Messy Ending

Dai

“Ben!” I wrenched the door of mine and Sammi’s apartment open, coming face-to-chest with the tall guitarist. My gaze swept his appearance. He sported a sleeveless top embellished with a picture I paid little attention to. The shirt showed off tattoos covering his arms, neck, and chest; tattoos had always sort of been a turn on for me. Black, ripped skinny jeans clung to the muscles his legs provided. His hair, though not exactly straight, appeared less messy than it was usually styled.

Ben’s gaze scanned my body as well. I wore a Gir shirt that read ‘Free Hugs’ and black skinny jeans. I’d actually straightened my naturally wavy hair; it was a look I didn’t think Ben had ever seen on me. His gaze landed on my face and noticed he’d been caught gawking at me. “Oh, um, you look great.”

I flashed him a toothy grin and thanked him. “Sam!” I called over my shoulder to the girl that had yet to make an appearance.

I spun back to Ben only for him to bend forward slightly and press his lips against my cheek, sending a heated sensation across my face. “You look cute when you blush,” Ben mumbled, so low I didn’t think I’d been meant to hear his words, and brushed his thumb gently over my heated cheek.

I combed through my dark, untangled hair with shaky fingers and called once again for my best friend. Sammi was truly the image of a stereotypical girl when it came to preparing herself to walk out the door.

“I’m ready, I’m ready!” she said with a slight laugh to her voice. The small girl rushed into the living room, shoes in hand, and attempted to slip on her black converse while hopping toward us.
Ben’s arm slipped around my torso, pulling me into his side and though my rational senses still screamed that Ben and I getting together was a horrible idea I snaked my slender arm around Ben’s waist, tightly.

“I see you’ve finally stopped fighting me,” Ben chuckled directly into my ear. I couldn’t see his facial expression, but I heard the smirk leaking into the tone his voice had taken on.

I tilted my head back to lock my eyes with his. “What’s the point? You’re gonna get what you want eventually, right?” I gripped his shirt in a fistful at his waist where my hand had landed.

Ben cocked his head to the side in thought, his smirk twisting in a wide grin. “That you’re probably right about. I just know you can’t resist me, Dai,” he teased, jabbing his index finger into my side playfully.

I squirmed from his reach and playfully shoved him away from my body. “Sure, Ben.” I poked my tongue out in a childish gesture toward him.

Ben mimicked my actions and pulled me back into his side, comfortably, curving his arm around my waist. “Just admit it. I’m irresistible,” he teased once again.

“Hey, you two, stop being so perfect together and let’s go!” Sammi called to us. Her voice had dangerously reached the proximity of whining. She bounced up and down quickly as a small child would do when impatient.

“Sam, calm down,” I instructed with a laugh, turning to Ben, “We’d better get going or that’s just going to get worse.” I jerked my thumb in the direction Sammi stood, now narrowing her blue eyes at me in a playful gesture.

“Oh, alright,” Ben chuckled and guided us into the hall carpeted in a thick, deep burgundy carpet running up and down the narrow corridor. The walls had been decorated in a creamy sort of smoky color, offset by the black doors a generous distance away from each other in a show of somewhat privacy.

It was just as we had begun to start down the hallway that a door, next to mine and Sammi’s apartment, pulled open and Parker emerged out into the hallway. As always he had his colorful skateboard tucked under his slender arm. His brown hair hung into his face under a black, backwards baseball cap.

“Hey, Parker.” I grinned at the teenage boy with a slight wave. I remembered the fact, at this moment, that Parker’s favorite band had always been Asking Alexandria for the years that I had known the boy. I glanced up at Ben, a smirk taking place of the grin that had once graced my features.

“Oh. Hey, Dai. Hey, Sam.” The fifteen year old bounded toward us and appeared to not have noticed the lanky man stood very near to me. He slid to a stop on the Vans shoes he’d shoved his feet into and turned his attention to the guitarist side by side Sammi and I. Parker’s jaw went slack, his eyes wide, and a silent question radiated in them.

I let out a snickering sound and said, “This is Ben. Ben this is our neighbor, Parker.” I lowered my voice several octaves and stood onto the tips of my toes to murmur into Ben’s ear with a slight giggle. “His favorite band is Asking Alexandria.”

Ben’s eyebrows quirked up in amusement and he offered Parker a kind smile. “Nice meeting you,” he told the boy in that charming way he had so perfected over the years he had associated with his fans. The thought brought into my head all the women Ben must have slept with over the years, but, quickly, pushed it from my mind with a surprising surge of jealousy.

I couldn’t be jealous of girls whose names he hadn’t even tried to figure out in the moment of sleeping with them. I shook my head of that thought as well, a scowl etching onto my lips which had been layered with strawberry chap stick.

“Dai?” A bony elbow came in contact with my ribs, shaking me from my thoughts.

“Huh?” I met eyes with Ben, but realized it had been Sammi who had spoken. “What?” I repeated, carefully, turning to look at my best friend.

“You were zoning out and glaring… you okay?” Her head tilted in concern, her brows knitting together in a way that completed the expression that had come across her face.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” I swept my straightened hair to the side of my face.

Ben’s facial expression informed me that he didn’t believe me one bit, but he kept silent. Sammi, however, had never been afraid to tell me how she felt. “Are you sure? You don’t seem fine,” she persisted. Irritation built itself into my emotions.

“Sam, I’m fine,” I told her, managing to keep the irritation I felt at her insistence from my tone.
She nodded, one sharp nod, letting the subject drop as quickly as it had come and she pressed the elevator button for the four of us.

“So, Park, what’re you doing out of the apartment?” I broke the silence, which hung in a thick fog over us, drawing the attention of the boy I had spoken to as well as Ben and Sammi.

“Heading to the skate park down the street. Mom wanted me out of her hair. She’s been on the phone, fighting with Dad, all morning.” The boy shrugged indifferently, though he let a soft sigh escape his lips.

Sammi and I offered up a sympathetic look towards him. Both of us knew that Parker’s dad had been fighting with his mom, Amilee, for custody since they had divorced just a little over three years before. They often competed in screaming matches through the phone line. Amilee’s end of the conversation could easily be heard through the thin walls separating each apartment. The trouble with the situation was that Parker, legally, had the ability to choose where he resided. He’d told us a number of times about how he felt torn between his mom and his dad, whom he loved equally.

Parker had grown close to both Sammi and I over the year we had lived in our small apartment. The relationship we shared felt as a sibling’s relationship would feel. Closer than my relationship with my sister had been lately. She lived far from me (four hours away), my grandparents lived near her, my dad had taken his own life, and my mom obviously couldn’t care less about me too caught up in her new family. A feeling of cold nostalgia seized me, burning behind my eyes with hot tears that of which I pushed back.

I missed my family. I missed the years before I had turned eight and been forced to move in with my grandparents, my family having been destroyed by home wreckage and death. Don’t get me wrong I love my grandparents, but I wanted more of a family than that. I mean of course I had Sammi, but that just didn’t feel like enough.