Arielle stood in the doorway of the door that was left open. The sight that greeted her eyes was a heart warming one, it warmed her frigid heart. Her brother held a woman on the sofa, nothing sexual but the pose and body language made her want to reach out to share in what they offered. She didn't know why, but there was something wholesome about their relationship, just staring at them was enough to see it. There was a bond, something larger than life in that sitting room and she hated to ruin a moment but she needed to get to know the mysterious lady her brother never stopped talking about. At first she tried to get ahold of the lady but as usual, he didn't even have her contact address. She didn't blame him though, he was hopelessly naive about a lot of things.
"Hem hem." Arielle faked a cough as Beverly righted herself, with Bryan appearing unshaken. Arielle didn't know what Beverly saw, didn't know if she saw the resemblance between her and her brother but she knew that since Beverly was a woman like her, she'd jump to conclusions before anything else.
"Little sister, how are you?" Bryan spoke without looking up, dissipating the tension in the room like it was made of smoke.
"Oh, just dandy. Now, would you do the introductions or do I have to find something to hit you over the head with?" Arielle said with a bright smile on her face as Bryan groaned, obviously not pleased with being interrupted the way he was.
"You don't have to resort to such crude measures. Beverly, meet the eternal thorn in my side, my little sister, Arielle. A sweetheart sometimes, a devil almost always. Arielle, meet the beautiful stranger turned family, Beverly. She's been instrumental in a lot of things, even though she'd been avoiding me." Bryan added the last part, much to her chagrin. Beverly watched the exchange between siblings and didn't feel like coming between the obvious bond they had. There was just something pure about the way they acted, something wholesome. She would have been content to just watch the show before her but something told her it was poor etiquette. She needed to make a good impression on Bryan's sister anyways.
"Hello, Arielle. I'm Beverly as Bryan said. It's nice to meet you, officially." Beverly put on her best grin, in a bid to win over Arielle. To her surprise, Arielle mentioned nothing of the embrace she came to the house to meet, she avoided the topic totally.
"Hello to you too, Beverly. My brother can't seem to shut up about you. I did try to suffocate him with a pillow a few times though. Didn't work still. Glad to meet you in person and of course, even gladder that my brother found someone as beautiful as you. Knowing him, he didn't seem like the kind of person to find a girl like you. No offense, brother." Arielle added the last part as an afterthought and Beverly had to hold back the laugh that threatened to escape her lips. It was funny, the way Arielle talked to her brother in such a free way, so uninhabited about whatever she had to say. Beverly didn't need to be told that being in that household was going to be fun, she could already see it play out like a movie.
"None taken, you've said worse." Bryan waved it away , like it was something unimportant. Her respect for him tripled then, seeing as he didn't pick offense in the slightest.
"Aww, you're like an old couple bickering about who gets the walking cane." Beverly remarked, unable to hold back the laughter bubbling forth from the depths of her stomach.
"Ewww, I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole even if I had the chance." Arielle put a little space between her and Bryan, all in a bid to emphasize her point. It was a funny reaction and Beverly felt lighter than she had in ages.
"A ten foot pole, you say? So you're not bothered about the fact that an old couple shares a walking cane? Though logically, who do you think should get the cane? Logically speaking." Bryan made light of everything then turned it all serious, as usual. The two ladies in the sitting room gave a sigh of exasperation, as if to say, 'Men, such simple minded creatures.'
Beverly noticed Arielle sigh the same time Arielle noticed hers. And boom, instant friendship. The workings of the mind of women have not still been discovered till date and Bryan just watched with a stupefied expression on his face.
"What's going on here?" He asked, hopelessly clueless. He saw the exchange between the two of them but he couldn't figure out what it was about no matter how hard he tried. It was like it was something beyond him, some twisted women’s logic that he couldn't figure out outrightly.
"Never mind, just women stuff." Arielle said, waving his question away. He expected the response but it stung, nonetheless.
"Oh? No worries then. So, what do we do now?" He asked nobody in particular but Arielle hadn't stated why she arrived as impromptu as she did so she decided to use that avenue to.
"By the way, I was in the neighborhood and I decided to come check up on you. Looks like you're in good hands." She said, winking at Beverly as her lips formed into a smirk. Bryan was confused at their newfound friendship and wondered if they'd met somewhere before. It was something that was always going to remain a mystery apparently since he could never figure out how women worked and stopped trying.
"Aww, that's right, he's in safe hands, my hands." Beverly said, smiling from ear to ear. Only she and Arielle could hear the unspoken words, the underlying meaning of the statement Beverly made. It was a declaration of ownership but Bryan was too out of tune to pick it. Which was a pretty good way of talking to Arielle without him noticing anything. It was like discovering a secret treasure trove, Beverly knew that she'd found a friend in Arielle. She wasn't sure exactly how they clicked, she didn't even bother to stress her head about it. All she knew was that they did, in beautiful ways.
"Now, now, I can't seem to understand what any of you is saying so I'll go to the kitchen and try to prepare something for us to eat. Arielle, are you leaving anytime, soon? If yes, reschedule." Bryan took charge of the situation as Beverly crossed her legs and watched, various thoughts running through her head. He was perfect, perfect in too many ways she couldn't even name.
"Oh, a dominant man," Bryan heard Beverly say before he was out of earshot. He didn't hear the conversation that ensued after but he could figure it out without even trying. He didn't bother to stress about it, thinking about things like that would only cause unnecessary tension and stress him more than necessary. He'd like to avoid all manner of stress if he could, which was why he didn't call for help in cooking. He needed to piece together his thoughts, and mindlessly performing a task was one sure way to do that.
He didn't know how to qualify his relationship with Beverly, he didn't know what to call it. For one, he wanted her by his side always but he also didn't know what she thought about that. He didn't know if they were friends or more than that. He never took a course in romance so he remained hopelessly clueless to it. Writing romance in a novel was way easier than watching it play out in front of you. The shifty eyes, the nervousness, the guarded breathing, everything he thought was fiction played out in front of him. He felt those emotions strongly and wished to explore them but he couldn't figure out what exactly he was to offer her. Was it a relationship? She didn't seem like the type to accept a relationship on a whim like that. She also didn't seem like the type of person to grovel for his attention, she was way beyond that.
He knew that any action he took would affect whatever it was between them, he didn't just know if it was positively or negatively. It didn't make sense how he felt, he'd never been that confused in his life. Sure, when he plotted his books there were times of gargantuan confusion bordering on insanity but there was something different about thinking about Beverly, there was an inexplicable equation he couldn't seem to balance whichever way he tried.
His hands moved but his mind was far away, dwelling on his dilemma with Beverly. He didn't want to seem to forward, pressuring her needlessly. He wasn't that kind of person and she knew. But still, he wanted her to know how he felt without being pushy about it, giving her time to come to terms with it. Love was a complicated thing and he had to artfully deal with it. He was walking on eggshells around her but he couldn't help it when she consumed his every waking moment. He'd probably told Arielle about the night Beverly spent with him about a few thousand times and funny enough, Arielle listened every time. He didn't know if it was common courtesy or she genuinely enjoyed his stories but he was grateful, nonetheless. Arielle was an extrovert with more friends than he could count and she had a self confidence he couldn't seem to mirror, no matter how hard he tried. Well, some would say he was proud and obnoxious but he didn't just have the mental capacity to deal with baseless conversations. If that made him proud, then so be it.
But she was different. He couldn't place a finger on why Beverly called to his mind and assaulted his imaginations but she was always there, just a little out of reach, like the mist on foggy days. There was no way he could get close to her and it infuriated him to no end. Yet, holding her hands, pulling her close, basking in her scent, doing all of these things confused him even more. He didn't know what to do, classic dilemma of a man with no experience in love related issues. It wasn't his fault though, his nature preceded him. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't seem to figure out the science behind love and the damages it wrought.
Being naturally intelligent, he had a reduced emotional intelligence and couldn't seem to figure out how emotions worked. Arielle was his only contact with the world that he could understand, no matter how complex she might have seemed to others. To him, she was his little sister, with a heart large enough to blanket the world. He'd asked her questions about love on various occasions but her explanations always felt lacking in substance and he finally understood why. Talking about love was different from experiencing it firsthand, it was a different dimension away. The adjectives that felt overdone before suited his present feelings, the bridge between confusion and nervousness.
What exactly was love? A kind of gland secreted that produces such heady emotions when we feel a certain way? Science has never really explained love to Bryan's liking, it was like playing around in the dark blindfolded with lots of unknown obstacles in front of you. He had no fortifications to block out his feelings, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to. He was his own person and curiosity was his vice. He wanted to explore the emotions to the max, leaving no stone unturned. He wasn't one to shy away from a challenge or an adventure of any sort, he just wasn't that kind of person. He preferred to embrace things head on, like he'd face everything else until then.
The concept of facing life head-on had been his mantra since he was all but a child, alien to the workings of the world. It was a gradual process of learning, of accepting that the days go by and time was a factor. He saw things in black and white and more often than most, tried to explain the workings of life with logic. But now, he was stumped. Logic didn't prepare him for love, logic didn't tell him how messed up his emotions were going to get. In fact, logic suggested that falling in love was right for him but after coming face to face with the creature call love, he wasn't sure he wasn't to be at its mercy. But then, what did he know?
Unknown to him, Beverly stood watching in the doorway, just watching the movement of his hands as he diced and sliced the carrots and onions on the chopping board. The was a kind of deliberate power in his movements, a kind of strength that made Beverly wish to wrap her hands around his waist and just stay there as long as humanly possible. His muscles rippled in the shirt he wore and Beverly couldn't take her eyes away for one second. She didn't want to blink even. He was in her life and she couldn't believe her good fortune.
She was going to own him, as long as she had the choice. He was hers for the taking, a special kind of forbidden fruit. But what was life without adventures? Even forbidden ones?