In hindsight, throwing Ben's class ring at his face was not a good way to start out their 6 month anniversary. If she were to argue her point, he shouldn't have accused her of changing. It was true, but that doesn't mean he had a right to point it out.

They sat in silence for a god five minutes before she caved. "You have a temper." He shot her a wounded glare, but said nothing. "I'm sorry, but you do."

"You react badly to criticism," he shot back.

She huffed, but could not take watching blood trickle down his face. She stood, grabbing up the napkins from the picnic basket and a bottle of water. Making her way over to him, she wet the napkins and raised them in question.

"I would never push you away intentionally." She rolled her eyes but quickly moved in to begin cleaning the small cut the projectile had left behind. "I just don't understand why you didn't talk to me. We spent almost the whole summer together. I cant see what would make you think I would want you to be like Audrey."

They shared a similarly ill expression at the declaration. "I just remember what it was like when you first introduced me to your parents. They were so on edge." She licked her lips and lowered her gaze. "I scared them."

"You intimidated them." He cautiously grasped her waist, squeezing in a calculating manor. "I'm sorry you thought being like all the girls I can hardly stand would make you a better match for me. I was just so caught up in the fact that you actually wanted me that I didn't see what was happening."

He pulled her close and looked her over. It didn't stir the usual feelings, because it wasn't his usual look. The look was a studious one, not one of attraction.

"Ben?"

"You've always been so tiny."

He was quiet after that. She finished cleaning his bruise and set the soiled napkin to the side. She ran her hands through his hair and he nuzzled the unblemished side of his face into her midsection. She began humming and he smiled.

"You're too tiny now." She froze and her breathing hitched. "I'm so sorry, Mal. I'm a pathetic excuse for a man in love."

"I've just been running a lot. It really is a great stress reliever."

He shook his head and leaned back to look up at her. "I'm sorry I got all beastly on you. I should have considered how stressed you've been. College applications, you're extra classes at the community college, Cross Country and the community outreach Evie and you have been doing? That's a lot, Mal."

"It's nothing, Ben."

"No." He stood up from the table he'd been leaning against. "You've been doing so well this year to really prove to the admission boards that you've turned around. I should have encouraged you to not get lost along the way."

"Why is it so difficult? You do it so well." She sniffled and nuzzled into his shirt. "Audrey does it so well! How do they do it?"

"Adderall."

Her sniffles stopped and she leaned back, unsure of what she'd just heard. "Come again?"

"Adderall." He nonchalantly shrugged. "Some of the kids, the real obsessed ones, get a leg up during crunch time."

Mal blinked before breaking into hysterics. "You're telling me that I've been busting my ass to be just like those perfect pink princesses and they're on focussing meds?" She grumbled, "those bitches."

Ben began laughing after that. "Of course they are. So, stop this nonsense. Dye your hair and for the love of God, stop wearing dresses and skirts at school." She gave him a confused smirk. "I really am sick of threatening guys to stop ogling you. I'm too steps away from getting caught."

She scrunched her nose playfully and teasingly bit his lower lip. "Really? You go all beastly to protect my honour?" He nodded, eyes hooded. "I would pay to see that."

"I can show it to you a different way."

She nearly asked him how, but he was beyond letting her talk. Securing one arm around her waist and the other under he bum, he lifted her up. She squeaked and involuntarily wrapped her legs around his waist. Smirking, still able to look down at her, he backed them up until she was resting on the railing of the gazebo.

"Is that so?" She weakly asked.

She sighed as his head moved out of her frame of focus. He began teasing her neck, laying chaste kisses there and on her shoulder. She tried to distract herself with the scenery around her. It nearly worked. The gazebo was out on a lake that seemed to have been pulled out of a fairytale.

Then Ben leaned back. "I wanna try something." She met his excited gaze with a look she hoped conveyed the depths of her confusion. "Just go with it. I'll stop if you ask me to."

"Um," she licked her lips and nodded. "Okay. Yeah, sure. I trust you."

A week later, Mal found a mysterious box in her locker. "Good morning, dragon lady." She laughed and turned her head to see Ben smirking down at her. "Like my gift?"

"So this is your doing?" She picked up the box and shook it. "What is it?"

His smirk slipped into a shy smile. "Open it."

She raised an inquisitive brow but turned back to face the box. Heart speeding a fraction, she opened the box. The spring hinge popped it open the last bit when her fingers froze at the surprise it contained.

"It fell in the lake."

She turned and faced him full on. "I went and got it. Fortunately it fell in a shallow bit and no fish had swallowed it." He grasped her waist and ran his hands anxiously over her sides. "I could have just gotten it replaced. I mean, obviously my parents got insurance on the thing."

She snorted and plucked the class ring from the box. "Obviously. So, why go back for it?"

He blushed and pulled out something from his inside breast pocket. "Because, I'm a romantic mush ball." He produced what she could only think was a perfect version of what her class ring would have looked like, if she'd been able to afford one. "I took some extra shifts at my mom's book store. I have actually been working a lot of extra shifts at my mom's book store."

"Ben, class rings were ordered sophomore year. You were dating Audrey."

He nodded and slipped the ring onto his pinky as far as it would go. "I wasn't kidding when I said I've liked you for a while." He teasingly wiggled his pinky, her "ring" only fitting halfway up. "I'm picking up a chain so I can wear it next week when I get paid. I mean, since it clearly doesn't fit me. You approve?"

She grabbed his hand and looked the ring over, admiring the amethyst stone that it held. "It's very me." She ran her index finger over it, feeling the dragon on one side and the school crest on the other. "You even knew my birth date. Creeper."

He dipped down and kissed her. "I'm glad you aren't mad. I've liked you for a while."

"So you've said." She let him take his ring from her grasp and put it on her index finger where it belonged. "I thought you got an allowance or had like a trust or something. Why are you working at your mom's bookstore."

He shrugged but kissed her, again. "I feel like I have to earn you. When I take you out, or get you things, I use money I earn."

It was her turn to blush and kiss him. She realised he was waiting for her cue when he pressed her against the locker. She gasped and he delved deeper, hands tightening on her waist.

"Hey." He hummed for her to continue when he moved from her lips to leave a trail of kisses down her cheek to her neck. "You know how I've said a million times that I don't want to be a bad influence? I still don't, but do you just want skip today?"

He playfully nipped the juncture where her shoulder and neck met. She yelped in surprise, but considered slapping him when he raised his head to reveal his knowing smirk. His hooded eyes stopped her, though.

Abandoning her waist to grab her hand, he lead her out of the school. She wasn't sure where he was taking her. She rarely was. The destination never really mattered.

She trusted him.