The Little Scout
Chapter Five
Ben
"Have you kissed her yet?" Hal asked Ben the next morning.
"No." Ben replied.
"Seems you haven't got the Mason touch."
"I do! We've just had other things on our minds, you know with being at war with aliens."
"That's no excuse."
"It is!"
"I just think this new tough Ben should've kissed Tessa already..."
"Maybe I don't want to." Hal shot Ben a dirty look. "But I do."
"Matt told me that she was in your cot the other night, you should've done it then."
"But I didn't."
"Hi, is Matt here? I promised him I'd drop by." Tessa interrupted.
"Now." Hal mouthed at Ben.
"Now? But..." Ben mouthed to his brother.
"Do it." He mouthed back. "He's wandering around somewhere." Hal told Tessa.
"Oh right...I'll go find him."
"Tessa wait!" And he kissed her. The warm vanilla scent was sweet, it made him shiver. But Tessa finally broke it. He was dazed, she was so beautiful.
And then she slapped him.
"Bad move, man." Hal muttered as Tessa stormed off.
"What? I don't understand."
"Tessa isn't a push-over; you need to treat her special. You need to make her want to kiss you."
"She packs a hand." Ben rubbed his cheek, it stung badly.
"Treat her like she's everything."
"How?"
"Take her somewhere out of prying eyes and just tell her soppy stuff."
"It's Tessa, she won't believe it. She's not stupid."
"She's a girl, girl's love that stuff."
"Really?" Hal nodded.
"Tell her she's beautiful, that she's everything to you." Ben sighed, he realised it was true. She was beautiful and everything to him too. But he just nodded to Hal.
Ben found Tessa with an un-happy looking Matt. "Hey Tessa."
"Are you going to kiss me? Please give me some warning this time." Tessa told him.
"Tessa, can I talk to you."
"I'm reading to Matt."
"It'll only take a minute."
"Just talk to him!" Matt interrupted them.
"Fine."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kiss you. I mean I did but..."
"I know what you mean. I wanted it to be special."
"Let me make it up to you, please?"
"How?" Tessa crossed her arms and leant on the wall beside her.
"I'll take the bike outside of camp, just us two."
"You can't drive."
"I can."
"When?" She asked him, giving in.
"Tonight." Tessa nodded.
Ben didn't make much of an effort to dress up; he just polished his boots and threw the cleanest t-shirt on that he had. He'd managed to wrestle Hal's bike keys off him and planned to meet Tessa by her tent. The one she shared with Maggie and Lourdes. She, however, had put more effort into her appearance; she'd washed her hair and it looked nice.
"Whoa." Was all that Ben could make out.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" She smiled at him. Ben nodded. She sat behind him on Hal's bike and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her little arms didn't quite reach. "How did you get Hal to give you his keys?"
"I'm very persuasive."
"Of course, where are we going?"
"There's a little field just north of here."
"What are we supposed to do in a field?" She asked him. He started the bike.
"We'll work it out later."
Ben was actually alright at driving. He was surprised, he'd never ridden before. But obviously, Tessa didn't have her eyes open to see his amazing driving skills. "We're walking back."She told him.
"But I was amazing!" Ben protested.
"We're walking back." Tessa repeated. "So, you wanted to apologize."
"I'm sorry, Tess. Hal was giving me grief and I..."
"Ben, I didn't want you to kiss me."
"I know, but I've seen the way people look at you. Like you're a piece of meat."
"I don't know what the big deal is, I'm hardly the prettiest woman alive."
"You are, I've seen old people look at you that way. Its unsettling."
"So your jealous?"
"Your beautiful, Tessa, I can't live without you."
"That's lies, you lived perfectly fine without Me."
"Did you want to kiss me?" Tessa stared at Ben. She nodded. "Why were you so upset?"
"Because you were being a jerk."
"I'm sorry. I'll not be a jerk again."
"Stop listening to Hal, he makes you the jerk."
"I promise." Tessa wrapped her arms around Ben.
And she kissed him.