You and Me

Finished! Finally! Please read all of this before preceding to the next chapter or you shall be uterly confused!

 

                For a minute I just sat there on the bed until some man came in to tell me that Ben was waiting for me down the stairs. I couldn’t believe it, just how wonderful he looked down there in his expensive tux and tails. I couldn’t help but think back to the time I’d helped him pick it out. It was classic in design with a black blazer with tails trailing. He had on a white dress suit underneath with a slim black tie. His shoes were shining and spotless, no doubt shined yesterday after I’d left. A black pair of pants finished off the outfit. I was glad to see Viki hadn’t made him grease his hair down before she left; it stood up in random ways that made me just want to run my fingers through it. His mask was a simple black mask with no special design. Yes. Now you get to know what my now infamous dress looks like. Slowly I walked down the stairs holding the long folds of white silk in my hands. The dress was a bleached white, there were no sleeves, it was a total strapless, and all along the breast area there were shining diamonds and then along the skirt the diamonds spread across in no particular order. Around my waist I was wrapped the dress formed a corset and then the dress came flowing from beneath. The mask I wore was a sparkly white one with points at the far ends which had soft white fluff shooting from it.

                “Well mysterious stranger, are you ready for the party of the year,” I asked him as I ambled on up to him. With a smile on my face I grabbed his tie and tightened it. He gave me and unbelieving look with wonder in his eyes. After a minutes stare he looked down and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

                “You… you look stunning,” he stuttered to the floor. I tilted his head up so he was looking me in the eyes and asked the inevitable question with a forced smile.

                “How’d you shake off Viki?” the suspense almost hurt physically.

                “She wasn’t happy about it but I told her to go to one of her friends parties. We got into a bit of a fight again. I told her this was just some stupid formal and not as great as everybody says it is,” he sighed looking off to one of the side walls.

                “Oh really, I was under the impression this was the party of the year planed by yours truly,” I told him playfully.

                “Yes, well,” he looked back up at me and gave me a huge grin that made my heart stop, ”she doesn’t need to know that.”

                “You trickster,” my heart was racing now.

                “I don’t care anymore, it’s just too hard being with her. I think that two people together should be easy.” He stopped looking at me again which was good for hiding the smug smile that covered the visible part of my face.

                “Come on, let’s go party,” I whispered after a minute. With a smile he offered me his hand and together we exited the room and made our way down the main stair case. I felt like a princess coming down into the crowd of astonished faces. They pointed and whispered and I knew they wouldn’t dare be talking trash at the risk of being thrown out. It was bliss when we walked together into the beating lights of the enormous big room. My arm in his we walked to the main grouping where Alice sat with some brown haired boy who was tall and solemn. With a smile Alice came to huge me tight with a champagne glass in her left hand half filled and sloshing the gold bubbly. She broke apart and tore me from Ben to drag me over to her little group of close friends. I found them all snooty and obnoxious like her friends always were. I put up with them all the same. The tall guy she had had her arm around stood back with a glass in his hands just watching us, for some reason I got the oddest feeling that I’d seen him before, I also felt his eyes burning into the back of my head the entire time. After an hour or so it was time for opening speeches. One of Alice’s servants summoned her to the stage where many of the most famous bands in the world would be playing tonight. She stood up above the crowd as she did every year in another breathtaking dress and gave thanks for the old year and noted some of the most important times of the year. In conclusion she wished everyone a perfect night and a great start to the New Year. Everyone started to dance then and the night dwindled away. At ten I wondered into the great hall to find Sadie, Morgan, Alex, and Dex but instead we found James wandering around hopelessly. The second he saw me he tore his mask from his face and ran over to me. When he saw my arm in Ben’s he no longer looked interested. I let him be and figured he’d find someone tonight. Eventually we found Alex and Sadie making eyes at each other under the shadow of the curved stairs.

                “Hey Sadie,” I said playfully as Ben and I approached the two.

                “Go away!” she shouted as she drew a stunned Alex back to her mouth. I smiled but drug Ben away through to a side room. Together we sat down at a table on the wall in the less dense part of the crowd. I grabbed some of the M&M’s in a bowl on the table and threw them in my mouth. Ben stared around absent mindedly. I looked back at Sadie and Alex together on the wall. She wore a simple blue dress which went down spreading out to the floor, there were no sleeves. She had her fingers holding Alex’s tie towards her so that his face was always close to him unless he wanted to choke. His right hand was on her waist and his left hand was entwined in her black hair. The smile on her face stood out even under his persistent lips. I wanted Ben to hold me like that.

                “Hey Izzy, come dance with me,” Ben whispered drawing my attention back to him. He stood up and offered me his hand.

                “Of course” I looked up to look in his eyes in surprise. After a second I got up with my hand in his.

                “I wonder what Morgan and Dex are up to,” he thought aloud as we headed off towards the great hall hand in hand. We went in and started dancing to a slow song in the dim light. As fate would have it I spied Morgan against the wall behind the refreshment table twisting her shawl that we’d told her to put away as some strange man with tousled red hair whispered into her ear. I watched and pointed it out to Ben. My eyes scanned the surroundings. About ten yards away Dex was watching pitifully by a corner in the shadows. Morgan looked up and immediately looked at me. She had a huge smile and glanced at the boy who nodded at me and then went back to whispering in Morgan’s ear. He looked down at her chest. For once her cleavage was showing framed perfectly by the red dress we’d picked out for her. There was a single strap on her right shoulder, the dress went down smoothly spreading out down the way, her strap went from her front and came down her back in a sort of cape and at the top of the strap was a single silver clip that held the cape to the real strap. I noticed Dex was wearing a matching red tie. I saw as he slowly cracked and rushed over to her. I drug Ben over to the refreshment table so we could get a better listen.

                “Hey looser,” he laughed in frustration, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you buddy, she bites.” Morgan looked like she was about to murder him when the red head bounced off the wall and confronted him with a shove on the shoulder. The red head gave Morgan a sligh look and then shrugged and walked away.

                “Whatever, I didn’t know the two of you had a thing,” he sighed with his hands in his pocket. Dex watched him go and then looked back to Morgan.

                “How could you,” she cried as she shoved past him and ran past me and then went up the stairs to hide from the rest of the crowd. Ben grabbed my arm and led me to the dance floor.

                 Michael Bublé was singing I’m Your Man up on the stage. We started with our hands together in the air and his hand on the side of my waist and mine on his shoulder. After awhile I slipped my hand to his shoulder and wrapped my hands around his neck, I laid my head on his shoulder and he didn’t reject. It took him awhile before his other hand fell down to my waist. He was so stiff, it felt like he was nervous to touch me. I looked up into his eyes with sadness trying to get him to loosen up.

                “Izzy, I can’t.” his hands slipped from my sides and he ran out of the room. I followed him up the stairs as fast as I could in my four inch heels. I ran behind him past a hundred plus doors. We got to the last door on the next level and I caught up with him. He pushed open the door with my hand on his. We looked into the near darkness and looked to the shadows on the bed light by only the candle on the bedside table. There right across from the door and ruffled on the bed was Morgan with her hand in the black hair of Dex as his body lay on top of her. They were locked in a passionate embrace, her hair was all over the place and his jacket was on the floor. They didn’t even look up to see us they were so entwined in each other’s bodies. His hands had her dress pulled up and his hand rubbed hard on her right thigh. All of the sudden Ben slammed the door shut. I stood stunned for a minute while he walked off down the hall with his head low and his hands in his pocket. I slowly walked after him hopping that our interruption had been enough to keep them from going too far. Eventually we found ourselves in Alice’s apartment on the top floor. We went out to the balcony. Ben leaned out over the edge and I stood a few feet behind him.

                “Hey,” I kind of whispered awkwardly. I slowly approached the edge and looked over two or three feet away from Ben. I put on a non caring face as I carefully watched Ben’s actions. His breathing was heavy and he held his face in his hands.

                “Can you tell me what exactly is so complicated about slow dancing with me,” I wondered aloud. He gave a long sigh and a huge pause.

                “Because… because it’s so hard being so close to you,” there was panic in his voice.

                “Why?” I demanded my voice rising as I turned to face him. I was losing my patience with this boy. He turned away and stepped back and rolled his head.

                “Look I just can’t ok,” he sighed and covered his forehead with his right hand. I walked over to him and put my hand under his chin and turned his face so he was looking in my eyes. He tried desperately to look elsewhere but I kept him strait.

                “I want you, you want me, what’s the problem?” I spit in his face. I was getting sick of this game.

                “Izz…” he started to moan.

                “No! I don’t see what the problem is!” it was getting hard not to just suck his mouth off.

                “Darling, I… we… we just… we just can’t ok,” he stuttered still trying with all his might to look away.

                “You have no right to call me darling,” I shoved him away and started toward the room before I could go very far Ben took my arm and swung me around. He looked deep into my eyes and I looked sheepishly into his.

                “Izzy… every time I think of you like that I can’t help but feel guilty,” he dropped my arm and walked back to the edge. I walked over closer to him than I was last time. I calmly put my hand on his back as he looked off to the side and away from me.

                “He’s gone Ben,” I sighed and paused for a moment, “and… and if he were here… I’m sure he’d rather it be you than some random scum.” I gave him a kind smile. He looked back to me and watched my face from his perch on the rail. He then looked back over to the surrounding city.

                “I know but it just feels wrong,” he sighed and then it happened. Without my consent my eyes began to water. He stood up, looked up at me, and then reached out his arms to hold me close to him. I buried my head in his chest and focused on the only good thing I could. This was something we shared that Viki would never know. This was something we shared that no one else could ever understand not even the gang. I held onto his arms as he gently rubbed my back.

                “He would want it to be you,” I sighed into his chest. He pulled up my chin and looked at me with sad eyes.

                “Maybe, but other than that I just can’t bear to think of you like that,” he let go of me and rattled on, “you can’t understand.”

                “What can’t I understand?” I was afraid to know his reasoning.

                “Uh…,” he struggled with words, “I feel… every time… every time I… I see you I can’t help but feel so… happy… so… just incredible. I don’t know. I just feel so warm inside. Then Viki comes and puts a lid on all this joy I just know I don’t deserve. I can’t think of you in that way when she towers over me like that.” he sighed looking out to the city.

                “Ben why does it matter… I mean why should… you not like me because…” I couldn’t find the right words to say.

                “Look, I just… feel so horrible when I look in your eyes and see your father in you, he was the man who raised me, who taught me everything I know, how could I take his treasure like that,” he whispered. I walked back to him and held onto his shoulders. He turned around and wrapped his arms around me. I held on tight to his arms. Faintly we could hear You and Me by Lighthouse playing from the open doors far below us. He held me tight and before I knew it our hands slipped back into dancing position. We started swaying back and forth slowly as his eyes watched the distance above my head and I rested it on his shoulder.

                “Ben don’t you have any feelings towards me!” I shouted and pushed him away. We stood there for a long while simply staring at the space between ourselves which was a good foot away.

                “Fine,” he whispered and looked up at me, “if you think it’s alright… that we won’t hurt each other… we can try.” I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. I’d waited so long to hear him say those words; well maybe not those words exactly but close enough. His hand came out to touch my arm. I gave him a huge smile and put my arms around his waist and put my head on his chest.

                “What about Viki?” I whimpered into his chest. He wrapped his arms tight around my back.        

                “Don’t worry, I’ll find away to let her down easy,” I could hear the smile and excitement in his voice. I stepped back to look him in the eyes and without thinking I planted my lips on his. This time he didn’t dare break away. His tongue found its way into my mouth and mine tangled itself in his mouth. His hands lowered to my waist and my hands started to tangle themselves in his hair. Then we hear footsteps in the dark room behind us. Together we broke apart and looked sheepishly at the ground and to the noise. Alice’s figure came out of the dark to stand in the doorway.

                “What are y’all doing out here?” she asked curiously.

                “Nothing,” I smiled mischievously as I grabbed Ben’s hand and started to drag him back down to the party, “come on.” Together we ran back down to the main room and headed towards the stage. There we stopped and started dancing to Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson who was up there singing. Alice looked smugly from her seat amongst close friends. On her right and a step back stood the solemn brown haired boy from earlier who was glaring at me now, I could tell by the way he stood with his arms crossed across his chest. On her left sat James with a huge grin on his face. Alice’s hand rested on his knee as she talked excitedly to her surrounding friends. I was happy that she’d found someone to be normal with. Together Ben and I glided around the room in big circles through the rest of the crowd. As midnight approached I watched as Morgan and Dex slip down the stairs a little unbalanced. Sadie looked at the pair in confusion and then looked questioningly at me. I gave her a wink and nodded yes. Her face lifted and she whispered the good news into Alex’s ear who then gave a little grin toward each of us.

                “Can you believe it, we all got together on the same night,” I giggled into Ben’s ear.

                “At least our anniversary will be easy to remember,” he smiled as he spun me around. I gave a laugh at that and enjoyed the sway of the music. Suddenly someone tapped on Ben’s shoulder.

                “Hold on a second Izzy,” he whispered sadly in my ear. I watched him walk away as I stood alone. I wondered what was so important that he couldn’t stay with me as I walked over to the snack bar. All of the sudden I felt a hand on my shoulder and I resisted the urge to flip the person then and there. A hand gripped my hand and dragged me up to a room on the third floor. In the room we were surrounded by darkness. A hand covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream even though I wasn’t going to. He locked the door and drug me over to the door to the little balcony. He went over to stand at the foot of the bed. I could barely see the outline of the brown headed boy who’d been standing beside Alice all night.

                “Hey Ray,” I heard the familiar voice of the man I thought I’d never see again. He slipped of his small wolf mask and revealed the face that had once haunted my face but was long forgotten by now. Wolfey laid the mask on the bad and I let out a huge gasp. He gave a small unsure smile and sat lightly on the bed. I sighed and looked out the window.

                “So how’d you get out? Surely they didn’t let you out on good behavior.” I said cryptically as I walked out the slid door so I was standing on the balcony. He came to stand behind me and to my right.

                “A friend helped me, doesn’t matter,” he shrugged off the questions and the accusation. I turned and gave him a glare.

                “What are you doing here?” I spat in his face. He sighed and looked off into the distance.

                “I wanted to see you one last time,” he whispered. I looked back at him in surprise.

                “What do you mean?” I wondered quietly.

                “I’m going to the eastern hemisphere for a while to calm down,” he whispered to the ground. I sighed and looked toward the skyline.

                “Look I didn’t mean to go so far at the coffee shop I… I... just… you were kissing me like that and I couldn’t help myself,” he went back into the room and buried his face in his hands. He looked up at me hopefully. I sat down beside him on the bed.

                “I’ve got a flight at one so I can’t stay here long,” he looked down at his hands and started picking at the skin.

                “Good riddance,” I whispered as I went through the door.

                “Sorry,” he whimpered and I looked back to see tears streaming down his face. Pity took me and I went to sit beside him. He looked up at me with water stained cheeks.

                “Good luck,” I whispered and pecked his lips. I left him there for what probably wouldn’t be the last time, sadly enough. I went down the stairs to join the throb of excitement towards the New Year.

Author's Note

This one wasn't as carfully planed out as the chapters before this.

Reviews

[Dylan I. Cree]

I love Michael Bubl� and how could you!!! Come on...this is not fair finish!!!

[Morgan]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You Can't just ended it like that!!! Come on women!!!
I need more!!!!