Resolution

7. Souls A'fire

"So come on and hold on to that firm belief that your soul is a'fire..."

Song: Souls A'fire

Artist: Matt Corby

I couldn't tear my eyes from Harry's gaze even though I felt Ben watching me, waiting for me to acknowledge him. My lips parted as I took a shallow breath, vastly unprepared to handle any interaction with Ben, much less one where the guy I'd just slept with watched and set me on fire with his gaze. I could feel it now, burning from my toes, through my veins, and spreading to my entire body until I was completely engulfed in invisible flames, all from a simple look from Harry.

"Halle," Ben repeated, attempting to draw my attention to him. It was with great difficulty that I tore my line of vision from Harry and shifting it reluctantly to him. I could feel the shocked, blank expression on my face, masking my inner panic effectively solely due to the fact that I was too overwhelmed to register anything else.

"Ben," I said flatly, too shocked to express any type of emotion. If my mind could for once catch up to what was going on, my voice would have been dripping with anger. I hadn't spoken to him since the day we broke up a few weeks ago and that was how I wanted to keep it.

"I've been looking for you everywhere," he said, smiling sweetly at me. I almost punched him.

"Have you?"

"Yeah, I really wanted to see you," he said, taking a small step toward me.

"Why?" I questioned harshly. My eyes flicked to Harry, who hadn't moved from his spot and was watching me intently, an amused glint in his eye. I raised an eyebrow at him, confused as to how he found this funny before turning my attention back to Ben.

"I haven't seen you in a while and just wanted to catch up, you know?" he said, insisting on continuing his smile. He was making a lot of effort to seem like the nice, innocent boyfriend I thought he had been when we were together. Worse, he was acting like he could just come back and charm me back into his arms.

"I don't have anything to catch up with you," I said, folding my arms over my chest.

"Halle, can we go somewhere quiet to talk? I really miss you," he said sincerely, eyebrows furrowing over his brown eyes. I stared at him, heart melting just the slightest at his confession, my mind slipping back to months ago when we had been happy together and almost agreeing. The moment of nostalgia was quickly wiped away, however, as I remembered that he had been cheating on me during nearly half of our relationship.

"No," I said firmly. He stepped even closer and gently put his hand on my arm; it took everything in me not to rip it away.

"Please?"

"No," I repeated, a little weaker this time as his touch started to warm my skin, the feeling of it familiar. I hated it.

"Halle-"

"Is there a problem, mate?"

Both of our gazes ripped to my right, my eyes taking in Harry's strong profile as he stared coolly at Ben.

"Who are you?" Ben asked, tone sounding considerably colder now than it had seconds ago.

"Harry. I don't think she wants to go with you," he said evenly, tilting his head in my direction but not looking at me.

"I don't think it's your business," Ben said calmly, shooting me a confused look that I did not return. Once again, my face was blanketed with shock at Harry's arrival and intervention. My mouth hung open as my gaze flitted back and forth between them.