Broken

Chapter 6

"I do. Well, I used to."

That confused me. "What do you mean by you 'used to'?"

 "She died in a car accident a couple years ago."

I gasped. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I wouldn't have asked if I knew."

"No, it's fine. We've moved on. Now it's just my mom and I since my dad left us shortly after Sophia was born." That must be his siter's name.

"I'm sorry. It must be hard on you." At that moment I felt really guilty. He's had a hard life but I've been too busy talking about my own life to know. I'm so selfish.

"It was at first but now it's not so much."

I sighed. "Maybe it's not such a good idea for me to be here. Maybe I should just go home."

"Why would you even think that?"

"Because I'm being selfish. You've had a hard life too but I just come crashing in with the whole Chase thing and..."

He cut me off. "I don't mind. Honestly. I want to help you. And I don't have a hard life. I mean, I'm not the only one who's had a relative die. It's hard but I've moved on. Besides, that was the past. This thing with Chase is now. I'm gonna help you."

"But why?"

He laughed despite everything we've just been talking about. "I'm pretty sure I've told you why a couple of times." His face turned serious again. "Because I care about you. I have feelings for you. And 'cause no one deserves to go through this."

I smiled. "Well, thanks." He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back. I felt so safe and secure in his arms. It's where I belong.

A while later we were both in his bed watching the movie. My head was on his shoulder and his arm was around me. "I haven't been this happy in a long time," I said.

 "I haven't either."

I lifted my head up and looked at him. "Do you think Chase is gonna find me?"

He looked at me too. "No. And even if he does I won't let him hurt you." He leaned in to kiss me but the doorbell made him stop. "That should be our pizza." He paused the movie with the remote and went downstairs. A few seconds later he came back up with the pizza box. "Help yourself." We both grabbed a slice of pizza and ate as we continued to watch the movie. 

About two hours later the movie ended. He turned the tv off.  "So what now?" I asked.

He thought about it. "Do you like dancing?" he asked.

"A little."

"Then we could go dance. I know this one club that's really fun. It's just a few miles away."

"But how would we get in? We're not 21 yet."

"One of the bouncers that works there is a good friend of mine. He'll sneak us in."

"Well... Okay."

"Great." We headed downstairs and out to his car. "Have you ever been clubbing before?"

"Yeah. I used to go all the time with Chase until he turned abusive. It was a lot of fun." I thought back to the first time he took me to a club. He used fake IDs that he bought from his friend to get us in. A song I loved started playing and we danced to it. It was also the first time he told me he loved me. I miss those days when he wasn't abusive. The days I loved him and wasn't terrified to be near him. "Have you?"

"Yeah. I went a couple of times with Zac, Darren, and Trent."

"Who's Trent?" That's when I remembered. "Wait. Was he the other guy you were sitting with at lunch?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." We got to the club. The bouncer was at the door letting people in or sending them home. We walked up to him.

"Wayne, man, how's it going?" Ben said to the bouncer.

"Great. Long time no talk," he answered. "What you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Just hanging out."

The guy named Wayne nodded. His eyes shifted to me and he smiled. "I see you brought someone. Who might you be, gorgeous?"

"I'm Harmony," I replied.

"Well I'm Wayne, Ben's cousin Riley's boyfriend. How do you know Ben?"

I opened my mouth to answer when Ben did for me. "She's my girlfriend." He put his arm around me.

"I figured. Well I'll let you two go in now," Wayne said.

"Thank you," Ben said and we made our way into the club. People were dancing or at the bar drinking. Some couples were also in the corners making out. "Would you like to dance?" I turned my head to Ben and his hand was out for me to take.

I smiled. "Sure." I took his hand and we went onto the dance floor. A slow song was playing. After a while I put my head on his shoulder as we continued to dance. "This is nice."

"Agreed. Way better than Allison's party would have been. They're probably being loud and doiing suggestive things." There was a short pause. "I want to go now."

I laughed. "Why? You planning on hooking up with some random girl from school?"

Now it was his turn to laugh. "No. I was planning on hooking up with you."

"Oh." We danced in silence after that until the song ended. He grabbed my hand and led me to the bar. "What are you doing?"

He ignored me though. "I'd like a vodka and a margarita," he said to the bartender.

I stared at him in disbelief as the bartender walked away. "Ben! We can't drink! We're underage!"

"Relax. No one here knows that."

"It's illegal and I'm not drinking! Do you always drink?" If he does I'm walking out of here and going back to my house because I don't want to date a guy who drinks illegally. No matter how much I like him and even if he did save my life.

"I've never drunk before actually. Tonight is just special so I figured, why not."

"How's tonight special?"

"Because I'm here with you." That made my heart melt hearing him say that even though that's probably the cheesiest thing ever.

"That's sweet but please don't drink. It's illegal and you could get in a lot of trouble."

The bartender came over and set the drinks down in front of us and then went over to the people next to us. "Okay. I won't drink."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you don't want me to drink I won't." He pushed the vodka away from him.

I smiled. "Thanks."

He smiled too and called the bartender back over. "Can I have a shirley temple instead?"

"Sure, no problem." The bartender took the vodka and margarita and left again.

"So do you want to dance one more time and then leave?" Ben asked.