Choices. (Completed) A Bam Brown Alaskan Bush People story

Chapter 2

"Bam Bam, I am so sorry!" I apologized as I watched his cheeks above his full beard flush pink.
He dipped his head and I saw a hint of a smile, but he was definitely embarrassed at my outburst. I hadn't expected to scream out "You're beautiful!" But the words had flown out of my mouth before I had any chance of stopping them.

With his head down, I could see the tight waves in his pulled back hair. There was also a generous amount of gray streaking through the brown. Just like with Matt, it was hard to tell his age, but his face was youthful and his body looked strong. I realized if I had been paying more attention to Bam Bam and not so focused on Dina and Matt, I would've seen how handsome he was much sooner than I had. I reached out my hand to gently touch his arm.

"I mean, it is true. You are gorgeous. But I'm sorry I yelled it like that." I laughed as softly as I could and then pulled my hand back, giving him some time to recover.
"It's OK." He mumbled almost too softly for me to hear. "And call me Bam." He spoke more loudly as he lifted his eyes back to mine and I could see they were a beautiful deep blue. I couldn't look away if I wanted to. But I didn't want to.
"Hi Bam. My name's Opal." I waited for the inevitable comment about my uncommon name.
"That's a pretty name." He continued to smile at me as he studied me intently. I could see him taking in my short dark hair, dyed pink in front and pulled up in short fluffy spikes.
"No, it's not a pretty name." I argued with a smile. "It sounds like a used car." Bam drummed his fingers on the table as he laughed and I couldn't help but notice how nervous he seemed. That was a surprise after his initial confidence when he approached me. But he continued to make full eye contact and the tiny smile was still there.
"But don't worry about it Bam. I'm used to it. My mother named me Opal because I was born in October and Opal is my birthstone. My middle name is Blaze. So if you think Opal reminds you of a used car, doesn't Opal Blaze make you think of one of the Avengers or something?" Bam's smile faltered a little and he opened and closed his mouth. It seemed he wasn't really sure what to say to my odd babblings.
"Again, Bam. Don't worry about it. You can call me Obie for my initials 'O.B.'"
"Great, I'll do that." There was that smile again.

"So, tell me a little about yourself." I leaned my chin on my fist and twirled a short lock of my hair between my fingers. As he started to tell me some details about his family, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dina and Matt start to stand. Focusing again on Bam, I listened as he began telling me that he was the second oldest in a family of five sons and two daughters.
"Oh, so are all those guys your brothers?" I motioned to the group of three men sitting at the table on the far side of the room.
"Yeah," He glanced back at their table. "The burly one is Gabe, that's Noah in all black and Solomon is in the red hoodie jacket. But we all call Solomon, 'Bear'. Bam then twisted around to look over his other shoulder to where Dina and Matt stood. "And that's my older brother Matt."

Bam frowned slightly as he looked at Matt standing intimately close to my friend Dina. Matt's hands were on her shoulders and it seemed he was trying to explain something to her. I saw Dina's blonde head bob up and down, up and down. She didn't seem to need that much convincing since she was definitely saying yes to whatever Matt was offering. It occurred to me that if Matt had started talking to me instead of to Dina, I may never have gotten the chance to spend this time with Bam.

I turned my head back to look at Bam and with a pang of fear in my heart, saw a very different look in his eyes as he stared at Dina. My mouth dropped open and a puff of air whooshed out. Seriously? Did Bam want Dina instead of me, too? I let out a little sigh. The one night I was prepared to thaw out the ice queen and there were no takers. I stared hard at the back of Bam's head, willing him to turn back around to face me. I was thinking that if I could hold his attention for a little bit longer, I might have a chance.

"Will you excuse me for a minute?" Bam didn't even wait for my response as he jumped up from the chair, but I threw an answer at his back anyway.
"No." I hissed as I reached up to flip back my hair, momentarily forgetting that I had cut it all off and there was nothing left to flip.
I glanced quickly over at the rest of my friends who still sat at the table with me. I leaned toward the group and smiled as I pretended to join the conversation, but my mind was still on Bam. I couldn't for the life of me understand why first Matt, then Bam affected me the way they did. They were both super attractive, but there was something else about them that for whatever reason made me want to get to know them.

I watched as Bam walked up to Matt and tugged on his jacket, leading him off to the side. Dina caught my eye and grinned, giving me a thumbs up. I pasted on a fake smile and returned her thumbs up, my mind a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.

"Bear, man get back here!" I heard the loud whisper from all the way across the room. Clearly Bam's brother Noah hadn't mastered the art of speaking quietly. His voice was loud and deep, a voice used to giving commands. But this command was being ignored. Bear was a man on a mission and my eyes widened in shock when I realized I was his intended target. I looked around wildly hoping that another girl was nearby and he was only passing by my table. No such luck.
"Oh, no," I groaned and sucked in my breath as brother number three made his way across the room to stand before me. When Bear stopped in front of my table and beamed his killer smile at me, before I knew it, the fateful words had exploded out of my mouth.

"Wow! You've got a beautiful smile!