Twist of Fate (19 page)

"Whoa! Whoa! What the hell is going on?" Ben jumped between us, pushing Michele back a feet steps.
 

I was on a roll, so my mouth kept going. "I don't know, Ben. Why don't you ask her? She seems to think we're sleeping together." Even though I was yelling at him, I wanted so badly to thank him for stepping in.

Ben flipped his baseball cap around, confused, but shook his head at me, then refocused on Michele. "What the hell's the problem? Why are you bothering, P?"

"You can't keep doing this, Ben."

"Doing what? What did I do to you?"

"You know exactly what you did to me. You slept with me, then dumped me for her? I don't get it. I'm prettier than her." She eyed me my outfit, then addressed him. "I certainly dress better than Miss Goody Two Shoes."

"I'm only going to say this once, so listen up." The whole basement was painfully quiet, waiting to see what he would say. Including me. I was still cringing behind Ben, wanting to leave, and slink back to the safety of my dorm, but I couldn't seem to walk away. "You have nothing on Paige, do you hear me? I don't know any girl as beautiful as she is, and as far as how she dresses, she looks fucking amazing." He reached back briefly touching my hand to make sure that I was still behind him. I felt his grip, unable to move at his words. I knew how he felt about me, but hearing those words cut me to the core. I wasn't sure if it was the excitement rushing through me, or if it was his words that made me nervous. "And, where do you get off thinking just because we had sex months ago, I might add, that I'd want a relationship? You knew me when you picked me up, you knew how it was going to be."

"I thought...I thought I was different."

I stepped around Ben, as I held onto his arms. "What did you say?"

He looked down at me confused, studying my eyes. "I don't know. What did I say?"

I looked over at Michele, laughing, "Wait a minute. You picked him up?"

Ben crossed his arms, grinning.
 

"So what? Look at him. Every girl wants a Pi Kapp, and he's one of the best looking."

I rolled my eyes. "Not too shallow, are we?"

One of her friends came from behind her, tugging her back. "Michele, let's go, you're making a fool of yourself."

The tears started to fall from Michele's eyes, and I didn't know if it was because she was hurt, or totally embarrassed. And, for once I didn't feel sorry for a girl. She brought this on herself. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, which was a mistake since her mascara started to run down her face. "Lexi," she screamed. "How can you? You slept with him too and wanted more. I remember you telling me."

I couldn't take my eyes off of either one of them, trying to figure out what is was that got Ben to take them to bed even if it was just for a night. They were so opposite. Lexi looked like a girl I would hang out with. She dressed demurely, didn't have make-up caked all over her face, and she stepped up to help out a friend in need.
 

"Yeah, but that was last year, and I knew what I was getting into. Now let's go," she screamed back, yanking her up the stairs.
 

Everyone laughed except me, the music went back on, and Ben was just staring at me with an amused grin on his face. "That was hot, Paige. I never heard you talk like that before."
In anger, I growled at him, and threw my hands up in the air. "God, Ben! Why do you have to be such a manwhore?" I knew why I was lashing out at him, but I couldn't stop it.

Ben's face dropped from cocky to shocked in the blink of an eye. "What's that for? I've done nothing but be a gentlemen to you."

"You are so frustrating," I grumbled.

"Me?" He screamed, and I swore his voice went up an octave. "Are you kidding? You are the most frustrating girl I've ever met."
 

Just as I was about to let him have a few more choice words, some girl wearing practically nothing came out of nowhere, wrapping her arms around his waist. And when she did he flinched. "Hey, I thought we were going upstairs?" She asked.

My eyes instantly rolled, and I felt the two beers I drank trying to find their way back up. "Yeah, Ben. Go do what you do best."

I could tell I hurt his feelings. He was staring at me with so much pain and disappointment in his eyes, but the only thing I could think of was how my name was being splattered across campus as Ben's special lay, but he was still taking new ones to his room. How could he say that I was the most beautiful girl he had ever met one minute, and then have a girl attached to his side the next?

We stood there staring each other down for several seconds, each one planning our next move. He didn't say anything to me, but looked next to him, taking her hand in his, as I held back the tears that were sitting on the ledge, so to speak. "Let's go." He pulled the girl's hand to his mouth, kissing it. "Apparently, I have an image that I need to keep up."

I waited until they both disappeared up the stairs before I made a mad dash to my dorm room. It wasn't until I was there that I realized I left my bag in Ben's room with the keys in it. I yanked my cell from my back pocket and called Ellie. She didn't answer, so I texted Tommy next. Again, nothing. There was no way I was going back to witness Ben's night of debauchery. So, instead of going back, or making the one call I would dread the most, I slumped to the ground, praying for someone to come along to open the door for me.
 

The next morning I felt like hell. It took two hours of sitting outside before someone opened the door. I didn't have a key to get into my room, so I slept on one of the couches in the great room. The next morning the D.A. let me in back in my room with her master key.
 
Ellie's bed was still made which meant she found another special someone last night. I made a mental note to have a really big discussion again with her. I just logged on to my computer when a light tap rapped on my door. I pulled it open to find Tommy standing in front of me holding my bag.

"Ben asked me to bring this to you. He said you left it in our room."

Quickly I yanked it away to walk back to my desk. "Yeah, thanks. I sort of rushed out, and I didn't want to disturb Ben and his one night stand."

Tommy came up behind me, rubbing my shoulders back and forth. The light massage felt good. "About that...Ben will kill me if he knows I'm telling you this."
I cut him off, "I don't want to talk about Ben, please?"

"But..."

I held my hands up. "Nope. I'm done. I care about him, but I'm done trying. I have no problem being friends with him, but that's it."

Tommy spun my chair around to face him. "Look, I can't promise that things will be perfect with Ben, but he's different since you came back."

"Tommy, one thing I know is that is someone seriously wants to be a part of someone's life, they will seriously make the effort to be in it."

He knelt down in front of me, giving my knees a squeeze. "Then you're blind, because I'm positive he's made the effort." Tommy stood back up, but leaned over to kiss me on the forehead. "I'll talk to you later, P."

Once he shut the door behind him, I cried. I balled like a baby, because I knew he was right. Ben had made so many efforts to show me he cared, and what did I do? I called my best friend a manwhore, and threw him into another girl's arms.

Smooth, Paige. Real smooth.

BEN

Chapter 24

I couldn't do it. As pissed as I was, I told that girl to go home after spending twenty minutes with her. I only wanted one person in that bed with me, and she called me a whore. I guess I deserved it. I just never thought it would take a girl, let alone Paige, to make me believe it.

As much as I loved Paige, it hurt too much to be around her. Once in a while, I'd put on a strong face when I ran into her, pretending like nothing happened. Like we were still friends, and that I was okay with that. Well, I wasn't, never had been. When she asked to be only friends, I agreed because I thought about everything she'd been through, and I had no idea how to make it better. Deciding to walk away, or try harder killed me. I knew without a doubt I wanted Paige, but her shitting on my parade telling me to back off, destroyed me. Our weird relationship had started to tear away pieces of me little by little. Even when I looked at her, knowing nothing could happen, it felt like someone taking a sledge hammer to my heart.

It was Spring semester, and the middle of February. I'd seen Paige at the most three times since that night of the party. Three fucking days over the course of twenty. I hadn't touched a girl since that night, not because I couldn't, but because I wanted to prove to myself that I was nothing like what she thought of me. It killed me to replay her voice inside my head, calling me out. It killed me even more to avoid her and pretend like she wasn't on campus.

Tommy, Jack and I made plans to head down to a small bar instead of hanging at the house tonight. It was a dump, but just what we were looking for to let off some steam. We were shooting some pool in the back room, having a good old time when we heard someone yell out that it was karaoke hour. We all rolled our eyes, swigging our beers back. I'd already won twenty bucks off Jack, but Tommy wouldn't bet on me since he knew better. A couple painful attempts at singing had gone by, but we just kept pushing along with our game.
 
Jack lost again, so it was his turn to buy the next round of beers. He strolled back uneasy, looking at me weird while he handed off a Heineken to me. "Umm, do you want to know who's getting ready to sing out there, or would you rather not know?"

I took a swig, eyeing him real quick. "What the hell do I care who's singing?"

He patted my shoulder, smiling. "Okay, man. Never mind."

A minute or two later, I was about ready to sink the white ball into the left corner pocket, when I heard the familiar laughter reach the back room. I shot anyway, missing the hole, and the shot of the night. Jack and Tommy just looked away like they didn't notice. I slammed my stick down on the table. "Unbelievable. What the hell is she doing here?" I asked to no one in particular. I looked to Tommy. "Did you know she was coming?"

He held up his hands like he was the innocent bystander, shaking his head. "No, but it's good she's getting out, right?" He asked me.
 

It was more than one voice booming through the speakers. I peeked around the corner to see not just her, but Ellie and some other girl singing, "I will survive." What was it with women and that song?

Jack walked over to us. "They're not that bad, actually." I agreed. I could hear Paige's voice over the other two, and it took everything for me to get a grip.

Tommy saw my face. "They're going to see us before the nights over. Might as well go say something first."

I nodded. I wanted to see her. I was dying to see her. I'd lost track of how many times I stopped by her dorm to only walk away, or entered the Rec center to take one of her classes but hit the weights instead. "Ben, man she's my cousin. You need to get your shit together. I can't ignore her like you can." The entire time he was talking, my heart was pounding in my chest. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about the hike, what almost happened in her room, why she stopped, why I walked away after that? There were so many obstacles that I put up, that I couldn't get around them, even when I was the one that put them there in the first place. I promised her I'd be there for her, but the first taste of my heart breaking was all it took for me to back off. When she suggested we just be friends, I pounced on it.
 

I followed my so called best friend, who I wanted to punch badly to the front room. Paige and her friends were just hopping down from the stage when she spotted me. She stopped, spinning to grab a hold of Ellie, but then pushed her way toward us. "Hey, guys. I didn't know you were here," she said, completely avoiding eye contact with me.

We all kind of just looked around at each other. "Yeah, we came to shoot some pool," Tommy answered before leaning over to kiss Paige on the cheek. "I haven't seen you a while. Everything good?"

She just nodded at him, but then finally acknowledged me. "Ben, how are you?"

I placed my drink down, signaling to the bartender for another one. "I'm good, P."

"You haven't called me so, I..."

I cut her off. "Yeah, I got a hard schedule this semester. Been busy."

The one girl I didn't know came back over to us, handing off a shot to each of the girls. "Down em' ladies." Paige held the glass up like she was toasting to me, then sucked it back. Someone else stepped up to the mike to sing, while the three of them belted it out from the bar. I leaned back, watching her let loose with her friends, letting myself enjoy the view. She had on this tight, little yellow shirt that hugged her in all the right places, and a white skirt that flowed around her as her friend spun her around.
 

When she caught my eye, instantly I regretted standing there. "You about ready bolt, guys? I gotta get back."

Jack looked at me. "What are you talking about? I thought we were staying out?"

Tommy stepped in front of me. "Stop being an asshole. Ask her to dance or something."

I sighed heavily, contemplating what to do. I chugged back my beer, letting it roll down my throat. I slammed it on the bar, then grabbed Paige by the hand. "I need to talk to you." She stumbled as I pulled her away toward the bathrooms, pushing her up against the wall.