Don't Leave

Chapter Six

A few months have passed since the altercation with Luke and every day that went by felt more and more tedious trying to keep Luke from kicking you out.

Waking up this morning was easy, though Ben slept in his room the night before, waking up alone always felt a little off considering how often he was in there. It was Ben's birthday, and you had been excited for this day for what felt like months at this point.

You had asked Luke in advance, more like begged, for him to let you and Ben have the day off to celebrate. After a lot of begging he finally gave in. He seemed to do so only after you had pointed out that Ben hadn't celebrated in 14 years; to which he was taken aback by.

The sun had barely begun peeking through the cracks in the stone around your door when you decide to go ahead and get ready and meet Ben at his hut.

You throw on your robes and put the card you had made him into your satchel before quietly exiting your hut, the sun was shining brightly once you got out outside but you were hoping it hadn't woken Ben up yet.

You quietly made your way to the door before pulling it open. You weren't really the one to ever sleep in his hut so being in there still felt odd to you, however, Ben was still passed out with his head underneath his pillow.

You pulled the door closed behind you before setting your satchel down, keeping your eyes on the bed to ensure you hadn't woken him while tugging off your shoes. Once you had everything placed by the door you walked quietly over to his bed.

"Good morning." You whisper in his ear as you slowly pull the pillow off of his head.

His eyes slowly open with the feeling of the sun hitting his face, his attention immediately shifts over to you.

"Did you have a nightmare?" he pulled his blanket back to offer you a place to lay down.

"No," you smile, "Happy birthday!"

He rolled his eyes and grunted as he pulled the blanket back over the spot he had previously offered you, you ignored that and jumped into the bed beside him.

"Come on it's going to be a great day." You plea.

"I'm sure it's going to be so much fun to go to class all day and eat at the mess hall." He scoffed.

You laugh, "Who said anything about going to class?" you lean forward in the bed, grabbing his hands to pull him up with you.

"What did you do?" he cocked his head to the side with questioning eyes.

"Hey, it only took a little convincing to make Luke give us the day off." You give him a big smile; to which he doesn't return.

"What's so wrong with celebrating your birthday?" you try and joke, "Shouldn't you be more excited?"

Ben keeps his facial expressions muted and shakes his head no, "It's the only day of the year I hear from my parents." His voice is soft as he keeps his focus in front of him.

You can feel yourself tense up as you try and ponder what to say to him. You know how much he resents his family, he loves them, but every choice that they have made for him has ruined him in some capacity. He had never mentioned that he had even talked to them in the last fourteen years; let alone every year.

You reach out and grab his hands, "I'm sorry, I-" you look at him, "I didn't know."

"I know," he places his hand on top of yours, "since you want to celebrate so bad, maybe you can do all the talking for me." He laughs.

"Sure," you laugh, "I'm sure they'll gladly talk to some girl they don't even know about."

Ben nods his head, but changes the subject, "So, what are your plans for today?"