Chapter 8: Who Would've Thought

Ben could be a real drama queen when he felt like he was being neglected. It had been a while since we last spoke. I couldn't take the incessant questioning about you-know-who, which was of course unavoidable with him - so he was a little accurate (ok, more than a little) when he accused me of purposely avoiding him over the phone a few days later.

I'd never wanted to talk about my life less at the moment, but I could put off the inevitable conversation no longer. Besides, maybe Ben would shed some new light on the situation and make me feel a little less…helpless. Never mind the fact that we were good friends and it was downright cruel of me to deny him the precious gossip he'd been waiting so patiently for. He was going to absolutely love what had transpired since we'd last seen each other; he still didn't know about the (now multiple) kisses. We made plans for lunch; he made me promise that I wouldn't leave out a single detail before I was able to finally hang up.

As I walked down the busy street away from my apartment I couldn't help but start thinking about what had happened with Lestat. My thoughts had been straying towards him much more than I was comfortable with lately. The action of placing his hand gently but firmly over my mouth, the same not quite forceful shove up my building stairs without any suggestive comments about following me in, and of course the fact that he didn't after all; I felt like there was something there that I just couldn't put my finger on. It was so unlike everything I'd experienced with him thus far. But that was small change when compared to this new unknown monster that had even Lestat, self-proclaimed master of all fear, looking over his shoulder. I was about to cross the street when it hit me. I stopped right in my tracks, causing the businesswoman behind me to walk right into my back and knock me off the curb. I muttered a quick, "Excuse me," and started to walk again – faster now with my new revelation. It wasn't huge, but it was something.

Ben could tell I'd been hit with some new brainwave before I even sat down. He didn't even give me a chance to order a drink. "Alright you – spill!"

I did my best to explain the past couple months to him, though it was difficult seeing as he found it impossible not to interrupt me every other sentence with an exaggerated "Oh!" or "You're kidding!". I swear, the boy practically swooned when I got through the first kiss.

"What did I tell you!" he declared far too emphatically.

"Oh, don't give me that – this is all nothing and you know it."

"Girl, you're kidding yourself if you really think that."

I'm pretty sure my face got a little redder, which of course did not go unnoticed by Ben. "See! Ha! I knew it!"

"You don't know anything!" With a special emphasis on the anything; but he had me squirming nonetheless.

He turned the conversation back to the final night in my repertoire. "You do realize the implication there, now don't you?" He looked at me with a sardonic smile.

"I did have an idea." I sat there praying that my little epiphany had only been apparent to me.

"I'm waiting – and you will say it out loud before you leave this table." He made a grab at my bag and reached it before I could. With said hostage in his lap he gave me a look that said, "Go on…". I considered telling him he was beginning to remind me of a certain someone, but I figured that it would only boost his ego to a more unbearable level. The whole world would suffer.

"Still waiting."

I just sat there, lips pursed.

"Alright," he sighed, "I'll get you started. Now, when Lestat sensed danger what did he do?"

"You know damn well what he did."

"Okay…refresh my memory and then analyze the implications little miss smarty pants."

"He took me back to my apartment. Nothing said, nothing meant." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"We both know that's not true." He leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin in what I assumed he thought was a scholarly way, "I'm sure we can agree that Lestat is not the type to go running from danger. Obviously there was something keeping him from acting on his true instinct." He gave me a significant look, "Now, vat sort of variable vould cause ze eqvation to be altered in zis vay…?"

"Alright, drop the accent or I'm leaving, bag or no."

"Come on, Evie – you know exactly what he was doing. Just say it!"

"Fine!" I still paused awkwardly, trying to mentally prepare myself for what was going to come out of my mouth next. "He was protecting me."

"And the girl finally gets it!" Ben tossed my bag to me.

"Funny, very funny – but it still doesn't mean shit."

"Of course it does! What have you gone daft? The heartless monster went out of his way to protect the helpless beauty!"

"I wouldn't use either of those words to describe myself, thank you." I fished my half of the check out of my bag.

"Your own low self-esteem aside, you can't deny this – it's plain as day and you know it."

"Whatever Ben," I said tiredly, "Call me later, ok?" I kissed him on the cheek and left the restaurant.

Alright, so Ben had hit the nail right on the head. But while all this sounded strange and exciting in theory (at least to him), it was downright scary in practice. My brain simply couldn't wrap itself around the concept; it wasn't logical, it wasn't realistic, the only thing it could possibly be was foolish! But none of this thought grappling was going to get me anywhere. I was just going to have to wait until he showed up again…