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

Chapter 3

"Hi, I'm Bear Brown." He stuck out his hand for me to shake and I felt my head start to spin. He didn't look very much like his brother Matt or Bam, but then I hadn't seen a strong resemblance between Matt and Bam either. He was just as handsome and it was starting to make me a little nervous that this was the third of the brothers to make me lose my cool. His smile really was amazing but I swallowed hard and started my now-standard apology.

"Hey, Bear. Sorry about that remark." I rolled my eyes as I shook his hand. "I'm usually not that brash. It just popped out."

"No, I thought it was great. When a beautiful woman tells me I have a beautiful smile, I think that's just awesome!" Bear shook back his head as he said the word 'awesome' and I saw the light reflecting off the shiny brown waves of his hair. And it was such nice hair. Groaning inwardly, I pulled my hands back closer to me and folded them together on top of the table. I squeezed my fingers tightly to keep them from flying out and grabbing onto his long hair.

I cleared my throat and gave him a smile. "I'm Obie." I didn't go into any more detail about my name because I was starting to think that life was playing a really huge practical joke on me. But joke or not, I couldn't take my eyes off of Bear. He was in a word, adorable. I tried not to look him up and down as he grabbed the chair Bam had just vacated. Turning it around, he sat on the wooden chair backwards, straddling it and leaning his forearms on the back. Under the red hoodie I could see he was wearing a tight black t-shirt. When I realized I was staring and my eyes were starting to travel lower, I forced myself to keep my eyes above his waist. I really needed to get myself under control. Now that the ice queen was finally starting to thaw, I could see I was in danger of simply melting dead away.

"Looks like Bam ran out on you." Bear didn't seem to have any filters and said exactly what was on his mind. He looked up at my pink tipped hair and his smile stretched even wider, if that was possible.

"I love your hair. It's beautiful." He looked back down and I saw his eyes momentarily flicker down to my lips. I was stunned. Was he thinking of going from hello straight to locking lips? Not that I wouldn't mind getting a taste of those soft lips. Oh, good grief. What was I thinking?

"Um...Bear." I needed to get a handle on myself and get off this Brown brother merry-go-round. But before I could say anything else, Bam caught my eye from across the room. "Um.." I stared back at Bam so long that Bear finally turned around to see what I was looking at. When he and Bam made eye contact, Bear threw up his hands in a "what?" gesture and turned back to me.

"Tell me, Obie. Do you like to climb trees?" Bear asked me with full seriousness. His eyes were a deep blue like Bam's and they were alive with anticipation. Truthfully, I was having a hard time even recalling what a tree was; I was so perplexed by everything that was going on. But I never got around to answering his question because by the time I opened my mouth to speak, Bam had stalked over and was pulling Bear up by the back of his jacket.

"Hey, man. Hands off the jacket!" Bear shook Bam's hand loose and stood up to face him, adjusting his clothes.

"Man, what the f-" Bam stopped before he dropped the f-bomb and looked at me. "I was coming back." He said accusingly.

"And I'm still here." I knew that wasn't the most honest response, but it was the best I could come up with to try to deflect what was turning into a very intense situation.

"I thought you had given up." Bear threw up his hands and began backing away from the table. He didn't seem angry and he even turned to me and smiled. "Nice to meet you Obie."

Bam waited a few seconds before he turned the chair around and sat down. He looked at me so long that I started to get a little uncomfortable. He wasn't frowning but he wasn't smiling either. As we stared at each other I wondered if the idea of ever getting with Bam had ended even before it started. Then I remembered how he had just gotten up and walked away, and I started to get angry. It wasn't like I had made him get up and chase after my friend Dina.

"Obie." When he spoke my name, the gentleness of his voice made my insides melt like butter. He leaned forward with his elbows on the table and my eyes widened. It looked like he was already ready to kiss me and my head was spinning because I wanted him to kiss me. It had been so long since I had been kissed and he was so beautiful. I gently bit my lip, wetting it, waiting for his mouth to reach mine. The moment was sweet agony and when his face was only inches from mine, Bam spoke.

"I used to date your friend Dina."

Just at that moment, Matt and Dina walked past our table, heading for the door. Bam kept his gaze on me and never looked around. I lifted one eyebrow at my friend who winked at me and slipped her fingers into Matt's back pocket. At his shocked grin, she laughed and snuggled closer to him. As they walked together out of the front door of the restaurant, I finally turned back to look at Bam.

"I need details, Bam." I shouldn't have been surprised that he was attracted to Dina. She was one of those girls who was so naturally pretty and easy to be with that both men and women loved to be around her. Finding men to date had never been a problem for her. She confessed however that finding quality men to date was the problem. Bam seemed like a man of quality to me, so knowing that he and Dina dated but she let him go made me wonder if there was something about Bam I was missing. 

"It was a long time ago and we only had one date." His voice didn't hold any emotion at all. I didn't know if that meant he no longer had feelings for her or if he was hiding them or what. "She's your friend so I know you know this, but she's really sweet and funny." I nodded but said nothing. "But she wasn't the kind of girl I was looking for, so we decided that one date was enough."

The details were a little anti-climactic to say the least. But his words did lead me to a natural next question. "So what kind of girl are you looking for?"

Bam laughed lightly and shook his head. "I don't really know for sure. But I believe I'll know her when I meet her." His eyes pierced mine again and he held my gaze, unblinking until I nervously looked down and away. I didn't want to believe what his words were suggesting. Did he see something in me that he hadn't seen in Dina? I couldn't image that someone could make that kind of a decision that fast. I didn't believe in love at first sight. It was just something that had never happened to be before. But so many strange things were happening so fast that I wanted to back up and run but I also wanted to stay and see how things would turn out with Bam.

"It's funny how things happen, isn't it?" I smiled over at Bam and let out a sigh. "You dating Dina and now it looks like she's hooking up with your brother Matt."

"He had no idea I knew her. We only had that one date and she never met any of my brothers." He leaned close again and his scent surrounded me like a cloud. It was light and clean and I couldn't tell if it was cologne or soap, but I leaned a bit forward, too, inhaling. "But the reason I went over to talk to Matt was so I could tell him first before she did. I didn't want him to be blindsided."

Touched by his concern for his brother, I decided to make a little confession to Bam.

"You know, when your brother Matt first came over to our table tonight, I was hoping he was coming to talk to me." I shrugged, with a slight apologetic smile. "Funny, huh?"

Bam's eyes jerked away from mine and without a word, he stood up and began walking away toward the table where his three brothers still sat talking. I could only sit in such stunned surprise that I didn't even remember to breathe for a few seconds. But just before he reached the table, Bam stopped and then suddenly turned around and marched back over to me.

"You are unreal." He was so angry and I was still so surprised that I only looked back at him with my mouth open. I shook my head once, speechless. Bam sighed and rubbed at his beard with one hand.

"It was nice meeting you, Obie." With those words he turned and walked back to the table and sat down to join his brothers.