Me? A Spy? ¬.¬

Fearless

Three weeks later, I invited Brian to a buffet. He walked over to my house, and we headed to the buffet together. I tried to strike up a conversation, but being a spy did not mean I had the required social skills to engage contact with another person.  In my defense, it was the only conversation I didn't spew out an insult.

"So... How have you been doing?" I asked, trying to break the awkard silence between us.  Brian walked beside me with his hands dug into the pockets of his jeans.  He blew his bangs out of his face.

"I've been doing fine.  You?"

"Fine." I looked away from Brian and gazed up at the setting sky.  It was so beautiful. 

Nevertheless, I tried.

The walk to the buffet was quite awkward, but it was mostly because I never had friends my age.  We sat down in a booth and perused the menus.  I decided to start off with noodles, but I knew I was going to order a lot more.  I was a really big eater, contrary to my tiny body structure.  As the waiter was filling our water glasses, she was giving me an oh-la-la~ look.  Like I would ever go out with a guy like Brian. It was already mortifying just being seen next to him.

I suddenly rememberd that the reason I was here was about Brian's supposed brother.  I thought up of various scenarios in which I could bring up such a sensitive topic, especially since I invited Brian to a casual and purely platonic dinner.  I don't think Brian wanted to be pestered with my questions about his brother.  Again, because of my lack of social skills, I tried to smoothly ease into the topic.  It was like picturing me dip my toe delicately into a lake to measure the temperature.

"So what's your brother's name?" I asked, trying to act casual while twirling a strand of noodle around my fork.  I mentally slapped myself.  What happened to gently talking my way to this topic?  Instead of touching the frigid lake, it was like I belly flopped into it.  I cringed at the thought of it.

Real smooth.  I tried to ignore the inner battle raging in my head.

Brian widened his eyes and looked at me.  Suddenlym he cleared his throat and looked down at his sushi.  Instead of wolfing it down like he had for the past five minutes, he was picking at it with his chopsticks.  He inhaled deeply, and raised his head. His eyes met mine and I almost got lost in his chocolate brown eyes.  Almost.

"Jamie."

I barely heard the name because I was so mesmerized by his eyes.  I shook my head furiously to clear my mind. 

"Come again?" I asked.

"Jamie..."

I realized it was a total bull crap lie.  His pulse was increasing in his neck which meant that he was nervous. 

"So-," I opened my mouth so speak, but was abruptly cut off.

"I gotta use the bathroom."  Brian got up slowly, never breaking eye contact with me, and left the table.  I made sure he was out of sight before sliding across the booth. I took this time to search through his belongings (a small backpack) when I found his cell.  It was quite odd that he didn't leave it in his pocket, but since when was Brian normal?  I started skimming his list of contacts for a Jamie.

 "Aiden, Amy, Annie, Bertha, Ceydra, Dalton, Darius, Jack, Jamie..."  My heart stopped for a second.  Was Brian actually telling me the truth?  I heard the bathroom door swivel open, and  saw Brian nearing our table.  I quickly put his cell into my jean pocket and discreetly put his things back on his side of the booth.  Brian took out his wallet and insisted that he pay for the food.

He said, "It is the least I can do after being saved by a damsel."  My cheeks started to heat up.

What a gentleman.  Then again, he did eat triple what I ate.