The Smell of Lilies

Chapter 6

"I'm guessing you've played before?" Brandon asked sheepishly.

Kel just sank three striped pool balls on her first shot. Brandon said she could break, perhaps giving her an advantage because he felt sorry for her. But he didn't know it would give her that much of a lead.

Kel gave him a weak smile and walked around the table to make her next move. "One of my foster families, Charles and Marcy, owned a pool hall. I would go their after school with my sister and we would play. I really liked it." She focused and sank another stripe. "It took my mind off things."

Kel examined the table before her. She had two options. She could take a chance and attempt to sink her yellow and green, or take an easy shot for her blue. She decided to risk it. It was an awkward position; she leaned over the table and sunk the green but not the yellow.

Brandon watched her, his eyes grazing over her legs and hips as she leaned on the table. She has no idea how good her ass looks right now.

Kel stood up and looked over the table for her next shot.

"Damn, woman," Brandon said. "If you keep this up I won't get to play at all."

She laughed at that, the sound ringing through the room. Her laugh was loud and sounded like bells. It was unapologetic and raw. 

So she scratched for him. "Oops."

"You did that on purpose," Brandon claimed.

Kel winked at him went to the bar stool to sit down. Brandon examined what was left on the table. He couldn't miss, for the sake of the game and his own pride. 

He sank a few balls and then missed. 

"Shit," he murmured. "I'm toast."

Kel giggled. A smaller version of her natural laugh. Brandon memorized the sound...the woman did something to him. 

"It's not a big deal to lose," she reassured him as she sunk another ball. 

"Kel Bell, I'd lose to you any day," he said, taking a chug of his beer.

Kel liked that. Not just what he said, but that he meant it. It hadn't even been a full day and she was comfortable with him. And that scared her.

Eventually, she did win the game. Brandon threw it off like he let her win, but Kel just laughed. He bought her lunch and they sat at the front bar where they first met, what, almost a day ago? Crazy.

Kel's drink came with cherries and while she was convincing Brandon that she could knot the stem with her mouth, the bartender came up.

"Hey, kid," he said in his raspy voice. "How you doin'?"

"I'm doing okay. Yourself?" he replied before taking a sip of beer.

"Not bad, not bad. How's Heidie doing?"

All of the sudden Brandon was coughing. He set his beer down and wiped his mouth, trying not to choke. 

Kel's eyes flashed up at the mention of another woman. 

"She's fine," Brandon said curtly. 

"Good, good. If you see her around tell her I said hey," Larry added and then stepped aside to resume his work.

Heidie? Is, is he married? Or does he have a girlfriend... Kel wondered. But so what? They had not established any kind of ties. She needed a place to stay and he offered. That's it. It wasn't any of her business anyway. 

A few awkward moments passed. Brandon's eyes grew darker and his eyebrows furrowed like how they did earlier. His hand curled into a fist on the table. 

"Heidie was my fiance," he explained. 

"Was?" Kel asked, almost as curtly as him. 

"She broke it off a month before the wedding."

Kel didn't know whether to be sorry for him or what. "When was that supposed to be?"

"Five months ago," he answered. 

She nodded and tried to find something to look at. 

"Are you done?" he asked.

"Yah."

He got up quickly, almost knocking the stool over, and opened the door a little to roughly. He needed to get out of there. He needed to breathe. 

The freezing air whipped his face, but it did no good. He was angry. Angry at the bartender for bringing Heidie up. Angry at himself for ruining everything. He began walking.

"Brandon?," Kel called to him, trying to keep up. 

He couldn't speak right now. God, what is wrong with me? He tried thinking of the sandlot he used to play baseball in with his brothers. He remembered the hunk of rock they used in place of second base. He remembered Curtis. He imagined them playing together as kids. He tried to calm down.

"Brandon, do you want to talk about it?" he heard Kel ask behind him. 

"No."

"It's okay, Brandon. You don't have to get angry." He glared at the ground now as he walked. "Maybe I can help."

He halted in his tracks, sending an unexpected Kel a few steps ahead of him before she realized and had to stop. He was fuming.

"Why does that make you so upset? Maybe I can help you," she tried to be comforting. It wasn't working.

"You think you can help me? How can you help me when you didn't really seem to do a good job either? Look around, sweetheart. You were his tool." he snapped.

His words were like a slap on the face. And it might as well have been for the expression on her face. Kel's eyes read nothing short of hurt, like a lost puppy. The blood rushed to her cheeks, turning her face red. Brandon could make out moisture in her left eye.

Brandon, you jackass. You made her cry...I made her cry.

Kel stepped back slowly, gathering all of her will to not cry. She pursed her lips and started walking the other way. Her steps grew quicker and more brisk. 

Brandon stood there, with his hands shoved in his pockets. He was breathing a little louder than usual and he couldn't move. Finally, the two wires in his mind connected and he looked back for her. But she was out of sight.