The Girl He Didn't Want

Chapter 16

Mayas POV

The next morning, I woke up and got ready to make sure that the wedding hall was clean and ready to leave again. I put on a black skirt with a green blouse on. I matched the outfit with some green ballerinas. As I walked into the hall, I found James and some other staff people walking back and forth to make sure the hall was getting clean again.

I remembered yesterdays nightmare with Kevin and then how James kindly walked me to my room again. Maybe he wasn't bad at all. I mean, he did warn me about Kevin, and he was such a gentleman to follow me back to my room. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought. Maybe he did like me! If not, why would he warn me about Kevin?

I remembered, that I didn't get to say thank you to him. I merely said goodnight and closed the door. I mentally face palmed myself for being so ungrateful.

I walked over to James. He was standing with his back towards me and talking with another guy about how to get the satin drapes down from the loft. I cleared my throat and stood beside him.

"Good morning"

He saw me beside him and said good morning back to me. Then he refocused again at the satin drape, completely ignored me again.

"James, I want to say thank you for helping me yesterday. You know, about the whole thing with Kevin".

I waited for him to say something back. He just had his blue eyes staring back at me.

"No problem".

That's it? Nothing else?

I felt a bit unsure about what to do with myself.

"I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with me after the date, you know. So, I'm glad that you somehow showed me that you care" I smiled at him to show him that I appreciated what he did.

"I would have done it no matter who the girl was. I have known Kevin for a long time. He has always been a dick. It has nothing to do with you"

"James..."

He turned to see my face. I had to ask him the question that I was burning inside with me.

"Why don't you think I'm good enough?" he suddenly stopped with what he was doing and looked straight ahead into nothing but air. It looked like he was contemplating what to say back. I knew that asking him would only hurt me more, but I wanted to clear things out. I hated that I felt this way towards him.

"Because..." he trailed off. "Because I want to have someone by my side who fits into the picture that I have inside my head. And your color and culture doesn't fit into it"

"So, what idea do you have about my culture? Do you by chance know anything about the Sri Lankan culture?

He then looked at me and said: "No, not really. But I'm not really interested either. I just know that your values are different than ours and that your people are way different than Americans".

I couldn't believe he said that. He didn't know a single thing about my culture and yet he stood there and spoke like he knew everything about it and that's why he couldn't date someone like me!

Because he was afraid of the unknown. Ha!

He wasn't a racist. He was just a person who didn't seem to give it a try to learn about other peoples lives and customs. He was a safe person, who apparently never had been pushed to try new things!

And then it led me to ask him even further. I became a bit bolder now.

"So, if you didn't want anything to do with me, then why have you been staring at me throughout the whole wedding ceremony and reception? Why did you feel like coming over to me and dance with me? You could have just told Kevin to stop doing what he was about to. Why bother me if you didn't care?

He stopped right there. He crossed his arms and sort of signaled that he was uncomfortable about that direct confrontation. He then scratched the back of his head. I watched his every move. Inside I was smiling because I finally had the balls to confront him and get over with these unfair feelings that I had been feeling. The only thing that made this even crazier was his reply.

"Erm..." he started but somehow didn't finish the sentence. I always had the impression of him being so confident and so cold the last two days. But somehow, I saw a whole other side of him in this moment. He seemed puzzled.

"Well? Tell me, James, because I've been going around these two days feeling so bad about myself and you staring at me made me so ill. I mean... Am I that ug.."

I couldn't finish my sentence as James at the exact same time said:

"Because, I thought you were beautiful to look at". My eyes widened and my heartbeat galloped too fast that my mind couldn't even follow through with it.

"Huh?... Erm, e- excuse me?" I stammered.

Oh... didn't see this coming though.

* * * 

He turned around and walked away. My mouth was a bit open and I just kept watching him leave. Wait, what? He thought I was beautiful... But... why?

Wait a minute....! If he thought I was beautiful then it must not be a thing of color issue. I was right! He WAS in fact afraid of the unknown. So, James must be a good guy after all. Or what?

Suddenly an idea popped up in my head. What if...? I smirked at my own idea.

I jogged over to him and poked at his shoulder. He turned around.

"You know what, James? I think you are afraid of things you don't have a clue about such as other cultures. I dare you" I said with a smirk.

"You dare me to what?" he now had a confused look on his handsome face.

"I dare you to be my friend and get to know me, so your little bubble of imaginations of, what fits in your head can grow bigger" I said with a huge grin.

"You what?"

"You heard me James. I want to be your friend. You know, that means that I take part in your world and you take part in my world. I want to challenge you; make you see that the world is so much bigger than you have in your head!" I beamed at him.

Oh, good heavens, please let him get on board with this.

I had my hand out to reach him waiting for a handshake as a symbol of agreement to the dare. He kept looking at my face, then at my hand.

Please, don't let me hang, James.

This would be so awkward if he didn't shake my hand. I closed my eyes in fear of being rejected once again. Then I could feel a hand closing with mine. I opened my eyes and saw him smile at me.

"Deal". 

Guys, what do you think about this dare? Do you think it will work out? Will James get a better understanding or will it be a disaster? 

Tell me what you think! Big hugs! Please keep voting and comment as much as you like. :)