Oh Baby, I'm a Fool For You

Turns out, I'm pretty good at avoiding people. I'm not very good at it when I'm forced to see the person I'm avoiding daily.

Ben was giving me so many mixed signals that I didn't know what he felt. Some days he would catch my hand or stroke my side while I worked on him, and other days he wouldn't even meet my eyes. He was either touchy-feely like Nikolai, or cold and stoic.

It was two weeks before I could bring myself to say another word to him. I promised myself that I would wait until he was feeling kindly toward me before saying anything.

We were filming a scene in the cliffs, where everyone was talking about what to do when the Telmarines came to kill them all. Ben was sitting to the side, in the shadows.

When makeup was called, I rushed to Will and quickly fixed him up, then to Ben, who was watching me intently. Crouching in front of him, I dabbed the foundation across his forehead, and pulled out a comb to fix his hair.

"Hey," he whispered, his finger trailing along my wrist.

"Hi," I answered, focusing on his hair. I put away my tools and turned to walk away, then paused. I turned around and said, "Friends," and extended my hand.

A wide, toothy smile instantly spread across his lips. "Really?"

I nodded and thrust my hand towards him.

He took it and squeezed my hand with his. It sent jolts of electricity racing through my body.

"Clear set!"

"Ben, you have to let me go," I said as I tried to retract my hand from his.

"I don't want to," he answered, a smile still plaguing his face.

"You have to," I whispered, and pulled away quickly, stumbling to the side, out of the camera line.

For the rest of the scene, Ben kept getting scolded because he looked so happy when he was supposed to be morose. His gorgeous eyes caught mine, and the smile that stretched across his face somehow made me feel like everything was going to work out.

...

I came back to my, sorry, our room after a long day of darting over to Will to fix his face. Sliding the card key into the lock, I pushed it open, kicking off my shoes as soon as I entered our small room. "I'm back," I called lazily.

"Hi baby girl!"

I looked up at Nikolai, and unknowingly took a step backwards.

Ben was sitting on the bed across from Nikolai, who was leaning against the wall.

"What are you two up to?" I asked, making my way over to the plush blue chair a few feet away from Nik.

"Oh, boy talk, you know how it is, darling," Nikolai answered.

As I lowered myself into the chair, Nik grabbed my hand and spun me around. Somehow, I ended up sitting on his lap, both of his arms around my waist. "How did this happen?" I murmured, though I snuggled back against him.

Coughing from across a few feet away made me aware that Ben was still sitting there, eying us with an odd smile and raised eyebrows.

"Hi," I said awkwardly, nervously playing with my fingers.

"Hey," he replied. "Nikolai was just telling me all the rules."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Rules?" I repeated, turning to look at my friend.

"Damn straight, child," he answered, nodding his head. "There are certain rules when it comes to being friends with you, Ky. Especially if you recently broke up with Kaya," Nik said, his eyes briefly darting towards Ben.

Brushing off the last comment, I asked, "So what are these rules that I am just now hearing about?"

"They're not for you," he said quickly. "Okay, some sort of are. You have some responsibility here, missy," he scolded, shaking a finger in my face.

"You should probably get your finger out of my face before I bite you," I threatened playfully, completely forgetting about Ben once again.

"Nikolai?" Ben said, his voice strong.

The two of us turned to face him, and I eased off Nikolai and sat on the bed next to Ben.

"The rest of the rules?" he asked. His eyes briefly looked at me, a smile crawled onto his lips.

Nikolai stood up and linked his hands behind his back, and began to pace in front of us. "The first rule is: I am Kaya's number one friend. You can be number two. Oh wait," he said, stopping and tapping his chin, "I forgot about Veronica. Okay!" he exclaimed, resuming his pacing. "I am number one, Veronica is number two, and Ben, you're number three."

Ben and I exchanged looks of pure amusement.

"Stop that you two!" Nik exclaimed, stomping his food childishly. "Now, for the next rule I will need a volunteer. Kaya, if you please," he said, extending his hand to me.

"Do I really-"

He took my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Now Ben, I know that you used to date Kit-Kat and therefore you did things underneath her clothes."

"Hey!" Ben and I shouted simultaneously.

"I'm right though," he said, brushing it off. "Now, as friends and not lovers anymore, there are certain places you can't touch. As friends, you can touch here-" He ran his hands down my arms, my calves, and my feet. "You cannot touch her anywhere else."

"You do!" Ben exclaimed.

"It's one of the perks of being the number one friend," Nikolai said simply, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and resting his head on top of mine. "Plus, I've never gotten to touch her girly bits, so this makes up for it."

"Okay, Nik, this is getting creepy," I said, stepping out of his grasp.

"There's one more rule!" he said loudly. "If you hurt Kaya in any way, or make her cry, you answer to me. And I may be gorgeous, but I'm not scared to bloody my knuckles for her."

Ben just raised his eyebrow. The threat didn't scare him at all.

"I gotta go to bed," I said loudly, walking to my suitcase.

"Aw," Nikolai groaned childishly, flopping onto the bed next to Ben. "It's not time for bed though!" he insisted.

Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, I shook my head at him. "It is, Nik," I argued, pulling my pajamas from my bag. "Put on your pajamas."

"Yes ma'am," he groaned. Lifting his hips off the bed, he undid his jeans and pushed them off his legs, followed by his brightly colored knee socks. He then took off his t-shirt, leaving him in a pair of boxers. "Ready," he said as he tossed his clothes to the floor.

"Those are your pajamas?" Ben asked, his eyes wide.

Nikolai nodded. "Go change, Ky-Ky."

I retreated to the bathroom to put on the PJ pants and tank top before coming back out. Nik was laying under the blankets, and Ben was standing by the door, ready to go. "Hey," I said to him, nervously folding my clothes in my arms. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah," he answered, his voice quiet.

"What's wrong?" I asked, leaning against the wall across from him.

He shook his head.

"Ben," I started.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and with a small smile, he opened the door and left.

"He's jealous."

Turning to my right, I saw Nikolai laying in bed. "What?" I scoffed.

"His ex-girlfriend, who he clearly still loves, is sleeping in a bed with a half naked sexy beast," he said, gesturing casually to himself.

Sucking in my bottom lip, I shook my head and walked towards Nik. Picking up his t-shirt, I tossed it to him. "Please?" I asked quietly.

"No problem, love," he said, and pulled the shirt over his head. "Promise me something, though," he said as I crawled into bed next to him.

"Hm?"

"Talk to Ben tomorrow. The sexual tension between you two is unbearable."

I could feel my jaw drop. "That whole thing about what he can and can't do... That was just to mess with him?" I squeaked.

"You're welcome," Nikolai said with a wide smile. He kissed my cheek and turned onto his side, leaving me to fall into an uneasy sleep.