Communication vs Manipulation

(Day 17: Tuesday Night)

"Oh no," Doug complains as he walks into the dorm.

Ben looks up from his textbook, "What?"

"You made out with her again."

"And?" Ben questions.

"You still haven't healed from the last one she gave you, not to even mention that she bites hard enough to break through the skin."

Ben shakes his head, "So, what?"

"So, why do you let her do that to you?"

"Like I said before," Ben sets down his mechanical pencil, "it didn't hurt. There was nothing to stop her from doing. It's fine."

"It's not fine, and how can it not hurt?"

Ben places a hand to his head, "We've had this conversation before."

"Well, just do me a favor and try to explain it to me again," Doug tensely smiles. "Because maybe this time one of us can make a little more sense of it."

It takes a moment for Ben to respond, "It didn't hurt, because I didn't feel a lot of anything. It's like it was numb or something."

"Numb," Doug states. "I'm pretty sure you left that part out last time."

"What difference would it have made?"

"A big difference," Doug sternly remarks. "I've never made out with anyone before, but even I know that your neck isn't supposed to go numb from it."

Ben shrugs, "She has a cold body temperature. That's probably all it is."

"Cold?" Doug asks. "How cold?"

"Colder than me?" Ben answers. "But then again most people are. Why?"

Doug shakes his head, "It just doesn't make sense. She'd have to be like an ice cube to be able to numb you like that, unless, of course, the real issue is that the neck is filled with nerves and blood vessels and she's— what did you call it? Oh. That's right. Feisty."

"You have something against feisty girls," Ben replies.

He shakes his head, "Girls can act any way they want. Just not in bed. Do you know how many guys have ended up in hospitals just because they were letting their wife or girlfriend be on top?" Ben gives him a questioning look. "Way too many. It's horrible."

"What I don't get here is that you don't even have a girlfriend, so why are you looking all of this stuff up?"

"I didn't look it up," Doug mumbles. "Like with anything else, I stumbled upon it."

Ben chuckles, "That would never hold up in court."

"Haha Mr. Intro to Law, Intro to Sociology and Psychology." Doug frowns, "God. How many electives are you taking?"

"Too many," Ben lets out a stressed breath. "A couple of my classes actually overlap, which stinks, but at least I always have a nice textbook to rely on." He picks the blue pencil back up, "Speaking of which, I have twenty pages to go through before tomorrow."

Doug walks over to him, "That's a lot of pages."

"It's a normal amount of pages," Ben grins. "With things like Law or Sociology or," he lifts up his textbook, "Communications, they like to have examples and stories."

"Well, at least that sounds nice."

"It is nice," Ben states. "That is if I don't have to skip over it to complete the assignment on time." He shakes his head, "Really. I don't know why I have to take all of these classes. I mean, I know why. It's just that I'll be lucky if I can remember half of it." He looks back down at the assignment, "I'll be even luckier if I can learn how to use it."

"Use it?" Doug questions.

Ben slightly laughs, "I'm taking a communications class because I'm king, and yet I can't even get my girlfriend to open up about much of anything. I swear, it's like one step forward and three steps back. I get her to let me in a little, and then she closes back up, pretends she never said anything, and then gets oddly defensive."

"How does someone act oddly defensive?"

It takes a moment for Ben to speak, "For example, on one of our dates we wound up talking about a different conversation we had in which she seemed to have been trying to scare me off or something, and when I asked her what the real problem was she just kissed me and… all of that."

"Sounds like she manipulated you."

"Yeah," Ben realizes. "I guess she kind of did."

"You know they have entire classes on it on the Isle of the Lost." Doug glances at his textbook, "You could probably read that entire thing and still not have as much knowledge in communication as she does in manipulation."

Ben's quiet for a second, "What do you suggest, that I just stop asking her if she's okay or what's wrong?"

"No. I'm just saying that you're not going to be able to make her do anything. Anything she does, it's probably only going to happen when she's either ready or willing."

"It's just that I know they've all gone through hell on that island, and she's my girlfriend." Ben frowns, "I just wish she could be a little more open with me, or at least not shut me out or become defensive after admitting to something."

"You've only been dating her for two weeks," Doug points out. "Do you honestly expect her to be honest with you about everything?"

Ben half laughs, "She was honest enough to tell me that the last guy she was with she had planned to kill."

Doug's jaw drops, "Huh. What?"

"Yeah. I know."

He presses his glasses to the bridge of his nose, "Well, you know, no one does that kind of thing without a reason."

"I know," Ben quietly replies. "It's called motive. But still, I wish I at least knew why she hated that guy so much."

Doug tries to laugh, "Yeah, man. You'd better not make the same mistake."

"Ha ha." Ben shakes his head, "It must have been awful… whatever it was."'

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Think of every worst possible scenario," Doug answers. "Whatever you're thinking, it can't possibly be that bad."

"She was on the Isle," Ben emphasizes. "A place filled to the brim with villains and pirates and the worst of the worst. I think I can think as bad about it as I want to."

"And I think," Doug nods down to the textbook, "that you should do your homework."

- You can kind of assume that Ben's just been wearing turtle necks and stuff, which is something that a few people should really be questioning (such as his mother)... and yet, I don't think I ever found a good spot to write that in... Hmm. Well. He's going to be dating Mal for while. I'm sure I'll find a place to fit that concept in eventually... like maybe he has an interview and has to look professional, and he complains about the outfit his mom wants him to wear... so, then she covers his neck in makeup. Yeah. That sounds good... assuming I can actually put that somewhere. I'll probably keep missing the opportunity.