Luminary {Book 2 ✔️}

Chapter 9

I picked up a throw pillow and chucked it at him. He dodged it with ease and leaned back onto the bed with a thoughtful expression on his face. Following his line of sight, I noticed that he was looking at the boxes we'd taken from Owein's office stacked in the corner of the room.

"Are you hoarding now?" He asked, pushing off of the bed to go inspect the boxes.

I swallowed as he shuffled through the box. "Tilly and I went to Owein's office to find something- anything, I guess."

Ben picked up the portfolio off of the top of the stack and rifled through it curiously.

"Looking for what?"

"Anything that pointed toward your mother." He looked up sharply. "We didn't find anything, really. I would've told you if we did."

Ben put the portfolio down.

"Were you going to tell me that you went?"

I sighed and shook my head. "No, not unless we found something useful."

My best friend sat back down on the bed with a disgruntled sigh and I knew that he wasn't happy that we were on this subject again. His reaction was exactly why I didn't want to tell him anything until there was something he could hold on to. Instead, he looked resigned.

"Lou," he began, but I stood and cut him off.

"I know what you're going to say. I know you're going to try and talk me out of looking for her but I feel it, Ben."

He looked up at me, his light eyes sad.

"What do you feel?"

"She's out there somewhere. I know it."

Ben shook his head vigorously and scoffed.

"Please, why can't you just let it be?"

I narrowed my eyebrows. "Why are you so against the idea of her being alive?"

His explosion was not the reaction I expected to my question.

"Because, Lou! Do you know what that means? It means that she's been alive all this time suffering. Or it means that she left, Lou! Did you ever consider that as an option? Frankly, I'm not sure which option would hurt worse."

His face was red and his breathing was hard after the words tumbled out of his mouth. All I could do was stare at him in shock. He covered his face in his hands and I sat back into my desk chair and wondered how to comfort my best friend.

Before West Acres, I was never the one to comfort a friend. Touchy-feely stuff wasn't my thing because I was always afraid of what the skin to skin contact would show me. Here, with Ben, I shut that part of my head up.

"Whatever the reason, Ben, it's time for your family to see her again. It's time for her to come home."

I put my hand on top of his, pushing down the feelings that arose at the scent of his pain. His red eyes reached mine and I tried to disregard the similarities of these eyes and the ones I'd seen on that bathroom floor not so long ago.