In Memoriam

The Veil

A week goes by, and she doesn't come back.

Another week goes by, and she doesn't come back.

After the span of a month, Ben finds himself yearning to see her. He's completed his physical therapy and is ready to be released.

He's going to find her.

"You said you'd come with me to my orientation if I went to yours, and I went to yours!"

"I know!" Grace exclaims, twisting her lips in a pout. "I just don't feel like bumping into Daniel..."

The Latina next to her rolls her eyes and her glossed lips unfurl into a playful smirk. "There are other cute guys, you know. College guys."

Grace scoffs. "Between living with Jack for an entire summer, and then breaking up with Daniel, I think I've had my fill of college guys for a while to come."

"Until you find another one to sex up."

"Adrian!"

"Don't 'Adrian' me. You know what I'm saying is true," Adrian corrects with a cutting side glance. "Besides, I need a guy; someone who is completely unaware of high school drama. And I don't know, a nice one or something. I'm tired of being seen as a piece of ass," She mumbles, remembering how handsy Omar was at the party before he walked out on her. She seriously had to keep reminding him of where her eyes were.

The girls sit down in their seats in the assembly hall and Adrian flips through her schedule pamphlet, outlining the day's events.

Grace leans over. "I visited Ben last week."

Adrian turns another page, not skipping a beat, "Oh?"

"He asked me if I knew a girl named Leigh," She whispers, even though she has no reason to.

Adrian stops cold and looks over at her best friend. "What'd you say?"

Grace shrugs. "That I didn't know anyone by that name."

"Good," Adrian nods her approval. Grace, however, is less than pleased.

"Adrian…I have a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling about this," Grace disclaims. Adrian doesn't miss the red tinting of her cheeks though. "He remembered me, when he saw me," The blonde murmurs, a touch of awe in her voice. "When we were going out, he told me he had a crush on me back in middle school, and he remembered, and he was so surprised to see me there, but…I think he remembers liking me."

Adrian knows Grace enough to know that there's more she wants to say. Hell, she knows Ben enough to know that his dream probably came true, seeing Grace Bowman come visit him in the hospital. How flushed and blustered he must've gotten, how cute he must've appeared, and how Grace probably fell for that all over again. If anything, Adrian knows she probably never stopped having a thing for Ben, she just backed off and moved on when the relationship came to an abrupt halt.

Adrian cranes her head considerably. Ben remembers Grace, and maybe that alone is a sign that they're meant to be. That she was just a detour and maybe Ben and Grace are really a match. They're both good people, they're both her friends. And Ben deserved a nice girl –an actual nice girl and not some wannabe with red hair.

"I think you should keep visiting him," Adrian decides. "Maybe even take him out, once he gets out." She murmurs this as subtly as she can, but if she's being honest, she's not really of the subtle sort, and Grace knows this better than anyone.

The blonde's jaw falls open unabashedly. "Adrian, I –he- I couldn't do that!"

"Why not?" Adrian inquires curiously. "I mean, he really likes you, and you like him, I know you like him-"

"But it's not right!" Grace exclaims. "Our relationship finished."

"Who says? Neither of you really broke up with the other," Adrian deliberates logically. "Look, I think it's a good idea. He could use someone like you while he gets better, maybe even as a shoulder to lean on." She says and Grace's eyes widen. It was originally Grace's thought, that night Ben was parked in front of Amy's. Adrian was just close by and she used that to her advantage, but this just adds to her logic. Grace should be with Ben, and maybe she should've always been.

"That's not fair, Adrian," Grace mumbles. "You can't do that to Ben, or to me."

"I'm not doing anything! And tell me you haven't thought about the 'what ifs' with Ben?"

Grace opens her mouth to debate the point, and then closes it again when she doesn't find a rebuttal that isn't completely untrue.

"That's what I thought," Adrian said, looking down at the schedule in her hand. "I think Ben could use someone like you, so you should go for it." The Latina murmurs genuinely. "I would even rather it be you than-"

"Dylan?" Grace asks quietly.

Adrian doesn't answer immediately. She closes up her pamphlet and sighs. "I thought she was a nice girl, but she isn't. And I wanted them to go out because, like Ben said, we both need to move on. But she isn't nice, Grace. Nice people don't do what she did. I mean, I'm not a saint either, but…" Adrian shakes her head clear. She's a bad person –a bad girl- but she would've never done what Dylan did to anyone, and especially not to Ben. "Ben deserves a clean slate. And Dylan fooled him the first time –Hell, fooled everyone the first time. And I don't want him to get caught up. Do you get it now?"

Grace doesn't answer immediately. She freezes and Adrian looks over in the direction she's staring in. She rolls her eyes. "You're going to have to talk to Daniel eventually."

"It doesn't have to be today," Grace says quickly and takes the pamphlet Adrian has in her hands and holds it up closely enough to obscure her face.

Adrian chuckles and shakes her head. "Suit yourself," She smirks.

"Wait!" Ben calls out. "You don't…you don't really have to go, do you?" He asks innocently, a crease in his brow, and Adrian pauses. "I don't really get all that much company during the day." He blinks, eyes down ridden and somewhat hollowed by this fact. "But if you have to go…"

She looks over her shoulder, hand on the knob, and smirks playfully, "Well...I guess I could be persuaded to stay, for a while longer…" She closes the door, and Ben physically sighs in relief. He doesn't really know or understand why but he couldn't bear having her leave that soon, if even at all at this point. It was almost as if all the air escaped the room and he hadn't realized he was suffocating until she came back. He knows he's probably imposing and he almost slaps his palm against his forehead – what if she really did have something important to do? He just guilt tripped her!

"Leigh, I'm sorry," He apologizes earnestly, as she pulls up a chair by his side. "Really, if you have to go, don't feel like you have to stay."

"I want to," Adrian smiles. This is the last time I'm ever going to see you, she doesn't say.

"Good," Ben smiles back. "So, um, how did we meet?" He asks apprehensively, wondering how he could've met this girl…woman, and not remember.

Adrian laughs, "School, how else?"

"Right, right," Ben nods, though still confused. He has no doubt in his mind that he met her at school and saw her. The question is, how did she see him? And Grace! He remembers suddenly. Grace Bowman with her long blonde locks and bright smile and infectious giggle…well, he figures he shouldn't dwell over this –she always was out of his league, even though- his tongue rakes the top and bottom portion of his teeth and he actually realizes that he is no longer wearing braces. "I'm not wearing braces," he blurts out.

Adrian cranes her head, "Yeeeeeah…"

"I used to have braces, and now …I don't have them anymore," He says slowly in way of an explanation and a grin forms on his face.

"So, I guess you think you're some stud now, huh?"

"No, no- that's not-"

Adrian grins back, "You should. You kind of are."

"Really?" Ben asks, unbelieving of the development.

Adrian looks down, fiddles with her sapphire ring. "We used to not like each other, at all."

"So what happened?" Ben inquires. Adrian shrugs.

"I don't know," Adrian murmurs. It was funny, that summer Ben left to Bologna was the summer she grew the close to him, and they were miles apart. Even when she was spending her days, and most of her nights, with Ricky, they still talked. They still cared.

"Why wouldn't I like you?" Ben asks quietly.

"We were just…different. Hung out with different types of people. You were into nice girls, and I…wasn't so nice."

Ben looks at her, almond brown eyes wide. "You look nice to me."

Adrian smiles weakly, swallows a scoff. "Looks can be deceiving, you know," She smirks.

"Can they?" Ben asks back. "We're friends."

Adrian grins. "Of course."

The door of the neatly decorated bedroom creaks open and curious eyes stare in from the opposite side. After a moment, the door opens fully and one by one, three teenage girls file in.

Dylan looks up from the novel she is reading, beams at the familiar faces of her three best friends. "Hi guys," She smiles as each of the girls hug her in the order of which they came into the room. Mercedes sits by her bedside, stroking her one free hand since the other was in a cast, Wendy leans back against the counter on the opposite wall, brushing her now neon pink hair behind her ear, and Raven stands up with her arms crossed and hip jutted to the side, head cocked in concern.

"How are you?" Mercedes asks first, breaking the silence.

"How do you think she is?" Raven rebuts the question with another and a roll of her eyes. Her arm extends out, gesturing the redhead, "She was rammed into a tree by that idiot."

"Actually," Dylan points out softly, "Ben had more damage done to him, not me."

"Oh, whatever," Raven scoffs. "If he could drive better, this wouldn't have happened."

"No Raven," Wendy snipes back from her corner of the room, a frown on her face. "If he wasn't given pot in the first place-" Raven rushes over to the Asian girl, covers her mouth with her hand quickly. She looks around needlessly since it is only the four of them filling the small space.

"If anyone finds out that we gave him pot," Raven hisses. "We're going to be in so much trouble. No more hanging out. No more blazing."

"Does that even matter anymore?" Wendy questions her with a disbelieving shake of her head.

"Dylan could have gotten killed," Mercedes agrees with Wendy.

"Ben can't remember anything," Dylan reveals numbly.

All three girls pause to look at their bed-ridden friend. Dylan looks somber, earmarking her book and closing it to be placed by her side.

Raven speaks first. "What do you mean, he can't remember anything?"

Dylan shrugs, "I-I don't know," The ginger's voice cracks and her wide eyes pool with tears. "I haven't seen him yet because Leo has only let in a few people in the room but I heard one of his friends say that he doesn't remember anything, and-" Her face is now red with a torrent of tears cascading over it. "What if he doesn't remember me?"

Mercedes nods understandingly, while Wendy's face is covered by her hand over her mouth in shock, but it is Raven who once again breaks the silence, her face splitting into a grin. "Don't you get it, Dylan? This is perfect."

The three friends look at their fourth incredulously.

"Perfect?" Mercedes echoes in disgust.

"Yeah, how do you figure that?" Wendy shakes her head.

"It's perfect that Ben doesn't remember me?" Dylan all but screeches.

"No, it's perfect because if he doesn't remember anything, then they have no way to pin us for giving him the pot." Raven stresses.

"But they do know that Ben was under the influence," Dylan mutters.

"Doesn't matter," Raven grins. "Ben can't remember how it happened and there'd be no way for anyone else to know beyond a shadow of a doubt."

"But what about me?" Dylan pouts. "My boyfriend probably doesn't remember me!"

"Your boyfriend is still yours." Raven smirks. "Because you're just going to have to make him fall for you again. Just because he doesn't remember, doesn't mean he wouldn't know that he likes you, and if he fell for you once, then it can happen again.

"That's so messed up," Mercedes scoffs, her blonde hair bouncing.

"Yeah, I can't believe you would suggest that," Wendy frowns.

"Really?" Dylan inquires innocently with pubescent eyes and a bright smile. "Ben can be mine again?"

Raven smiles, sits on the side of Dylan's bed and puts her hand on her shoulder. "I'll make sure of it."

Grace heaves a sigh of exasperation, rolling her eyes as Adrian lays her hand and squeezes the bicep of one of the various guys surrounding her. With a pinched smile, she sneaks her way in between two sophomores and discreetly tugs on the side of Adrian's blouse. "Adrian."

Adrian turns with an upturned brown and a strained smile of her own at the unexpected interruption. "What?"

"We've totally lost the tour group."

Adrian looks around past the crowd and- "Oh, I guess we have."

"You know, I could give you a more private tour of campus," The arm candy Adrian has her hand around murmurs helpfully. "Show you all the places you need to know."

The Latina smirks. "Is that so?"

"Adrian!"

"Wha-aat?" Adrian growls out lowly, severely annoyed at the blonde.

Grace, with a polite smile, grabs Adrian's arm, "She'll be back in just a moment." Leading Adrian away from the group, the Latina looks back, making a call me gesture with her hand up to her ear. She sighs when they reach the corner edge of the auditorium, already expecting to be berated by her best friend.

"I know what you're doing, and it's not going to work," Grace shakes her head with a cross of her arms. "You can't just go out with someone and make yourself forget Ben."

"I'm not!" Adrian protests, "But while we're on the subject, why shouldn't I? Ben and I are over, he can't remember because he doesn't want to remember, and there's nothing between us anymore."

Grace rolls her eyes. "Except your daughter."

"Whom he doesn't remember –drop it!" Adrian hisses.

The girls are silent, Adrian crosses her arms and Grace shifts from one foot to the other.

"I can't keep taking care of him, Grace. He needs a fresh start –I need a fresh start- and he needs…someone who isn't me right now. I'm not even going to be in high school when school starts up next week, and I know him, he's not going to last too long without a girlfriend, which is why I need you to watch him." Grace scoffs at that, "Or you could just be his girlfriend; I mean, he's single and you're single-"

"And what are you going to say next? That we both had braces at one point, so we should just hookup?" Grace suggests sarcastically.

Adrian beams, "See? I didn't even know that, but that's also a good reason, you have things in common!"

Grace juts her chin out, biting the inner corner of her cheek. "You know who else has a lot of things in common with Ben?"

Adrian groans. "Promise me you'll keep her away from him."

"Adrian," Grace whines. "Just stop pretending that you don't care and tell him."

"Tell him what?" Adrian exclaims. "That I ruined his life? That I took his virginity and slept with his best friend? Ben actually talks to Henry now when he couldn't even make eye contact with him this summer. All I'm asking is for you to be his friend, you're a great friend, possibly even the best. That's why you're my best friend," Adrian says genuinely. "Be my best friend, please?"

Grace huffs, shoulders relaxing, "What would you do without me?"

Adrian smiles.

The door opens and for the first time in a little over a month, Ben enters his bedroom, a stagnant ray of sunlight streaming in from the bay window onto his neat linen. He looks around, and smiles. There was at least one thing in his world that stayed exactly the same.

He traces his bed linen with the pads of his fingertips, and sits down on his bed, reacquainting himself with the familiar sensation. He opens his top drawer in curiosity and notices that his stash of condoms is completely gone.

Huh.

Instead, there are a couple of books that he doesn't pay immediate attention to, and upon further inspection, a ring.

He plucks it from the bottom of the drawer, and stares at the band of gold between his fingers. On a whim, he puts it on and it fits; takes it off and examines it again. Definitely not his father's and it was in his room. But why?

He sighs and places it back in the drawer; he'll have to ask about that later.

His door opens and his attention snaps to his father in the doorway. He forces a smile and looks around before meeting his father's eyes. "It still looks the same."

Leo smiles back, "Of course it does. Did you expect it not to?"

Ben shrugs, "It just doesn't seem like the bedroom of someone who does marijuana."

The Sausage King sighs heavily, his smile gone. "No, it doesn't." Leo says, looking around. "But maybe it's because it doesn't belong to someone who uses marijuana."

Ben looks down, raking his hand through his hair. "I don't know what happened to cause me to do something like that, but I promise, it won't happen again."

Leo enters the room further, crossing over to the window. "Ben, there's something you need to know."

Ben looks up from his puzzled reverie, "Dad?"

Leo is quiet for a few moments. Ben's brow furrows in confusion, and Leo finally speaks. "There was someone else in the car with you."

Ben's eyes widen in shock, and he tenses, his hands squeezing his knees. "What? Who? Are they okay? Were they in the hospital-"

"She's fine, Ben," Leo says quickly. "She's fine."

"She?" Ben questions.

"She." Leo confirms. "A girl named Dylan." Ben mouths the name Dylan, testing it on his tongue in hopes of remembering, but to no avail. Finally, Leo says, "I want you to stay far away from her, Benjamin."

Ben's mouth opens and closes, his mind attempting to process the onslaught of information. "Why would you want me to stay away from her?" He asks quietly. "Shouldn't I at least say that I'm sorry? For hurting her?"

Leo shakes his head, pushes two fingers into his temple and rubs it in a circular motion. "She's fine, I've handled everything and made it clear that you are very apologetic."

Ben looks up at his father's back, confused. His father wouldn't do something like that, at least not the Leo Boykewich he knew. The Leo Boykewich he knew would have him apologize in person, own up to the nearly fatal mistake he made. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

A moment passes. And then another after that. "I don't trust her, Ben. I can't prove it, but I think she had a hand in what happened. Can you just promise me to stay away from her?"

Ben nods, "Of course, Dad." Leo goes to leave the room, "But what about Leigh?"

Leo stops, turns back, "Who?"

"Leigh," Ben repeats. "Uh, she visited me, but then never came back and… she said we were friends."

Leo's brow creases. "You don't know anyone by that name, son."

"But I have to. She came to visit me, and…" Ben trails off uncertainly when Leo continues to stare at him in concern.

Leo puts his hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, Ben?"

Ben, at a loss, opens and closes his mouth in the same manner a fish would. He couldn't have imagined her. He couldn't have. He touched her, she was real…

But what if I did?

Ben shakes his head, forces a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just… I dunno, maybe I'm having some sort of weird case of déjà vu or something. It's nothing."

"You've had a long day," Leo nods, taking his hand off of his son's shoulder. "Get some rest," He suggests as he closes the bedroom door.

Ben sits on his bed, mind in a jumble. Perhaps it was an effect of his condition. He couldn't believe it when Grace Bowman came to visit him, perfect goddess she is. For all he knew, he could've imagined that up too, it would make sense since in his wildest fantasies; he couldn't imagine Grace Bowman going anywhere for the strict purpose of seeing him. Of making sure he was okay. He was even more shocked to find out that she didn't have a boyfriend.

But as surreal as it was to have Grace Bowman visit him… Leigh was an even bigger enigma. She was direct, but somehow guarded, as if she laid her entire hand bare, but you still couldn't see all of the cards. It was confusing and intriguing all at the same time. She knew so much, but relayed so little.

She said that they met at school. That they were friends.

He's going to find her.

Many thanks to PowerOfThree7, Pamela, BasicHBKnomics, slotatloverr, BlackStreak1, woowoo13, and tatrawrzilla, as well as Princess Pinky for the beta; all stories will be updated more frequently now that I'm out of university for the summer.

This chapter was mostly filler, more story soon.

DAC