CHAPTER 9
The drive back was in relative silence. Neither one of them knew exactly what to say and Skye felt a little self conscious knowing Brian was sneaking peeks at her as she drove. She felt his gaze every time he did and she knew she blushed each time, thankful for the darkness of night. It took all her concentration to drive the car safely the short distance home. Brian had already told her it would be okay to pull into her house, he would walk the short distance to his place once they got there. So once she pulled into her driveway and turned the car off, she felt a slight feeling of loss at the thought of him leaving. They really hadn’t had a chance to talk yet.
“Would you like to come in for coffee?” Skye asked boldly. She wasn’t normally so bold but she felt as if she knew Brian fairly well. She was a little concerned before they left the ball when she realised she was going home with a stranger, but Daniel had reassured her quietly when she said goodbye to him. ‘Brian is a good person,’ were his words.
Brian screwed his face up in regret. “Ahh, I don’t think so. I should be getting home.” He wanted to say yes but he didn’t think it was the right thing to do yet. As much as he felt he knew her, he really didn’t and it seemed too soon to be going in to her house. They hadn’t even had a chance to talk yet, but he planned on fixing that over the summer.
“Are you sure? I baked a chocolate cake today,” Skye encouraged. She didn’t want him to go yet.
“Chocolate?” Brian asked his interest piqued. “That’s my favourite.” Did she want him to stay?
Skye smiled at him. “Secret recipe of my grandmother’s.”
The mention of her grandmother reminded Brian of his dreams. She was one of the ghosts that he had seen in his dream, the one who had come to talk to him. Even in real life his dreams were haunting him. He felt a nudge from behind him and turned to look where it came from. There was no one there. He hid his surprise from Skye and opened his mouth to answer when a voice in his head spoke. ‘Say yes.’
His eyes had been on Skye so he knew it hadn’t been her. He shook his head in confusion. His dreams were playing tricks on him. Not only was he dreaming in his sleep now he was having daydreams too. “How can I possibly say no then,” he finally said to her, smiling brightly.
Skye was still puzzled at her bold invitation but when Brian smiled at her all concern disappeared. She unlocked the door and led him into her home, knowing that she had tidied up that day and the house was respectable.
Brian looked around taking in the subtle décor of the house and liked what he saw. It was fresh and inviting, not a lot unlike his own house. Skye led him through the entryway, into the living room and into the kitchen. She motioned for him to sit at the table and went straight to the sink to fill the jug with water. They still hadn’t said a lot to one another but there was no awkwardness.
Brian tugged his jacket off and hung it on the back of the chair. He sat down and watched her moving about her kitchen with ease, everything within easy reach. As she began to cut the chocolate cake his mouth began to water. It looked sinful, with loads of grated chocolate sprinkled all over the chocolate cake and icing. He could almost feel the pounds going on and guessed he would need a long swim in the morning.
She carried two cups over to the table indicating the sugar and milk letting him sweeten the coffee to his liking. She held the two plates of cake in her hand and waited for him to finish. “Would you like to go out on the deck?” she asked him. “We often sit out there at night time. It isn’t too cold but we have a rug out there in case it is.”
Brian shrugged. “Fine with me. How do you have your coffee, I’ll carry that out.”
“Cream with 2 sugars thanks.” She watched him finish with the coffees and as he stood and picked them up, she led the way outside, putting the cake on the table outside. She chose the single chair to sit in and he handed her the coffee before seating himself on the other chair. He took a slice of cake and felt his mouth water as he looked at it.
“Looks wonderful. It was your grandmothers recipe?” Brian asked, wondering if he should ask. He took a bite and moaned his approval as he chewed the delicious dessert. “Compliments to the chef,” he said, as he swallowed the mouthful, “And to your grandmother for teaching you.” Skye’s face darkened for a moment and he knew he had said the wrong thing. “I’m sorry Skye, I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay Brian. You weren’t to know. It still hurts. I miss her.”
“How long has it been?” he asked kindly.
“A little over twelve months. I miss her so much. She still haunts my dreams even now.”
“She most likely will for a long time,” Brian said, feeling a little rattled at the mention of her in Skye’s dreams. He could almost see the woman who had spoken to him in his dreams, urging him to be with Skye. “You were very close to her?”
“Yes, I was close to both my grandparents. My grandad died a week after Grandma. They say he died of a broken heart.” Skye frowned, knowing from experience how that felt. But she wasn’t ready to tell Brian anything about that part of her life yet.
“They are together. I bet they are watching over you.” Brian said and Skye laughed ironically. If only he knew how much.
A cool breeze rushed by overhead, startling them both and Skye laughed nervously. “Sometimes you don’t know how much I think that is true Brian,” Skye said to him looking about anxiously. He could tell she was looking for something and he guessed what that something was.
Brian felt nervous at the direction the conversation was going. He wasn’t ready to admit he was having dreams, as it seemed she was too. He had never been one to believe a lot about the supernatural forces. Not that he didn’t believe in it, he was open-minded, he just hadn’t given it a lot of thought. Now he was starting to wonder, but he wasn’t ready to share his experience yet, not with anyone. “So what do you do with yourself,” Brian asked Skye, changing the subject, even though it was not a subject he wished to talk about himself.
“What I do? For a living?” He nodded his head as he loosened his blue silk tie a little and undoing the top button of his dress shirt. Skye watched as his fingers moved away and her eyes lingered on his neck. She was overcome with an urge to kiss his neck then looked up to his lips. So often she had dreamt of kissing those lips in the past weeks and now here he was in front of her. She’d been watching him talk, imagining kissing those lips, tasting him.
He was waving his hand in front of her face and she realised he had been talking to her. She blushed. “Sorry, I was just thinking of something,” she told him and blushed even more. She saw Brian grin at her, almost knowingly and she averted her eyes. “I’m a teacher,” she blurted out.
“A teacher?” Brian asked. “I had thought about that for a while.” Ooops that could bring the subject back to him. “So what grade do you teach?”
That brought Skye’s eyes back to him and she began to fill him in on her life as a Kindergarten teacher at a local school, about the kids she taught, leading on to life in Virginia Beach, and eventually her life story. Brian sat listening to her talk, fascinated by her life. It might have sounded mundane to most, but to him it was something he had not had since becoming a Backstreet Boy and he liked hearing about it. Aside from that he loved listening to her voice and watching her speak. She was so animated and passionate about what she did, her hands waving in the air as she spoke. He smiled to himself, feeling at ease being here with her. It was all so normal.
“So what about you?” Skye asked.
“Me?”
“Well I have been talking about myself all night. What is there to know about Brian? Any exciting events in your life or is it boring like mine?” Skye joked with him.
“Your life is not boring,” Brian answered moving the subject away from him immediately.
“Oh it is. But I am happy with it. I don’t like a lot of attention so it suits me perfectly.” Brian winced at that thought. He had already imagined a future with this woman sitting in front of him, even before he had met her, but attention was one thing she would have if she was with him. Now he was being a little presumptuous. “So, tell me about yourself,” she asked again.
Brian wanted to leave, he didn’t want to lie to her. But it would be rude not to answer her. He had to think of something quick. “I’m from Lexington, Kentucky,” he said to her slowly.
“So that’s what your accent is,” Skye said to him, “I had wondered where it was from. It’s not really strong though.”
He chuckled. “Probably because I travel a lot,” he said exaggerating his southern accent.
Skye giggled. “Oh now that sounds exciting.”
“Not really,” Brian lied.
“And you are trying not to think of it right?” he nodded smiling ruefully. “So tell me about your younger years then,” Skye asked.
Brian was comfortable talking about his childhood and school years. It was well into the night when he noticed her yawn, her eyes looking tired. “I think I better be heading home, it’s getting really late.” He saw Skye look at the clock through the window in surprise.
“Oh my gosh, it is too,” she said when she noticed it was after 2-00am. Jay wasn’t home yet either and she wondered where she was. She shook her head. That was a silly thought. Odds on she was with Daniel right now.
“I better be getting home,” he said standing. Skye sat for a moment longer admiring Brian’s body as he stood there then she forced herself up.
“I guess so.” She led Brian back through the kitchen both of them having collected their plates and cups. Skye placed them in the dishwasher and then walked to the front door with Brian.
As he walked through he noticed a photo on the cabinet in the living room. A chill went through him when he realised it was the old woman and man from his dreams sitting with Skye on the deck they had just been on. This was freaking him out and he reached out to take the photo in his hands. “Your grandparents?” he asked.
Skye merely nodded, that photo was one of her favourites but it also made her sad. She missed them so much. Right at that moment a cold breeze floated over them and both of them frowned. They looked at each other. “You felt that too?”
“Felt what?” Skye asked.
“The cold breeze. You must have left a window open somewhere.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. I must have,” Skye said as if convincing herself as well as Brian. He let it pass.
“Well, I’ll see you again some time,” Brian said wishing more than anything that would be the truth. He wanted to see her again so badly. He also wanted to kiss her but knew it was out of the question.
“I hope so,” Skye said to him. She needed to see him again. Once was not enough and she thanked her lucky stars that he was staying next door.
Just then Brian felt that push in the back again and this time it unbalanced him, falling into Skye’s arms. He looked horrified and Skye laughed. “I’m sorry,” Brian said to her. “I must have tripped on something.” He looked down and saw there was nothing to trip on. “I guess I should learn to pick my feet up.” Skye’s hands were on his arms, where she had caught him. His arms tingled at her touch as they lingered. He slowly moved back. “I’ll see you.”
Skye nodded and he trotted down the steps and down the drive, turning to wave at her as he reached the end of the drive. She was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe as he waved looking as beautiful as he remembered from his dreams. She waved and he turned to walk away.
‘You should have kissed her,’ came a voice in his head. It was that same voice, a woman’s voice. Brian looked around, expecting to see someone in the shadows, but there was no one there.
“Who said that?” No one answered him. Slowly he began to walk back to his place thinking about the voice he just heard. Maybe it was his own subconscious telling him that. He couldn’t kiss her yet. They hadn’t even technically been on a date. Maybe he could fix that in the near future. Yes, that was what he would do.
‘You still should have kissed her,’ came the voice again. This time Brian didn’t wait around. He turned and jogged slowly towards the house and opening the door quickly he hurried inside. Yes, this was freaking him out.
Chapter 9
Index
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