Been Hit Before - Brian Quinn

Coffee, lunch or drinks?

"Oh, hey Brian?" I answered the hotel room door the following morning, expecting to see room service but was met with Brian's face instead.

"Just thought I'd drop by to check on the patient. And to see if you need a ride to the bank?" He more so offered than asked.

"Do you mind? I would go by myself but without my phone I have no direction whatsoever."

"Which gives me another reason why I'm here. We emailed you, but then I recalled that you lost your phone. Are you free this afternoon?"

"It very much looks like it." I laughed, referring to the mess that I had managed to get myself into whilst being in New York.

"I'll take you to the offices after we go to the bank, then." He smiled softly, yet all I could think about was the assault that had happened outside those very doors. "Don't worry so much. That won't happen again. I won't let it." He very chivalrously announced. His smooth words seeming like something he had a lot of practise in.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." I smiled towards him as I fetched my jacket that I had thrown over the chair.

"So how was your sleep last night?" He tried his best to make small talk, after all I wasn't filling the room with endless amounts of conversation. Warming to someone is something I let myself do over time. I liked to get to know someone without committing to the friendship straight away. I had endured enough let down to last me a life time, so my new life in New York would be that of a different nature. I definitely wanted to put work before anything. And as kind as Brian had been, he was still a guy and that alone made me wary to trust him so soon. He could very much have a different motive than just being friendly. After all, who was friendly by choice these days? There always seemed to be a second motive.

"It was good. Thank you again for the hotel, I promise I'll pay you back."

"Nonsense." He laughed.

"Please, it seems like a lot. I wouldn't want it to seem like I'm taking advantage."

"Quite the stubborn one, aren't we?" He raised his eyebrows towards me.

"Don't you know that it's rude to assume?" I replied as I walked past him.

"Who said that I was assuming?" His voice followed behind me as we made our way out of the hotel lobby. I remained quiet as I noticed his car parked near the sidewalk.

"I mustn't have been hit that hard. I definitely remember this jaunty color." I said, signalling my eyes to the paintwork of his car.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brian laughed, obviously knowing that I had to be insinuating something.

"Red is quite the vigorous color." I said, before hopping into the car as he did the same.

"Assuming that you know me, now?" He mocked.

"Not assuming, but slowly learning."

"From the color of my car?"

"Color's play an extremely big part in every day life, I'll have you know. And red? That's one of the most descriptive choices. Assuming that you chose this color?"

"I did." He replied. "So what d'ya know?"

"Well it exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy, for starters." Something that I had seen when he had intervened when I was being mugged. The look on his face had told me that he liked the answer to what I had just told him. "But then it is also the universal color for danger."

"And do you think that I could be dangerous?"

"If I did, would I really be getting into a car with you?"