- Yay! Bonus chapter. This is it for days fifteen and sixteen. I hope you've enjoyed.
Beastly Texts (Day 16: Monday Morning)
"I thought we were supposed to stay out of contact with the outside world," Mal comments as Ben picks up his phone from the glass coffee table.
He laughs, "Don't worry. It's just Doug." but when he sees the text message his smile falters.
Mal watches him text back rapidly and puts the movie on pause, "What is it?"
"Apparently Chad is spreading a rumor around school about me."
"It's not that you're faking being sick, is it?" Mal half-smiles. "Because that's part of the reason why your mother kept you home today. She thought that if you went back today, then your team would think you skipped practice for no reason." She watches as Ben stares at the cell screen, seemingly frozen. "What is it?"
Ben shakes himself from his thoughts, "Sorry, Mal. Could you just give me a minute? I need to think." She nods but doesn't say anything, and a few texts later Ben appears to look a little less frightened of the situation. He smiles at her, "How about I get us some more popcorn?"
Mal tries to smile back, "Yeah. That would be great." but immediately after he leaves she picks up his phone from the table. Going into his text messages, there are many from his mother, father, his teammates, Doug, herself, Audrey, and some people she can only assume to be from either his staff or new job as king. She rolls her eyes at the sight of his ex's name, before she clicks on Doug's messages.
Ben: Hey. I won't be at school today. If anyone asks, I'm sick. Doug: Are you? Ben: Doesn't matter. Just do it. Doug: K. Doug: I don't know if I should be telling you this right now… but Chad's been spreading rumors and saying things about you. Ben: What things? What rumors? Doug: He's going around telling people about how you growled at him earlier and about how he thinks you're going to turn into a beast… you know, like your dad did. Ben: Don't retaliate, but if anyone asks then deny it. Doug: What if someone asks about how you growled at him? Ben: Tell them that I was just messing around, that Chad was getting on my nerves and so I pretended to growl at him to scare him off and for him to stop being so annoying. Doug: Are you sure that will work? Ben: No one heard… I didn't even hear it. I'm sure no one will believe him. Doug: Okay, then. See you later? Ben: Yeah. See you at the dorms tonight. Bye. Doug: Bye.
Mal puts the phone back on the table exactly as it was, but it's not even a minute later that she hears Ben reenter the room. She looks back at him, "Hey."
He sits down next to her, "Hey. So, I got cheesy popcorn this time. I hope you like it."
Mal smiles, "I'm sure it won't be an issue." before she places her hand on the hand that Ben holds the bowl with. "You know how you told me that I could come to you with anything?"
"Oh. Yeah," Ben quickly replies.
"Well. I hope you know the same applies to me," Mal tries to smile. "If you're going through something or if you ever need someone to confide in, then I'm here for you too."
He smiles, "Thank you. That means a lot." but then he reaches for the remote. "So, where were we?"
"We should probably rewind it a little," Mal suggests.
"Right," Ben agrees.
Mal opens her mouth before unsurely commenting, "You know, I'm still pretty curious about what all that texting was about."
Ben pauses the TV before evenly responding, "It was nothing really. Just Chad being his usual self, trying to overthrow me so that he can be king and everything."
"Well, yeah." Mal hesitates, "But you said he was spreading a rumor about you. What was it?"
Ben tries to smile but epically fails, "Hopefully by tonight it will no longer matter." Mal doesn't speak. "Come on. I can't believe you've had to grow up without seeing any of these movies at all. You don't know what you were missing."
Mal tenses a smile as he presses play, "Well, at least I can see it now."