Chapter 37 - The Visit
____________________________________
Friday came around sooner than I had planned. I had already said goodbye to Lina and was standing nervously on the curb waiting for Brandon to pull up in one of his many flashy and expensive cars.
I sighed as I saw a shiny red car make its way to me. Despite knowing absolutely nothing about cars, I was fairly certain that Brandon was driving a Ferrari. Brandon stopped the car and killed the engine right next to me. I jumped off the pavement and made my way to the passenger seat when I saw Brandon already pulling the door open for me.
"Thank you," I said and slid in.
Brandon nodded his head in response and made his way across the front of the hood and back into the driver's seat. He revved the engine twice catching the attention of every single person nearby.
"How was my beautiful girlfriend's day?" Brandon asked as he turned to look at me, his sunglasses resting on top of his head.
"Great. There weren't that many customers today," I shrugged.
"Business going down?" He frowned.
"That's what Darcy said yesterday. They were looking for some investors or some business with a big name to help them branch out." I explained.
"I could help, but I would want to have seventy-five percent of the profit," Brandon said.
"Seventy-five!" I screeched my eyes popping out of my head.
"That's what I said. I'll completely fund it and open up new branches and hire qualified employees and Darcy can have the remaining twenty-five percent," Brandon reasoned.
"I don't think she will accept, to be honest. Besides she raised the business from the ground you can't just take seventy-five percent and leave the original owner only a twenty-five percent profit! That's like insanity, I think you should only take like thirty or even forty percent!" I insisted.
Brandon smiled, "Seventy," He lowered.
"You can talk to Darcy about it. I'm warning you she won't want you to invest," I informed him in a matter-of-fact tone.
"It depends on how desperate she is. If she wants to save the whole business from crumbling to the floor she will have to accept whatever she is being offered." He said smugly.
"You sly son of a bachelor!" I cursed.
"Your crude words hurt me, love." He laughed.
"You're sadistic," I stated.
"And you're adorable," He grinned looking at me.
"I wasn't complimenting you. I'm calling you sadistic for a reason!" I told him.
"I decided to ignore you and compliment you instead. See? I am a nice and good boyfriend." Brandon said.
"Wow! Just because you called me adorable doesn't make you the best boyfriend ever," I rolled my eyes.
"I'm trying here," He said but it sounded like he was whining.
"I guess you are." I agreed and watched as he carefully switched lanes.
"You know, I want to teach you how to drive," Brandon said dropping the bomb on me, making me gasp.
"What?" I all but yelled.
"I want to teach you to drive." He said again while I vigorously shook my head.
"You know you can't do that!" I yelled, "I can't get behind the wheel for too long!"
"I'll be patient. I swear it!" He insisted.
"I can't Brandon," I said softly feeling horrible about the whole ordeal.
"We can start with you just sitting in the driver's seat. You don't have to actually drive your first time." He told me, "Then when you're comfortable you can drive."
"What if I scratch your car?" I asked him with a smirk.
"You wouldn't be driving my Ferrari or my Lamborghini. You can drive my Audi or Mercedes?" He offered.
I laughed, "Brandon, no."
"Okay," He shrugged, "I won't pressure you on this."
"Thank you," I responded and looked out of my window.
It's not that I did not want to learn, I was too afraid too. I knew this was an opportunity that I should be taking but my fear was too big. I didn't think I could overcome it enough to be able to operate a car myself. It had taken me a long time to be able to get into a car and now to drive one. That was one hell of a big step for me.
I felt a slight bit of regret for denying his offer and not attempting to conquer my fear but sometimes I liked to hide behind the shield of cowardice.
A good half an hour later, we arrived at the graveyard where they were buried. As I stepped out of the car, I was suddenly nervous.
"I trust you know where they are?" Brandon ask but I shook my head.
"I've never ever visited them here," I admitted to him, feeling ashamed of myself.
Whenever my gran asked me to come with her, I always declined. I wanted to remember them as the people they were and not associate my parents with a tombstone.
"Oh." Brandon said surprised, "We'll find them."
A few moments later a massive angel caught my attention and I walked toward it, gasping when I saw the writing on the tombstone.
Heather & John Hayes
Loving Family
You will be dearly missed
I shed a few tears as I ran my hand through the shiny engravings. I noticed the fresh flowers next to the angel. I began to uncontrollably sob my heart out. Brandon sat beside me as I continued to cry, he rubbed soothing circles on my back and whispered calming words into my ear.
I rubbed my puffy eyes and looked at the tombstone again.
"Mom, dad?" I whispered, "I want you to meet my boyfriend, Brandon Hawthorne. I think your meeting has been long overdue," I managed to say with a croaky voice and smiled at Brandon slightly.
"Well I'm quite nervous actually," Brandon said with a nervous laugh, "Although we're meeting under different circumstances I just wanted to meet the creators of my girl," He said and pulled me close to him.
"I guess you can hit him with a lightning bolt instead of an AK47," I joked and Brandon smiled.
"Please don't Mr. Hayes. I would appreciate being alive so that I can appreciate your beautiful daughter," He said turning to the stone, "She's such a beauty."
We spoke to my parents for a bit more when it began to lightly drizzle. Brandon handed me his suit jacket and told me to run to the car. He shoved the keys in my hand and I ran as though my life depended on it.
I reached the Ferrari unlocked it and sat in the passenger seat, shivering from the cold. I turned the heating system on after I had stuck the key into the ignition and turned the engine on.
What appeared to be ten minutes later Brandon walked out of the graveyard and ran to his driver's seat, immediately pulling the door open and sliding in.
"I didn't take you to be into necrophilia." I joked.
"What?" He gasped as he shivered, his white dress shirt sticking to his body tightly outlining his stomach muscles.
"Nevermind," I waved him off.
"If you're sure," He said and I burst out laughing.
Hey Guys!
I'm so proud of myself! I've been inspired to write more and more! Yippee!
Anyways, don't forget to comment and vote as I really do appreciate it!
See you next update!