Fire On Fire

Enchanted

I wake up with a start, and immediately lay my head back down.

I close my eyes to hold back the impending headache I feel creeping up on me. After a few minutes, i open my eyes again, to find that i'm in a completely dark room. As I let my eyes adjust, I start to see shapes and silhouettes of where I am, and i quickly realise that this is clearly not my home.

As i slowly sit up, i realise that i am lying on bed, my feet already on the ground. The complete silence in the room, is only disturbed by the faint sound of breathing, but it's not my own breathing.

I look around the room, and locate the sound to a small figured, curled up on the floor against the wall next to the door not too far from me.

That's when recent events come to mind.

I remember the party, drinking, feeling sick, going to the terrace, drinking again, the girl on the terrace, and leaving with her. I'm glad to see that I still have all have my clothes on, which means nothing intimate happened, thankfully.

Right now, she is fast asleep, with her arms hugging her knees, and her head laid on top, with a mass of hair falling to the side and touching the floor.

Despite the headache, I am not quite hangover as I would have been if I was actually drunk, which only adds to my confusion. What the hell did I drink last night that knocked my senses out bad?

That's what i get for hanging around college parties, they are no different from teenagers with raging hormones.

Scratching the back of my head, i look at my wrist watch, and find that it past 4am, it's one earlier earlier than i normally wake up for my morning work out.

I should get going, go home, but I will have to drive and I don't feel quite up to it right now. The thought of laying back down on this bed to sleep again, offering a more enticing option for now.

I look down, and notice the girl on the floor again.

Why is she down there?

That doesn't look very comfortable. I don't know how long she has been in that position, but if she continues to stay like that, her body will feel like s**t in the morning.

*

The phone vibrating in my pocket wakes me up, and I almost jump out of my skin when I find myself lying on the bed, next to man.

Then my brain quickly recalls what happened last night and I calm down.

How am I on the bed though, I remember falling asleep on the floor

My phone vibrates again, and I get up and rush to the sitting room.

'Hello'

'Why are you whispering' Carmen asks immediately.

'Good morning to you too' i reply.

'I take it the stranger is still in my apartment'

'Yes.' I murmur.

"And are you ok?' she asks.

'I'm fine' I whisper.

'Ok...was just checking to make sure you are alive and safe....by the way, send me a picture of him ok.. I want to know what he looks like' she utters.

'I am not doing that....bye' I chuckle, and cut the call and stare at the screen.

08:22am.

Shit!

There is another missed call from mom. I need to get home ASAP.

I turn back to the bedroom, and slowly push the door open, i walk in and find that the bed is empty.

Then the bathroom door suddenly opens and he stands there, giving me a scare at his sudden appearance.

"Are you always this easily frightened" he asks huskily, his hair casually falling over his forehead.

"I...i just expected you to still be in bed, sleeping, that's all" I murmur anxiously.

He nods.

"Which one is yours?" He asks, holding up Carmen and Devin's pink and Purple tooth brushes simultaneously.

"Neither" I whisper, and start to walk past him.

He is standing by the door, and makes no effort to accommodate me as i pass, so i end up brushing against him as i walk passed. I go to the medicine cabinet above the vanity top, and grab my tooth brush which i keep up there, then i turn around and face him.

I find that he followed me inside, and he is standing right behind me, his presence very imposing. He is also alot taller than I remember from last night, or ever noticed, the times I saw him at the university library.

He moves to take it from me, but I hold it back.

"Uhhmm, i was going to use it actually." I murmur.

"After you" he says, stepping back and leaning against the wall behind him.

Right.

I turn around and start brushing my teeth, an activity so simply, but suddenly feeling like rocket science as I feel his presence behind me.

"You don't live here?" He asks rhetorically, observing me.

"No exactly" I reply, and he doesn't bother to ask why or how come i brought him here then.

Anyway, i do spend alot of time here, but I always go home at the end of the day, although, I have on occasion, spent a night or two here too.

I look up and find that he is watching me through the mirror, and it makes me feel even more self conscience, and so i quickly avoid his gaze. I bend and rinse my mouth and wash the tooth brush as effectively as I can before turning to face him again.

He steps forward and grabs it from my hand, and squirts some toothpaste on it, while continuing to maintain eye contact, and I realise this is the first time I have actually really really looked at him, and he is looking at back at me.

Last night was dark, and i couldn't really see his features clearly. I find myself captivated by his eyes, staring at the gray irises that have such an intensity in them....I watch him shove the stick into his mouth, the same tooth brush i had in my mouth a second ago, and it dawn's on me the intimacy of what we are just sharing.

"I will wait outside" I say, breaking away from his gaze.

He doesn't respond, just watches me leave.

I walk back into the bedroom and take a sigh of relief.

why do i feel so, so....unsettled.

And how did i possibly end up in this situation, this would have been fine and funny even, if it was just some random guy i met at the party, and came back home with, but he is not just any random guy, he is the man i have been enchanted by, for the past three months.

In person, up close, he is anything but a random guy......and those eyes, i will never be able to unsee them ever again. That image will sit with me for the rest of my life, the thought bring a small smile to my face.

From afar, he always seemed so unreachable, but captivating, but now that I have actually met him, he seems so forbidding and menacing up close, but still unbelievably enthralling.

Shaking away the thoughts, I walk to the bed and start to make sure it is as neat as it was when we found it.

Then I open up Carmen's closet to pick out something i can borrow to wear back home.

*

I walk out of the bathroom just in time to see her pull a white shirt down over her head, then she pulls her long dark, wavy hair, out from inside it to lay over her back . She turns around as she performs the action, only to step back in fright.

Are you kidding me?

"Will you stop doing that" she mutters.

"Doing what"

" Sneaking up on me" she drawls, and i frown.

"So do you make a habit of bringing strange men to your friend's apartment?" i asks curiously, leaning against the door frame again.

"Only drunk and destitute ones" she replies cheekily.

Destitute? That's a first time to be called that.

I smirk.

"By the way, you should be grateful I helped you, i saved you from a possible accident, and gave you a roof over your head." She utters brazenly, folding her arms over her chest.

It's said lightly but the weight of her words hits me hard.

Anything could have happened last night. Actually, something did happened, there was something in my dink that made me feel that way, and I need to find out what it was, and why it was there.

"I have to go" I say, all seriousness back to my face, as i walk towards the door.

She looks taken aback with my change of attitude, the small smile on her face disappearing immediately.

"Oh, yeah, me too." She says, following me out of the room and to the main door.

"Keys" I say, after patting my pockets, and realising I don't have them because she drove us here.

She grabs them from a table near by, and hands them over to me, then steps back, and with both hands, moves some hair behind her ears.

This opens up her face a whole lot, especially in this light, and one thing stands out, her eyes, Big brown, round and expressive eyes.

She looks back at me nervously, and I almost feel bad at my change in demeanor, that has put her back on edge again, but what does it matter, I will probably never see her again after today.

"Thank you, by the way, for giving me a place to crash" I say, and she smiles again, her features, softening up again.

"You're welcome, I'm sure you would have done the same for me" she says, and I grunt.

Actually, no. No i would have not.

"Also, allow me to apologize, usually, when I go home with a woman, I don't normally pass out like this, but this was nice." I find myself saying, and immediately curse myself.

Why the hell did I need to say that. I don't owe this girl any explanation.

She chuckles and I find myself glad that I did speak after all.

"Well, i'm glad to hear that, i would hate to be part of a stereotype " she murmurs softly.

The more she speaks, the more i detect a slight accent in her speech, but i can't quite figure out what language though.

Then both our phones ring, simultaneously.

"Got to go" I say, staring at the caller ID, then opening the front door.

" Yeah, me too." she says, motioning to her phone.

I wonder whose place this is, but I have no business, nor time to probe her on this, besides, it doesn't matter anyway, i will never see her again after today.

"Shall we" i say, stepping outside.

"Yeah" she murmurs, locking up and following behind me.

"Where is your car?" i ask, when we reach the car park.

" I drove your car, remember?" she murmurs.

" Right. So how are you getting home?"

"My Uber is here" she says, pointing to a cab parked close by.

"I will take you." I offer.

" You don't really have too." she murmurs, the wind blowing her hair around.

"I know, but i insist, it's the least I can do for what you did for me last night." I say with finality.

"But it is already here" she says, pointing to her ride.

I walk to the cab and pay him for wasting his time.

"Let's go"

As we drive, i don't fail to notice how stiff she sits, or how her hand is clutching the side of the car. I have been told i drive too fast, too recklessly, so i slow down the speed abit for her benefit, I will resume my normal speed when i am alone again after i drop her off.

The drive is quiet, the silence only being broken when she is giving me directions to her place. The longer we drive, the more we get into the upper class community area.

Alot of questions across my mind about her, but I refuse to entertain them. After I drop her off, I won't need to ever see her again, so i don't need to know anything about her.

"You live here?" I ask, unlocking the doors, as I pull up at a guarded gate, one that i am already familiar with.

"Yep" she says , looking ahead, like it's the gateway to hell.

"Thanks" she murmurs and tries to open the door, but I press the auto lock for the doors instead.

She turns to look me, a little taken aback.

"I will deliver you to your door step". I murmur, not giving her room to argue, as i drive into the estate.

This ought to be interesting.

"No! " She nearly shouts.

"Really, it's not necessary, i got it from here" she adds, her hand trying to open the door of a moving car.

I ignore her, and drive right up to front entrance of the house, just when Sabastian and his son Andrew are coming out.

The car comes to a stop and I unlock the doors, turning to face her briefly, then I step out, as the two approach us, looking a little dumbfounded.

" Antonella" Sebastian says lowly, as she comes up behind me.

Antonella!

So that's her name. It just occurred to me that i didn't even bother asking her before.

"Is this your coming, since last night?" he continues, looking at her.

I step aside, allowing her to stand by my side, my hand going to rest on her lower back.

"Sebastian" I say, then nod at Andrew.

"Marco, forgive my surprise, i wasn't expecting you..."

"I'm not staying actually, i was just dropping off Antonella home" i say, my face growing into a smug smile.

"I didn't know you two were acquainted" he says, looking between us.

"We are now, we met last night, plus we did spend a night together" i say, smiling at Antonella briefly, before looking back at him.

She in turn, brushes my hand off her back, but i am too focused on enjoying Sebastian's shock, to notice the petrified look on her face at what i just admittedly implied.

"Well, i will take my leave now, Gentlemen, Antonella.....thank you for last night" i say, whispering the last part, but making sure it is loud enough for all to hear.

I don't even turn to check their expression as i leave.

Setting the car into ignition, i drive off with a satisfied smile.

Personally, i loathe Sebastian, our paths have crossed several times within our circles, and we clashed as individuals, but my family has been doing business with him for several years now, so i am forced to be cordial to him, and vice versa.

He on the other hand, does not hide the fact that he would like our business relations to be more intertwined, and perhaps turn personal, something he would benefit from even more it it happened, and so over time, he has shown interest to have his daughter romantically involved with a Bishop. But neither Nick nor Aaron, are romantically available, which leaves me, and so, i have been the subject of those intentions, even though i know i would not be his first choice for his daughter is not for what i am.

I was aware he had a step daughter from his wife's previous marriage, and judging from the fact that i have heard little of her, and only just met her last night, it's safe to assume that they are not very close. So i imagine how pissed off he must be, that i presumably chose her, over his own daughter, despite his efforts to match us, and judging from his reaction just now, i got exactly what i wanted.

My smile grows, at the thought of having such power over him. This was just the perfect start to boost my mood for the day.