Anything but Ordinary

“So what are you doing here?” Brian asked as he looked at the young girl that was standing next to him who was looking at the small girl playing with his Maltese. Ember-Rose tried to avoid eye contact at all times. She didn’t want him to get a good look at her and her flaws that she sees every day. The young woman stood under a tree where the shade made her tense shoulders relax; she didn’t like the sun much knowing that high risk of what might happen if she stayed out too long.

“Kyree begged me to take her to the park today and here we are” Ember-Rose explained quickly staring at her baby sister who’s playing fetch with Pinkly throwing a tennis ball. She didn’t want anything happening to her sister so she kept a good eye on her. Ember didn’t know what she would do if something happened to Kyree and her being outgoing and talks to strangers easily wasn’t always a good thing.

Ember didn’t know what else to say to Brian as they stood there under the shade as the sun blazed down on the little girl and dog as they played, shockingly Pinkly obeyed almost every command. This was the first encounter she had with a man without her mother by her side; well she had a couple but she would just ignore them or walk away quickly not giving them a chance to speak with her.

The young girl wasn’t at all like her little sister and wished that she was; seeing her hazel eyes sparkle at the mention of anything as she rants on and on about anything and everything. She wishes she was like that; more normal and acted her age. Instead of a shy 21 year old who acted like she was three instead of an adult. “So” Ember said as she pursed her lips not knowing what to say.

“So” Brian answered back making him chuckle at the slight awkwardness this girl held. Honestly, he has never met a girl or woman for that fact that was so shy and awkward within the first thirty minutes of getting to know someone. Brian knew most people need time to warm up to a person and sometimes it didn’t take too long for them to start having a nice conversation getting to know one another but with Ember-Rose; it was just completely different.

She was shy and quiet making him think she wasn’t even there; making him glance at her to see if she was actually standing beside him. Ember never looked at him in the eye whenever she answered a question which always short answers by the way and the way she guardedly looked at her sister like she might disappear if she put her focus on something else. Never has Brian ever met someone like this; she was the complete opposite of Jimmy that’s for sure.

His eyes softened at the mere thought of his deceased best friend. It has been a little over a year since the tragic day and it hasn’t gotten any better. Sure he was able to cope with it once and a while but sometimes he just needed to drown himself in liquor or something to distract him from the pain. Even his fiancé, Michelle was worried about him. Crazy how they were supposed to get married six months ago and he decided that he wasn’t ready for that type of commitment at the moment.

Ember-Rose’s eyes finally darted over to the silent man that looked like he was having a depressed thought since the serene look on his face was now placed with a small frown that creased his lips. His forehead was crinkled thinking about something way too hard and she felt bad that she hasn’t said anything to distract him from whatever pain he was feeling. Biting her lip, she softly called out; “Hey” he didn’t budge.

She called out several times but she guessed he was just so deep in thought that he doesn’t hear the world around him. Finally her pale hand reached out to Brian as she tapped him gently, “Brian” she muttered. Brian blinked, startled, at the sudden tap on his shoulder as he looked down to see the young woman finally had her eyes on someone else other than Kyree…and that person was him. Ember-Rose kept calling out to him as his brown eyes kept staring down at her own making her feel self-conscious.

“Are you okay?” she waved her hand around trying to snap him out of whatever he was in but nothing was working. Ember snapped her fingers in his face as he bluntly said; “You have beautiful eyes” it wasn’t something that she expected him to say to her. Ember was shocked that he would say something so…nice to her. The tight knot that developed in her stomach grew as it twisted in unimaginable ways as she gave him a tight smile.

“Um, thanks” in her soft voice as blood rushed to her ears, face, and neck actually feeling flattered that a complete stranger was complimenting her.

Brian smiled, “What? You don’t think your eyes are pretty? They are really unique”

Now that he can take her full appearance he saw that she was an inch shorter than he was making her around a staggering 5’9”, short snow white hair that was boy cut that looked adorable on her in his opinion, her purple eyes that were so dark it almost looked like they can be mistaken for brown or another color unless you get close enough, her pale skin shocked him the most seeing that she lives in California and doesn’t have a tan. Something about her made him interested for some reason; something seems off like she was hiding something.

Ember-Rose shook her head at the question, “Of course not. Why would I? Having an eye color like mine only brings violence. Some people…most people think I’m a freak because of the way I look so it’s shocking to me that you say my eyes are…pretty” she choked out. She wasn’t use to using the word to describe herself, none of those words really. Peering up at Brian to see him staring at her with sympathy it angered it a little bit that he probably thought he knew how she felt. He didn’t but he didn’t say anything like that at all.

Instead he said this, “Did you know my favorite color is purple?”

She furrowed her eyebrows, “Are you just saying that to be nice or telling the truth?” Ember honestly didn’t know how to tell when a person was lying. With the lack of human interaction that she had made her weak in vocal skills unless it was with her mother or sister she didn’t talk to anyone else for that matter. It did drive her a little insane that she doesn’t have any friends to hang around but she deals with it since most people don’t want to deal with her.

Brian just laughed again; he just thought it was so adorable this girl was so innocent. Almost like she never talked to anyone before. “I wouldn’t lie to you, would I?” If anyone has known any better; they would see Brian openly flirting with this girl as she just pondered if he was lying or trustworthy for that matter. Ember knew from her personal experiences not to judge someone by their looks but she couldn’t help but wearingly see the tattoos that covered his body and dark clothing that he wears except for the white shirt he had on.

She shrugged, “I don’t know. I don’t haven’t known you long enough to know if you’re lying.” He was right. Ember-Rose did lack some social skills and he can tell by the awkward stance she had as she took a step back to create even more distance between them because Brian decided to walk closer to her to see her eyes more clearly. “Do you go to school or work or something?” Brian wants to have a conversation with this girl; he’s trying so hard hopefully it won’t be bad as pulling teeth.

“No. I look after Kyree all day usually” Ember wanted share as little information as possible with this guy. She didn’t know if he possibly could be someone dangerous but seeing his sweet nature and Maltese can be a façade to lure in young women. “What do you think you’re going to do when Kyree is old enough to go to school?”

The white haired woman shrugged, “Beats me” seeing that Brian looked a bit dejected that the conversation wasn’t going as planned she asked a question about him. “Do you go to school or anything?” Brian raised a brow glancing at the young girl wondering if she lived under a rock or something. He didn’t want to sound pompous but usually everyone in her age group and lived in Huntington Beach knew who Avenged Sevenfold was.

“How old are you?” he questioned thinking that she might be in her mid-teens.

“21” his eyes bugged out shocked that she was that old; she didn’t look any older than 17! When she asked him why he wanted to know he just answered that he thought she was a teenager and was going to say that most teens and young adults knew who Avenged Sevenfold was. Seeing the confusion on her face she thought deeply, “Is that a TV show or some type of gang?”

This girl was unbelievable he thought.

She thought Avenged Sevenfold was a gang? The more he thought about it; it does kind of sound like one but he wouldn’t voice out those opinions. “No. I’m in a rock band with my best friends. Famous rock band at that” his ego was showing since he was proud to say that they have made it big and who wouldn’t but to Ember her thoughts about this guy was going down south…and fast. Brian did seem like a nice guy but the ego that he just showed wasn’t something she wanted to be around.

Fixing her glasses her dark eyes looked up at him, “Oh, I see” clearly not impressed by this man since he just basically bragged about his band. Now the more she thought about it; the more she realized that her mother was talking about some band called Avenged whatever. She thought she can take a stab in the dark when she asked, “Aren’t you suppose to have a meeting today, Mr. Rockstar?”

It slowly registered in Brian’s face that he totally forgot about the meeting that was going on today. He cursed out loud as they heard, “Oooo! Brian said a bad word!” the little girl ran over to her sister and guitarist who were looking at her in a panic. He didn’t mean to say it out loud and if the little girl starts to say it then he knew he would be in big trouble. Pinkly followed Kyree since she had the tennis ball in her hand before she stuck out her empty hand.

“You owe me one dollar for saying a bad word” with a huge smile on her face showing her missing teeth. Seeing the confused expression on Brian’s face; Kyree started to explain the swear jar rules and by the time she was done he obediently handed her a dollar. For some reason he had a feeling that this girl hustle people for their money.

Ember-Rose smiled seeing that Brian is now a part of the game and seeing that her tactic worked just made her smile even more. Kyree happily shoved the crinkled green paper on her overall pocket before she spun around and screamed at Kyree to go get the ball as she tossed it at some random direction.

Getting over what Kyree just did, Brian asked Ember how she knew about the meeting that he had today and she frowned at him. “Because my mom talked about meeting up with your band” that was something he wasn’t expecting and seeing the look on her face was telling him that she was more than pissed that he ditched her mother. Now that he looked at his cell; it made more sense as to why Matt left life threatening messages on his voicemail talking about something that he zoned out about.

Whenever Matt went on a rampage; Brian learned to block everything he says so when he hears him screaming into the phone his brain automatically shuts down and doesn’t hear a word he says. Brian sheepishly smiled, “I guess I should get going then” Ember-Rose agreed as she called Kyree over since Pinkly had to leave which made Kyree pout. “But I wanna play with Pinkly some more” she whined.

“Some other time, Ky. Let’s go play on the jungle gym” Ember offered before Kyree agreed after she waved at Brian farewell before he could give her a proper good bye. Yeah. That girl is one of a kind, that’s for sure.