Unsaid

chapter ninety two

I never liked carrots. They're usually such a generic vegetable and everybody loves them but I can't stand them. There's something about them that makes me shiver like nails going down a blackboard.

And yet here I was, shredding carrots for my mother's famous coleslaw, of which I would have none of. I wasn't doing it willingly. I was standing in the kitchen, with Ben and his family in the next room chatting whilst I stood in a black dress with a white colour, shredding endless carrots as my mother stood alongside me, dishing up the food; there was no way any of this was done willingly.

I didn't know what my mother's obsession with Ben was. We'd been broken up almost four months and yet she felt the need to invite his family around to dinner?

I was stuck. No way out of the inevitably awkward situation. Sitting down opposite Ben as his parents and my mother and brother sat around us. Ben hadn't looked up from his plate the entire meal, and there was an uncomfortably silence around the table, with only the clashing of knives and forks to be heard against the plates.

"So Sophie, are you going to the Gatton ball?" I was surprised Ben was the first to break the tense silence, I was even more surprised he had broken it by speaking to me.

"Me? Yeah, I actually am" I said quietly, pushing my coleslaw to the side of the plate with my fork. "Niall asked me to go, are you going with anyone?" I asked, attempting to bring the conversation back around.

Ben, and his family looked a bit put off at the mention of Niall; his mother straightening her back in the chair and his father clearing his chest as my own mother glanced over at me, almost supportingly.

"I am going, yes." Ben quipped, putting his knife and fork neatly across his plate, signifying he'd finished. "I'm going with a girl in my school, Amy." He said smiling at the mention of her. I was glad he had found someone who made him smile like that, like I smelt at the mention of Niall.

"But it is a shame you have to go with Niall." He then added as my face dropped and I looked at him , already fed up.

"Excuse me?" I asked tiredly. Id had enough with everyone's opinions on Nialls. I'd only just got my mother to understand, and I wasn't up for giving Ben a lecture he didn't deserve.

"Well, all I'm saying is that, he's hardly going to dress properly or be a gentlemen. If you'd of had any other offers, im sure they would have been better."

Who did he think he was? He wasn't the Ben I used to know. He was spiteful and cruel and I wasn't going to stand for it. I bite the inside of my cheek in anger as I stared at him, ignoring everybody else in the room.

"Actually, I had other offers ben, but I chose Niall, and do you know why?" I asked as he stared back at me. "He's my boyfriend, and has been for quite a while, probably just as long as its been since you and I broke up, maybe even longer?" I challenged him, I knew I was pushing my luck but right now I didn't care. He wasn't just insulting me but Niall as well and I wasn't the little girl I was this time last year. Niall had taught me to stand up for myself and that was exactly what I was doing.

"Nialls scum." Ben practically spat as his parents started to stress standing up with my mother and helping her clear the table in a hurry. "And you haven't turned in to much better" He muttered at the end as my breath caught in my throat.

"Get out." I turned to see my brother, now standing beside my chair, his knuckles white as they clenched, his eyes glaring at Ben. "Stand up, and wait for you fucking parents outside, get out of our house." Matthew practically spat as Ben glanced at him, offended and shocked at my brothers words as if what he himself had just said was not out of line in the slightest

Nonetheless, Ben stood up and grabbed his jacket, walking towards the door as I stood up to follow.

"Leave him." Matthew said sternly, gripping my shoulder as I shook my head and shrugged him off.

"I need to do this, for myself." I said quietly before following Ben outside my house, shutting the door behind me as he turned to look at me.

"You had so much going for you Sophie." He mumbled in disgust as I laughed and shrugged.

"I still do." I said casually, unaffected by his comment. "I'm still the exact same person I was with you, except now I have someone who really really loves me, and takes care of me" I explained. "Oh, and I'm not a virgin anymore, that probably makes quite a big difference to you, doesn't it Ben?" my voice was mocking as he sneered and shook his head.

"See, so much going for you, and now you've turned in to one of those blind sluts." He spat. I had to admit that this statement hurt.

"Except she's not blind, nor is she a slut." I looked past Ben to see Niall as part relief flooded through me. Niall, leaving his front door open, jumped the fence and walked over to me, wrapping his arm heartily around me and pulling me in to his side as he kissed the side of my head before huffing happily and turning back to Ben.

"I do think its time for you to leave though, I mean, obviously you're a third wheel here." He mocked as a smile spread across my face as I nudged my head in to his side lovingly.

Ben glanced at me one more time before shaking his head and walking over to his parents car, climbing in to the backseat like a child would.

"And that, Niall Horan is why I love you." I teased, leaning in to him as he smiled down at me and left a soft kiss on my lips.

"Come on trouble." He said smiling, taking my hand and pulling me around to his house. "You need some time with your boyfriend after that." He teased as I laughed softly and nodded, agreeing with him. before we went in to his house, I turned around to Bens house and grinned, waving goodbye as he sat slumped in the backseat, arms crossed moodily over his chest.