Because Of You

He sat alone in a free booth waiting to be served. Calm down! I mentally slapped myself. I grabbed a menu and walked to his booth. “Good Afternoon Sir. What can I get you?” I asked sending him a shy smile. His deep brown eyes met mines again and he returned my smile with his own cute smile.

His voice gave me the bad case of the shivers throughout my whole body. “Can I just have the regular please and one of those,” He asked motioning to the batch of brownies I popped out of the oven not to long ago.

“Sure thing. Anything else?”

“One crème one sugar.” I turned away from his booth and walked to the counter preparing his coffee and brownie. All of the other girls working with me were all watching eagerly, obviously crushing on him as well. He won’t even pay attention to me. Don’t set yourself up for a big fall. Don’t. I repeated in my head over and over again. There are so many prettier girls here, he won’t even bother to notice me.

I walked around the counter, trying to ignore all of the girls drooling over him. They aren’t to blame though. The way his voice sent a jolt through anyone’s body. How he flipped his pitch black hair out of his brown eyes. Everything about him yelling to everyone about his innocence. Something so hard to find nowadays.

“Here you are Sir.” I placed his coffee and brownie in front of him. This is your time! Go for it ! “Sir—"

Out of nowhere he let out a smooth laugh, “Please, call me Brandon. Have a seat, will you?” I nodded sliding into the seat across from him.

“Brandon? Is this your first time coming to the dinner?”

He glanced up from his coffee, “Yes actually. I missed lunch. So right after I dropped off my daughter I came in here to grab something to eat. And here we are, at this very moment.” My heart sank. Shit, he has a kid.

I laughed away the sadness, “So where’s the Mrs. in this picture?” He slowly put down his coffee on the table. His hands began to shake a bit. He clenched them up into a fist and dropped them into his lap. “My daughter and I just moved here. There is no Mrs. in the picture.” His last sentence oozing acid and hatred. Note To Self: Why are you so stupid?! Just shut up and walk away!

“Brandon, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—“ I babbled before standing and getting ready to leave the booth. Before I could walk away, I felt Brandon grab my wrist. I turned around and looked directly into his beautiful eyes. Eyes filled with such sadness that I began to hurt just looking at him.

“Please stay.” His voice was softer than a whisper, “Don’t worry about the Mrs. thing. Forget about it. I didn’t mean for you to leave. Please stay.” His voice filled with such pain. His words stabbing my chest as he spoke. I nodded and he let go of my wrist. “I’m sorry. I’m just so tired of being alone.” He looked away from me. I had the chance to leave. But his words, pulled me back to him. How could I leave him now?

I stepped closer to where he sat and pulled him close to me, my arms wrapping him into the most loving hug I could ever give. He raised up his arms, I flinched thinking he would push me away, but instead he returned my hug. “My name is Isabella by the way.”

“Is…abel..la,” he whispered slowly. The first time I loved hearing my name being called.

I felt like knives were being thrown at me. I felt horrible icy stares watching my every move. I slowly turned my head around and saw that many of the girls stopped drooling over Brandon and were now sending me horrible glares. Aww shit. I dug my own hole. I returned my attention to Brandon and after my mind and heart argued about letting him go or holding on just a bit longer, I released my grip on him and stepped back, tilting my head to the side smiling at him. “Uh.. I should get back to work,” My cheeks heating up as he smiled at me again.

I swear my heart skipped a beat when he asked, “When is your shift over Isabella?”

“I end in about 10 minutes.”

"And this is your regular shifts?" He asked, hope in his voice.

I nodded.

He got out from the booth and whispered in my ear, "Maybe I'll be back soon. And maybe we could hang out while you're not working. I'm sure my daughter would love you." He winked at me before walking out of the diner. The biggest smile crept its way upon my face once he left. Butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. I felt so dizzy, as if he had just swept me off my feet. I glanced at the clock. Nine more minutes of these stupid glares and I’m outta here. What have I gotten myself into?