9 – Sigma Epsilon

Felicity opened her eyes to total blackness and wondered for a second whether she'd regained consciousness after all. Then she realized she was staring at an overcast, dark sky.

Her hearing sharpened, bringing the low murmur of several voices on all sides. She looked down at herself. Blood spattered the front of her shirt. She opened her mouth to speak and couldn't. Instead, she tried to rise.

Ben's face immediately came into her field of view. "Hey," he said, his brow knotted with worry. The corner of his mouth was bleeding. He reached to help her up. The knuckles of his right hand were bandaged, and the wrappings were darkening with bloodstains. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and instantly regretted the motion. With a stifled moan, she rubbed her sore crown. "Are you?"

"No. Some kids saw the fight and broke it up before it got much worse." He reached an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to her feet.

She teetered uncertainly for a moment, still groggy, and leaned into him for balance.

Ben continued to hold onto her even when her balance returned. "I got your wallet. The cash is gone, but your cards and stuff are still there. Those jerks took off."

Felicity finally noticed the group of curious faces surrounding them. She hesitated. "Ah…Thank you?"

A blond girl came forward. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you need to call someone? I have a cell phone."

"No. Thanks," Felicity replied. "Some water though, maybe."

"Sure," interjected a lanky brown-haired man with a snake tattoo on one forearm. "My frat's two doors down. Why don't you guys come with us?"

Felicity looked up at Ben and he gave her a reassuring nod. They started away with the group.

- - - - -

Standing in the Sigma Epsilon kitchen, Felicity sipped at a glass of water and let the coolness slide down her throat. Muffled music boomed from the living room. Ben didn't move more than five feet from her side.

"Man, I'm sorry about that. I didn't see the guys who did it or I'd report them," said the man with the snake tattoo. "My name's Cliff, by the way."

"Thanks anyway, Cliff," Ben rumbled, shaking the man's hand and grimacing faintly at the discomfort of his split knuckles. "This is Felicity. I'm Ben."

The blond girl came into the kitchen, handing Ben a wet washcloth. "I'm Hailey. Did you guys want a ride somewhere?"

Ben shook his head, accepting the washcloth to clean the blood from the corner of his mouth. "We're parked just down the street. We'll stick around for a little while, if that's okay."

"Absolutely," Cliff grinned. "There's a total excess of food out there. Come on out into the living room when you're done cleaning up, and we'll introduce you around." He and Hailey ducked out of the kitchen.

Ben turned to Felicity, and his eyes softened with concern. "I'm sorry about your money."

"It was only the rest of the Speedway money. I'm more worried about you." She frowned at the bloody bandage on his hand. "That was really dangerous…and brave. Thank you."

He stroked her cheek with his good hand. "I just didn't want them to hurt you."

Her lip trembled and she bit it. "I walk along the street in New York every day and nothing happens. One night in St. Louis, and look at us. I'm all full of somebody's blood, and you—" She sucked in a breath and blinked back tears. "I'm sorry. I'm being a baby about this. We're both fine, I know."

He rinsed the washcloth in the sink and handed it to her. "It's okay to be scared, Felicity."

She took the washcloth and dabbed at her shirt. "Palo Alto suddenly seems so safe. I kind of wish we were already there."

Ben circled his arms around her. "You are safe now. I wouldn't let anything happen to you, I promise. Do you want to go back to the motel?"

"No. We're here now. We can stay, it's okay." Her fingertips brushed the chain at her throat, and she gave him a wry smile. "At least no one tried to take my necklace this time." At his dubious look, she dropped her hand and added, "Ben, I'll be fine. Really."

The corner of his mouth curled upward in a smile. "As long as we're here, then, let's see about something to eat."

They rejoined Cliff and Hailey in the living room, which was packed to bursting with talking, drinking, dancing, and flirting college students. The music, louder now, blared from a stereo at one end of the room.

Cliff handed each of them a beer and ushered them toward a table jammed with food of all kinds. When they had each been armed with pizza and wings, he asked, "Are you guys students here?"

"No. We go to UNY," Ben answered over the noise.

"UNY! I heard their track team is stellar," nodded Cliff.

Interested, Ben asked, "You run?"

"Yeah. I finished third this year in the state finals."

"That's great," grinned Ben.

Just like that, he and Cliff launched into an animated conversation about the ups and downs of running track, bantering like old friends. Felicity began to feel left out.

"He's a total junkie, isn't he?" Hailey said, breaking into her thoughts. "Get him going on running, and he won't stop until your eyes glaze over. He does it to me all the time."

Felicity laughed.

Dimpling, Hailey asked, "If you go to UNY, how come you're in St. Louis?"

"We're driving cross-country on our way home to California for the summer," explained Felicity.

"And you went to school in New York? That's some change."

Felicity took a drink of her beer. "Yeah. Not exactly what I planned, originally. Going to UNY was sort of a last-minute decision."

"Did you hate the snow?"

"No. It was nice, actually having snow. Why are you all still here if summer's started?"

Hailey brushed a golden lock of hair away from her face. "This is the last party before summer break. Some of the frat guys even stay in the houses over the summer. Cliff has a job here, so we usually stick around anyway."

Watching Cliff and Ben laughing over some inside joke, Felicity asked, "How long have you two been together?"

"A couple years. What about you and Ben?"

Reddening, Felicity studied her feet. "We're, uh…I'm not sure exactly what we are."

"What do you mean?"

"He's sort of the reason UNY was a last minute decision for me. I went there because of him, because I liked him." She took a huge bite of pizza and chewed self-consciously.

"Obviously, he likes you back," grinned Hailey.

"I guess so," Felicity mumbled around her pizza. It stuck in her throat, and she took another gulp of beer to wash it down. Her ears felt like they were on fire.

Hailey turned her lake-blue gaze on Felicity, seeming to notice her appearance for the first time. "Do you want to borrow a shirt?"

"What?"

"There's still blood on your shirt. I mean, it looks okay I guess, but maybe…?" She waved a hand at Felicity's attire.

If she hadn't felt uncomfortable before, Felicity did now. I must look awful. She tried tucking her hair behind her ear, but it came loose again in unruly waves. She put her food on the corner of a table and gave Hailey a too-bright smile. "Yeah, a shirt would be great."

- - - - -

Ben couldn't have said how he knew, but he was aware of the exact moment when Felicity left the room. His eyes swept the crowd without finding her and he straightened where he stood, looking more carefully. "Hang on, Cliff," he muttered, setting his beer down. "I'll be right back."

"All right, man. The john's upstairs and down the hall!" Cliff hollered after him.

Ben skirted around the edges of the room, but Felicity was nowhere to be found. He wended his way through the crowd with growing apprehension, circling through the entire ground floor of the house without finding her.

Oh his way up to the second floor, he came upon the same dark-haired man who had been harassing Felicity outside, standing on the corner at the top of the stairs. He was harassing someone now; his voice rose over the crowd, plaintive and pleading by turns. Ben made a disgusted face. Obviously, his target didn't want to go for the drive he was attempting to convince her to take with him. "Come on, I said I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. Let's blow this party and go somewhere else."

"I said no. Will you just leave me alone?"

Ben's ears perked up at the sound of Felicity's voice. He swept up the rest of the steps, rounded the man's back, and inserted himself between them. He noticed with some satisfaction the darkening bruise over the man's eye. "What's it going to take for you to go away?"

The man scowled. "Get out of here. I'm talking to the lady—"

"She's with me," interrupted Ben, "and she said no. That pretty much means no."

"I'm going to kick your ass. Right here, right now," the man snarled, puffing up.

Ben shook his head slowly. "We are not doing this." He reached an arm around Felicity, urging her silently toward the steps. She gave him a grateful look as she went.

Seeing them, Hailey came down the hall and took Felicity's hand, towing her away down the steps with a look of mute understanding at Ben.

Ben moved to follow, but the man blocked his way with an arm across his path. "We are doing this, hero. Now."

Impatiently, Ben sighed. "Put your arm down, man."

"Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway? Her guard dog?"

"Look, whatever your problem is, we've got nothing to do with it." Ben reached to push the man's arm out of his way.

The man reacted by taking a fistful of Ben's shirt and shoving him backward. Ben staggered and glared at him.

"McIntosh!"

At this, the man spun around and looked down the steps.

Cliff stood at the bottom with three other guys, all of them looking irritated. "Do you mind getting out of my house?"

"Oh, stay out of this. You have nothing to do with it, Killenbeck."

Cliff didn't look impressed. "I think you're wrong on that. You're messing with my guests. You going to find the door, or do we have to make you find it?"

With his odds diminishing at five to one, the man stormed down the stairs and shoved his way between Cliff and one of the other guys. At a nod from Cliff, one of them went to make sure McIntosh left the party.

Ben descended the stairs with a rueful grimace. "Thanks."

"De nada, man. That guy's been giving us crap all year long," Cliff explained. "He's from Delta Phi. One of my brothers blew him in to administration for a hazing prank and he took it kind of personal-like." They made their way through the living room, back to where Felicity and Hailey sat talking on a couch. Cliff grinned. "What is this, a still-life? This is a party. Liven up!" He distributed a new round of drinks and plucked Hailey off the couch. "Let's dance, darlin'."

Hailey laughed and waved at Felicity as she was swept off into the crowd.

Ben watched Felicity laughing back and wished suddenly that he were a better dancer.