The Smell of Lilies

Chapter 4

Kel woke up to the sound of heavy footsteps in another room. The dull light streaming in from the window suggested that it was very early. Too early.

At first she had forgotten about her whereabouts, but as consciousness reached her she recalled the events of the last two days, and her heart sank. A heavy, dark pressure tightened in her chest making her want to cry. But then she remembered. Brandon. The pressure relieved somewhat, which surprised her, but it had not fully dispersed. She stretched and rolled over on his large bed. It was firm, but comfortable. A bed for a man – large and safe. She liked it. She liked it a little too much.

Brandon’s blue clock said that it was 5:36 a.m.

God. That’s too early.

But something in her, an excitement moving up from her toes to her heart, made her sit up and was eager to see him.

It shouldn’t be like this. I should be curled up in a ball, crying and eating chocolate.

But she wasn’t crying and eating her pain away. She was hurt, of course, crushed by the recent debacle with her boyfriend of four years. She wanted to sit and cry, but she wouldn’t let herself. She couldn’t let Brandon see her like that and she would damn well not make herself any more vulnerable. So she kept it locked away in a little tight ball in her chest. Instead of releasing it, she covered it with the thought of Brandon.

As she walked through the hallway to the bathroom, she could catch the faint sounds of sizzling and Brandon’s footsteps. The smell of bacon was in the air.

She washed up in the bathroom and tied her curly hair up in a bun.

“Good morning,” she said softly to Brandon when she walked into the kitchen. He wore nothing but socks and athletic shorts.

Brandon glanced up at her and grinned his goofy grin. “Morning. Did you sleep okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” she mumbled.

He chuckled. “You don’t sound like you did. I’m sorry if I woke up you. I tried to be quiet.”

She smiled. He tried to be quiet for her, even if he had been terrible at it; she liked that he had considered her in his actions. Something Craig hadn’t done in a long time, she thought.

“It’s not your fault. I just had a bad dream I think.”

“Oh,” he said. He didn’t know how to comfort her; he had never dealt with something like this. “What was it about?”

She looked down at her fingers when she spoke. An indication of shyness, Brandon figured out. “I think I was at Craig’s. But I was upset, even though I didn’t know what was going on. My stomach hurt, I think. And then he wasn’t alone, and I tried to pelt him with his camera.”

“His camera?”

“He is a professional photographer. That’s why he moved here. Or at least, that’s why he told me he had moved here…to get better job opportunities. But I soon realized that that wasn’t the reason he moved here at all.”

Her small voice got even smaller when she said the last part, forcing Brandon to stop his cooking and watch her. The sadness was not evident in her face – she was good at that part. But it absolutely devoured her tone of voice. He could see that she was holding it in, everything she had gone through, not just with Craig, but her whole life…she kept locked up inside. Was it because of pride? Or simply in her nature? He didn’t know yet, but it was plain enough to see that she was hurting. And he hated that.

His hatred turned to anger in a flash. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

Calm down, don’t say anything stupid. Calm down. You don’t even know this girl. You just helped her out for the night. She’ll be leaving today and that will be the end of it. Stop overthinking everything. Calm down.