A Darker Love

Chapter One- The Mysterious Stranger

I sat in the Grill doing my homework at one of the tables, sipping a Coke and twirling the pencil between my fingers. Maths was never my strong point so Kayla was coming to help me actually do my homework for a change or Mr Adams would kill me. Isaac was serving drinks at the bar but kept glancing over to me to see if I was okay. The Grill was a great place to go if I wanted to get out of the house as it was really close to my house and the Cokes were free, courtesy of Isaac. He served another drink and then then came over to me with a mini green paper umbrella in his hand, he knew I loved them.

"How's the maths going?"

"It's killing me, I hope Kayla comes soon or I will definitely fail."

"In the meantime, I brought you something to cheer you up." He placed the little paper umbrella in my glass as we watched it float for a minute.

"Thanks, I needed that." I smiled up to him.

He smiled back and then dragged out a chair from under the table and sat down. "I'll keep you company until she comes."

"Won't Kennith fire you?"

He picked up the umbrella. "Kennith can shove this up his ass. My girl needs me to help her with her math problems."

I laughed and tried to forget he said the words 'My girl'. "But I thought you were shit at maths?"

He pulled a face. "Wow, thanks. Such support. I'll have you know I'm a genius when it comes to math."

"Sure you are." I said sarcastically with a grin.

We laughed and joked around for a bit until Kennith come over and whispered something in Isaac's ear. I could hear a lot of swearing as Isaac's face turned red and he jumped out of the seat.

"I need to get back behind the bar but I'll come over when my shift is done, okay? It ends at eight and I'm sure Kayla will get here in a couple of minutes." He reassured me.

"It's okay, I can wait. You go and do your bar thing."

Kayla took her sweet time as usual. The only downside to having a friend who talks to everyone is she is constantly late for stuff. I sighed and tried to do the problem myself but something was holding me back. I felt like someone was watching me, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I felt their eyes burning my back. I turned around and saw a guy sitting a few tables away staring at me and he wasn't being casual about it. Our eyes connected for a second before I turned away, there was so much heat even though his eyes were the color of ice. I turned round again but he was gone, no trace that he even existed in the first place until I looked back and saw him standing in front of me.

"Hi." He smiled, looking down at me.

"Wha..wha.. what do you want?" I looked down at the table, avoiding his eyes.

"I couldn't help over hearing that your having some problems and it just so happens I am excellent at math."

"I'm okay, thanks." I mumbled.

"Are you sure? You look like your really struggling."

I hesitated. I didn't not want him to help me, there was something about him that made me want to talk to him but my awkwardness held me back.

"Geometry? That's easy, I'll show you." He sat down beside me and took the pencil out of my hand carefully.

"Umm.."

He scribbled some stuff down and explained how to do it, then my head felt much clearer and it was easier to talk to him. He took me through each problem with ease and showed me how to answer it and where the marks came from. Wow, he was even better than Kayla.

"Okay, now you try this one."

"No, you show me how. Your better than me."

"Come on, I guarantee you can do it now." He handed me the pencil. "Question 9, explain it to me."

"Uuhhh..." I looked down at the question and saw a triangle. Shit. I was terrible at triangles and he seemed to sense that I was struggling.

"Remember the angles and.....?"

I looked at it again and somehow the pieces seemed to fit together like a jigsaw in my mind. I knew exactly how to do it and then quickly wrote it down before I could get flustered and forget it again.

"See told you, you can do it no problem."

He smiled at me and I smiled back, looking up at him. The intense heat came again and seemed to scorn me, I looked back down at the table with my awkward smile. I looked at the leather sofa seat thing we were sitting on and saw that he had snaked his arm around the board where my shoulders were.

"Can I help you with something?"

I looked up and saw Isaac's face with a hurt and angry expression staring down at the guy beside me. His eyebrows were locked together and he looked like he was going to punch him in the face if he said or did the wrong thing.

"No, were fine for drinks thanks." He started talking to me as if Isaac wasn't there, going on to the next question as if nothing was wrong.

Isaac's flushed with red. "Your bothering her."

"Am I?" He looked at me. "Am I bothering you, Sam?"

I looked back up at Isaac. "Honestly, it's fine. He's just helping me with my maths."

He looked at Isaac innocently as if he wanted him to leave causing him to stormed away, clanking the glasses violently behind the bar until he dropped one and it smashed on the floor. "Shit!"

"That's coming out of your paycheck, idiot boy!" Kennith's face was also as red as his, no one smashes Kennith's glasses.

"How did you know my name?"

"What?" The guy turned to me, kind of amused at Isaac's dismay.

"My name, I didn't tell you it."

"I saw it on your maths book." He moved a book out of the way to show me my name on a jotter in my scrawny handwriting.

"Oh."

"I'm Caleb by the way, it's nice to meet you Sam."He smiled again, he had such an interesting smile.

My phone suddenly buzzed. It was a text from Kayla, she told me to hold on and wait for her.

"I've got to go, but can I have your number? Maybe I could help you if you have any other math problems."

"Ummm yeah, sure." I handed him my phone and he took my number from it and put his in.

He gave it back. "See you around Sam, i'll call you." He got up and walked passed a wide eyed Kayla who stood with her mouth in an 'O' shape.

She sat down and watched him leave. "Who the hell was that, Sam?"