Chapter 13
Brian dramatically blinked his sleepy eyes as he pulled up to Sarah’s house. The moon hung high in the night sky and the streets were deserted. Brian slowed the car to a gentle stop and leaned back in his seat giving his tired body a moment to relax. He looked over at Sarah with wistful eyes. Still deep in a dream world, her headphones had dropped from her ears and a strand of hair had fallen over her face. The moonlight accentuated her soft features showing off her natural innocence. Her smile hinted of her relaxed mood and she seemed so peaceful that Brian hated to wake her.
The day had been an unexpected pleasure and as tired as he was Brian wasn’t ready to see it end. He sat there a moment daydreaming as he watched Sarah sleep. He wondered what it felt like to hold her in his arms and wished he could just pull her into them. A woeful sigh brought him back to reality knowing he couldn’t do that and he softly whispered her name. “Sarah?”
Sarah was so deep in sleep that she didn’t respond at all. Brian again lost himself in a daydream and without thought lifted his hand to push the brown locks from Sarah’s eyes. His fingers lightly traced the outline of her face as he tucked the hair behind her ear. She stirred at his delicate touch and he quickly pulled his hand back. “Sarah?” he whispered again.
This time Sarah’s eyes fluttered open and she met Brian’s gaze with a sleepy grin. “Home already?”
Brian nodded and then quickly hopped out of the truck to open Sarah’s door for her. He offered her his hand and was pleasantly surprised when she accepted it. He helped her out of the truck and then nervously shoved his hands in his pants pockets as he escorted her to her door. He stood on the porch trying his hardest not fidget like the nervous wreck that he was as Sarah unlocked her door. With a heavy push Sarah stepped over the threshold of her home and offered Brian one more smile. “Thank you for going with me today.” Brian said.
“You’re welcome.” Sarah replied sweetly.
“Well, um, goodnight.” Brian shrugged with the tiniest layer of pink frosting his cheeks.
Sarah noticed him blush and thought it was adorable that he seemed so nervous. He was such the opposite of his brother. She giggled at the comparison and said, “Goodnight Brian.” Before closing the door between them.
Brian did an about face and slowly released a long breath. Sarah peered curiously from behind the curtain and watched Brian return to his car. She smiled when he stopped for a minute to take in the view of the stars before getting in the truck. She watched him drive off and couldn’t stop thinking about him as she made her way up the stairs. When she reached the top she noticed her father’s bedroom door was slightly ajar. The soft glow of the television seeped through the crack into the dimly lit hallway. “Hey pumpkin is that you?” a sleepy voice called as Sarah passed.
“Yeah dad, I’m home.” Sarah said inviting herself into his room.
Her father put down the book he’d been reading and set his glasses on the nightstand when he noticed the look on his daughter’s face. “You didn’t tell me I was going to Chicago.” She said sounding playfully stern.
Mr. Thompson chuckled. “I know. I’m sorry kiddo. I would have, but Brian said if you knew, you wouldn’t go and he really wanted the chance to apologize.”
Sarah smirked imagining the inarticulate explanation Brian must have given her father in order for him to go along with the crazy scheme. Mr. Thompson was glad to see the smile on his daughter’s face. After the way she looked when he asked her to go he’d worried about her all day. He felt bad but knew it would be good for her in the long run. “So was it as awkward as you thought it would be?” he asked suddenly curious of the details.
“At first.” Sarah admitted but then shrugged, “Deep down he’s actually kind of sweet.”
Sarah’s lips curled slightly upward as her thoughts retuned to the shy man but she soon became very perplexed. “I don’t understand him at all.” She said causing her dad to smile.
He’d always had his suspicions about Brian’s feelings for his daughter. After all, it’s a father’s duty to know those kinds of things. Of course he didn’t know for sure, but he wouldn’t mind if it were true. He’d known the Harpers forever and was likely one of the few people that understood Brian. Sarah’s father liked the young man and had actually offered him a job as an assistant when he was in high school, but his father had already lined of up a job for him at the college. Over the years Brian spent an unusual amount of time in Mr. Thompson’s auto shop and he always figured it was either that Brian hoped to see Sarah or was attempting to escape the pressures he had a home. The way Mr. Harper pushed his son was no secret, at least not to him.
Mr. Harper studied his daughter carefully. Before she went to California she’d never expressed any interest in boys, save Nick Harper. Not that he disliked the younger of the Harper boys, but he really wished his daughter would move past her childhood crush. Though the thought of his baby girl dating scared him to death, part of him wished she’d found a nice boy while she was in California so that she could stop being so love sick. “It takes more than one day to get to know someone Sarah.” He said gently.
“Yeah, it’s just…”
“Just what?”
Sarah frowned. “I don’t know.” She sighed, “You know him, has he always been like that?”
“Like what?” Mr. Harper asked trying not to laugh.
“I don’t know exactly. It’s like his spirit is broken.”
Mr. Thompson smiled sadly. “No, he wasn’t always like that. It’s been a long year for him. He used to come by all the time but I’ve hardly seen him lately.”
“I guess he’s been under a lot of pressure.”
“Or maybe after you left his reason for coming here was gone.” Mr. Thompson said warmly.
It took a moment for Mr. Thompson’s meaning to sink in, but when it did Sarah’s eyes grew wide. She quickly composed herself and forced a nervous laugh. “Yeah right dad. I’m sure that’s not it.” Sarah said.
“I’m not so sure.” Mr. Thompson replied seriously.
Sarah gave her father a curious look. “What?” Mr. Thompson shrugged trying but failing to look innocent. “He’s a handsome young man, hard working, college graduate…”
“And the new owner of a very nice Porsche.” Sarah teased.
“I’m serious.” Mr. Thompson laughed.
“I’ll bet you are.” Sarah laughed as she stood up and kissed her father on the forehead. “I’m going to bed now.”
“Ok.” Mr. Thompson said giving up his attempts at playing matchmaker for the night. “Night pumpkin.”
“Goodnight daddy.” Sarah replied as she left the room.
Once she was in the hall and her father’s door was tightly shut, Sarah slumped against the wall letting her thoughts catch up to her. She tried to laugh off her father’s ridiculous theory but she couldn’t seem to push Brian entirely from her mind. True he was no Nick, but something about him stuck with her and for a moment she could almost see herself with him. But, she laughed it off as she entered her room knowing her feelings for Nick weren’t somehow going to magically going to switch from one brother to the other.
Sarah fell to her bed feeling the exhaustion from the long day and then noticed a huge vase of red roses sitting on her dresser. She jumped up and took a deep breath of their sweet aroma before reading the card that that was attached. “Waited all day. Nick.” She read aloud.
Her tired body was suddenly filled with energy and she plucked one of the beautiful stems from the vase. Pulling it close to her heart she fell dreamily to her bed and eventually spent the night dreaming of a certain blonde-haired blue-eyed heartbreaker.
********
The next morning Brian drug himself downstairs a little later than normal. He’d slept surprisingly well and wasn’t sure if he forgot to switch his alarm on before going to bed or if he’d actually slept through it. Either way he felt refreshed which was something that he’d needed for quite some time now. He was excited to have a day off today. Until Deanna returned and signed the partnership agreement, there was not a whole lot Brian could do business wise so he decided he was going to take the week off. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to do, but he knew he would start by taking his new car for a spin. When he got downstairs he was surprised to see Nick slurping down a bowl of cereal. What may have been late for Brian was still early for Nick. Brian ruffled Nick’s hair as he walked past him into the kitchen. “Hey little brother!” he chirped.
Nick glared at Brian. “Had fun yesterday, did ya?”
“What?” Brian asked confused.
“You’re in an awfully good mood this morning.”
Brian shrugged. He knew Nick wouldn’t like hearing that he was in a good mood because he’d dreamt of Sarah all night, so he said, “I got such a sweet deal on my car, I’m excited to take it for a drive. You wanna come?”
Nick frowned and mumbled something under his breath. “What’s wrong with you?” Brian laughed.
“Like you don’t know,” Nick whined. “I was going to take Sarah to the lake yesterday but you kidnapped her… ALL DAY!”
Brian couldn’t help the smirk on his face and Nick became even more upset. “It’s not funny man! Deanna’s only gone for a week. How am I supposed to figure out if I like Sarah if you keep hogging her?”
“What do you mean IF you like Sarah?” Brian said pulling a container of orange juice from the fridge, “I thought you said you were falling in LOOOOVE with her.” He added sarcastically.
“I could be.” Nick retorted. “That’s why you can’t steal her anymore.”
“I didn’t steal her. I can’t help it if she’d rather spend time with me than you.” Brian teased even though it hurt because he knew it wasn’t true. Not only would she most definitely rather have spent the day with Nick, but he really did practically hijack her.
It also stung a little when Nick laughed so forcefully, as if such a suggestion were impossible. “I guess we’ll see about that.” Nick laughed.
“Why? The two of you have plans?” Brian asked starting to lose his really good mood.
“Not yet, but we will as soon as I go over there. I owe her a ride and she owes me a day at the lake.”
Brian frowned as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. What had he been kidding? All his efforts yesterday wouldn’t make any difference. All it did was delay the inevitable because as soon as Nick finished his breakfast and got himself showered he would take Sarah out to the lake and they would live happily ever after. Brian frowned picturing the image until his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Nick’s cell phone ringing. Nick glanced at the caller ID and then chose to ignore the call. Brian sat down across the table from Nick watching him eat his breakfast as if he didn’t have a care in the world. A moment later the house phone started to ring. Brian got up to answer it and Nick about had a heart attack. “Don’t answer it!” he yelled in a panic.
Brian let his hand rest on the receiver but didn’t pick it up. He eyed his brother curiously. “It’s Deanna.” Nick explained.
Brian gave his brother a confused look. “Since when are you avoiding her calls?”
“Since I spent the whole day talking to her yesterday instead of seeing Sarah and the point of this week was supposed to be just the opposite.”
Brian was glad to hear Nick had at least talked to his girlfriend but he was still getting angry. “Do you even feel guilty at all?” he asked.
“About what?” Nick replied.
“About Sarah?”
“What about her?”
“Well Deanna’s been the perfect girlfriend to you for a very long time and all of the sudden you’re planning romantic days at the lake with another girl? That’s a pretty crappy thing to do.”
Nick frowned. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Yet.” Brian warned.
“I already told you I can’t help it if I have feelings for Sarah. And if I do, then how do I know Deanna is the right one for me? What if the right one for me is Sarah and I just never knew it before? It’s not like she was ever around until now. I can’t just ignore my heart. I have to at least find out what this feeling is.”
“And what about Sarah? You think she’s going to be happy when she finds out that you have a girlfriend?”
“There’s no point in telling her about that right now. If I really do like her as much as I think I do then I’ll break it off with Deanna. But if we go out while Deanna’s gone and I decide I don’t really like Sarah then nothing happened, no harm done.
“Right.” Brian sneered, “No harm done. You just break Sarah’s heart, and then Deanna finds out about her and you break her heart too. Then you have no girlfriend and Deanna doesn’t sign the contract and we have no business.”
“Is that what this is all about?” Nick said starting to raise his voice. “Do you even care about my feelings here? Don’t you want me to be happy at all?”
Brian clenched his fists in anger. “I’m trying to stop you from throwing away the best thing that’s ever happened to you for a girl you barely know, and I don’t care about your feelings?” He said in total disgust. “Not to mention I only started up this whole business thing so that you won’t end up grading papers alongside dad for the rest of your life. No, you’re right, I don’t care about you at all.”
“Don’t you dare try to lay a guilt trip on me!” Nick yelled, “I haven’t forced you to do anything! You want to get out of here as much as I do. You know what I think it is? I think you’re just jealous of me because I enjoy my life and you don’t.”
Mr. Harper heard the raised voices from upstairs and called down to them. “Nick? Is that your brother down there?”
“Yeah dad.” Nick called back glaring at his brother.
“Oh by the way,” he smirked rudely, “There’s an alumni get together today. Dad said something about some special welcoming thing for their new golden boy. Hope you have a speech prepared. Sorry I have to miss it, I’m going to be gone all day, but you have lots of fun.”
“Grow up!” Brian hissed as Nick stomped up the stairs.
Brian’s stomach churned at the thought of spending the day with his father and all his alumni buddies. He grabbed his keys and headed straight for the front door. He hoped he could escape the house before he was dragged off to the wolves’ den for cigars and cocktails.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey everybody! I'm back! I had so much fun with Christy and had to go and read "the story" after she left cause I missed her the minute I got on the plane... ("the story" is our story that I wrote for us in high school haha it's sooooooo teenie bopper it makes me sick but still kinda funny and nails both Christy and I to a tee!) Anyway... I had to send my best friend away again but on the bright side I got some writing done today! :) enjoy!
