the wrong kind of love #11

Chapter 11
Mandy walked nervously into the café the following lunch time and saw that Brian was already there. For a second, she hesitated and seriously contemplated on turning around and running off. But she couldn’t. She just looked at him sitting there, playing with the coasters on the table and looking around. She sighed. She had to sort out a few things with him. She had to put things right. If only they hadn’t seen each other that fateful night, none of this would be happening. She wouldn’t be in this situation.“I would have been more miserable than I already am!” she mumbled to herself, thinking the last sentence aloud.She shook her head, took a deep breath, fixed her hair a bit and walked towards Brian, who was impatiently checking on his watch.“Hey!” she finally managed to say, sitting opposite him.“Oh, hi! I thought you had decided on standing me up!” he smiled, standing up as she sat down. He looked at her guilty face as he sat back down on his chair and sighed, “Oh, you were already thinking about it, weren’t you?”“I am not going to lie to you, Brian. Yes. I was thinking about it. I am sorry but this is just too hard for me.” She sighed.“And what made you stay?” he asked curiously.Mandy shrugged, “The fact that I want to put things right again, and not have all this hanging over my shoulders.”Brian nodded and just stared at her, “So?”Mandy sighed and played with the cutlery on the table. The waiter then came and took her order and then left again.“What is it you so desperately wanted to talk to me about?” she asked, without looking at him.Brian sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, “I want to know why you left me so suddenly that night!”“You know why?” she muttered, bowing her head down and shaking her head.“No. No I don’t! Coz as far as I am aware of, you kissed me and then all of a sudden you are running away. What was that all about?” he argued.“I am a married woman, Brian!” she whined, “I cannot let things like that happen!” “But you were the one who kissed me!” he raised his voice slightly, not understanding her at all.“Shhh keep it down will you?” she hissed, flapping her arms about.“Why? Are you scared your husband will find out?” he smirked.“Well, yes, actually!” she answered.“And why the fuck would he care? He is doing someone else behind your back anyway!” he shrugged, leaning back on the chair and folding his arms.Mandy stared at him, hurt by his comment, “No he is not!”“Well, that is the impression you left me with!” he smirked.“For your information, and not that it is any of your god damned business, he took the whole day off yesterday and spent it with me! He wouldn’t do that if he was having an affair.” She spat angrily.“Ahhh a guilty conscience. Another sign. Either that or his lover was unavailable. Maybe she is married too!” he grinned.“No, he did not have a guilty conscience and he does not have a lover. He wanted to spend the day with me. It came from the heart!” she argued.“So you spent the entire day together, is that right?” he challenged her, with his arms still folded.Mandy nodded.“So tell me then. If he spent the entire day with you, how come he was at the office at midnight and you were not with him?” he smirked.Mandy looked up at him quickly as if to ask how he knew.“Yeah, that’s right. I know he left you at night to go to the office. I was there when Mike made the call!” he grinned.“If you have anything to do with mike making that call, I swear I will…” she snarled, looking at him with contempt.“Oh don’t be so paranoid! I did not set him up. It’s not my style. I would rather wait for the perfect moment and for him to dig his own whole and be unable to get out!” he laughed.“What were you doing in the office at that time of night then?” she asked.“I had nothing better to do. I couldn’t sleep and since I was supposed to have a working lunch today, I decided to get a move on with things so I could meet up with you today!” he shrugged, “Not that it is any of your business!”Mandy was left speechless. Nicky would never have done that for her. Feelings were now starting to grow. She stared at him.“What?” he asked, noticing her stare.She shook her head and looked away from him. Brian sighed and grabbed her hand.“Mandz, in all seriousness now, why did you kiss me that night?” he asked.Mandy sighed and looked away, “I dunno!”“Yes you do. Just tell me, please!” he begged.“I dunno. I guess…I liked the attention you were giving me ok? I mistook my feelings for something else. There. I said it! Happy now?” she whined.“So you do have feelings for me!” he gasped.Mandy shook her head but she could not reply verbally, as that would mean she would be lying and she was ridiculously bad at that.“Yes you do. You have feelings for me!” he grinned.“NO I don’t!” she huffed. She did it. She lied, but she was right. He didn’t believe her.“It is nothing to feel ashamed about love. I have feelings for you too. Have done since we were at school. Even when I dumped you, I realised what a mistake I had made!” he smiled.“So why did you do it and why didn’t you try and get me back?” she questioned.“Ok, first of all, because I was young. I was a prick back then. And second, would you honestly have taken me back?” he smiled.Mandy looked at that smile. The very same smile that would have melted her heart all throughout her schooling years. It still had that power and effect on her. She sighed.“Yeah, thought not!” he grinned.“So what are we going to do?” he asked after a short pause.“About what?” she asked, looking up at his face.“About us!” he smiled.“There is no us, Brian!” she sighed, shaking her head.Brian sighed and grabbed her hands, “Come on Mandy, We’re both adults here, and you know as well as I do that there is this chemistry between us!”Mandy looked at him, totally bewildered. How dare he? There was no chemistry. There was nothing she hated more than a conceited man. She pulled her hands away and stood up. Brian stared at her.“I have no idea what you are talking about! All I know is that I am a married woman and I love my husband…And you are nothing but a self loving, egotistical arrogant twat who loves himself way too much. Now I am sorry to have wasted your time Brian. Goodbye!” she turned around and stormed off. Brian quickly paid and tipped the waiter and ran after her. He managed to catch up with her, after pushing his way past everyone and grabbed her wrist, making her spin round. She looked at him with fire spitting out of her eyes.“Mandz, come on. Fine, so you say you feel nothing for me. That’s ok. OI know I have a lot of crazy feelings for you, but surely we can be friends. We were friends once, I am sure we can be mates again!” he pleaded.“After what you have just admitted to me, I don’t think so!” she shook her head and freed herself from his grip.“Oh come on. Please I can love with it. I have had pretty good practice at it in the past!” he continued with a smile.Mandy looked at that warm smile of his and found herself starting to smile at him too. Brian saw this and his grin got bigger.“If these feelings ever get in the way of our friendship, Brian, then it’s over, ok?” she sighed.“They won’t!” he smiled, shaking his head, “I am the master at keeping feelings in. trust me on this one!” he winked.