(^ That's what they are wearing. Just imagine Michael with jeans on. Blue jeans. And black converse.)

Brandon's POV

It's been two days since our little first date. Even though things went a different way than I planned, it was still a pretty good first date.

I've left Michael some time to think about what happened. I don't want to overwhelm him. He's been working on the cars in the car cave. I've been busy with meetings and planning business trips.

I have to go to Hawaii in about two months for three weeks. I wonder if Michael would like to join me? I know Lilly will.

I fix my glasses as I continue to write. My assistant, Piper, opens my glass door. (The front of his office is glass. He can see what's going on. The left and right wall are white. The wall behind him is glass. He has a view of the city.)

I look up. She says,

"Mr. Clifford, a little girl is here to see you."

I look over to the sofas outside my office. There's one against my glass wall. I can only see the back of the little girl's head. I see light brown hair. I smile.

"Let her in."

Piper nods. She whispers to the little girl. Lilly gets up and walks into my office. She's acting all professional like. I hold in my laughter. She takes a seat and clears her throat. She says,

"Good afternoon, Mr. Clifford. "

I play along,

"Good afternoon, Miss..."

"Jackson."

I nod. "Miss Jackson. What would you like today?"

"My father demands a raise!"

That caught me by surprise. I try my hardest to not laugh. I say,

"Well, your father and I never really discussed a salary. How can I raise something that isn't there?"

"Well, let's start talking moolah. "

That was my breaking point. I started laughing so hard. Lilly giggled then ran out of the office. I wipe my tears and stand up. I walk out of my office and see Michael handing Lilly five dollars. I walk over to them and ask,

"What is this? Some kind of scheme? "

Lilly says, "I bet daddy that I could make you laugh in less than two minutes! "

I giggle and push Michael gently. He looks at me and says,

"Why am I getting in trouble? She did it!"

He points at Lilly. Lilly giggles. I say,

"She did bring up a few good points. We need to talk about your salary. Let's go to my office. "

Lilly says, "May play with Toni? "

Toni is the head security guard here. He doesn't really like children, but Lilly doesn't mind. She plays pranks on him all the time. It's really funny to see his reactions. I smile and say,

"Sure go ahead. "

Lilly skips happily away to find Toni. Michael and I head into my office. I sit in my office chair and Michael sits in the white arm chair across from my desk. He smiles and says,

"Everything in here is white."

I giggle and say, "No it's not. My desk is black. So is this chair. And my bookcase is black also."

Michael giggles and says, sarcastically,

"Ooh, so much color in here!"

I point at my bookcase and say,

"Look at all the different color books!"

Michael chuckles. I smile and bite my lip. He blushes and says,

"You know, I can't stop thinking about that night in the alley."

I smile and say, "I would love to do it again... If you want. "

He bites his lip and rubs his knees. I giggle. Then, Lilly runs in laughing. She runs over to me and jumps in my lap. I smile and say,

"What's so funny? "

She says, "I tied Toni's shoelaces together. He started chasing me, but fell over."

I laugh. "Good one, Lilly."

A thought crossed my mind. I whisper in Lilly's ear,

"Tell you're father I think he's cute."

She gets off my lap and goes over to Michael. He's smiling. She whispers the message. For some odd reason, Michael's smile went away. He became stern and said,

"Lilly, go play with Toni."

She sensed something was wrong, but just said, "Okay daddy..."

Lilly leaves the room. As soon as she did, I ask,

"What's wro-"

He interrupts me and says, angrily, "Don't ever tell my daughter something like that again! "

He's starting to scare me. I quietly say, "I...I..I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"I don't care what you meant or what you didn't mean. This is not what I'm teaching her! I knew this wasn't going to work."

He begins to leave. I stand up and say, "Wait! I'm sorry! I won't do anything like that again. I didn't realize I was making a huge mistake. Just...sit down...please."

He hesitates, but turns around and sits down. I have no idea what to do. I sit down. I say,

"We can...um...talk about your salary... "

He doesn't say a word. I continue,

"How about $100,000 a week? "

He looks at me. His eyes wide. He says,

"That's too much. I can't take that...especially after I just..."

I put my hand up and say,

"No. That's the salary for the job. I can go up if you want me too. "

He shakes his head. "No...um...thank you..."

I stand up and say, "Those cars aren't gonna fix themselves. "

He nods and leaves. Once he's out the door, I flop in my chair and begin to cry. No one has ever raised their voice to me like that. The only person who's done that is my father. My father was a cruel cruel man. Please...don't be like him, Michael....

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I press the lobby button in the elevator. Once the doors open, I walk out of the tall building and into the crisp night air. I begin to walk to my apartment. I don't always have Martin drive me places. I like to walk sometimes. Plus, he took Michael and Lilly home.

I don't understand what I did earlier. All I know is that he scared me. I get a better grip on my briefcase as I continue to walk. Not many people are out. Either they are partying or they are inside their homes.

I feel like I'm being followed. I stop and turn around. No one is there. I start to get nervous. I continue walking. I hear footsteps. I stop and turn around. Still not a single person. I turn back around and walk faster. The footsteps get faster. I stop and turn around. I grit my teeth as I see no one there. I finally build up the courage to say,

"Come out here now! I know you're following me!"

I wait in total anticipation. I swear it felt like time slowed down as I saw a male shoe emerge from the darkness. Then another. Finally his entire body was visible. I notice the long hair. I say,

"Come into the light!"

He takes two steps to get to the light.

"Michael?"

He smiles weakly and says, "Hi..
"

I say, "You almost gave me a heart attack! What are you doing? "

He looks down and kicks a pebble. He says, "Following you..."

I ask, "Why? Where's Lilly? "

"Lilly is at home with Martin and...I wanted to apologize... "

"Oh...um..okay..."

He not only needed to apologize, but also explain.

"I'm sorry for getting angry earlier... I...I was raised to believe homosexuality is a sin. That's why I got so offensive when Lilly told me what you said."

I nod. "Oh...I understand. I'm so sorry. I wouldn't of said it if I had knew."

He nods. "Also, I wanted to tell you that...I'm... I'm not gay. I made a mistake when I accepted your offer."

"What offer? The date or the job?"

"Both. I'll understand if you fire me."

I say, "Michael, I didn't hire you because I thought you were gay. I hired you because you can fix cars. I'm not firing you. And as for the gay thing, if you say you aren't gay...then you aren't gay. We'll just forget it ever happened. "

He nods and smiles. "Thank you, Mr. Clifford. "

I nod and say, "I'll see you tomorrow, Michael."

He nods and turns to go home. I turn around and keep walking. Did this man just tell me he isn't gay?! That's the biggest lie I've ever heard! He must be trying to set an example for Lilly. If he would just explain to her both sexualities then...no Brandon. It's his child he does what he thinks is best.

He called me Mr. Clifford. He obviously doesn't want to be friends. I check my watch. I have two months to convince him he's gay and that homosexuality is okay. I can do it.