Twisted (24 page)

“He mentioned that,” she admitted. “I think he’s really nervous about it.”

“Me too,” I honestly replied.

“Don’t be,” she firmly told me. “It’ll be fine. And then Saturday night, we’re all going out for pizza.”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” I suspiciously wondered.

“The four of us,” she told me. I could actually
hear
the smile in her voice. “Me and Henry, you and Ben.”

I sat there in stunned silence for just a moment, tapping my fingers on the faux wooden tabletop. “You asked Ben? And he agreed?”

“Well,” Phoebe hedged, “I may not have asked him so much as told him. But he didn’t
disagree
,” she hurriedly tacked on.

My phone beeped just then and I glanced at it. “Ben’s calling,” I told her.

I already recognized the number from his home line. I’d talked to him before we’d left that morning. He’d been up getting ready for school. I’d told him I thought he should take a day off. He just wanted to get the day over with. He was concerned about keeping his grades up and didn’t want to worry about missing any homework. He was one of several missed calls I had noticed earlier.
Him
, I had planned on calling back.

“You better get that. He’s really worried about you. But call me later!” she ordered and we disconnected.

“Hey,” I said by way of greeting.

“Hey, yourself,” Ben said. “How are you? And don’t just say you’re fine.”

“Exhausted,” I honestly told him. My sleepless night, the trauma of my ordeal and the emotional toll of seeing my mom had finally caught up with me. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so drained in my whole life. Yet just hearing Ben’s voice lifted my spirits. “I feel better now that I’m talking to you.”

“Yeah?” he asked. I would’ve thought by now he wouldn’t sound so surprised by my confession. But he did.

“Yes,” I firmly told him. “How was your day? Did it go okay?”

He laughed and my heart melted at the sound of it. “I’m kind of tired, too. But other than that, it was okay. Pretty much everyone just left me alone. Phoebe made sure of it. She’s uh…well, she’s really persistent.”

Now
I
laughed. “Yeah, I know.”

“How’s your mom?” he asked.

I told him how our visit went. I let him know she wanted to meet him and that I thought things had gone unbelievably well.

I asked how things were with his parents. I was disappointed when he said things were the same as always. I don’t know why I expected a miraculous change for him overnight. Or maybe not
expected
exactly. I’d just
hoped
.

He was quiet for a while. Then he surprised me with a confession of his own. “I miss you and I wish you were here. I really wish it was tomorrow already.”

“Can’t wait for that dinner with your family, huh?” I teased. But my heart fluttered because I knew that wasn’t what he meant.

He groaned. “I wish we could skip over that.”

“It’ll be fine,” I said parroting Phoebe’s words and her tone.

“Maya…” Ben started but then he trailed off.

“What?” I finally pressed.

“I’m just so glad you finally answered. I mean, I know you said this morning that you were okay. But I really needed to hear your voice,” he admitted. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you all day.”

“Good,” I told him. “Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you either.”

“Can we maybe just talk for a while?”

“Yes,” I assured him. I got out of the chair and settled into the bed with my phone tucked in securely next to my ear. “We can talk for as long as you want to.”

I was in my bedroom unpacking the last of my overnight bag when I heard a knock on the kitchen door. We’d only been home for a little under an hour. I’d hated leaving my mom. Yet I wanted to be home by the time school got out. I darted out of my room, almost knocking Remy down because she was on her way to answer the door, too.

“Maya” she said with a laugh. “You don’t have to run. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

I ignored her as I flung open the door.

“Hi,” Ben said as he stepped inside. “How—”

I flung up my hand to stop him. “Please don’t ask how I am,” I said as I scrunched up my face in embarrassment. Just the question alone made me want to cry. I could already feel the telltale prickle burning behind my eyes and stinging my nose. I was a wreck, plain and simple.

“She’s grumpy and exhausted,” Remy said in a light, but not very teasing tone. I felt her walking up behind me. She looped her arms around my neck in a backwards hug and I leaned into her. “And she’s really emotional today,” she said as she dropped a kiss on the back of my head. “Which is completely understandable.” She released me and handed me over to Ben. “So beware and handle with caution.” I could practically hear her winking at him.

“Okay,” Ben said as his arms tightened around me.

I rested my head against his chest and breathed in his now familiar scent.

“So how are you?” Remy demanded of Ben. “Did school go okay?”

I was still within the comfortable circle of his arms, with no desire to leave when I felt him shrug. “School...is school. It was okay. It definitely could’ve been worse. So I’m not going to complain.”

“And your parents?” Remy wanted to know.

I felt another shrug. “Same. Could be better, could be worse. No point in complaining.”

Remy sighed.

“But they’re still coming tonight, right?” I asked as I looked up at him.

“Yeah, as far as I know,” Ben replied. He did not look at all excited about it. I felt bad about that and hoped that once they were actually here, things would go well.

“No offense,” Remy started as her eyes swept over him, “but you look as tired as she does. Maybe you two should go take a nap. I’m sure neither of you has gotten any sleep the last two nights. I’ve got dinner under control. We cheated and stopped at a bakery for some chocolate cheesecake to save some time. I only have to throw together a salad and set the table. I’ll wake you up before your parents get here,” she told Ben.

I glanced up at him. He gave me a questioning look.

“Sure,” I said as I stepped out of his arms. I grabbed his hand instead. I towed him to my bedroom. I shut my door but didn’t bother to lock it. Then I pulled my blinds closed, knowing I would never sleep with the afternoon sun blazing through the window. When I turned around, Ben had already bounced across my bed.

“Come on,” he said. He patted the spot right next to him.

I carefully scooted myself across, careful of my arm. He grabbed the decorative blanket from the foot of my bed and covered us with it.

In that moment, cocooned in the blanket and the safety of Ben’s arms, I knew there could not possibly be a better feeling in the world. I had never felt so safe. Or so happy.

“You know…” he said, but then trailed off as he had a tendency of doing. I looked at him, waiting for him to pick up again. He gave me a small smile. “The last time I was here, when we fell asleep on the couch? I stayed awake for as long as I could. After I told you everything I felt so much better. I had no idea how much it would help. But I want you to know that. It helped me a lot.

“And then when you fell asleep, you had your arm around me. You had your head on my shoulder and I kept wishing I could just freeze time and stay there. I didn’t think anything like that would ever happen again. I wanted to remember every second of it.”

“Really?” I asked. I wished I would’ve known that at the time.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“But now…there can be a lot more times like that, right?” I paused before adding, “I mean, maybe things will be different now. I think they will. We can be together, right? I mean, if you want that?”

“I do,” he said.

As if to prove it, he leaned over and kissed me. It was not the steamiest kiss we’d shared. But it was my favorite because it was filled with promise.

***

Dinner with Ben’s parents went better than he’d thought it would. Jeff had joined us. While there were tense and awkward moments, with the six of us it wasn’t nearly as awful as Ben had feared. Of course it helped that Remy was a great cook—her lasagna was beyond amazing—and she was an even better conversationalist.

I wasn’t sure how things were going to be for Ben and his parents in the long-term. I still worried about that. One civil dinner did little to repair more than a year’s worth of damage that had been done to his family. They had grown so far apart. I wasn’t sure they would ever find their way back to each other.

Just as Phoebe had informed me, we all met for pizza on Saturday night.

We pulled into the Gino’s Pizza lot in my convertible. I let Ben drive, telling him that it was just easier because of the cast on my arm. To tell the truth, I was just so happy to be with him, I would’ve let him drive anyway.

“Thank you,” I told him with a smile as he held the door open for me. I glanced around, spotting Phoebe immediately. She was in the booth we’d been in just one week ago. She was smiling and waving us over.

Ben gripped my hand in his and led the way.

The place was filled with its usual Saturday night crowd. I didn’t bother looking around too much. I wasn’t in the mood to care about anyone who was there other than the friends we were meeting.

Phoebe jumped up when we neared the booth. She threw her arms around me, being careful of my casted arm. “I’m so happy you’re okay. No, happy doesn’t even come close to how grateful I am,” she said with a little sniffle.

“And you…!” she said as she released me and threw her arms around Ben. Whatever else she was going to say got cut off with more sniffling. She let Ben go and waved her hand in front of her face, as if to dry up her impending tears.

Ben gave me a small, understanding smile.

“Sorry, sit down you guys! I am not going to turn this into a night of melodrama,” she said. She pushed a smile onto her face and tossed herself into the booth.

“I did invite Hailey but she couldn’t make it,” she informed me.

I slid in and Ben took the place next to me.

“I thought she’d be here. She’s called me about two-hundred times,” I admitted.

“Oh, she wanted to come. You know how she loves to be in the midst of good gossip,” she said with an eye roll. “But her little sister had a ballet recital and her parents absolutely refused to let her skip it. She doesn’t have the car keys in hand yet so she’s got to play by their rules for a few more months.”

I nodded, using my good hand to toy with Ben’s fingers under the table.

“I didn’t invite Olivia to join us. I hope you understand,” Phoebe said. A dark looked crossed her face. She’d already been furious with Olivia for treating Henry like she had. Now, she was livid.

I nodded again, not really having much to say on the matter. I understood completely why neither Phoebe nor Henry would want her there. I had finally answered when she called. She’d tearfully apologized for not knowing that Alec was using her for information. And even worse, using her to lure me. I told her I held no hard feelings. Or at least, I was trying hard not to. I knew she was not at fault and would have never done anything to intentionally hurt me.

I did ask her to think twice before she ever condemned Ben again. And to be honest, I had no idea where our friendship stood. Only time would tell but right then, Olivia was the least of my concerns.

“What about Hen—,” I began to ask but a huge smile spread across Phoebe’s face. I glanced over my shoulder to see Henry walking through the door.

“Found it,” he said with a look of relief as he joined us. He held up his wallet. “It was under my seat.” He slid in next to Phoebe, dropping a light kiss on her cheek before turning to Ben and me. “You have no idea how glad I am that you two decided to come tonight. She,” he said as he gave Phoebe a gentle nudge, “has been going crazy. I think she just needed to see for herself that you’re okay.”

Phoebe made a guilty face and nodded her head.

“I am,” I told her. “I’m okay.” Ben squeezed my hand and gave me a sympathetic look. I knew Remy had mentioned to him that I’d had nightmares the last few nights. Being the best big sister in the world that she was, she’d crawled into bed with me. I knew I’d find a way to deal with them eventually—whether with counseling as Remy insisted, or without—but I wasn’t going to let thoughts of them ruin my evening.

“Good, because I was wondering…I mean if you’re feeling up to it,” Phoebe said shyly, “would you guys want to drive over to Rockville next weekend? I’m in a skating exhibition Saturday afternoon. I’d love to have you all there.”

“I’m driving Phoebe over,” Henry told us. “I can pick you two up so we can all go together.”

Remy and I weren’t going to go see Mom because if all went as planned, she’d be coming to stay with us in a few weeks. Until she found a place of her own. So in the meantime, my weekend was free.

I felt bad that I’d never seen Phoebe skate before. But she’d told me her coach didn’t like people to come to her practices. It was too distracting. This was the first time she’d invited me to watch her.  I didn’t want to let her down.

I looked to Ben. I knew he’d watched Katie at competitions and exhibitions. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about going to watch Phoebe now. I knew he had the following weekend off from work as we had at one point made tentative plans.

“Phoebe’s a really good skater,” Ben told me. “If you want to go, we should go.”

“Yeah, I heard she’s pretty good,” I said as I smiled at Henry.

Henry gave me a mock-serious look as he scoffed. “
Pretty good
? No, I believe you heard that she’s
amazing
. You’re going to love watching her skate.”

Color seeped into Phoebe’s cheeks. She bit her lower lip in an unsuccessful attempt to keep her giddy smile in check. I loved seeing Phoebe this way. Just watching her, I couldn’t help but smile as well.

“Watching her is like watching a piece of artwork in motion,” Henry proclaimed as he winked at her.

“You’re such a goofball,” she muttered happily.

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth,” he insisted.

“Whatever,” she mumbled even though she obviously loved the attention from Henry.

“We’ll definitely be there. I’d love to watch you skate,” I told her honestly. Ben nodded his agreement.

“Perfect!” she said, still grinning. “It’s in the early afternoon so we can go out to dinner afterwards. They have the best little Mexican place over there.” She looked around, wondering if that was okay. We all agreed. “It’s another double date!” she said with a happy, silly grin.

After dinner Phoebe and Henry went to a movie. Ben and I declined joining them. I was surprised he’d agreed to pizza and I didn’t want to push it.

Besides, I hadn’t really had a chance to be alone with him. Friday afternoon, we’d fallen asleep until right before his parents came. And he’d had to work earlier in the day today. So this was the first time we were really alone.

We decided to go to the park. I’d been there countless times by now. But going there
with
Ben made it feel like a brand new place. Brand new and yet comfortingly familiar. He spread out the blanket from my backseat while I looked out over the river. The moon was full and the night was calm and peaceful.

I made myself comfortable next to him so we could look up at the stars.

“Thanks for agreeing to go watch Phoebe next weekend,” I said, truly meaning it. I hoped it was just another of many small steps forward for Ben. “She’s become a really good friend. And I like Henry.”

“I like them, too,” Ben admitted as he stretched out beside me. “But I didn’t want to go with them to the movie because it feels like I’ve been waiting for forever to be alone with you.”

He leaned over and kissed me then. It was a kiss that felt like it lasted forever and yet it lasted nowhere near long enough. My hand slid under his shirt, running across the bare skin of his hard stomach as I held him close and melted into him. Eventually, he broke away, giving us both a chance to catch our breath.

“The sky looks likes it’s filled with a billion stars tonight,” Ben said softly as he settled back next to me, pulling me into him.

“Porch lights of Heaven,” I murmured.

“I like that,” Ben said.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Me too.”

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