CLUELESS
Chapter 21: Upset, Comfort (Part Two)
2:41AM
Rory turned and faced Ethan with a puzzled expression on his face. "How, Ethan? How is this your fault? You didn't do anything."
"I just stayed there on the floor Rory, I didn't try to hurry up and move, I-" Ethan began frantically.
Rory cut him off, "I dropped you on the floor by mistake, I was the one who stayed on the floor, hovering over you. I could have and should have moved."
Ethan wryly chuckled, "And typical Benny, making more out of something that's really nothing." Rory made a motion for his shirt and Ethan simply handed it to him. Cringing at the bumpy and inflamed skin on Rory's arm and hand. "I'm sorry." Ethan said softly, a guilty tone in his voice.
Rory slipped his shirt on and stepped closer to Ethan, who kept eyeing the inflamed flesh. Rory placed his other hand on Ethan's shoulder, "It doesn't hurt, it didn't kill me, and it's not your fault." Rory assured him.
"You sure you okay Rory, you don't look it." Ethan asked him concerned.
Rory nodded his head, "I'm fine, Ethan." But in truth, Rory wasn't, Rory needed blood, but he wasn't going to let Ethan worry even more about him.
Meanwhile Benny was cleaning his walls and floor at his grandmother's request. Ms. Weir wanted an immediate explanation for Benny's actions, "Grandma, you didn't see how Rory was looking at Ethan. He was hovering over Ethan with a lustful look in his eyes! Like he wanted to jump Ethan's bones... or suck the marrow from them! I couldn't take a risk that Rory wasn't going to harm Ethan!"
"If that is the case Benny, you shouldn't have doused him with holy water. You could have seriously harmed him or killed him! You might as well have gone to the backyard and looked for a sharp stick and started poking Rory with it!" Grandma Weir sighed and asked Benny, "Did Ethan show any signs of distress?" Benny sat there silently for a moment, thinking, and just looking at his grandmother. "I thought not. Why all this mistrust towards Rory? He drank from Ethan's blood bag, which I don't condone, but it's not like Rory sunk his fangs into him." Benny simply made a grumbling sound, "Or maybe it's not mistrust, but simply jealousy." Ms. Weir pondered.
Benny then got defensive, "Jealous, of Rory? No, definitely not! What would make you think something like that grandma?"
"Well, Rory did rescue Ethan, not you. And Ethan is spending more time around Rory, and not you. And Ethan seems to be favoring Rory more... and not you." She pointed out.
Benny chuckled sadly, "Way to not rub it in gram-ma."
"I'm just saying Benny, there is more motive behind this that you just not trusting Rory." She saw Benny was sad, "Benny trust me when I say, you'll always be Ethan's best friend... but you already know this as fact anyway." She then turned to leave the room.
Benny saw this, "Gram, where you going?"
"To check on Rory and then to bed, Benny it is almost three in the morning." She noted walking out of the room, Benny staring at her, taking in what she had said. Ms. Weir passed Ethan and Rory in the hallway, "Rory are you okay?" She asked him, much concern in her tone of voice.
Rory nodded his head, holding his arm, "I'll be fine, it'll heal up in a matter of hours."
"I'm going to get a glass of water." Ethan said to the two, rushing downstairs.
Ms. Weir looked over to Rory with a questioning look, he simply said to her, "He blames himself."
"Should he?" She asked him.
Rory replied a matter of factly, "Of course not! I told him it wasn't his fault."
"He's trying so hard not to want to choose between his two best friends. It's worse for him when they are literally trying to kill each other." Ms. Weir pointed out. Rory nodded in agreement, "Listen, I don't care how you and Benny decide to room tonight, but please keep it down and refrain from killing each other. I'm not the only one who really needs to sleep tonight." She turned and went to her bedroom.
Rory stood there and stared in thought before noticing Benny come out of the room with a wet towel, the two boys staring at each other with blank stares. Benny said awkwardly, "I'm uh, gonna put this in the laundry room, and I'll sleep in my parent's room."
As much as he wanted to agree with Benny and stay around Ethan, he couldn't let Benny sacrifice his own room, "Dude no, I-I'll stay downstairs tonight, I can't let you give up your room."
"You're right, my room, my decision, you and Ethan stay... besides, I..." Benny was forcing himself to say this, "I trust you."
Rory smirked, "Benny lie to yourself, don't lie to me. You don't trust me as far as you could throw me, if I were to let you throw me."
"He picks now to wise up?" Benny thought simply staring at the blonde vampire. Benny then said strongly, "You're right, I don't trust you, not fully... but I trust Ethan."
Rory snickered, "You can say that again." He saw Benny had an angry expression but underneath it there was sadness, Benny was worried he might lose Ethan to the vampire.
"Yeah, like I said, I'm going to sleep in my parents room. Won't be hearing from ole Benny anymore tonight." Benny turned to walk towards the laundry room, he stopped and turned to Rory adding, "If Ethan has so much as one bite mark on his neck..."
Rory said angrily, "I would never bite Ethan." Benny made a "hmph" sound before proceeding on.
"Maybe you should take your own advise about lying to one's self." Benny said walking in the bedroom.
Rory stared for a moment, taking in what Benny said before going downstairs. Ethan was propped over the sink, staring at his half-full glass of water, the images of Benny trying to throw holy water on Rory replaying in his mind. He was taken from his thoughts when Rory came down, asking for him, "Ethan?"
"Rory, you okay?" Ethan asked looking at his friend staring in the doorway, he saw Rory was holding the arm that was harmed. Rory simply nodded his head. Ethan poured the remaining water drown the drain and put the glass in the sink. "I'm going to be so tired in the morning." Rory nervously chuckled. Ethan could tell something was off, Rory is usually more talkative, he was earlier despite almost losing an arm. "You sure you're okay?" Ethan asked Rory.
"I'm f-fine." Rory said making a gulping sound and putting on a fake smile. In truth, Rory wasn't fine. He felt drowsy and as if he were drained of all his energy. Bottom line, he was hungry, but he wasn't about to let Ethan know that. Rory immediately changed the subject, "Maybe you should get to bed Ethan, I'd hate for you to have to spend the whole weekend sleeping."
Ethan agreed with him, "Yeah you're right, I probably should be getting to bed." Ethan and Rory walked out of the kitchen, Ethan hitting the light. Going up the stairs he told Rory softly, who was walking up behind him, "Don't worry about Benny, Rory. I doubt he's going to try anything more tonight."
Little did Ethan and Rory know, Benny was texting Sarah about what had occurred. Sarah wasn't pleased and she promised him that she would "talk" to Rory tomorrow.
Ethan jumped into bed, elbowing the two pillows behind him. He looked up to see Rory still standing and awkwardly said "Hey listen Rory, if you want, you can stay up here on the bed, since Benny's not here to object. You know, instead of sitting or laying on the floor or in a chair... if you want."
Rory silently stared at Ethan for a moment before softly "okaying". He slowly got on the bed next to Ethan, but instead of getting under the covers, he stayed on top of them, crossing one of his legs over the other and putting his hands together behind his head. "I don't sleep you know, Ethan."
"So, doesn't mean you have to stay awake on the floor or in a chair." Ethan said to him. "Besides, you deserve a bed after what's happened to you tonight."
Rory nervously asked him, "You sure about this Ethan, I-"
"Rory, I'm sure." He said cutting him off smiling and turning over, saying, "Good night."
Rory said softly and reticent, "Yeah... goodnight Ethan." For some reason, Ethan found himself relaxing for the first time in days, but while he planned to sleep, Rory on the other hand was awake, his brain going at 100 miles per hour, or 160 kilometers per hour. Rory wasn't feeling well for one, and he knew the main reason why, he needed blood, and sooner opposed than later. But something else that made him feel off, was sharing a bed, and with Ethan no less. It's not like they were doing anything, as much as he wished they were in a way. Rory also knows it's a risk because next to him lies Ethan who soon begins to drift off to sleep, peacefully.
Soon as Ethan falls asleep, Rory can hear his heart beating loudly, but in a normal rhythm. Rory also heard Ethan's blood flowing through his body, making Rory cringe at the thoughts going through his mind. "I can't." Rory thought, but he mentally wound up in conflict with his conscience. "If I don't feed soon, I'll die, and Ethan's the closest source. But he's my friend and I can't hurt him, or ask him to do that. But if I don't, when I'm dead, Ethan will call me an idiot for not telling him sooner. But Ethan's gotta understand, it's like being human without drinking water." Rory racked his brain for an hour before he begin falling weaker and weaker by the minutes.
4:59AM
Ethan was still sleeping soundly, but he felt cool, the bed sheets were half covering him. Ethan tugged on them but they wouldn't move, "Hey Rory," Ethan mumbled softly, "Ease up off the sheets a little, I'm chilly." Ethan still tugged on the sheets and got no response from Rory, "Dude come on." He knew Rory was still on the bed, he turned over to see Rory curled up in a fetal position, softly shuddering, in pain. "Rory!" Ethan exclaimed sitting up quickly, shaking his friend. "Rory, what's wrong?" He asked with deep concern.
"N-n-n-need, b-b-blood." Rory said softly and painfully.
Ethan jumped off the bed and found Rory's backpack on the floor. He rummaged through it before just dumping the contents out on the floor. "Rory, where's your blood?" Ethan asked him sternly, it was a tone of voice that was more caring than angry.
"D-d-didn't p-pack, di-didn't th-think need." Rory breathed.
Ethan became frantic, he didn't know what to do, "Can you hunt Rory?" Ethan asked.
Rory only shook his head and explained, "S-s-should have, when got h-h-hit."
"I can't believe what I'm about to do." Ethan sighed walking over to Rory's side of the bed, extending his arm, "Take it." Ethan offered, knowing he was the closest source of blood Rory was going to get. Rory pushed his arm away, shaking his head in protest. "Rory, I'm serious, take my blood... or you're gonna die." Ethan commanded.
Rory adamant shakily said, "C-can't take f-f-from you." Rory then wrapped his arms around himself in pain, "D-don't want to take much." He let out.
Ethan saw the arm that Benny hit Rory with holy water hadn't healed in the slightest, if anything it had expanded. Ethan said to him putting his wrist back in Rory's face, "Rory if you don't take it, I'll make you want it." Rory simply pushed Ethan's arm away. Ethan rushed to find his pants, in one of the pockets was a Swiss Army knife, given to him by an uncle. Ethan took it out and used the small blade to make a nick in his wrists, enough to draw blood for Rory to sniff. He hated to bait Rory like this, but truthfully, it's the only way to save his life. Besides, Ethan had already had two sets of fangs in his wrists already, Jesse's and Sarah's to reverse Jesse's attempts to turn him into a fledgling. Ethan jumped onto the bed next to Rory and slowly waved his slowly bleeding wrist in front of Rory's nose, "Rory you need this."
Little did Ethan know, this was probably a bad idea, Rory's eyes began to glow a yellow-ish green as Rory's fangs extended, he forcefully grabbed Ethan's wrist and forced his fangs in, all concern for Ethan basically flying out of the window. Ethan winced loudly in pain and grabbed onto Rory, gripping him hard, as a way of easing the pain. "R-rory," Ethan stammered, "D-don't take all of it, please?" As Rory continued feeding off Ethan, his pains began going away, as did Ethan's.
Moments later, Rory realized he might have been taking too much, he then took his fangs out of Ethan and sucked the remaining blood off of his skin. "Thank you Ethan, you're right, I needed this." Rory said, fangs dripping and covered with his blood. He felt Ethan was wrapped around him, but he thought Ethan was just hurting, what he didn't know, was that Ethan had fallen unconscious. He nudged Ethan with his elbow, "Ethan, hey... uh-oh." Rory said picking up Ethan's arm and letting it go, it falling back on his chest quickly. "Ethan." Rory shook him, Ethan made light groaning sounds, but stopped. Rory shook his head harshly in disappointment with himself, "Why did I do this?" Rory asked, "You weren't ready Ethan, why did you tempt me?" Ethan didn't respond. "I guess this is my fault too, I shouldn't have taken so much."
Rory picked up the arm he bit and eyed the bloody bite marks from fangs on Ethan's skin. "I better clean this up and hide it before anyone else sees." Rory said frantically, knowing Benny would probably be the first to say something and fly off of the handle. Rory sat up in the bed and held Ethan in his lap, cradling him gently and whispering variations of, "Ethan, I am so sorry." over-and-over again. Rory stopped to listen, Ethan's heartbeat was there, but it was slow and faint. Rory gently stroked Ethan's hair. Rory commented thinking about the events that have occurred all night, "This has been one hell of a night." But little did Rory know, it was about to get worse.
I bet nobody was expecting this chapter to end like this? Better question: How about the story itself? I see between 5 and 10 more chapters and Clueless will be wrapped up, likely with a... CLIFFHANGER! And some even better actual news: MBAV season TWO starts in JUNE on Disney, we've all been waiting for so long!
But right now I'd like to thank ALL my readers and reviewers, had it not been for you, Clueless would have been done in October of last year likely. But PLEASE, review for chapters 22 and 23, Sarah comes back! You're gonna laugh and you're gonna cry, I'll just say that much. Also Tethered is going to be updated as well and I hope by June they'll be joined by a third MBAV story, focusing on either Ethan/Benny or Benny/Erica, I'm still debating.