Enchanter (5 page)

****

One x-ray, five stitches, a few pain killers, and a clean
bill of health later, I was well enough to be discharged. Thankfully, aside
from the bruises, bumps, swollen knee, and the cut on my forehead, I was
perfectly fine.

Unfortunately, I could not go back to class because the
doctor insisted I go home and get some rest. And, since he gave me some pretty
heavy pills for the pain, which were already making me groggy, I had no choice
but to do as instructed. As expected, this added to my already rising anger and
I started to mentally talk myself out of killing Brandon because if I did not calm
down soon, I was afraid I would cause myself a stroke.

The day before, I had happened to skip classes so that I
could enjoy a shopping trip with my best girl friend Vanessa, who was happily
married and heavily pregnant. Since I never missed classes or work, I had decided
that one day would not kill me, so I treated myself to a day of shopping and
actually enjoyed it. But having seven hours of classes interrupted because of my
brief argument with Brandon, which then resulted in my embarrassing fall down
the steps of shame, my anger had piled so far up I swore it was the size of a
skyscraper.

Once in the car, I buckled my seatbelt and stared out the
window as Brandon started the engine. I was aware of his movements but all I
wanted from that point on was to ignore him and make it home in time to sulk
for the rest of the day, so I paid no attention to anything as he drove.

It was not until he parked at the back of the apartment building
where I resided that a realization struck me. He had never asked for my address,
so how did he know where I lived?

“Where are we?” Why the thought of testing him just to see
what his answer would be crossed my mind, I do not know. But I was frightened
by the fact that he knew where my home was, and I wanted to know how he
acquired that knowledge.

“You must’ve hit your head harder than I thought.”

“I’m serious.”

“You live here,” he said.

“And how is it that you know this?” I asked, eying him suspiciously.

“I have a friend that lives two apartments down from yours.”
He sighed.

“And you’re there often?” For some reason, I still doubted
his explanation.

“Not anymore, but I used to go there all the time.” He
frowned and I did the same. “What, you think I’m stalking you or something?”

“I—”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Leah. You’re not that important, no
matter how much you like to believe you are.” His words stunned me into silence
immediately. “My friend lives two doors down from you and that’s how I found
out where you live. I have never nor will I ever spy on you because believe it or
not, I have more important things to do.”

“I’ve never seen you,” I accused.

“Of course you wouldn’t. You’ve always been too full of
yourself to notice anything else.”

I could not have been more surprised had he actually reached
out and slapped me. “Who do think you are, talking to me like this?”

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?”

Stunned, I had no idea what to respond. Nobody had ever
spoken to me like that before and it stung a lot more than I would have liked.

“Really? The truth, huh? That’s what you think about me?” I
was even more vexed when he simply shrugged as if what he said did not matter
at all. “Well, at least I’m not some kind of weirdo that parades himself around
in black clothing and angry stares just so that he can keep the bullies from
beating the crap out of him.” The second the words left my mouth I resented
myself for them.

The look of hurt in his eyes was clearly visible even though
he tried hard to hide it.

“That’s just what people like you do, right? You label others
because they’re different and you don’t care what emotional damage you cause
with your hateful words and derogative comments.” He sneered. “But you don’t
even know me well enough to make that assumption about me, do you? You just
know that I’m not like you and that’s why you mark me as a weirdo.”

“Brandon—”

“What makes you so much better than everyone else?”

“I—”

“I may be not much to look at, but you know what?” His eyes
practically screamed resent. “At least I’ve never made anyone feel as if they
were beneath me.”

“I never made fun of you.” I spat.

“You just did.”

“You said—”

“Any excuse is a valid one when calling someone a bad name,
isn’t it?”

“I don’t have to take this.” I started to open the door, but
his hand on my wrist stopped my hasty retreat.

“Let me just give you this one warning, Leah,” he said, his
blue eyes never leaving mine, “if you decide to go through with this essay and
we end up spending more time together than we want to, I will show you the same
amount of respect you show me.” By his tone alone I knew he was dead serious.

“I get it.” With that, he released me and I hurriedly
grabbed my purse and opened the car door. “At what time should I stop by on
Saturday?”

“Six is fine.”

“Okay.”

I was incredibly tempted to slam the door on my way out, but
decided against it almost at once. The huge brute was already pissed off and
there really was no need for me to keep pushing his buttons unless I wanted to
lose my head so I stalked off fuming, and wishing I never got out of bed that
morning.

When Matt arrived home at eleven-thirty, he found me sitting
on the couch, wearing my pajamas, and with a look of complete apathy on my
face. He took one good look at me and instantly knew something was wrong.

“I’m afraid to even ask how your day went.” He tossed his
backpack on the loveseat and started toward me.

“It was horrible.”

When he got within five feet of me, he noticed the bandage
covering one side of my forehead and he immediately rushed toward me.

“What happened?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” I sighed when he
reached out for me, making himself comfortable as he sat next to me on the
couch. “I couldn’t rent the movies.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he said as I placed my head on his
shoulder. “What matters is how you got hurt.”

“Would you believe it if I said that I fell because I wasn’t
paying attention?”

“Absolutely. I’ve seen you when you’re distracted.”

“Well, there was a reason behind that.”

“I thought you said that you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Yes, but you’re so persistent.”

He laughed.

“I’ve been called that before.” He wrapped one arm around my
shoulders and pulled me to him. “Now, tell me what caused this bandage to
decorate your lovely face.”

I went on to describe the events of my day, leaving out the
embarrassing argument I’d had with Brandon once he dropped me off at home.

“Sounds like you should’ve walked away.”

That was not what I wanted to hear. “Please don’t lecture
me.”

“Someone has to.”

“Yes, but the problem is that I’ve already been lecturing
myself, and when you say it, I just think that all the hours I spent yelling at
myself was for no reason.”

He smiled and then shook his head. “I’ll be a little more
sympathetic now that I know you already busted your own chops.”

“That’s all I’m asking,” I replied. “Although, I officially
hate my birthdays now.”

“Oh, Leah, I’m sorry you had a miserable day.” He planted a
kiss on the top of my head. “I wish it would’ve gone differently.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I tell you what,” he placed two fingers under my chin and
gently lifted my head so that I could look up at his face, “next year we’ll do
something very special for your birthday to make up for what happened today.”

“I’d like that,” I murmured.

“It’s settled then.”

“Thanks, Matt.”

“For what?”

“For being such a good friend.” I sighed as I recalled the
afternoon I moved out of my mother’s house. “Without your support, I don’t know
what I would’ve done.”

Matt knew what I was referring to.

“Parents aren’t picture perfect and some make their fair
share of mistakes.”

“Your parents are great, so understanding,” I said, bringing
to mind all the times I visited Matt’s parents’ house. His mother, Margaret,
was so comforting, sweet, and caring, unlike mine. David, Matt’s father, was
easy to talk to and a cheerful person. His personality reminded me so much of
my father, that at times I felt as if I wanted to cry.

“They weren’t always that way, Leah.”

Surprised, I glanced up at him. “No?”

“They were really upset when they found out I’m gay.”

“How did they find out?”

“They caught me kissing a boy behind our house one
afternoon.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and it didn’t go so well.” He shrugged. “They came
around eventually.”

“I would never have guessed that they were upset at one
point.”

“Well, it took them a while to adjust. Once they came to
terms with the fact, they accepted it with open minds, and have never treated
me differently since.”

If only I knew what that felt like, to have the
unconditional love of your parents.

“Well, at least I have you.” And that was a relief to me
because Matt was the closest thing to family I ever had. He was the one person,
aside from my father, who had been there for me during good or bad times. I could
not picture my life without him, nor did I want to.

“That’s right.”

Matt and I decided to watch TV for about an hour before
heading off to get some much needed sleep.

Once I was comfortably tucked in bed, however, flashes of
what happened with Brandon came back to haunt me. The desire to take back what
I had said to him hit me like a ton of bricks. Never, in all my years of
knowing him, had I actually insulted him the way I did today. And I was not proud
of myself, not by a long shot.

Sure, others had called him worse names than what I did, but
it simply was not my style to make others feel bad. Even though I never made
fun of those who were different, I did not exactly come to their aid when one
of my friends picked on them, and I could not help but feel ashamed because of
that.

A lot of what Brandon had said was true. Despite the fact
that I recognized that, I was still irritated because his harsh words made me realize
that I probably thought too highly of myself.

If this is the case then I really need to reevaluate my
choices and who I am.

Acting as if Brandon had never been there was something I could
not continue to do. He was, after all, my assignment partner, which meant we
were going to be spending some time together. Like it or not, we were stuck
with each other and there was little I could do on the matter. However, he was
not part of my permanent life and as soon as our project was over, I never had
to worry about him again.

Although the thought of continuing on without having to
associate with Brandon on a temporary basis did have its appeal, not knowing
what the days and even weeks to come would bring scared me a little. Brandon
Morris was a difficult person to understand and I could not pretend that I
wanted to even try.

As my eyes began to droop, a pair of pale blue orbs and a
smile so striking it left me breathless crossed my mind and, despite my
reserves, I held on to that image as I drifted off.

****

The next morning, a very pregnant Vanessa came to pick me up
as usual. During our short commute to school, we chatted about her pregnancy
and what she did with all the items she had bought two days before. Once I
related the events of the previous day, she was all over my case. The main
focus of our conversation was, of course, Brandon Morris.

“So, how are you holding up?” Vanessa asked as she pulled up
and parked directly behind the Direct City Community College.

“I’m fine,” I said. “It’s Sonya who’s panicking about this
entire thing with Brandon.”

“And she’s not even the one meeting with him?” She laughed.

“Nope.” I shrugged. “But you know Sonya – she makes a big
deal about every little thing.”

“She’s a worrier.” Vanessa turned the ignition off and took
the key out before turning her attention back to me. “And what are your
feelings about this unexpected surprise?”

“Well, I’ve decided that I’ll tolerate being around him for
long enough to complete this assignment, and then I’ll make it a priority to get
everything back to normal.”

“You don’t like him, do you?”

“I’ve never said that.”

“But?”

“But something about him kind of unnerves me.”

“All right, hear me out, because I think you should manifest
your own opinions before you start thinking like Sonya,” she said as she placed
one hand on the door handle. “I haven’t known Brandon for long, at least not as
long you guys have, but I can honestly say that there is nothing about him that
spooks me.”

Her statement surprised me. “Really?”

“Yes.”

Vanessa and I got out of the car and continued our
conversation over the hood of the car.

“Have you even tried to talk to him?”

“I talked to him yesterday,” I tossed over my shoulder as I
started for the building’s front entrance.

Vanessa locked the doors of her car before following me inside.

“Arguing is not the same as talking. And I meant, have you
tried speaking to him in general. Not because you had to.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Have you ever given any thought to what makes him the way
he is?”

“I haven’t given Brandon Morris much thought at all.”

“You can’t judge a person for what you don’t know, and much
less say he’s some kind of freak because others do.”

Her words felt more like a lecture than advice.

“First of all, the words ‘Brandon is a freak’ have never
left my mouth. I have never said to anyone, at least not that I can recall,
that he is in any way strange. A little different and too quiet, yes. That he’s
huge and has eyes that can make you wriggle with uncertainty, for sure. But
never that I think he’s weird.”