Twist of Fate (26 page)

BEN

Chapter 32

It's official.

I was not worthy of Paige even if she decided to throw herself at me right now. I was barely out of bed, and it was already three in the afternoon. I'd missed both my classes today. I grabbed for my cell to check if I missed any calls, but there were none. I had a text from Jack about missing class, and one from Tommy. I was afraid to read it. Tommy never beat around the bush. It simply said,
she knows.

I laid back down, trying to go over different scenarios that could work, but not many came to mind. Granted, we weren't a couple, so technically I could sleep with whomever I wanted, but still, I couldn't stop the feeling that I cheated on her.
 

I typed in a quick text to Tommy and one to Paige, hoping she'd understand that nothing went down last night. Even though she had been the one to kick me out, but my guilty conscience took over.

When I got out of the shower, my phone dinged with a message. I ran over, sliding the locked screen to the right. It was from Paige.
 

I don't care. It's not my business what you do.
 

Well, screw that. How could she not care? Even as I was looking at the buttons, I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, but she kept hurting me with her words, so I wanted to hurt her back a little, so I typed a few harsh words.

I told you that I loved you. You didn't care. You left me. You broke me.
 

I sat on the edge of my bed staring down at my cell for almost half an hour, but she never responded.

It was a few hours later when I was grabbing dinner in the union when my phone buzzed. "What's up," I answered.

"Man, what the fuck?" Tommy screamed into the phone.

"What did I do?"

"You know exactly what you did. It took me an hour to get Paige out of the bathroom, and then another for her to open her bedroom door. I had to call Caroline to get her out of the apartment. What did you say to her?"

"Just the truth."

"Great! So, now I'm left cleaning up your shit as usual."

"Fuck you!" I screamed. Everyone within a few feet stopped to look at me. I flipped them off.
 

"I went there to tell her how I felt, she told me to get lost. I'm done."

"There's the guy I know."

"What?"

"You know the one who pretends he doesn't have a heart."

"This conversation is over." I slammed the phone down, almost shattering the screen.

I was furious with Tommy. I was furious with Paige. I was furious with myself. I grabbed my phone off the table, shoving it into my pants, when I spotted Paige and Caroline in line for yogurt. She didn't see me, so I sat back down, folding my arms on the table, then rested my chin on them, watching her every move. The way she smiled, the way she played with her hair, to the way she touched Caroline when it looked like she said something funny. She didn't look so frigging upset to me. But, still I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was still everything I wanted. She always had been. So, if playing her little games was what it took, I would be game.

A girl I had a one nighter with saw me and smiled my way. Normally, I would never smile back, I'd just pretend not to notice, but not tonight. I waved her over. I didn't even remember her name. "Hey, Ben."

"Hey, feel like partying tonight?"

She immediately had a twinkle in her eye. "You bet. Let me just tell my friends."

"Hurry back," I yelled, knowing Paige would hear me.

Paige and Caroline both looked over quickly. I winked to really set it home. She rolled her eyes, then they both pretended to be more interested in the yogurt menu.

My one nighter came back, and I didn't have the balls to ask her what her name was. I just wrapped my arm around her, hugging her closely, passed Paige, and went out the door. The entire time my heart pumped faster than it ever had before.
 

This girl was talking my ear off, and we hadn't even made it more than a few blocks. We were almost to the house, when she started yapping her gums about how excited she was to hang out, and sleep over and do it with me again, that I literally stopped in my tracks. "You know what, I eh, I forgot no chicks tonight. It's a pledge thing we have tonight. I'll call you later." She started to sulk, grabbing my hand to hold me back. "When will you call me?" She asked.

"Later," I jogged off.

For the first time, in I couldn't even remember how long, I felt like a slime for how I'd been treating girls. Not only did I not know her name, she was coming regardless, and she didn't give a shit. I didn't want to be this asshole anymore. When the house came into view, I ran for the steps knowing what I wanted to do.

I needed to figure out how to get Paige.

***

The next two days went by extremely slow. I knew she'd seen the text, or the twenty texts that I'd sent her, but Caroline had yet to respond. I was in an Engineering class, listening to a painfully slow lecture, when my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I smiled down at my phone, typed in a quick message, then leapt out of my chair. Just as I was grabbing my backpack I heard my name. "Mr. Hart, where do you think you're going? I'm in the middle of a lecture."

I couldn't keep the grin off my face. "Sorry, Professor Cahill, it's a bit of an emergency." I didn't even look back to see if he was going to respond, I just threw the door open and headed for the union.
 

The jog took me less than ten minutes. Paige was standing in line with Caroline who knew that I was coming. Paige was wearing another one of her little dresses, and one of her sweaters that she loved, and I couldn't help but smile. It had seemed liked forever since I saw her wear one. Caroline waved me over behind Paige's back. "Hey, P."
 

She didn't turn to me right away, instead her shoulders tensed up, then they went down, as she turned to me with a slight smile. "Ben."

The girl behind the counter told her how much she owed. I stepped in front of her. "I got that."

Paige grabbed my arm. "No, I got it."

I threw the money down. "No, I got it."

Caroline just stood there watching us battle out who was paying for a lousy cup of yogurt.

The girl behind the counter grabbed my ten, but when she did, she touched my hand, winking at me.
 

Paige groaned, throwing her hands in the air. "It must be nice to be so damn desirable." She grabbed her yogurt off the counter, huffing to the other side of the room. I grabbed my change, gave the girl an apologetic look, and ran after her.
 

I got over there just in time for Caroline to be making her excuse. "I'm sorry, Paige. Finals are coming up. I really need this tutoring session." She turned to me with a grin. "I'm sure Ben can walk you home. Right, Ben."

"Absolutely."

Poor Paige. I could see she wanted to yell at Caroline for bailing on her, and sticking her with me, but she let her walk away.

She sat down at a table, then looked at my hands. "Where's your yogurt?"

"I'm not here for the yogurt."

She looked at me, raised her eyebrows, then dropped her plastic spoon on the table. "Did you arrange this?"

I shrugged, giving her a little wink. "Maybe."

"Ben, I don't know what you want from me. There are so many girls interested in you. Why me?"

I grabbed her hand. "You know why. I need you to forgive me for Michele. Nothing happened, I promise. We kissed that's it. I'm being completely honest with you."

She bit down on her lip. "Only because Ellie stopped you."

"True," I said, sitting back. "I didn't know what I was doing. I was so upset with you, with us. I drank more than ever. I didn't even know who was on top of me until Tommy turned the lights on."

She made a sound of disgust. "That's disgusting, and it doesn't help."

I shook my head to erase that she had called me disgusting. I pulled my chair next to hers, turning it around, and propping my arms on the edge. "I have one thing, and one thing only I want to ask you. I will beg if need be, so just hear me out before you say no." I waited for a response, but I could tell I peaked her interest.
 

"It's Thursday, and since you have no classes tomorrow, I want to take you somewhere for the weekend. No strings, I promise. It's not me trying to get in your pants. It's me trying to figure us out. If we leave campus, he can't find you for the whole weekend, you'll be completely safe, you can let your hair down, and we can figure this out."

A small smile formed, her eyes brighten up. She didn't respond right away, but each time she bit down on her lip, I knew she was closer. "Where?" She finally asked.

I smiled hoping she remembered everything I did from the time we spent there together. "Back to the first place I saw you. San Diego!"

"Ben it's too far."

"It's a six hour drive. It'll be fun. We'll be there by dinner."

I grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her to face me, then cupped her face with my hands. "Do you have any feelings for me, Paige? Any?"

She closed her eyes, nodding her head slowly. As she did, I felt all the tension drain from me immediately. "That's all that matters." My lips pressed against her forehead, then I whispered as I looked into her eyes. "Come with me? Just say yes."

I held my breath, waiting for her to answer.
 
She threw her arms around me in a hug only Paige could give, repeating her answer. "Yes, yes."

I buried my face in her hair, lifting her by her waist until she was straddling me, terrified, excited, joyful, nervous, so many different emotions about what was going to come next. And, if I was going to be able to handle it. But, she said yes, and it was a start in the right direction.

PAIGE

Chapter 33

"I can't believe you're brought that silly old longboard."
 

"There is no way I was going to Cali with you, and without this." I held it up before yanking my board from the back of Tommy's jeep.

"The last time I saw that I was fourteen."

"I know, because I was fifteen and looking down your shirt."

"You did not?"

"I'm embarrassed to admit this, but yes, I did. I could still remember the first time. You had that purple Hurley suit on, and I told you to sit on the front of my board. I was so tired after the first mile, or so going down that boardwalk, but I kept pushing. I almost crashed us ten times checking you out."

"I barely had boobs yet."

"It didn't matter. I was hooked from the get go."

I sat down on the front of my board like when we were younger, tilting my head all the way back, exposing myself. He sucked in a breath, then Ben pushed off with his foot. "You're still so beautiful."

Those words made my heart stop. I ran my hands down grazing the cement with my fingers, bringing us back to a stop. "I just want to thank you for everything you've done."

He stared into my eyes, like he wanted to grab onto me right there, but he looked quickly out to the ocean like he was trying to figure something out. "Let's just go get some killer eggs at Kono's and talk later," he said just before his foot pushed off the boardwalk.
 

It was a Friday, and the boardwalk was full of bikers, skateboarders, and people just walking around enjoying the sunny day. We made our way down to Pacific Beach, to grab some coffee and breakfast. The line was long, so he grabbed my order, before telling me to go look out at the ocean. I knew he was watching me intently as I made my way happily toward Chrystal Pier. I could feel the heat of his stare even from over here. I leaned over the railing, smiling at a memory. A few minutes later, Ben approached me, and I hadn't moved an inch.
 

"What are you thinking about?" He asked as he handed me a breakfast burrito. Slowly, I turned the foil down, inhaling the aroma. I smiled, remembering the last time as I closed my eyes briefly. "It's been too long since I've had one of these." I pulled the foil all the way, taking a bite, the whole time smiling at Ben.

He rested his elbows on the wooden railing, looking out toward the ocean, but his eyes came back to me a minute later. "So, you looked lost in thought."

I gave him a quick glance, before pointing to the beach. "I'll never forget the time when we were all down here for breakfast my first time in California. I was twelve and everyone was sitting down eating, but my mom and I finished early. We strolled over here to watch the surfers, and when I looked down," I pointed to the shower head attached to a slab of wood on the beach. "There was this surfer with his wetsuit pushed down, spraying himself off. Let's just say it dropped a little too low, and we got a little show. I thought my mother was going to die. He had no idea we were watching him."

"Ah, so you were hoping to catch some poor slob trying to get sand out his wetsuit again. I get it," he teased.

I smacked his arm. "I was not. It was just a good memory is all."

He raised his eyebrows. "I bet."