FRIEND
"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.", Aristotle
A couple of weeks had gone by since Erica talked to Sarah, which the last time that was, was the school dance which lead into summer vacation. But the dance, it's something she will never forget, that the she could remember. She was being controlled by Jesse unknowingly, she didn't know how she managed to let him even get a chance to get close enough to control her. Erica remembered being snapped out of her control by Sarah, who she almost fought. Then Jesse giving Sarah an ultimatum to come with him or save Ethan, after Jesse carelessly sank his fangs into the teens arm.
And then it happened, Sarah unselfishly put him over herself and drank his blood, sucking poisonous venom out of his body to save his life, now putting her own in a shambles. Erica vowed, she would always be Sarah's friend now, but deep down she knew Sarah didn't want the vampire life, not in the literal sense anyway. She knew Sarah would rather "fan girl" over the movies and TV shows and the hot actors who portray vampires and werewolves, like in Dusk. Erica didn't mind living the vampire life, it was better than her human life, she was pretty, popular, hotter and popular guys paid attention to her, and she lost the nick name "geeky Dusker girl".
But Erica had to say that throughout all that's gone on the past year and a half, her friend Sarah the fledgling was there. But now she was nowhere to be seen or heard from. It was seven-thirty in the evening, Erica was hungry, and she wanted someone to talk to, she did consider going to the Vampire Ninja that is, Rory. But she would never do that again willingly, she remembered when she was trapped with him in a blood truck, he would never shut up unless she kissed him and there was no way she was going to go down that road a second time.
She got out her cell phone and scrolled through her contact list, she stared at a name and number, thinking about hitting the green send button, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Meanwhile Benny was at home, in a video chat with Ethan, who wasn't in a good mood either, Benny trying to cheer him up the best he could, "Ethan, dude, you've been down in the dumps ever since Sarah left, it's summer vacation! We should be living it up!"
"I'm not in the mood to live up to anything right now, Benny." Ethan said to his friend sadly.
Benny could see Ethan was looking down at something, "Hey E, what are you reading?"
"I'm not reading Benny, I'm looking." He said, holding up a book to the screen, "It's a Whitechapel High yearbook from two years ago." Ethan put his finger in front of a girl's picture, "You see who this is right? It's Sarah. She looked like this before she met Jesse and became a fledgling and now she might be stuck like this and it's all because of me!" Ethan told him frustrated.
Benny asked him sternly, "So what E, you called Jesse up and planned the whole thing at the dance? If you did you're more devious than I thought! If you didn't, it's not your fault, you shouldn't blame yourself, you know Sarah wouldn't want you to."
"It's just Benny," Ethan said, trying to swallow his emotions that were threatening to pour out of him, "We fought all those demons, ghosts, and witches all last year; why did we do it? We should have been focusing on Sarah, I should have been focusing on her."
Benny answered in a serious tone that he could possibly have, "I don't think we wanted the town to be controlled by Stephanie the revenge seeking witch, drained by a living Debbie Dazzle doll, or taken over by evil camera doubles. I know I didn't, the evil me was the definition of the word evil!" Benny calmed himself, "But I think as much as you want to admit it was to save the school and the entire town, you enjoyed the quality time with your butt-kicking vampire babysitter."
"Never thought I'd say this, but I wish she was babysitting right now." Ethan said softly.
Benny was about to say something when he got a phone call, "Hang on E," Benny pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, "Benny," he answered.
"Listen I need to talk to you." She said softly into the phone.
Benny stammered, "E-Erica? You want to talk, to me?"
"Look, can I get a yes or a no please... Benny?" She asked him, almost desperately, even using his first name instead of the usual "geek, nerd or loser" titles she normally gave him.
Benny took a second to think on it, "Um, I'm talking with Ethan right now but you wanna meet later?"
"How about the park, by the playground, eight-thirty?" She asked him.
Benny answered nervously, "Uh, sure, okay. Is Sarah back?" He asked her, wondering what it is she would want with him.
Erica answered him in a sad tone, "No, she's not," She continued quickly, "I'll see you then, Benny." she ended the call and was gripping onto the cell phone as if it would fall out of her hands.
Meanwhile Benny was both nervous and confused, "Uh, dude, that was Erica, and she apparently wants to talk."
"Wonder what about, is Sarah back?" Ethan asked, hope obviously in his voice.
Benny shook his head, "Sorry E, Erica said she wasn't." He saw Ethan look down again, "E, do me a favor, don't keep torturing yourself, it can't be healthy. Sarah chose to leave on her own, it's nothing you or anyone else did, but Jesse. If she's not trying to track down that no good bloodsucker, she's trying to figure out her next move, I'm sure she's okay physically, but mentally, she's probably going through more hell than the rest of us."
"Yeah." Ethan said lowly, "Uh, you should probably get ready to go see what Erica wants."
Benny sighed, "I wonder what that could be, she's never tried to talk to me before."
Mr. Morgan knocked on Ethan's bedroom wall, "Ethan, dinner's ready."
"Okay, dad." Ethan said turning to him nodding.
Mr. Morgan saw Ethan's eyes looked puffy, "You okay, son?"
"Yeah I'm fine, I just sneezed earlier." He answered quickly.
Mr. Morgan slowly nodded and said a weak "Okay," before proceeding back downstairs.
"You didn't sneeze, unless being on the verge of tears is defined under sneeze now, if it is, then you totally sneezed!" Benny joked.
"Yeah, yeah whatever Benny. Look, I don't know what Erica wants dude, but be safe, you know what they say about Whitechapel at night." Ethan told him.
Benny chuckled, "Yeah, it's just as scary as during the day, just without light... enjoy your dinner."
"Since mom didn't cook, I probably will." Ethan answered jokingly, but just staring at the screen.
Ethan's facial expression was blank, but Benny saw the sad and weak look in his eyes, "Ethan, she'll be back, and things will go back to our weird version of normal, trust me."
"Yeah, sure." Ethan said flatly, "See you tomorrow?"
Benny nodded, "Of course, first thing, I'll be too anxious to tell you what Erica's talking about!"
"G'night Benny." Ethan said lightly chuckling.
Benny simply said, "G'night dude," before ending the chat and getting ready to meet Erica. Benny's mind was racing with thoughts, what could Erica possibly want with him, "talking" definitely wasn't it, Erica surely wasn't a talker, or not to him anyway. Benny went to his dresser draw and pulled out a blaster and loading it with broken pencils and wrapping a belt loaded with pencils over his shoulder. "Really hope I don't need this." Benny commented, grabbing up his shoulder bag off of his bed and draping it over his shoulder too. As he shuffled down stairs he yelled out, "Gotta go grandma!"
"Whoa," his grandmother stood in front of the stairs, "Where's the fire?"
Benny answered quickly, "Erica, she wants to see me about something." Benny saw that his grandma was staring at him with a confused expression, "Gonna make it obvious gram?"
"Do be careful Benny, it's summer time and it's nightfall in Whitechapel and that's not a good thing combined. If anyone messes with you of the human or supernatural persuasion, you know what to do." She told gave her a confused look, she opened her mouth and was about to say something.
Benny stopped her, "I know grandma, just wanted to see what you would do."
She lightly slapped him on the back of the head, "Don't stay out too late dear."
"You got it gram." He told her walking out of the door.
Ms. Weir watched as she saw Benny disappear down the street, "The way that boy ran off of these stairs, I've never seen him run that fast for food."
Benny made his way to the park, searching the whole thing, calling out Erica's name. This time of night people were leaving the park, not coming to it. Benny groaned, "Ugh, why couldn't I have told her to meet at a pizza joint?"
"Because I wouldn't be caught dead in a pizza joint." He heard her say, he looked around in all directions looking for her, Erica sighed, "Look up."
Benny saw that she was sitting on a large tree branch above him, "Hope you don't expect me to climb that tree."
"Fine." She said irritated, she floated down until she was standing in front of Benny.
Benny found himself staring deeply at Erica, he hadn't seen her since school had let out, but something was off about her, and he was trying to put his finger on it. "Wow, you look, different."
"Uh, thanks?" Erica was really asking, confused, "It might be my hair, I'm letting it grow a little... besides my thoughts are, elsewhere."
"Sarah?" Benny asked her, she simply nodded, "Yeah, you're not the only one. And Ethan, he's blaming himself for what happened to her."
Erica then said to him, "It's not his fault, it was Jesse's, it was unavoidable."
"Yeah, I tried telling him that." Benny said before asking her, "What did you want to talk about, you almost sounded distressed."
Erica chuckled sheepishly and lightly cleared her throat, "Nothing special, I just wanted to talk."
"Just wanted to talk, to me?" Benny asked her, the two walking a path in the barely lit park.
Erica stopped, "I just, can I be honest with you for a minute?" Benny nodded his head, she continued, "Sarah's been gone a few weeks and I haven't seen or heard from her since, I'm currently not seeing anyone, and there was no way in hell I was calling Vampire Dork! And Ethan's out of the question because of the same thing I'm doing, so you were the next best bet."
Benny smirked before asking, "I take it you've been moping too, why are you guys worried? Sarah's gonna come back, it's just a matter of when. She wouldn't want you guys worried about her."
"You're not?" Erica asked him.
Benny looked at her, "I mean I am worried, but I know Sarah, she's a fighter... literally."
Erica smiled, "Yeah, you're right about that," she then sat on a park bench, "Come on, take a seat," she asked of Benny nicely, "I won't bite, I promise!"
Benny squinted his eyes before slowly sitting next to her, even in his wildest dreams, if he had to sit next to Erica, he'd avoid it and sit on the ground. "Okay, why are you being so nice to me tonight? What do you really want?"
"I'm always nice to you!" Erica snapped.
Benny chuckled, "Nice? You've called me a geek, a loser, a nerd, and a wannabe Harry Potter, and that was all in one day!" Erica looked away, smiling. "And what, you're laughing at me too!"
"I'm not laughing at you, at the goofy stuff that comes out of your mouth." She turned to him smiling, "In a weird way you're kinda funny, except when you joke at the wrong place and at the wrong time.
Benny asked her in disbelief, "You think I'm funny?"
Erica nodded her head, "You're no comedian now, but you have your moments."
"Ha ha." Benny said flatly, silence falling between the two, "What are we doing?"
Erica guessed, "Hanging out?"
"Exactly, that's what I mean. You're hanging out with me? Why? Any other time, you'd probably prefer hanging out with a toilet lid over me." Benny explained.
Erica replied to him, "Well a toilet lid doesn't talk back, and like I said, I wanted to talk to someone. Besides, Sarah would probably want me to."
"What about you? Do you want to?" Benny asked her curiously.
Erica sat there and pondered it for a second, "Two years ago I wouldn't dream of calling you, much less putting your phone number in my cell phone."
"And now?" Benny asked his curiosity peaking.
Erica smiled at him, "Your number is programmed in my cell, on speed-dial, what do you think?"
"You like me." Benny said softly.
Erica chuckled, "Yeah, today I like you."
"Today?" Benny asked her confused.
Erica got up and began walking off, "Yes today, tomorrow could always be a different story."
Benny got up and followed behind her and nervously asked, "H-hey, can I walk you home?"
"I don't walk anymore," she answered him, "But how about I fly you home instead?" She asked him, wrapping an arm around him.
Benny stammered, "I-I-I don't k-know, I guess that's COOL!" Benny yelled echoing the skies after Erica flew off with him. Moments later she and Benny landed in his front lawn, Benny amazed by it. "You. Are. Fast."
"Thank you." She said, awkward silence falling between the two again, they both looking at the ground, rubbing their shoes in the grass.
Benny was the one to break the silence again, "So... can I call you, tomorrow?"
"What do you think, you big geek?" Erica said snapping, looking at him, she saw he had a shocked and even sad look on her face. Erica busted out with laugher, "I was kidding Benny! Of course you can call me."
Benny nervously and awkwardly chuckled, "Uh, o-okay. I will. Uh, goodnight."
"G'night." She said to him, the two deeply staring into each other's eyes, until Erica uncontrollably did something she never thought she'd do, she kissed him, on the cheek, which surprised Benny as well. Erica blushed as the two continued their staring until Erica said to him softly before walking off, "Call me."
Benny happily said to her, "Will do!" Before walking up to his front door.
"Hey Benny," she stopped and turned and simply said, "Thanks."
Benny smiled at her, "Anytime." Erica proceeded on and Benny walked into his house and closed the door, a huge grin on his face, he fell back onto the door and just smiled at the night he just had.
And Benny wasn't the only one smiling, Erica was smiling too, she got out her cell phone, she got Sarah voicemail but cheery, she said "Sarah, you'd be proud of me because guess what I did."
As Erica was on her phone leaving Sarah a message, Benny called Ethan, "Dude, guess who's in love... again?"
"Benny tell me you didn't!" Ethan yelled into the phone.
Benny groaned, "No dude, I did nothing! I'm going to call her tomorrow, she wants me to."
"Good for you, Benny. Good for you." Ethan said to him, "Now if you don't mind, I was getting ready for bed."
Benny let Ethan go, "Fine, see you tomorrow, E!"
"Yeah, good night, Benny." Ethan said to him hanging up.
Benny smiled and said, "Yeah, it is a good night," before walking up the stairs to his room. He and Erica now in a newfound friendship, which may turn into something more.
The End. This is just a Benny/Erica one-shot I wanted to do, it's set between "ReVamped" and "Welcome Back Dusker" for those who are wondering. At the point where Sarah's gone, and Erica's looking for a friend to talk to, so she calls Benny, but it might be a little more than just a friendship. So far in the season on MBAV Erica and Benny seem like they interact more, and it seems like Rory's given up his pursuit for her, but then again it's only two episodes into the season at this point.
How does everyone like it? Hit me up with some reviews please? I might do another one! And before a someone asks, I have not forgotten any of my other stories: "Clueless", "Tethered", and "Controlling" will be updated soon.