Ran Right Into Him

Chapter 27

"So, what hotel are we going to exactly?" Ben asked me, as we rode down the highway in silence.

"The Mandarin Oriental Hotel," I respond.

"Mandarin! Melanie that place is a 5 start resort! It's super expensive!" He exclaimed.

"I know, Max will pay for it. She knows why it's important."

"Why is it important?" He asks, placing his hand on my thigh.

Signing, I explain, "My dad worked for this super big sports article thing. He traveled a lot, and he got to stay in places like this for free. He brought me once. We had the best time. And you know how they tuck the sheets in super tight? Well I always loved that, found it relaxing. Is that weird? I dunno, anyways I just wanted to see it again," I smile at the memories and continue, "They have a spa and stuff there so my dad took me to have a whole spa day, he booked everything for a couple so the staff were surprised when he showed up with a 7 year old missing half her teeth. But they went with it. He even got his nails painted glitter pink to match mine." The memory went, on but my voice faltered as sadness overtook it. I could feel him looking at me, but I didn't turn back.

"I'm so sorry, Mavis," he said to me. I stole a glance and he was turned to me.

"It's okay, it's not like you made that semi crash into us," I replied, softly.

"Us? You were with him?"

I nodded. I could tell he wanted to know more but he didn't want to push me, "Like I said, I was 9. He took me to get frozen yogurt, I loved that stuff as a kid. After I'd spent 36 dollars because I still didn't know it was measured by weight, it started to rain, hard. The rain didn't put a damper on our moods. We laughed and talked as we drove," my voice was starting to shake but I continued, "We had to drive on the highway for a while to get home, it was used my a lot of industry companies so there were lots of semi trucks on the roads. One of them one apparently drunk and he passed out at the wheel. The truck lost control and started speeding fast downhill. We were just about to turn onto an exit, but the truck hit our side at 96 mph. It pushed us through the guardrail, down a slope and into a ditch. My dad drove a 2019 Honda Accord, so it didn't do well against a semi. He didn't have his seatbelt on so he....his head hit the driver side window and he broke through the windshield. My arm got between my booster seat and the car door. It broke and shattered in I don't know how many places. I was relatively unharmed, besides a concussion I got when the car flipped," I paused to take in a wobbly breath.

"You don't have to keep going, Mavis, it's alright I don't need to know," Ben said, quietly.

I shook my head but continued, "He got super bad brain trauma from hitting the window. He would have gone brain dead in the hospital. But he didn't even get the chance," I stopped again, to wipe the tears steaming freely down my face, "When he flew out the windshield his head the ground with a lot of force and he broken his neck."

I could feel Benjamin's eyes on me but I couldn't look at him right now so I started down at my lap. Then I felt the car suddenly stop. When I looked up we had pulled over and Ben was staring me down.

"What?" I asked in a whisper. Instead of an answer he opened his arms and motioned me towards him. I hesitated for a moment, but gave in and shimmied into his arms. He looked at me holding my face in his hands, wiping my tears away.

"I love you. You know that?"

"Yes, you tell me every day," I say, giving him a sad smile.

"You're beautiful. You know that too?"

"Yes," I say, rolling my eyes. I expected him to continue, but something flashed in his eyes, in was gone in an instant but I knew I'd seen it. His blue eyes went dark. He began to place feathering kissing along my neck. I sucked in a breath at the sensation of his warm lips, floating across my neck. He kissed my cheeks over the trails where my tears had fallen. He pulled me in front him so we were face to face, setting off the horn in process. I scared me so bad I screamed.

"Sorry, sorry," he sputtered.

"It's okay, it just caught me by surprise," I said, placing my hands on either side of his face.

"Sorry," he whispered, placing his forehead on my forehead.

"For what?"

"I know you're sad and that wasn't what you needed, but I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry, Mave."

"I'm not upset with you, why would I be?"

"I just though that you might think I was using you or something."

"Why would I ever think that? That's ridiculous. If I wanted you to stop I would have said so."

He didn't answer. I could tell he was really upset with himself from this. I don't understand why though, I wanted him to keep going. He wasn't taking advantage of me or anything like that. I brought my hand to his chin and raised his head to look at me.

I kissed him and said, "I'm not mad Ben, I promise. You ready to get to this hotel?"

He smiled, "Yeah, let's go."

I scooted myself back into my seat and we continued  driving, now miles behind Max and Eric.