A/N: ahahaha! So my bud Torrie and I are plotting to run a contest at our school to draw life-sized pix of the Ben 10 crew and to post them up around the school. Whichever character gets the most votes wins; and also gets shredded. Hahaha! Funny, right?! Yeah, odds are, since no one watches the show, Ben's getting the shredder which leaves me and Torrie to fight it out over the life-sized Kevin!!
Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10. I am not Man of Action, last time I checked.
'Night,
And the spirit of life
Calling,
Oh, oh, iyo mamela, oh, oh, iyo
And the voice
With the fear of a child,
Answers
Oh, oh, iyo mamela'
~'He Lives in You', Lebo M
Out At Night
It was silent. Ben paced over to Mr. Smoothy. Darkness floated around the building. The brunette just loved smoothies so much that he would come out on one of the coldest nights of the year or the week or the month or whatever and get one. He loved smoothies. No doubt about that.
He placed a few bills on the counter. "Bologna, carrot, and applesauce smoothie please." His brown hair swept around his face as the winds picked up. Ben focused on the moon above. It was glowing like he'd never seen before. Almost blindingly bright.
The girl behind the counter never turned around. "I was warned about you. The random customer who will suggest any combination of smoothie in the whole entire universe."
Universe? That got his attention. He knew a lot of people used that expression, but she seemed to put some extra emphasis on it as if to make it mean more than it did. Ben kept that in mind. "I'm not random! I like to call it 'different in a special way'." He smirked. No one ever called it that.
She seemed to chuckle for a second. The smoothie machine lit up behind the counter. The mush of foods blended together. "Ben Tennyson, right?"
He was a bit amazed. The people at Mr. Smoothy actually knew his name. That was definitely cool. "Uh-huh."
"One more question," she started as the machine died again, signaling that his drink was done.
He leaned against the counter nonchalantly. "Shoot."
"Do you prefer to be called Ben Tennyson or Ben 10?"
He froze. Only a few people called him Ben 10. Usually aliens. And especially aliens that hated him or wanted him dead or wanted him in prison for something stupid. Like knocking over a statue, for example. So a lot of aliens wanted him dead. "Tennyson is preferred," he replied coolly, still wanting to question this mysterious new girl further.
He heard her laugh. "Yeah, that's what Kevin likes to call you," she said, pouring the nasty smoothie thing into a cup and working to snap the lid on. It didn't want to cooperate. Lids hated her.
"You know Kevin?" asked the brunette boy. He leaned in closer. Who was this girl and how did she know his friend?
Her laughter came once again. It was soft, almost musical. Very light and friendly. How could she ever be friends with Kevin?! She was way to nice! "Know him? I lived with him for almost a year."
Ben's eyebrows arched upward questioningly. "Are you his sister or something?"
"Kevin doesn't have any real siblings, but he likes to think of me as his sister." She finally got the lid to snap on and managed not to spill any of the gross slime within the cup. Then her hand reached over for one of the many red straws sticking out of the container thingy. "I'm assuming you want to know who I am?"
Ben nodded as she took his cash and handed him the sludge he called a drink. "Just a little bit."
She smiled slyly and jabbed the straw into the lid of the cup. "You'll need to buy another smoothie for that." The girl leaned across the counter. Her deep brown eyes gleamed devilishly.
He suddenly needed another smoothie.
As if reading his thoughts, she said, "But you'll need to go to the back of the line." She pointed behind him. In the time it took her to get him one smoothie, a line of three people had appeared.
He glared at her and she just returned it with a cute little smile.
He listened to each person's conversation with her. Usually just over the weather and her new job at the smoothie shack and one guy brought up the random sign that stood in the parking lot. Why have a walking smoothie on a sign? It was a good point. Why advertise walking smoothies? You want to show people that the smoothies walk away or something?
By the time the line narrowed down and Ben got to the counter again, the girl was getting faster at the machines. He would have to ask his questions fast. "This time?" she asked, her head tilting to one side like a curious puppy but it had the feeling that she was taunting him.
"Ginger, mango, thyme, and dragonfruit."
"You are a very strange boy," she commented with a little giggle, turning around to work on the drink. The girl pushed her blonde hair over her shoulder, the streaks of brown highlighting her features including her chocolatey brown eyes. "So what do you think about the weather?"
"Haha. Funny," remarked Ben. Then he remembered that he had to ask and decided to get to the point. "Who are you? How do you know Kevin? What's your name?"
"Are you naturally this curious?" she countered. "Or are you just concerned for a friend?" Her gaze dared him to keep going further as she looked at the Tennyson boy over her shoulder.
"Will you just give me a straight answer?" Ben was quickly losing patience. He'd heard from Gwen that some of Kevin's old friends were in town, but she seemed really shaken up for some reason. The brunette boy never questioned her further. He never wanted to push his cousin anymore because when she snapped, it usually wasn't pretty.
"My shift is over," she replied softly, handing the smoothie maker machine and cup over to the random guy who had walked in the back door of the small shack. The girl took off her apron and hung it on a hook. "Bye, Ben!" She gave him a short wave before disappearing through that door.
Ben sighed and banged his head down on the counter.
"Hot, isn't she?" asked the guy who had just walked in. He took the apron back off the hook and threw it over his neck before reaching around to tie it up in the back.
"No," snorted Ben. His head was now sore from banging his head on the counter. "Just annoying."
The cup of Ben's latest smoothie concoction was placed on the counter. "That'll be three seventy two."
It was at that point that Ben realized he'd spent the last of his cash on the first smoothie. "Crap."
A/N: Fun Fact: Take a slice of bologna, spread a whole lot of apple sauce all over it and chop up raw carrots and sprinkle them on top. Then roll it up and it is epically amazing. no, it's not strange. people actually do this alot. (i figured it out when i was like eight or something!)
back to the point. leave a review!!!
~Sky
