputter at him. This has to be some sick joke.

Dad nodded. "I can and I will."

"No you can't! You don't own me. I'm 18 now. I can make my own decisions." I spat.

"My house, my rules." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "We'll talk about this more when we get home."

"You're right," I say. "Your house, your rules. I just won't be staying under either anymore, how about that?" I threw my hands up. That was probably an empty threat. Where would I live?

My Dad must have known that, because he just gazed at me impassively. "Get in the car, we'll talk about this soon."

I storm to the car, tears threatening to spill over. Brandon isn't going to be taken from me. I know I sound like every clichéd, in love teenager out there, but it's true. Brandon was too important to be torn away from me like this. I pinched myself to see if I was just in some horrible nightmare.

I wasn't.

A/N: Thanks soooooooooooooo much for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting (I know that's not I word, lol) the story! You guys rock!

Whoa….you didn't see that coming, did you? Don't worry, I am a stickler for HEA's so don't expect any less. This is going to be a rough time for Brandon and Stella, but just stick with them.

Any guesses on what's up with Brandon? Do you think that was a normal reaction to that situation or do you think he has something else going on? No one can keep their emotions bottled up forever. It was only a matter of time for Brandon.

Oh, and how did Baltor and Brandon meet? Why don't they like each other? Find out next time ;-) I'm evil, I know.

I'm going to need a little extra time to get my next chapter together so I probably won't update until, like, Monday.

So…Review!