Cursed (Book 1, The Watchers; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (5 page)

Nora laughed
nervously.

“Why would I have
to ask a guy out?” Nora pulled her long blonde hair over her right shoulder. 
“Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be going out with him again unless he begs me.”

“Yeah,” Tara sat back in her seat with a completely unconvinced look on her face.  “I just bet you
won’t.”

Our English
teacher, Mrs. Connor, entered the room then.  Thankfully, Nora spun around in
her seat and didn’t say anything else the rest of the period.

At lunch, Tara met me inside the Commons.  I bought a pack of nabs and a soda on the way in.  Tara had a slice of pizza and a Coke.  We made our way to the terrace where Brand was
waiting at the table he and I had used the day before.  The other table was
occupied by a group of four girls casting coy glances in Brand’s direction, but
he was either not paying attention or completely ambivalent to their gaping. 

“I hope you don’t
mind, but my best friend wanted to meet you.”  I told him as we laid our food
on the table.

Brand stood up
like a gentleman should when greeting ladies.  “I don’t mind at all,” he said
with a genuine smile of welcome, holding his hand out to Tara.  “It’s a
pleasure to meet you, I’m Brand.”

Tara shook his
hand.  “Tara.  Nice to finally meet you too, hon.”

We took our seats
as Tara’s interrogation commenced.

“So, what are your
intentions toward Lilly?”  She asked looking Brand straight in the eyes as if
daring him to try and lie to her.

“I intend to get
to know her better and let her get to know me better.  Whatever happens after
that is totally up to Lilly.”

“Have you dated
many girls?”

“A few.”

“Have you dated
any guys?”

I nearly choked on
the cracker in my mouth.  I could hear the girls at the other table snicker
quietly.  I looked at Tara in utter disbelief.

“What?” she said
to me completely oblivious to the outrageousness of her question.  “It’s an
honest question.  How many gorgeous guys have you seen who ended up battin’ for
the other team?”  She turned her attention back to Brand waiting for an answer.

“No,” he said with
complete reassurance.  “I have never dated a man.”

“Have you ever
been in love?”

Brand shifted in
his seat slightly and rested his hands on the table playing with the can of
Sprite he had brought.  “Yes.”

“Why did you break
up?”

I was becoming
more uneasy with Tara’s questions.  I could tell Brand hadn’t expected her
interrogation to delve this deeply.  But, I was curious to know the answer to
her question myself.

“We didn’t break
up,” he said looking up at me.  I could see the pain in his eyes before he said
the words.  “She died.”

“Oh,” I could tell
by Tara’s voice she was sorry for asking and decided to move on down her list
of questions.  I hoped it would be something not so personal.

“Have you been
tested for AIDS?”

Brand’s face broke
into a shy smile.  If I could have crawled under the table just then, I would
have.  But, I think that would have just added fuel to the snickering behind
us.

“No, but if Lilly
ever decides she wants to take our relationship that far, I have no problem
being tested.”

“You know Lilly
and I took the purity pledge when we were sixteen.  Do you have a problem with
waiting until marriage?” 

  “Tara, we haven’t even been on a real date yet,” I said in a low voice, hoping to not be
overheard by the girls behind us.  I didn’t want to give them false hope. 
“Could we date a little while before you have me married off?”

  “I’m just
getting everything out in the open,” Tara defended a little too loudly for my
taste.  “These are not difficult questions.”

  “It’s all right
Lilly,” Brand said.  “I don’t mind answering.”  He looked at Tara and said, “I
have no problem waiting.  If our relationship progresses that far, I’d feel
lucky to know I was the first one Lilly shared that experience with.”

  The snicker
brigade behind us soon turned into the sighing battalion.  And I hate to admit
it but I was right there with them.

  “I think,” Brand
said sitting up straighter in his chair leaning slightly towards Tara, “that
you need to know something, Tara.  I only have the best of intentions toward
Lilly.  I’ll never do anything she doesn’t want me to.  I’m sure you know how
special she is and that she doesn’t see it herself. The only thing I can hope
is that in time she’ll realize just how wonderful she truly is and be able to
see what I see when I look at her.”

  “Well,” Tara sat back in her seat completely deflated.  “I don’t think I have anything else to
ask.”

  I could sense Tara’s defensive mode turn off, which surprised me.  If Brand had a lie detector in his
head, Tara had a bullshit detector in hers.  If she didn’t sense he was just
trying to get on her good side, then he had to have meant what he said, which
both troubled and excited me.

  Tara took a bite of her pizza and slapped the table as if she had forgotten something. 
“There’s one other thing I gotta know.  What’s your full name?”

  Poor Brand looked
confused by this question, but answered it anyway, “Brandon Austin Cole.  Do
you mind me asking why you need to know that?”

  “Well,” Tara said with a mouthful of pizza.  “You see, we’ve always used our names to show how
upset we are with each other.  If I’m just mildly upset, I’ll just call her
Lilly Rayne.”

  Brand raised his
eyebrows a bit, apparently surprised by my middle name. 

  “And if I’m
totally freaked out, I call her Lilly Rayne Nightingale.”

  “So what’s your
full name, if you don’t mind me asking?” Brand asked, turning the tables on Tara.

  “Tarajinka
Shovanda Jenkins.  I know,” Tara sighed in resignation.  “It’s pretty obvious
my Mom was usin’ drugs when she named me.”

  Both Brand and I
couldn’t help but laugh. 

  The rest of the
lunch went well.  I was pleased to see Tara felt so comfortable around Brand. 
She seemed to be accepting him with open arms … which actually made me a little
nervous.

Chapter 3

  After lunch,
Brand drove Tara and me to our respective next stops.  We dropped Tara off at the library for her job first.  Before Tara got out of the car, she leaned into
my ear and said, “You should give him a chance and go on a real date.  I think
you’re ready.”

  I nodded because
I had been thinking the same exact thing.  Brand drove me to the chemistry
building and told me he wouldn’t be able to make it to physics class that day. 
He said he had to do something for his cousin Abby.  When he reached for my
books sitting on the back seat, I stopped him.

  “I think we’re
ready for our first date,” I said.  “After all, you now have the official Tara stamp of approval.”

  “Are you sure?”
he asked, obviously pleasantly surprised.  “I don’t want to rush you in any way.”

  “No, I’d like to
go out, as long as it isn’t anywhere too fancy.  I don’t think I’d have
anything to wear to an upscale restaurant.”

  “What about the
Japanese restaurant in town?  I hear they have great sushi.”

  “That works for
me.”

  We planned our
date for that evening and I walked to class with a lighter step, excited over the
possibility of learning more about Brand.

  When I got home,
Tara helped me get ready.  Tara had always thought of me as her own personal
Barbie doll.  Ever since we were children she had played with my hair, put
make-up on me and dressed me up in Utha Mae’s Sunday dresses and wide brimmed
hats making me prance around like a beauty queen.

  I was so nervous
that afternoon.  I don’t think I could have done a good job with myself
anyway.  It was nice to have someone pamper me for a while.  She even gave me a
pedicure! 

  Picking out
something to wear was easy.  I only had one dress that was first date
material.  Tara and I had gone shopping before school started and caught some
stuff on sale.  The dress was a black scoop necked made out of some sort of
polyester/spandex material with three-quarter sleeves, an A-line silhouette, and
interesting geometric shapes filled in with varying shades of rust and yellow. 

  Brand was prompt
and came by the apartment at exactly 6pm.

  “I’ll be waiting
for you to get back,” Tara gave Brand one of those looks that said ‘If you
don’t have her back at a decent hour, I’m calling the police.’

  Brand held up a
hand and pledged, “No later than ten, I promise.”

  “Ok, have fun,
but not too much fun,” she warned us both.

  The Japanese
restaurant was…interesting.  There was a cooking station behind a refrigerated
glass case containing slabs of fresh fish where the sushi chefs prepared the
orders.  Every time they completed a ticket they would all yell ‘Banzai!’ in
unison.

  I’d never eaten
sushi before, but I didn’t tell Brand that.  I didn’t want him to think I was a
total country bumpkin.  However, when we got the menus, I was at a complete
loss.  So, I gravitated toward the one word I understood: salad.  When I
ordered the tako salad, Brand looked at me in surprise but didn’t comment until
it was too late.

  After the waiter
left, Brand said, “You’re braver than I am.  I usually stick to the rolls and
sashimi.”

  “I like salads,”
I said, now worried that perhaps a salad here wasn’t just something with
lettuce and tomato.

  When our orders
arrived, I nearly jumped out of my seat.  There on my plate, beautifully
displayed but totally unexpected, were four baby octopi tentacle sides up laid
on a pile of shredded fresh seaweed and topped with mushrooms and shredded
carrots with a sprinkling of green onions and sesame seeds.

  I guess the
dismay I was feeling translated to my face because when I looked up at Brand, I
could see he was trying very hard to contain his laughter.

  “Not what you
expected?” he asked, no longer trying to hide his amusement and openly laughing
at my predicament.

  “Um, in a word,
no.”  I couldn’t help but laugh with him.  It was a totally ridiculous
situation.

  “I wish you had
said you’d never eaten at a Japanese restaurant before.  I would have helped
you find something with fewer arms on it.”

  “Well,” I said
surveying the plate trying to salvage something out of my meal.  “I do like
mushrooms.”

  Brand motioned
to the waiter and spoke to him in what had to be Japanese.  The waiter smiled
indulgently at me and took my plate away.

  “I hope you
don’t mind but I ordered you some cooked sushi rolls.  Their usually what
people eat their first time.”

  Now I felt bad. 
“Let me pay for the salad at least.  You shouldn’t have to pay for something I
couldn’t eat.”

  “Do you honestly
think I would let you do that?” Brand just shook his head in disappointment. 
“That’s not the way I treat my girlfriends.”

  Girlfriend?  Was
our relationship that far already?  I hadn’t thought so but having him use the
term so casually made it seem like that was the natural way to view the
direction our burgeoning relationship was heading.  

  The cooked rolls
Brand ordered for me were delicious.  Some were stuffed with cooked shrimp,
crab, and avocado.  Others had cooked eel and yellow fin.  I was pleasantly
surprised I actually liked sushi.

  When we left the
restaurant, I was stuffed.  Fat and happy would have been an appropriate
expression for my mood when we stepped out into the parking lot.  At least I
was until I saw the one person in the world determined to ruin my new found
happiness.

  Will was leaning
back against Brand’s car.  I sensed Brand’s body stiffen at the sight of Will
and noticed his mood darken as we walked toward my one time best friend.

  “I need to speak
with you, Lilly. 
Now
.”   The scowl on Will’s face made me cringe
inside.

  “She’s not your
pet, Will.”  Brand said in my defense.  “You can’t talk to her like that.  She
doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

  “What are you
doing here, Will?”  I asked, completely mortified.

  “Trying to keep
you from making a mistake.”

  Brand stepped a
little closer to Will and strategically positioned his body slightly in front
of mine to protect me.

  “And what
mistake would that be?”  Brand’s eyes narrowed on Will waiting for his answer.

  I could
literally feel the tension between the two of them.  It was like two live wires
straining against one another fighting for dominance.

  “You know what
I’m talking about,” Will’s voice was so low I almost didn’t hear him.

  “She’s safer
with me than she ever was with you,” Brand answered with a deadly seriousness
I’d never heard from him before. “Now either move away from my car or be
prepared to show her who you really are.”

  Will hesitated
for a moment but eventually left, casting a scathing glance in my direction
before climbing into his Civic.

  We got into
Brand’s car and drove away.  When we got on the highway, I noticed Brand kept
looking in his rearview mirror.

  “Is he following
us?” I asked incredulously. 

  “Yes.”  The
tension in Brand’s voice was unmistakable.

  “I’m really
sorry about this.”

  “It’s not your
fault.” Brand looked at me.  “He’s just jealous.  He’ll get over it.”

  “I don’t know
why he would be.  He’s hardly talked to me in the past couple of years.  I
don’t understand why he’s acting like such an idiot now.”

  It was then I
heard an engine rev up behind us.  It was only a matter of seconds before Will
was beside us on the four-lane highway.  I looked past Brand and stared at
Will.  I was sure the expression on my face told Will I thought he had
completely lost his mind.  He kept making a pointing motion with his hand like
he wanted us to pull over to the side of the road.  Brand ignored him and
picked up speed.  Will sped up as well and swerved his car like he was going to
hit us!