Hey! I think you guys are gonna be pretty glad with what we have for this chapter. It's gonna be good. Yep.
I hope you guys are gonna enjoy this. You will. I know you will. Now I shall write.
When Benny sat down with Rory and his grandmother on their chairs in the vampire council building, He felt scared. Maybe it was because this was an emergency meeting or maybe because Anastasia looked nervous. Either way, things didn't seem good. The room was big, so it fit a lot of people. When Anastasia was sure enough people were there, she cleared her throat and ordered everyone to stay quiet.
"As you all know, I have called you all here because this is an emergency. I have… someone in here," she said carefully, "who found out a bit of Jesse's plans. That someone heard that the attacks will be violent. They won't show any mercy. None of them will. So, I suggest you all train hard. If we're defeated, this town will be under his control. And none of us want that, I believe." A few people started talking when Anastasia paused but the council members by her side started yelling for them to stay silent. "There's something else. We also found out Jesse has a secret weapon. We don't know who his weapon is, but we do know a few things. That person is stronger than they look. They're cruel and they won't hesitate to kill you. But here's an important detail. That person is a seer." People murmured, but it wasn't loud, so Anastasia continued her talk. "If you know any seer, if you have guesses of who they are, please beware. And tell us. It is important that you do." She stopped talking again, but after a few seconds, she said, "You can leave."
Benny, who was in between Rory and his grandmother, turned his head to look at them. Rory simply shrugged and said, "I really don't care 'cause we'll win at the end."
"How come you're so sure?" Evelyn asked.
Rory wanted to talk but then looked at Benny as they both widened their eyes. Benny whispered, "Because a seer told us."
"We should go see him. I mean, at least you should if you can today. I told you I'm too busy setting up my cousin's birthday party," Rory said.
"No way. Ethan's coming over tonight," Benny refused.
"Can't you have an "emergency appointment" with them? Just go now if they let you." Rory asked using air quotes.
Benny smiled. "I don't know what's up with you today, but you're not as dumb as I thought you were."
As they were going home, Benny took his own car and dialed the place's number. He hoped that he could find that seer. "Hello? Yes, I'd like to come, but I'd like to see him now. It's urgent. Really? I could come now? Thanks." Then he hung up.
Going inside the building made Benny have second thoughts. This was stupid. What if the seer wasn't the one he was looking for? Then he'd be accusing him of something he didn't even do. And what would he do when he'd go inside that dark room to see him? Make the seer feel uncomfortable? This was a bad idea.
But there was no backing down now. He was loyal to Anastasia, and he had to find out who the weapon was.
This time, there was no hesitation when he opened the door to enter. He knew he was at the right door unlike last time. The same man sat in front of the desk, and when he saw him, he opened the door to the seer's room to let him know Benny was here, and then let him in.
Again, he was scared and nervous just sitting in front of whoever this seer was.
"So I see you came back. What for?"
As frightened as he was, he had to do this. "I need answers." He decided to be straight forward now. "So, tell me, are you on Jesse's side?"
"Excuse me?"
"Are you Jesse's weapon?"
"Personal questions like this are not allowed." He didn't know how the seer managed to still make his voice so hushed yet have be so strong and angry.
"Are you?"
"Ask another question like this and you will be thrown out by my friend over here." That was when he viewed a figure stepping forward. It was clear that it was a male. Was he there the whole time?
He stood up, but not to leave, but because he was scared of that guy standing by the seer now. "You didn't answer me. So it's a yes, isn't it? You're Jesse's weapon."
The seer didn't speak but he could see him moving his head – downward, maybe? The guy behind the seer stepped forward. "Get out," he growled. That wasn't exactly a human sound that came out of him. What was he?
"Who are you?" This time, he ignored the scary guy.
The seer's head moved again, probably to see him. "You should get out now before you get in trouble."
He didn't hesitate. The not-human-sounding-guy was beginning to scare him more by the second. He got out of there and into his car. So he found out something. He wanted to tell Anastasia so badly, but he had his own life to deal with at the moment. There was homework he had to do, and he wanted to prepare himself for when Ethan would come. There was something about Ethan coming over again that excited him so much. And he knew what it was. It was his attraction towards him. He just couldn't get his mind to not think of him.
But at that moment, he had to because studying was important too. When he was done with his homework, he prepared the game console and plugged it in. In the previous night, he found out Ethan was a video game geek, too. He had to admit that it turned him on and made him like Ethan more than he already did. The food he laid on the table was ready and so was his now-clean room. Everything was perfect.
Then the bell rang. His grandmother was also in the house, and he didn't want her to answer the door, so he rushed down the stairs, excitement overwhelming him.
"Ethan," he greeted happily once he opened the door.
"Hey, Benny!" Then he entered, making Benny close the door behind him.
"Come on," he said, leading him to his room.
Even though Benny had cleaned up his bedroom, it still looked messy. But Ethan didn't seem to mind, so it was okay. Things were still perfect so far.
Benny sat on his bed and Ethan did the same, the bed bouncing a little as he rested on it.
"So," Benny started. "Since we still don't know each other, why don't you tell me about yourself a little bit?"
"What do you want to know about me?"
He shrugged. What could he know about him? "Tell me anything. What about what you dislike? Or maybe talk about your family. Or even life before we met."
"I'll try to answer all of that. Let's see." He put on his thinking face, raising one of his eyebrows and pursing his lips. "Something I dislike? I don't know. Maybe when people stick their nose in people's business? School? Yeah, most probably."
He smiled, though a bit of that smile was faked. He remembered how he attacked that seer earlier and how he asked him questions that he shouldn't have. If that was something Ethan didn't like, he had better not do it in front of him.
"And family talk? Well, there's not much to say. I live in a family of four. My parents and my little sister. My mom and sister have blonde hair while my dad and I have dark hair, and…" he shook his head, "I have nothing more to say."
Lucky for Benny, he knew how to keep the conversation going. "How old is your sister?"
"She turned ten this year. Though she's an annoying ten year old."
"At least you have a sibling. I have none. It gets lonely here." Then hit was silent. But something came into Benny's mind. "Hey, speaking of your family, why don't I come over at your house one day?"
Ethan nodded with a joyful face, but then he put on his thinking face again. "Now let me answer your last question. I don't wanna completely forget it, but what was it?" He seemed to be changing the topic quickly. Maybe he didn't want to talk about his family a lot. "Oh, yeah. Life before we met. I have nothing to say. Maybe that I used to be bullied, but not anymore because I've had some help. And… I had only one or two close friends before I met you."
Benny smiled. This time, it was for real. "You still have two close friends."
Ethan gave a wide grin, showing a bit of his upper teeth. "Yeah, I do."
Most of the time after that, they played video games and yelled at the screen during almost every round. Sadly for them, the day ended too quickly, and Ethan had to leave.
"I gotta go. My parents wouldn't be too happy if I missed dinner," he said.
He stood up to leave, but Benny wouldn't let him walk away alone. He had to have some company. He was beside him the whole time until they reached the door and Ethan had to say goodbye. They both were facing each other, so it was hard trying not to stare into those brown, beautiful eyes. He noticed how Ethan was trying not to stare too awkwardly too. Did he like him, too?
"I guess I should leave now."
"Wait." The word came out a bit too quickly. He didn't even give Ethan a chance to turn his body around. "I have to say something to you." He was getting nervous because he was actually going to confess to him how he felt. Even taking a deep breath didn't ease his mind or nerves. "I really like you. As in more than a friend." Ethan didn't react but he also didn't show signs of disgust or discomfort. "And I really want to kiss you right now. So, may I?"
Ethan blinked a few times before he shook his head, but it didn't seem like he was refusing. Maybe it was to snap him out of whatever was going on in his head. "Yeah. Sure. I kind of… like you too."
He laughed, but it was more of a silent chuckle that was heard only when he spoke. "That's great." Then he put his hand on Ethan's neck before they leaned in and closed their eyes. When their lips connected, Ethan's lips against Benny's felt soft and, at the same time, shy. He didn't seem to want it to be more heated but he definitely did appear to be enjoying it because he wasn't the one that backed away. It was Benny, and that only happened because He realized Ethan needed to get home. "I hope this won't make things too weird between us tomorrow."
He shook his head again. "No. I don't want us to be distant or anything." He turned his head, and Benny could've sworn Ethan bit his lip and tried to stop smiling. That was a really good sign. "I should go home. My mom will start to worry." Then he walked away. Halfway out to his home, he shouted to Benny, "I'll text you when I get an answer from Mom." Benny knew he was talking about him coming over to his house.
They didn't need to say goodbye. Goodbyes were for when people weren't going to see or talk to each other for the moment. As long as Benny was living next door to Ethan, and he was going to see him through his window and text him on the phone, they still would be in touch for the night. Their goodbye would be for when they were going to sleep. But that was going to be a long time ahead.
He went to his room and threw himself on his bed. Through his window, he could see Ethan's shadow along with someone else's being casted on the curtains. Must have been asking for permission for if Benny was to come. He smiled to himself. Things were going great so far. He found out more about Jesse's weapon even though things went badly there, and his crush admitted he liked him.
His phone beeped. When he picked it up and turned it on, he saw a message arriving from Ethan. MY MOM AGREED! He sat up to text him back and show him how happy he was, but then he got another message. Window, was all it said. Somehow he figured out what it meant and looked out the window. The curtain in Ethan's room was pulled back, giving a view of Ethan and his room. The other boy smiled at him and waved.
He had to admit one thing. He was starting to like the view of his window more now.
Ethan didn't know whether to be happy or nervous the next day. He had a reason for both. Benny, a cute boy who had crossed his mind a million times, had made the first move the other night and kissed him. He had no idea that Benny felt some chemistry between them, so it was a great surprise to him. Especially since Benny was the kind of guy to hit on every girl who'd bother to look at him twice. He also had the right to be nervous. This wasn't good idea – being more than friends with Benny. His parents wouldn't approve of this. Though he bet Jane would be happy if she found out what happened the other night. For one thing, she wasn't homophobic. She also supported Anastasia, so she would have absolutely no problem with Benny. He loved his sister, but he hated the fact that she wasn't on Jesse's side with her family.
As he walked to school, he felt the hatred for Benny come, too. He couldn't forget what Benny had done the other day. How dare he just come and ask if he was Jesse's weapon or not? People on Anastasia's side must know more things than he thought they did, but that didn't give Benny the right to come and attack him. It was a good thing he made him feel uncomfortable the other night when he told him he hated it when people would stick their nose in people's business. He could see the struggle on his face as he tried to keep a smile going.
His thoughts made things worse when he entered the school building and saw Benny standing beside Rory, talking happily. But when Benny looked at him and smiled with affection obvious on his face, the hatred was no longer there. How could he stay mad at the green-eyed boy standing not twenty feet away from him? His anger was gone, but his nervousness was still there.
"Hey," Benny said when he was near them.
Rory looked at Benny and then Ethan. "So, I heard about your friendly… conversations last night." He raised his eyebrows a bit. They weren't all the way up. "Though, I also heard you did more than talk."
Benny's cheeks turned scarlet with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I had to tell him."
"It's alright." As long as Rory wasn't going to tease them, anyway.
"Don't worry. I'm cool with it. Actually, I'm happy for you guys." Rory smiled at someone behind Ethan. After a few seconds, he realized it was Erica Jones. She simply gave him one look before turning her head around. He didn't like her. Not because of how she was an annoying vampire who dumped Jesse. No. It was because she was on Anastasia's side too. No wonder Rory liked her.
"If you like her, go after her, dude," Benny said.
Rory looked at Benny as if he was saying something stupid. "She barely talks to me. Why would she do that now?"
Benny pushed his friend. "Go."
"You just wanna get rid of me," Rory concluded. "I'm not going anywhere."
Benny sighed and then gave up. "You know what? I think we should go to class."
They both agreed to do that.
The rest of the day was pretty normal except for one thing. Ethan was avoiding looking into Benny's eyes as much as possible. He would look at either Rory or his own shoes. He only did this because of two main reasons: One was that he didn't like what he was feeling towards Benny. He had hated it since the beginning. They were enemies on opposite sides, and not friends as he'd pretend they were. Another was that he so badly wanted him but this was a bad idea. He couldn't be with Benny with Jesse watching him in school.
After school, Benny managed to get Rory away from them. All it took was to give Rory a push and make him fantasize about a future with Erica. Then they were alone.
"Okay, what's wrong?" They were now walking to their homes. If they hid behind the school, they were sure that they would seem suspicious. This was as normal as they could appear in front of everyone.
"Nothing," he lied. All he ever did was lie to Benny. This situation wasn't any different. Just thinking about how many truths he'd hidden from Benny made him hate himself.
"We both know that's not true." He held his hand for a few seconds and said, "Please, just tell me. You can trust me." Then he let go.
"I know I do, it's just-" He didn't know how to finish his sentence. Every thought in his brain was scattered left and right, leaving him with nothing to say. Finally, after a few seconds of silence and gathering his thoughts and lies, he said, "It's just that I think this thing between us might not be the best idea. I'm scared that things could go wrong. I mean, Rory's fine with this, and we're not really official yet, but what if our families isn't? And what about the school? We can't stay in the closet forever. Not that I want to announce anything right now. In fact, I-"
"You're overthinking this." Benny held his hand again. The things he said were meant to be a lie, but he wasn't so sure if they were anymore. "It'll be alright. Sure, some people might not be so accepting, but everything will be alright. You know how I stop myself from being sad or anything?"
Ethan turned his head to look at him. Looking into his eyes was more comforting than he thought. "How?"
"I stop caring about what people think. As simple as that. Even if someone tells me I've disappointed them, I don't even give a shit to what they're saying. But not if it's my grandmother. Family matters more."
When he thought about it, it was a really good advice. It could be helpful when dealing with his own problems with Jesse. Even though he respected the vampire, he'd get on his nerves many times. He'd tell him how he "wasn't focusing during his lessons" or that he "didn't block that punch". Now he realized he didn't even care. He loved fighting, yes. But he didn't like how Jesse would react when Ethan would do one thing wrong. "Thanks."
Benny stopped walking, and Ethan realized they had reached their houses. This sucked. Now that he was actually more comfortable around Benny, the universe just decided that the moment should end? Great.
"I'd kiss you goodbye right now, but I'm scared my grandmother or your family is watching," Benny whispered, his eyes lost in his as if he was dreaming.
"Maybe we could save that kiss for tonight," Ethan suggested.
After they said a few words, they said their goodbyes and left each other to go to their own lives. Ones that they were both trying to hide from each other.
As usual, when opening the door, he'd get greeted by his mother who'd keep asking him about school. "School was fine. I'm just happy that tonight I'm not gonna have to work." That was the thing about working as a fortune telling seer. He wasn't the only one who worked there. There were others, too. He'd work only in specific days – Sundays and Tuesdays. Benny was lucky to go there and it would be Ethan in there coincidentally every time. "Wait, Mom. My phone is ringing."
He took it out of his pocket only to see that it was Jesse.
"Hello?" Jesse asked through the phone.
"Hey, Jesse," he said.
"You're coming to practice today, right?" he asked. Why did he ask this question? He knew the answer. Ethan never said no.
"Of course. But why are you asking me this?" He made his way upstairs, his mother forgotten.
"Because I want you to bring your sister with you."
"What?" This was too soon. Ethan had trained since he was six, but Jane was a little girl who still played with her dolls and toys. Just then, Jane appeared in front of her room's entrance. "You're not gonna have her fighting, are you?"
"No. Of course not. It's just going to be basic lessons. If you want, you can train her. You know her better than me, anyway."
"Hey, Ethan. What's going on?" she asked. He knew she meant what was going on with the phone call. The doors weren't exactly sound proof, and he must have had some kind of expression on his face to express his shock.
"Hold on, Jesse," he said. He looked at his curious sister and sighed, covering the microphone so Jesse wouldn't hear them. "He wants to train you from today."
She looked at him in disbelief and shook her head. "I told you I don't want to."
"You're gonna have to," he said with anger and force in his voice. He removed his hand from the speakers. "I'll call you in ten minutes and then I'll come, alright?"
"Okay, but try to bring her," Jesse said. Then the line went dead.
He put his phone in his pocket and was about to reach for her room's door to hold it, but Jane closed it and ran inside. It was a good thing they didn't have proper locks on their doors nor the keys to them or else he wouldn't have been able to open it. Jane was sitting in her bed, holding her legs close to her as she faced the other direction.
"Go away," she said, her voice soft.
He didn't do that. Instead, he sat right beside her. He felt like forcing her to go, but he decided to talk to her and try to convince her without yelling. "I know you don't want to go, but it's for your own good."
She shook her head. "For once, please just be my brother instead of being Jesse's pet and listen to me. I don't want to be on Jesse's side. He's evil and he wants to take over the town."
He hated that word. Evil. Sometimes Jane would call Ethan by that word, but he always yelled at her for saying it. "He's not evil. Sure, he does bad things every once in a while, but he isn't the one you should worry about here. It's Anastasia."
It was when Jane turned to look at him was when he realized she was crying silently. "You're so blinded by Jesse's own words. I know he's the one who told you all of that, but it's not true. Anastasia's good."
There was pity inside him for her, but that didn't stop him from being furious. "Shut up. Say anything like this again and you will not be this comfortable around me anymore. You're coming to practice." His heart started to ache when more tears started to fall from her eyes, making her face even more wet than it already was. What was he doing? Maybe she was a bit right. He was so distracted by what Jesse had said that he stopped treating her like a brother. His hate for himself grew. The next thing he knew his hands were wrapped around her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, planting a kiss on her head. "I love you. I don't hate you. I may sound like I do but I don't."
The crying turned into sobbing. Was he really that bad at comforting her? He was worried that he was, but then she wrapped her arms around him – something she never did – and put her head on his shoulder. "I love you, too." Her voice was so shaky that he didn't know what to do. Words kept coming out randomly.
"You don't have to go. I'll talk to Jesse about this, alright?" The gasps and sobs she had been getting out stopped and she was left there, hugging him. She didn't even move or say a word. Maybe the sobbing made her tired. "Alright?" He lifted her head up, but he didn't like seeing her face so red and puffy.
They both untangled themselves from each other before she nodded. Him being her brother, he went right ahead and kissed her on the forehead to comfort her.
"Why are you so nice today?" she asked. There was no answer he could give, honestly. There was no exact answer, anyway. He had many reasons. One of them was because she was he sister, and he had to be nice to her. But he didn't say that. "Is it because of Benny? I heard you talking about him yesterday. Is he making you good?"
He didn't want to answer that, so he got up and left the room. The answer was clear for both of them. Benny didn't just steal his heart. He changed him, too. And that made him sick. He didn't like realizing that.
But he also didn't care about that at the moment. He cared about Jesse and how he'd react. But that, too, didn't matter when he went there and talked to him. First, Jesse asked where his sister was. He replied with a lazy, "She didn't want to come." Though, when Jesse got angry and started threatening that he'll no longer be welcome here if he didn't bring her, he didn't give him a shit, just like Benny told him to. They were just empty words. "You don't mean what you said, Jesse."
"Of course I meant them."
"No, you didn't. Without me, you have no weapon against the other side. And if I'm no longer your little secret weapon, well, good luck finding someone else that'll be just as strong and loyal. I'm sure this ten years training will be taught easily in just a few days." He had to smirk when he saw Jesse making a fist and then releasing it.
Things were truly changing for him. He was kinder, which he didn't want to be, but thanks to Benny, he was. Speaking of Benny, he had also started to like being around him. And he was going to see him tonight, which made things a lot better. He really couldn't wait to be with him, but he was afraid that his parents wouldn't like him.
"Let's start training," Jesse said.
All he had to do was hope for the best.
That was long, but I had fun writing it. Sorry if you're tortured just reading this, but BF and I can't guarantee that there won't be another 4,000 words chapter.
Well, on that note, I'll just leave, then.
Until next time…
-TEM