Fervent

Chapter 10 { coffee steam }

{ in the morning I'll be with you, but it'll be a different kind }

"I heard you stuck up for me, little flower." He acted like I was still six and I hated it. I wasn't a flower I was the dirt he walked on.

But somehow, I still felt the little six year old inside of me blush and smile. But I wasn't six anymore.

"I didn't stick up for you. I stuck up for the law." I shrugged. I'm guessing this was about his name.

"God, you're just like her!" He chuckled as we sat around the lounge table. Mom had gone out to get the takeaway. She said she'd surprise us with what she brought home. My bet was at Chinese. Ben's was in fish and chips. Had he been away that long that he'd forgotten mom's undying hatred for the food?

"I'm sorry." I muttered. "Please don't go." I said, even quieter.

"What?" He laughed, fidgeting around on his knees.

"I know mom's terrible and that must mean I am, too, but please don't leave." It all kind of came out in a rush and I didn't really know if it made sense.

"Of course I won't." He replied, but there was doubt in his voice. I'd watched reality TV too many times not to spot a lie. He didn't know when he'd have to leave, was what I got from it. But I smiled, anyway. "Anyway, who are your friends now, still Katie and... what's his name... Buzz?" He had been away an incredible amount of time. But he was there when I was six and best friends with Buzz, still.

"Katie moved to America like 6 years ago." I explained, tucking my feet under me. "And Buzz... we stopped talking but... I don't know." I confessed, blushing but turning away so he didn't see.

"So who do you hang around with now? Good crowd, I hope." He tapped his fingers on the table, because we both knew his crowds from school weren't the best.

"The newspaper team mostly. I'm the leader, but mom shut us down after the murders." I looked back over to him and he grinned. I knew what he was thinking: nerd. "Charlotte's my best friend, she's a photographer. And her step-brother Jamie, I guess."

"Jamie Gint?"

"How the hell do you know his name?" I laughed, but that didn't hide the fear. There was no reason at all for my brother to know his name, let alone his full name.

"Your chatspace was still logged on." He grinned mischievously.

"What?!" I stood up grabbing a pillow to attack him with. "On my laptop? Did you go on my laptop?" Did he read my messages? He tried to argue himself innocent, but he couldn't defend against the attack of the pillow, so he ended up hiding round the back of the sofa, where I didn't realise he had hid until he jumped and stole the pillow from me. While I screamed and ran in the opposite direction my mom swung open the door with two carrier bags.

At her sudden entrance, I screamed again and had Ben laughing in hysterics now. She grinned and walked over to the table to place down the bags.

"I win!" Called Ben from the table as he jumped on the sofa with incredible height. I saw my mom hold up her arm to tell him to take care on the sofa, but she never started the complaint and instead laughed with him.

"What?" I walked over to the table to see fish and chips wrapped in classical newspaper and cardboard boxes. "You hate fish and chips, mom." I turned to her, confused at the decision.

"It was Ben's favourite, so I made an exception. And plus, I like their burgers." She admitted, but Ben and I both looked at each other with smiles as wide as our cheeks when she said his name.