The man in question suddenly walked into the room with a wine bottle in hand and two empty glasses in the other. He wavered over the doorway, unsure where he could sit since most of the couch was taken up. Ben was gracious enough to leave his seat, walking past all of us to sit next to his boyfriend.
“Did anyone else want wine?” I asked aloud. My friends shook their head in silent reply, which left Damian confidently striding towards me before he took a close seat next to me. “Thank you.”
He kindly offered me a wine glass, making sure to look deep into my eyes as he brushed his fingers over mine. His gaze was lowered to pull out a corkscrew from his pocket, and then he quietly twisted it inside of the cork to open the bottle. The soft sound of wine gushing into an empty glass filled the room as Ashley turned off her Halloween playlist. I could feel Damian’s heated gaze following the blood red liquid passing through my lips before I swallowed it down.
“Hot!” Taylor exclaimed into the silent room. “The two of you,” he teased with a pointed finger toward us. “So, when is the wedding?”
“Funny,” I quickly retorted with narrowed eyelids. Damian was silent beside me, which suddenly made me worried. “He was joking,” I reassured him, so he would not feel uncomfortable around my friends.
Damian nodded his head stiffly. “I know,” he hushed into the air, before he stretched out his arm to retrieve the empty wine glass in between his feet.
“We aren’t getting married,” I told the three of my friends.
Damian raised himself off the couch to place the wine bottle on a nearby table, making sure he had his back to me for some strange reason.
“Anyways,” I exclaimed nervously. “When are the two of you getting married?”
Taylor smiled at his partner before returning his gaze to me. “We are taking it slow.”
“It’s been two years.”
“Slow,” Taylor answered back with a harmless shrug. “Ben is only twenty. You forget that he is the baby here. And besides, where is the rush?”
Ashley raised her beer can into the air as she shouted out, “cheers to that!” They knocked their cans together, and then brought it against my clear wine glass to include me into their celebration.
“Sara,” Damian piped up woodenly, “can I speak to you for a moment?”
I swallowed hard, not used to the sternness of his voice. I nodded my head at him in open submission and then quietly followed him out of the room. Damian took me into his kitchen, and then opened the back door to take a step outside onto his patio. The sky was dark by the time we strolled over to the wooden bannister of the porch, letting me know we had less than an hour together before he would send me away for the night.
Damian took a gulp of his wine meditatively, strolling over the last of the wooden floor until he leaned his left elbow over the wooden banister. He took in the scenery around him, wearing an expressionless look as he watched the snowflakes flutter in front of him. Wind blew through his dark hair, tousling it wildly behind him as he gazed at the distant trees. He looked over his shoulder for a moment, wondering why I wasn’t at his side, and with that single look I felt that he was asking me to step forward. I wondered when we learned to communicate with our eyes alone and was answered when he reached up his right hand to stroke his fingers over the thick fabric of my red dress.
“What you said back there,” he began. “was it true?”
“What did I say?”
“We won’t get married.”
“Damian,” I laughed. “You aren’t seriously considering it, are you?”
He licked at his bottom lip, and then let his gaze waver away from mine.
“We haven’t even known each other for a week yet.”
“I know that.”
“How can you even consider that—”
“I wasn’t,” he shot back darkly. “But I didn’t like the way you spoke back there.”
“What do you want me to say, Damian?”
He chose not to answer me, turning his head away to look at the tops of the faded golden leaves of the forest that shook ahead of us. He was holding his tongue, but I wished he would tell me the truth and not hold everything back for once.
“You want us to get married?”
“I don’t want you to leave,” he admitted to me. “I want you to stay.”
“Well I have a life back home. A family … and friends.” He looked over his shoulder to take a good look at me. “Things you don’t exactly have, so you wouldn’t understand.”
“What about a partner?” he questioned me. “A mate.”
“A mate,” I repeated with a questionable look. “Is that what I am to you?”
Damian let the wine glass rest on the wooden bannister and turned his whole body in my direction. “Yes,” He stated with feeling. “You are.”
I was confused at the very least, never having a guy say that to me before. “You know most people say girlfriend.”
“Mate,” he said with his shoulders rolled back defensively.
“Damian …” My mouth remained open, but no words would come.
He stepped forward, lifting his hands until they rested on either side of my shoulders. He gave me a look that I could not understand, but I felt it meant something by the clearness in his mossy green eyes. “You should go,” he insisted, after he broke his gaze away from mine.
“We still have time,” I gently reminded him. “It is not dark completely.”
“Go Sara,” he uttered in a somber voice. “I was wrong about you all along.”
“Wrong about what?”
His facial expression darkened; the lids of his eyes lowered with a sudden graveness to him. “I sensed there was something between us, but I was wrong.”
“Damian! I do like you,” I extolled with a world of feeling. “And besides … you know how much I want to stay the night.”
“No, Sara.” He turned around to retrieve his wine glass and then suddenly left my presence. I watched him walk away from me, dumbstruck by the suddenness of it all.
Is he really leaving me? Damian strode through the kitchen with his wine glass in hand, abandoning it over the countertop before he made his way out of the kitchen.
“Damian!” I called out, but he chose to ignore me. “Hey!” He walked into the living room, making me nearly bump into his back when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. I walked around him, noticing how intent he was on avoiding my gaze. “What is wrong with you?”
My friends stopped chattering among themselves, realizing Damian and I were having an argument.
“I don’t understand!” I admitted aloud. “What do you want from me?”
“To go back to your cabin and lock the door,” he sternly replied. “All of you!”
My lip trembled with frustration, wondering what came over him suddenly. I took a step away and found my shoulders hunching over as I walked around him. It wasn’t until I was standing over the doorway that I uttered, “just because I don’t want to marry you, doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for you.”
Damian chose not to reply, letting me walk out of the living room to head to the front door. My friends thankfully followed me, whispering a small goodnight before they took their leave. I was the last one to stand outside of his front door, letting it remain open as I hoped against hope that he would come and wish me goodnight.
The sounds of my friend’s boots pattered against the graveled parking lot, letting me know they were nearly in front of Ashley’s car. I knew I had to leave him, but I didn’t want too, especially not in this way.
“Aren’t you going to kiss me goodbye?” I yelled out, knowing he could hear me from the living room. Light footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Damian lurked in the shadows just within my line of sight.
“I want you to stay with me,” he hushed softly. “But I know that you can’t.”
“I can.”
“No,” he entreated in a deep tenor. “And you aren’t …” There was a long pause that made me feel concerned. “I thought you were something to me, but I was wrong.”
“A mate,” I knowingly replied. “Damian, I want to take things slow with you. I know we just slept together this afternoon, but that doesn’t mean I want to suddenly move in with you and start all over again. I have a career, you know. A future!”
“A future,” he uttered out sinisterly. “A future you could have with me.”
“I like you.”
“Just … like?” he drawled out the words.
The lighting changed and I looked over my right shoulder to see the last of the sun dwindle away. There was a change in the room, I could feel it, and suddenly Damian briskly walked to physically push me out of the doorway.
“Go home,” he shot out before he slammed the front door in front of my face, making the locks clang loudly against the hinges in a maddening way. I stood there horrified, staring at the door he had suddenly closed on me.
“Damian!” I yelled out angrily, unhappy with the way he just kicked me out of his house. “Damian!” I banged my fist into the door with frustration. “Fine! But don’t expect to see me in the morning.”
I stormed away from his front door and stepped down the short staircase to get to Ashley’s vehicle. Her car was running when I approached it. The lights began to dim outside of Damian’s home as he turned off the patio lights one by one. I watched the curtains to his kitchen room window swoosh close sharply, knowing he had a clear line of sight of me for one final time. “Damn him,” I cursed aloud, still unhappy with the way he was treating me. I swung the passenger door open with a sharp, violent gesture.
“What happened?” she demanded, after I took a seat beside her. She turned off the engine and laid a comforting hand over the top of my knee. “Sara?”
“He is so committed, but I can’t do it!” I wailed out. “I hardly know him, and I feel like he is asking too much of me.”
She shushed me fervently, seeing how my chest heaved wildly as I did my best to control my temper. “He is,” she assured me, and then brought her hand upwards to pull me into her chest. She gave me a comforting hug while my other two friends offered reassuring words from the backseat. “You hardly know him,” Ashley reminded me.
“I don’t understand him,” I fretted aloud. “What does he want from me?”
“He wants you, love,” she murmured. Her hand stroked the top of my back, and I felt so thankful to have a friend like her. “You should talk to him.”
“I tried, and he pushed me out the door and locked it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s Damian,” I bitterly replied. “I swear something terrible could happen to me, and he wouldn’t even come outside to save me.”
I squinted my eyes and wiped the corner of it with my fingers, suddenly aware of how pitch-black it was outside. “Why are all his lights off?” I questioned aloud.
“I don’t know,” Ashley murmured beside me. “I didn’t even notice he turned them all off.”
“I can’t even see what’s in front of me,” I joked, before I shifted in my seat to look at my friends. “I’m sorry about that.”
Ben was busy staring out the window beside him, so it was Taylor that took on the role as a comforting friend. “He’s a bit intense, Sara. No guy should demand that much commitment from day one.”
“I think that is just how he is,” I sadly relayed. “He can’t help himself.”
“Hey guys,” Ben piped up nervously. “I think I see something.”