Twisted (11 page)

When I woke up that morning not once did I imagine that Ben would be in my bed that night. It's strange how things turn out.

He opened his eyes and squinted at me. “Please tell me you’re not going to stand over me all night keeping watch.”

“Nope.” I went to my closet and pulled out my ancient sleeping bag, the one I’d used for family camping trips. I rolled it out on the floor and grabbed a pillow off my bed.

“Maya?”

I turned to look at him.

“Thanks for doing this,” Ben said. His expression conveyed as much as his words did that he meant what he said. “No one else would…I mean, no one else has ever…”

“You’re welcome,” I told him as I grabbed a pair of flannel pajama pants and a t shirt. I went into the bathroom to change. When I came back Ben seemed to be sleeping already. I snapped off my lamp but left the hallway light on with my door opened just a crack. I didn’t want him waking up feeling disoriented and wondering where he was in a totally dark room.

I could’ve slept on the couch but I was worried he’d wake up and need something. And if I were going to be honest, I would have to admit I wanted to be close to him.

The floor was harder than I thought it would be. I wiggled around trying to get comfortable but didn’t have much luck. I sprawled out flat on my back. I was resigned to the fact I wasn’t going to get comfortable. I tried to relax. I could hear Ben’s breathing. It was steady. I hoped he was asleep but it had a ragged quality that made me think I could hear the pain in it. My emotions finally caught up to me. I was so angry at Alec I wanted to scream. I clenched my jaw to keep it in.

It was dark out but still earlier than I normally went to sleep on a weekend. If Ben wasn’t in the predicament he was in, I doubted he’d be sleeping either. I restlessly tossed around until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I wanted so desperately to help Ben, to be near him. I grabbed my pillow and slowly edged myself into my bed, trying not to jostle him.

“Do you want me to sleep on the couch?” Ben wondered once I finally finished the long drawn out procedure.

“No…why would you ask that?” I turned on my side to look at him.

“I thought you were uncomfortable with me here. Isn’t that why you were on the floor?”

“No, that’s not why. I just didn’t want to bump you. And I didn’t know if you would care if I was up here…but the floor is really hard,” I explained.

“It’s your bed and your house,” he said. “You can sleep wherever you want.”

“Did I wake you?”

“I wasn’t really sleeping.”

“Are you in a lot of pain?” I asked quietly.

He turned his head to look at me. “It’s better than it was.”

“When you said before that you knew what broken ribs felt like, is that when Alec broke them?”

He winced at my words. “Who told you about that?”

“Phoebe.”

“It was Alec…and about five others.”

“What happened?”

He was quiet for a long time. I wondered if he’d dozed off or if he was ignoring me. Finally he sighed and started talking.

“I’d just been released. My parents weren’t home. I was sitting on the back steps. They walked up to me from the street. I don’t know how they knew I was outside. Someone must’ve been watching me. It was Alec, Ty, Taylor, Mike. All guys I’d been on the football team with. I’m not sure if there were one or two more. I don’t remember much.”

“Because they hurt you so badly?” I nearly whispered.

“No. Because at the time I was wishing they would. I remember thinking that no matter what they did to me, they couldn’t do any worse than what I wanted to do to myself. Alec was mad that I didn’t fight back so he kept going but I just didn’t care. And really, the physical pain was a distraction from everything else I was feeling. I was still out in the yard when my mom found me in the morning. They had thought I’d just gone to bed.”

“And the scars?”

“Yeah, same night.” He let out a harsh half-laugh. “My face was pretty messed up. After that, they’ve been pretty good about staying below the neck. Less obvious. Less questions.”

I scooted closer to him, as close as I dared without bumping him. “I’m sorry they did that. It makes me sick. You’ve been through enough.”

“That depends on who you ask,” he said bitterly.

I wanted to curl up tight next to him. More than anything I wanted to take his pain away. The physical and the emotional. But I couldn’t touch him because I was afraid of hurting him. And I was afraid of getting too close for fear that he didn’t want me to be.

He was quiet again. I tried to sleep but I couldn’t. I was afraid to ask what had brought about Alec’s rage tonight. Was it because of me? Because I had been spending time with Ben? Was it because he’d left with me in my car? Or were he and his friends just trying to make a statement before the big party? A party I almost went to. I was disgusted by the thought. I didn’t want to associate with Alec or his friends in any way. 

I rolled over on my side to look at Ben again. The hallway light illuminated his face. I leaned close, trying to make out the scars in the dim lighting. They were too faint. His cheek was so close to my lips. I leaned over and kissed it.

I moved away again, just a bit, and propped my head up on my hand. Then I reached for his hand with my free one, slipping my fingers through his. His breathing sounded better now. Not so harsh and ragged. The painkillers must have started working. I hoped his sleep was as peaceful as he looked, at least what I could see above the covers.

After a few minutes he opened his eyes.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Good as can be,” he muttered.

“Then why aren’t you sleeping?”

His lips twitched. “I can feel you watching me.”

Instead of being embarrassed like I probably should have been I just laughed softly. “Sorry. Do you want me to move back to the floor?”

He shook his head.

Falling back into my pillow, I wondered if he realized I was holding his hand. He didn’t pull it away and I didn’t let it go.

***

I bit my lip nervously. “Remy, I sort of have company.”

She smiled. “I figured. I saw a car in the driveway. Did Phoebe spend the night?”

I shook my head.

“Olivia?”

“It’s kind of a guy,” I admitted

“Kind of a guy?” she asked skeptically. “Sheesh, Maya. Either it is or it isn’t. Didn’t I give you the sex talk a few years ago? We could do a refresher.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not funny. You know what I mean. It’s Ben. But it’s not what you’re thinking.”

She shook her head. “To be honest, I haven’t had enough time to think much of anything yet. Tell me what’s going on.”

I told her about the fight, albeit it was so one-sided I wasn’t sure ‘fight’ was the right term.

“Maya, I don’t know. It might not be a good idea to get mixed up in this. I mean, if something went wrong and Social Services somehow got involved...they don’t know I work night shifts. They only asked for proof of employment and they were happy with my job but my hours never came up. I don’t think they’d be happy to find out that a minor is spending five nights of the week unsupervised,” she said nervously.

“But Remy,” I said, dangerously close to whining, “he didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Well, he’s here so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

I shuffled my feet, fidgeting. “I’ve kind of already told him that if he ever needs somewhere to stay, he could come here.”

Remy let out a little huff and pushed her shoulders back. “Maya, as your guardian, the adult in your life that is responsible for your wellbeing, I feel like I need to tell you that it’s not okay.” She looked uncomfortable saying the words.

“He doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“As your guardian, I have to tell you 'no',” she said stubbornly. She turned to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of water. Without looking at me she said, “However, as your sister, if you were to
sneak
him in here, I’d probably forgive you for disobeying. And if you don’t get caught that would be even better.”

I rushed up and hugged her from behind as I planted a kiss on her check. “Thank you, Rem!”

“Don’t mention it,” she muttered. “Really, don’t mention it. To anyone.”

“I won’t,” I agreed.

“So how badly is he hurt?”

I told her I was worried about cracked ribs even though he assured me there weren’t any. I told her the bruising was terrible.

Ben wandered into the kitchen a few minutes later. Remy looked at me with a wide-eyed, teasing smile. “You didn’t tell me how cute he is!”

Ben’s face scrunched up, looking puzzled. I almost expected him to look over his shoulder to see who Remy was talking about.

I felt my own face flush.
Cute
? Ben was cute when he was eleven. At seventeen, he’d surpassed cute years ago. Of course, not wanting to embarrass him too badly, I kept that verbalization to myself. Instead, I simply grinned at him and nodded my agreement.

He blinked at me in surprise.

“So, Ben,” Remy said, all business now. “I think you need to take that shirt off so I can check things out.”

“Uh…What?” he asked as he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“I’m a nurse,” Remy reminded him. “Maya’s worried about you. I want you to go lie down so I can look you over. Okay?”

He looked like he wanted to argue but Remy had a no-nonsense look on her face that obviously wasn’t worth wasting an argument on. He just turned around and headed back to the bedroom.

“Maya makes waffles with the most
amazing
homemade
blueberry sauce,” she told him.  “When we’re done you
have
to stay for breakfast.”

He must’ve muttered his okay because Remy turned around to give me a good-natured smirk.     

I was waiting with Phoebe at her locker after our last class when Henry came up to us.

“Hey Phoebe, thanks for borrowing me your notes again,” he said as he handed her a purple notebook. “I really appreciate it. The way you write things out always makes it so clear.”

“No problem,” Phoebe replied with a smile. I thought I could see the faintest bit of pink spread across her cheeks.

“Good. I thought maybe you would’ve needed them last night when you were studying with Olivia,” he said as he gave her shoulder a nudge with his own.

Phoebe’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“See ya later,” Henry told her.

“Bye,” Phoebe said a bit breathlessly. I watched her as she watched Henry walk away. She was still gazing after him when he reached the hall that branched off to the main doors. As if he felt her eyes still on him he looked back and gave her a wave before disappearing around the corner.

Her head snapped back as if she hadn’t been staring the whole time. Or been caught doing it. In less time than it took me to blink, her cheeks had turned crimson.

I’d had my suspicions but I hadn’t wanted to say anything, in case I was wrong.

I looked around to be sure no one else was within hearing distance. “You like Henry,” I whispered sympathetically.

She gave me a look warning that the private matters of her heart were clearly sacred ground that I was not to trample on.  I took the hint to tread lightly.

“I thought you had practice last night?” I asked.

“Mhhhmm,” she managed through tightly pinched lips. “He must’ve gotten me confused with Hailey,” she decided, looking hurt. “Olivia helps her study quite a bit.”

“Can I ask when this started?” I wondered.

“Last winter,” she moaned. “Way, way before Olivia got her pretty little claws into him.” She sighed. “Sometimes after school he’d invite me over to study if I didn’t have to be at the rink. We talked on the phone almost every night. Then he asked if I wanted to get together sometime—like a date—of course I said I did. But I was between two big competitions. He told me to let him know when I was free. Then it seemed like so much time passed I was afraid he’d changed his mind. He never brought it up again. Next thing I know, a few months have gone by and Olivia asked him out. I blew it,” she said miserably.

“Did Olivia know how you felt about him?” I asked. I was surprised that Olivia would have asked Henry out if she’d known.

Phoebe shook her head. “No one knew. I’m not like Hailey, happily announcing to anyone that will listen that she’s lusting after Blake. I guess I’m more like you and…” She nudged me and motioned with her head, obviously trying to deflect my attention elsewhere.

Ben was walking toward us slipping his backpack over a shoulder. He had his head down and didn’t notice I was standing in front of him. I stood there with Phoebe and waited for him anyway.

“Hi, Ben.”

He glanced up at the sound of my voice. I fell into step beside him, with Phoebe on the other side of me.

“How are you doing?” I asked. Remy had confirmed she didn’t think there were any broken ribs. He was covered in deep muscle bruises. She tried to convince him to be checked out by a doctor but he refused. So she instructed him to keep up the ice packs throughout the day and then switch to heat. 

“Fine,” he said noncommittally.

It had been a few days but his movements looked stiff and cautious. What I feared most was that he’d be jumped again while he was just starting to recover. It was part of the reason I wanted to walk out with him.

There was an awkward silence. I didn’t know what to say to Ben with Phoebe there. I knew he was embarrassed to have had Phoebe help him. So we didn’t say much of anything as we walked out to the parking lot.

“What’s on your car?” Phoebe asked as we got close.

I walked on my tip-toes for a moment craning my neck to try to see what she was talking about. There seemed to be an unusual number of people milling around my car.

Ben, who was much taller and had a much better vantage point flinched, his face paling.

Phoebe’s eyes were wide and questioning when she looked back at me. Her gaze swung between my face and Ben’s. Sometimes being short is a horrible inconvenience.

“What?” I didn’t understand their strange reactions. After a moment I realized several people were looking at us as we approached. They were glancing between the package left on my car and the three of us.

Ben’s jaw was tightly clenched and his eyes had the distant look that I hated to see.

“Ben, what’s wrong?” I asked, as I gently brushed my hand against his. He didn’t answer so I looked to Phoebe for help since she looked upset as well. When I glanced back to Ben, he had taken off in another direction. I wanted to call after him but I didn’t want to draw any more attention to us.

As if that were possible.

I glanced back at Phoebe but she was watching Ben’s retreating back. When she looked at me her eyes were huge and haunted.

“Will you please tell me what is going on?” I asked, starting to feel panicked. I felt countless pairs of eyes burning into me.

She glanced at the package on my car and then back to me. “Don’t you see what it is?” she asked. When I gave her a helpless shrug she continued. “The package sitting on your car, it’s a white box. It looks like it’s from Carmella’s. And see? It has a purple ribbon around it.”

I felt my heart slam in my chest. “Just like Ben used to give Katie,” I muttered. I glanced around for him but he was already out of sight. “Who would do that?” I asked.

She hesitated. “You don’t think it’s from him?”

“No. I don’t think it’s from him,” I said, the words sounding harsher than I intended. “Did you see the look on his face? Who else knew he used to do that?”

“Just about everyone,” Phoebe sighed. “I told you, it came out in the investigation.”

“
What
is that?” Hailey demanded as she caught up to us. She was sashaying along in black boots with a two inch heel, tight black jeans with metal buckles down the side and a black sheer shirt with a skintight cami underneath. She had chunky violet streaks in her hair. The ensemble was topped off with gobs of black eye make-up and her usual deep plum lipstick. She looked like a little pixie of death.

I heard a gasp and turned to look at Olivia. “That’s not from Ben is it?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Get in the car,” Phoebe told me as she snatched the box off of my hood.

I glanced at her.

“We’re sure as hell not opening this here,” she muttered under her breath. “Not with the entire student body craning their heads for a peek. I don’t have to be at the rink until later so just get in and we’ll drive somewhere to check it out.”

I unlocked the doors and slid into the driver’s seat. Phoebe got in beside me and placed the small box on the floor by her feet. I tried to hide my annoyance when Hailey and Olivia tumbled into the back.

Phoebe groaned. “Don’t you two have something else to do?”

“I wouldn’t miss this for anything!” Hailey admonished.

“Actually, I was hoping Maya would drive me home,” Olivia said hesitantly.

I nodded, ignoring their requests to put the top down. I opted for rolling the windows down instead. I ignored the stares of my classmates as we rolled out of the parking lot.

“Where’s your car?” Phoebe demanded as she turned in her seat to look at Olivia.

Olivia smiled. “Henry took it to Hal’s Automotive for an oil change. He’s just so sweet. He offered his truck to me but it’s too big. I don’t want to drive it. So I thought if I could get a ride home then he could bring my car to me and we’d just come back here for his truck later.”

“You’re making him take your car in?” Phoebe snapped. “You could at least go with him instead of making him sit there forever by himself. I mean, it’s
your
car!”

Olivia looked startled. “Why are you being so snippy? I hate those smelly mechanical shops. He’s a boy. He probably enjoys the smell of oil and grease and…and whatever other car smells there are.”

Phoebe shook her head. “Well, the least you could do is drive his truck to your house so he doesn’t have to drive all the way out to your house, then all the way back again after sitting and waiting for who knows how long. He probably just gave up most of his night for you. Again. I hope you appreciate it,” she mumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Olivia snapped.

Phoebe scrutinized her for a moment. “Do you even like him? I mean, as a boyfriend? Not just an errand runner? Or someone to vacuum your car? Or how about at lunch the other day when he mentioned you forgot your homework the night before? He drove all the way back to the school to get it for you. What did you do?  Stay home to paint your nails?”

I glanced at Olivia in the rearview mirror. Her head was tilted to the side and her eyes were slit, assessing Phoebe. “Why do you care so much?”

“Because Henry’s my friend!” Phoebe huffed.  “He’s such a nice guy. It just seems like you use him.”                             

“Oh! There’s a parking spot!” Hailey blurt out, apparently oblivious to the heated conversation going on right in front of her.

I slid into the spot on the side street. We were still in town where the houses were older. It was too early for most people to be off work so the street was relatively quiet.

Phoebe seemed grateful for the distraction. She held up the package. It must have been light. She held it in her outstretched palm even though it was big enough to hold in two hands. “Do you want to open it or do you want me to?”

I hesitated. I had a horrible squirmy feeling in my stomach. I knew that the package was not from Ben even though it was made to look like it. It seemed obvious that the intent behind the package was malicious.

“I’ll do it,” Phoebe said when I still didn’t answer. She peeled the ribbon off. There was a gold sticker that was used to seal the box shut. She used her fingernail to slice it open. Her eyes darted to mine for just a second before she flipped the lid up.

She immediately flipped it back shut as she tossed the box out of the window.

“What is it?” Olivia demanded of Phoebe.

“Nothing. Let’s just go.”

“No way!” Hailey argued. She leaned over Phoebe’s seat and grabbed the door handle. The door swung open and Hailey jumped out.

“Oh…yuck,” she moaned a few moments later.

I looked helplessly at Phoebe. “You might as well tell me.”

“Fine. But it’s stupid. It was just some moldy flowers.”

“Sweetheart roses, I think,” said Hailey as she clambered back into the car. “They’re so covered in mold it’s hard to tell.”

Right. Of course it would be sweetheart roses.

“I told you the first day of school he’s
so
creepy!” Olivia groaned from the backseat. “You need to stay away from that monster.”

I turned around and glared at her. “Don’t ever call him that again. I mean it. Not ever. You want to know who’s creepy? Find out who really put that box on my car.”

“How do you know it’s not from Ben?” Hailey wondered as she poked her face between the seats. “It’s not like you actually know the guy. Everyone knows he used to give Katie sweetheart roses.”

“Exactly,” I said with more calm then I felt. “
Everyone
knows it. It could be anyone playing a sick joke. I know him way better than any of you. You have no idea how much time I’ve spent with him or how well I’ve gotten to know him.” Maybe that was an exaggeration. I wasn’t sure if anyone
really
knew Ben. However, I was sure it was safe to guess that I knew him about as well as anyone. I didn’t care if the words were out. Admitting to knowing Ben could not possibly do any more damage than what had already been done.

Olivia was frowning again. “How much time
have
you been spending with him?”

“
Why
would you be spending time with him?” Hailey grumbled. “He’s like a piranha. He’ll ruin you!”

“Pariah,” Phoebe corrected.

“That’s what I said,” Hailey pouted back.

I buried my face in my hands, futilely wishing Olivia and Hailey would be mystically teleported back to school, Alaska…the nearest Target store…anywhere but here.

I felt a gentle hand rest on my wrist.

“I believe Ben didn’t do it,” Phoebe said softly.

“How do you know he didn’t?” Olivia demanded.

I told them about the first time I’d met Ben. How he’d helped me when I was knocked out, lying in the middle of the road. I reminded them of the time he’d walked me home in the middle of the night after telling me it wasn’t safe for me to be out. Last of all, I told them about falling into the river. He had pulled me up twice and then held on tight to make damn sure I didn’t slip under and get washed away.

“You fell into the river?!” Hailey asked in disbelief.

“That’s not the point. Ben’s done nothing but help me,” I said firmly. “There is
nothing
either of you can say,” I stated as I swung my angry gaze between Hailey and Olivia, “that will make me believe otherwise.
I
know him.
You
don’t. So stop pretending you do.”