Run

Run Together: Part 03

After a few minutes he found a place to pull off, once he was parked he grabbed his cell phone and dialed Ben's parents first, Max knew they'd say yes without hesitation.

After a brief conversation, Max smiled as Carl and Sandra had given their blessing for Ben to stay the night, Max's argument making sense once he described how exhausted the boy was. Max had to suppress a laugh when a soft snore from Ben helped to sell his argument.

Disconnecting the call he dialed frank's number and waited for the line to connect.

"Dad?" Frank asked once he picked up.

"Hi Frank," Max began as he started his argument for Gwen to stay over.

A few minutes later Max was smiling as he hung up, Gwen had been given permission as well.

Putting the phone away he rose to move to stand next to Ben.

"Ben?" He said as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Mmmm," the boy replied from his slumber.

"Both your parents said it was okay for you to stay tonight. Come help me get Gwen into bed."

"Mmmm," was Ben's reply even as he slowly rose from the chair and walked, half-asleep, to the kitchen booth and gently began to coax Gwen into a sitting position. Her head lolled onto his shoulder as he pulled her upright and against his chest as he shifted her into a bridal position to carry to the bunks.

He slowly rose with her in his arms, her head buried into his shoulder, her arms having entwined around his neck without conscious thought.

He walked with a drunken stagger as he carried her, his body running on autopilot as he moved. Eventually, he reached the bunks and he gently placed her on the bottom one. He slowly removed her arms from his neck and rolled her onto her back on the mattress.

"Here you go Ben," Max said as he handed him a pair of pajamas that Gwen kept in the RV, a pair of his dangling from Max's other hand.

"Thanks," he mumbled as he took Gwen's pajamas and placed them on the bed, he then slowly started to undress her, his eyes staying on her face the entire time he did. Even though she had shown him a lot more skin in that bikini, he didn't want to steal the image of her in her underwear, he cared too much for her and wanted them to share that moment one day.

Soon she was dressed more comfortably and had already rolled over onto her side.

Max had already taken her clothes to hang them out so they wouldn't wrinkle.

As he sat on the edge of the bunk he noticed that Max had returned upfront and had gotten the Rust Bucket back onto the road, where he was heading Ben had no idea, but as he pulled his pajamas on he didn't care.

Ben had considered climbing into his bunk, but the allure of Gwen's warmth and the feeling of her body in his arms was too enticing and he soon found himself under the blankets and curled protectively around the love of his life.

.o.0.o.

Thoughts of Christmas, the holidays, and gifts brought Ben's mind back into the present and the wrapped object sitting on his desk. He'd had to work extra hours during the week for an entire year to save for it, but the look on Gwen's face when she opened it would be worth it. The only trouble would be how their parents would react when seeing it.

He knew he had a champion in Grandpa Max, the man had been a rock for him and Gwen during those early days of their new relationship. Being able to use the Rust Bucket not only for studying but also more intimate encounters had helped their relationship to bloom, Ben was certain that if he hadn't been able to bring up his grades with Gwen's help then there was no way their relationship would be where it was today. Not only that, but the man had been a wealth of information regarding how to develop their relationship, unfortunately, that information had primarily been 'I wasn't there enough for my family so don't do this or that'. While it had been sad to hear firsthand how their grandfather had failed as a parent and husband, the knowledge did help to provide areas of dialog between Ben and Gwen as their relationship started turning toward a family.