Three weeks later, I invited Brian to a buffet. He walked over to my house, and we headed to the buffet together. I tried to strike up a conversation, but being a spy did not mean I had the required social skills to engage contact with another person. In my defense, it was the only conversation I didn't spew out an insult.
"So... How have you been doing?" I asked, trying to break the awkard silence between us. Brian walked beside me with his hands dug into the pockets of his jeans. He blew his bangs out of his face.
"I've been doing fine. You?"
"Fine." I looked away from Brian and gazed up at the setting sky. It was so beautiful.
Nevertheless, I tried.
The walk to the buffet was quite awkward, but it was mostly because I never had friends my age. We sat down in a booth and perused the menus. I decided to start off with noodles, but I knew I was going to order a lot more. I was a really big eater, contrary to my tiny body structure. As the waiter was filling our water glasses, she was giving me an oh-la-la~ look. Like I would ever go out with a guy like Brian. It was already mortifying just being seen next to him.
I suddenly rememberd that the reason I was here was about Brian's supposed brother. I thought up of various scenarios in which I could bring up such a sensitive topic, especially since I invited Brian to a casual and purely platonic dinner. I don't think Brian wanted to be pestered with my questions about his brother. Again, because of my lack of social skills, I tried to smoothly ease into the topic. It was like picturing me dip my toe delicately into a lake to measure the temperature.
"So what's your brother's name?" I asked, trying to act casual while twirling a strand of noodle around my fork. I mentally slapped myself. What happened to gently talking my way to this topic? Instead of touching the frigid lake, it was like I belly flopped into it. I cringed at the thought of it.
Real smooth. I tried to ignore the inner battle raging in my head.
Brian widened his eyes and looked at me. Suddenlym he cleared his throat and looked down at his sushi. Instead of wolfing it down like he had for the past five minutes, he was picking at it with his chopsticks. He inhaled deeply, and raised his head. His eyes met mine and I almost got lost in his chocolate brown eyes. Almost.
"Jamie."
I barely heard the name because I was so mesmerized by his eyes. I shook my head furiously to clear my mind.
"Come again?" I asked.
"Jamie..."
I realized it was a total bull crap lie. His pulse was increasing in his neck which meant that he was nervous.
"So-," I opened my mouth so speak, but was abruptly cut off.
"I gotta use the bathroom." Brian got up slowly, never breaking eye contact with me, and left the table. I made sure he was out of sight before sliding across the booth. I took this time to search through his belongings (a small backpack) when I found his cell. It was quite odd that he didn't leave it in his pocket, but since when was Brian normal? I started skimming his list of contacts for a Jamie.
"Aiden, Amy, Annie, Bertha, Ceydra, Dalton, Darius, Jack, Jamie..." My heart stopped for a second. Was Brian actually telling me the truth? I heard the bathroom door swivel open, and saw Brian nearing our table. I quickly put his cell into my jean pocket and discreetly put his things back on his side of the booth. Brian took out his wallet and insisted that he pay for the food.
He said, "It is the least I can do after being saved by a damsel." My cheeks started to heat up.
What a gentleman. Then again, he did eat triple what I ate.
We walked out of the buffet, though Brian was trailing far behind me. He was really sluggish after all the food he managed to force down his throat.
"Damn, that buffet was really good. I wonder why I didn't hear about it before?" He casually started walking while brushing his bangs out of his face. While he was staring up at the stars in the dark night sky, I studied his face. I mean, he wasn't that ugly. In fact, he wasn't really ugly at all. He actually could've been considered cute. Just a bit. Not too much.
Suddenly Brian stopped. I tried to pretend like I hadn't been staring at him for almost ten minutes straight. He pointed to my house as if I was blind.
"How do you know where I live?" I gave him a suspecting look.
"Uhm, you kind of texted me your address so I could pick you up and go to the buffet," he answered nonchalantly. He had a duh facial expression.
"Oh," I stupidly replied back. I looked down to the ground. What was I supposed to do now?
God, can't I have a few more minutes to look at his adorable face? I shook my head, pretending I hadn't even thought Brian was the slighest bit cute. Brian smirked. Then he started to lean in closer to me.
Oh my god.
Was this the part where I got kissed like girls in those chick flicks? Was there a certain way I was supposed to kiss him? Was I even a good kisser? I never practiced because I was too busy kicking other people's asses. Oh, how I yearned for a normal teenage life. I squeezed my eyes shut and my heart started beating faster. I mean, I'd never done this before. I'd never gone on a date, never had a guy friend (or friends for that matter), and never even went out alone, especially with a guy at night.
Wait a second. This guy may or may not be the guy who broke into my house. Focus, Serena, focus!
I was deep in thought until Brian furiously shook my shoulders.
"Are you okay, Serena? You look a little green. Before, you kept staring at my face. It's kinda creepy and unnatural," he replied, worried. Brian looked me straight in the eye.
My cheeks flamed. He saw me stare at him? "No, I'm completely fine." I looked away to prevent my cheeks from turning redder. Brian either didn't notice my tomato cheeks, or he simply didnt care. He merely shrugged it off.
"Alrighty then. Have a good one." He gave me a small smile.
Instead of kissing me like I thought he was going to, he high fived me. Like I was a five year old. I mean, I'm no expert on what to do after "dates" but I'm sure guys don't high five their dates. Not that this was a date. He turned around and started to walk away.
I really wasn't thinking when I blurted out, "Really? That's all I get? A freaking high five? What am I, a ki-"
Brian turned around abruptly and walked towards me. He grabbed my chin to meet my eyes and cradled my face. What was he even doing? I stopped thinking when he brought his lips on mine. I pretty much lost all of my spunk and got lost in the kiss. How did girls even kiss? God, his lips were so warm and inviting. I wondered how many things that I had missed out on when I became a spy. Unfortunately, I was too nervous to move my body. I didn't know how to kiss at all, so I stood there like a statue. Fortunately, he snuck his arms around my waist and pulled me in even closer. I swear, my eyes bulged out of my eye sockets and I let out a little squeal.
He pulled away slowly and I took a deep breath of air. My head was spinning as the kiss replayed in my head. My body felt like it was on fire.
"First kiss?" He mused. His smirk made me want to slap him. Instead, I shyly nodded and looked at the concrete. He lifted up my chin again delicately with is fingers and looked into my eyes dead on. They still looked so brown and warm, even at night.
"Happy now, Serena?" My cheeks were burning.
"See ya, Rena." He gave me a light peck on the cheek and left. I was still standing there stunned. I'm ashamed to admit that I did have several butterflies in my stomach at his nickname.
Focus Serena. I shook my head furiously and headed inside.
Later, I opened up his cellphone and called Jamie using my own cellphone. I didn't want my history to show up on his dialed calls and Jamie probably had Brian's phone number saved. I dialed the number and waited until I heard a voice from the other line.
"Hello?" I asked politely.
"Hello?" a woman's voice answered.
"Is Jamie there?"
"Why yes, I'm Jamie. May I ask who's calling?" the woman on the other end replied politely.
"Wrong number. Thank you for your time." I hung up quickly.
As I suspected, he lied to me. I really wasn't expecting differently. Suddenly, his phone started to vibrate. It was from an unknown number. Odd.
As soon as I flipped it open, someone yelled,"Why'd you take my phone?" I had to take the cellphone away from my ear to stop the ringing in my ears.
"I took your phone to call your twin, Jamie. I didn't realize he was a feminine man," I replied snidely.
"Look Rena. That's my business, not yours. Besides you don't want to mess with him. If you do, you're going to die. I guarantee it." For a second, there was genuine worry in his voice.
I sighed. "It's a risk I'm willing to take. Tell your damn brother to meet me by the abandoned computer factory 10 PM sharp."
"Like hell I will," he muttered.
"If you don't, I will track you down and tear you limb by limb and torture you. Understand?"
He let out a deep sigh.
"Why the computer factory?" He finally broke the awkward silence.
"Because I want to see this chemical with my very own eyes," I said.
"It's on a file. There's no guarantee he already made the chemical," he sighed in exasperation.
"I don't care. I'm going to bring him in to the agency so I can interrogate him. Do your part, and don't butt in."
"You're going to die, Rena. I won't sit here knowing I'm the cause of your death. Please don't do this," he begged me.
"I won't die. I can handle myself. If you don't tell him to come, I will hand you over to those terrorists again." I had to force those words out because truthfully, I didn't want him to leave, especially not with those thugs. Besides, it was a pain to save him once. If I had to save him a second time, I'd make life on earth very unpleasant.
"Fine," he gritted out.
"Thank you," I replied satisfied. I heard him murmur, "It's not my life after all." I had to admit that stung a bit, but it was my decision in the first place. I had to be firm and resolute about this.
I hung up the cell. I was going to prepare for the confrontation.
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