7 Minutes in Heaven

Chapter 5

The Bella Italiana was a beautiful Italian restaurant that featured several exquisite paintings, some done by local artists. The restaurant was best known for its delicious pastas and local wines, which were made from the vineyard across from the restaurant. Emma's father had previously bought out a private dining room for the party, but since the rehearsal had ended earlier than expected, the wait staff were still setting up for the dinner. As a result, Emma's father encouraged everyone to check out the bar located in a separate room from the dining hall.

"We're paying for the wine, but if you want anything stronger you'll need to get it yourself," he said with a roguish wink.

Nora walked around the bar area, searching for Brendan. Something didn't sit right with her and she wanted to clear things up rather than let these feelings of unrest fester. Despite her occasional bouts of shyness, Nora thought of herself as a pro-confrontational person, better to simply be honest and forward off the bat then to sit and question everything. Luckily, she found him alone towards the back, checking messages on his phone.

"Hey," she said as she approached him.

He looked up from his phone and gave her a polite smile.

"Hey yourself," he said, pocketing his phone.

"Just thought I'd see if everything is okay, you seemed a bit... different from earlier."

"Right. About that," he said, taking a deep breath, "It seems I owe you an apology. I may have been sending the wrong message with my behavior."

"How so?" Nora asked hesitantly.

"Theresa spoke to me and-"

"Seriously? Look, I don't know what she told you, but-"

"She had nothing but kind things to say about you." Brendan finished, raising an eyebrow.

Nora trailed off, feeling her cheeks burning with embarrassment. God, he must think I'm such a snob now. Realizing that her mouth was open, Nora quickly snapped her jaw shut.

"But she made me realize that I may have been sending the wrong message and being too... forward with you."

Nora looked away, her heart dropping into her stomach as she took in the implication of what he was saying.

"Oh."

"Yeah..." Brendan said, running a hand through his dark hair awkwardly, "I didn't mean to-"

Nora raised up a hand to stop him, deciding she didn't really want to hear the rest of what he had to say. It was bad enough being rejected, having someone apologize for not being interested was even worse.

"It's fine," she said curtly, "Clearly I misinterpreted our... interaction at the bachelorette party as interest. Though, for future reference, I'm more than capable of handling a simple 'sorry, I'm not actually interested,' rather than resorting to a 'sorry I regret flirting with you' response."

Brendan's eyes flashed and he looked ready to argue with her, when Emma's former roommate, April, a young girl with bouncy red curls and a bright smile, walked up to them.

"Hello," she said in greeting, before turning to Brendan, "Sorry to interrupt, but Jason was looking for you."

Brendan looked torn between the two of them, but Nora forced a smile and nodded to April.

"You're fine, I'm going to grab a drink." Nora said, before turning on a heel, trying to keep tears of shame from falling over. She could feel Brendan's eyes on her as she made her to the bar, but she refused to look back at him.