"Can I come in?" Ben asked while leaning towards the doorway to Stella's room. He crossed his arms, which enhanced his tanned, glowing and muscular arms. Stella had to rub her eyes to ensure that she wasn't dreaming. When she realised that it was real life she nodded and sat up in bed. Fumbling, she put up her hair in a messy bun and pathetically tried to straighten her worn, second-hand t-shirt. Ben walked passed her and sat down in the chair by the desk. "You know what," he laughed, "I don't think I've heard your voice yet."
Stella felt dizzy. Her mind was blank. Not a single word came to mind. She usually hated when her mom interrupted her, but now she wished Diana would barge in and steal the limelight. Ben didn't seem bothered by the silence, but Stella felt a growing anxiety. Finally, she cleared her throat and said:
"Hi."
Her voice was weak and hesitant. It sounded more like a question than a greeting. Stella wanted to sink through the ground. She felt like a small and helpless mouse trying to impress a proud and noble lion.
When Stella was younger she had many friends, but the number decreased each year. The last two years she had basically only spent time with her dog, her mom and her grandma. She didn't mind, but spent a lot of time daydreaming that she was popular. Therefore, when she heard about the move to Alvik and that she was going to live with her new brother, her heart almost exploded with excitement. She wanted them to become best friends and immediately started to make a long list of questions and topics for them to talk about, but Ben's jaw-dropping looks made it hard for her to function around him.
"Hi," Ben answered with a smile and tender voice. "I'm happy to finally meet you. I've really looked forward to it. I hope we're gonna be good friends."
Just like that, almost like a spell, he made her feel comfortable. She could breathe and think again.
"Me too. I'm excited! This place is amazing. I can't believe I live here."
"Good, I'm happy you like it. Hopefully it won't take long until it feels like home. I'll do my best."
Ben whistled at Winston. He laid in his bed in the corner of the room, but was happy to run to Ben and jump up in his lap. They already looked like best friends.
"I haven't had any siblings before. It feels strange... Good strange."
"Well," Ben smiled, "now you have an army. Ed has more children than I can count, but most of them live in other towns. It's nice that it's only you and me this summer."
"That sounds scary. I really hope you will like me... I don't mean you-you. I mean all of you. But of course I want you to like me too, you know..."
"Don't worry." Ben cut off her rambling. "I'm the worst of the bunch and you've already charmed me." His kind words made her blush. She bent her head to hide her rosy cheeks. While looking down, she could feel his eyes caressing her body. "Have we met before?"
The question made Stella laugh. The thought of Ben in her neighbourhood was hilarious. He wouldn't last a second in the sketchy part of town. However, the thought of her being in the fancy part of town was even funnier. She couldn't even get a job as a cleaner there.
"No," Stella giggled, "I sincerely doubt we've ever been at the same place before."
"I'm serious." Ben moved Winston from his lap and got up from the chair. He sat down next to Stella on the bed. "It's something about your eyes." He gently grasped her chin and brought her face closer to his. "It feels like I've met you before."
His soft touch gave her goosebumps. Their lips were only a few inches away from each other. It felt like electricity between them.
"Trust me," Stella whispered, "I would remember if I'd met you before."
"If you say so." Ben let go of her chin and smiled brightly. In just a split second, the tension between them disappeared. "Come on, let's go to dinner."
"Yeah. Go ahed, I just need to fix a few things. I'll come down in a few seconds."
Ben got up from the bed and walked out with Winston following.
Stella didn't have anything to fix, she just needed a moment to recover from the moment they just had. Her body was trembling. She had no experience, but she was pretty sure that moments like that wasn't normal for brothers and sisters. She wondered if Ben felt the same or if it was just in her head.
The dinner was served out on the terrace next to the pool. The evening was full of delicious food, many laughs and interesting stories. Stella barely said anything, but she listened fascinated at all of Ben's stories.
Even though he was only twenty years old, he was already a successful entrepreneur. When he was eighteen, he and his best friend started a health business together, which immediately became a huge success. He had enough money to buy a house on his own, but Ed's beach house was his favourite place on earth and Ed only lived there a few weeks of the year, so he stayed there.
After they'd eaten the desert Ben opened a new bottle of wine. While telling a funny story about one of his trips to Europe he started filling everyones' glasses.
"Stop," Diana screamed when he reached Stella's glass. "Sorry I raised my voice, but she's only sixteen, so she doesn't drink." Diana laughed. "She doesn't drink and she doesn't talk."
No one seemed to think her joke was funny. Especially not Stella. Her mom's constant small stabs made created a wound inside Stella that never had time to heal. Even though she didn't mean it, she made Stella feel small and worthless. Like a loser.
"Seventeen," Stella said with a bitter voice.
"What?" Diana asked with her mouth full of wine.
"I'm seventeen now. My birthday was a few weeks ago. The same weekend that you and Ed went to the spa."
There was an awkward silence. Both Diana and Ed looked as if they'd seen a ghost. Stella immediately regretted opening her mouth.
"Oh honey, I'm sorry. I completely forgot."
"Sweetheart," Ed said. "I had no idea. I feel awful. We have to celebrate you as soon as possible!"
"It's okay," Stella said as she struggled to keep tears from falling. " It's no big deal. It's just a birthday. Besides, I love my room, it was the perfect gift."
"I have an idea," Ben said, trying to change the atmosphere. "Why don't you two love birds take this bottle of wine to the gazebo and do unspeakable things. Stella and I will stay here and get to know each other a little bit better."
Ed didn't need convincing. He took the bottle of wine in one hand and Diana in the other. When they left, Ben went in to the house again. Winston was laying by her feet. She picked him up and gave him a hug. She often did that when her mom hurt her feelings. He was her rock.
When Ben came back to the table he had a new bottle of wine with him. Without asking, he poured Stella a glass.
"Cheers," he said and raised his glass.
"Cheers," Stella answered and took a sip. It was a strong taste that grew in her mouth. "I've never tasted wine before."
"Really? You don't have to drink if you don't want to."
"I want to." Stella took another sip. "There's actually a lot of things that I haven't done that I would like to try."
Stella didn't know if it was the wine or if it was Ben that made the words pour out.
"Now you got me interested. Tell me Stells, shat do you want to do?"
Stella had never had a nickname before. She liked it, it made her feel special.
She hesitated for a moment. She already felt safe with Ben, but a part of her didn't want him to know the truth. He was experienced and successful, everything she wasn't. She was nervous that he'd think she was a loser.
"I'll tell you some other time."
"I look forward to it." He raised his glass in another cheer. "So, how does it feel moving here? Ed told me it took some persuasion. Why? Do you have a boyfriend back at your old place?" Stella shook her head. "Friends?" Stella took another sip of wine and shook her head again. "Really? I have a hard time believing that."
"It's not easy to make friends when you don't go to school."
Ben looked confused.
"But you're seventeen. You do go to school?"
It was strange how little Ed and Ben actually knew about Stella and her mom's life, but Stella wasn't surprised. Diana had a way of hiding the ugly truth and only show what she wanted people to see.
"I've been working since I was fifteen. To help with the bills you know. It started with some cleaning during the evenings, but as the bills grew... I've had two jobs for about a year now. I like helping, but sometimes I wish I could go to school like other seventeen year olds. My jobs are quite lonely."
"I don't understand? Ed told me that Diana doesn't work. I assumed it was because you didn't need the money?"
"She doesn't." Stella could hear resentment in her own voice and immediately felt ashamed. "That's not fair, I mean, she has tried working. Many times. Somehow she keeps getting fired. And after she met Ed she didn't feel the need to get a new job. I was nervous it wouldn't last so I kept my jobs."
"Jesus. That's too much responsibility at your age. I'm sorry." Ben stretched out his arm and grabbed Stella's hand. His hazel eyes pierced her. "I promise you'll never have to worry about money again. We're family now. We take care of each other." A warm feeling spread throughout Stella's body. She smiled towards him and he smiled back. "But I still don't understand why you didn't want to move here?"
"My grandma. My mom was just a kid when she got me, so grandma was the one who raised me. I didn't want to leave her."
"That's easy to fix." Ben said cheery and let go of Stella's hand. "Bring her! We have plenty of room and she's part of the family now."
Stella was overwhelmed by Ben's generosity. Although they'd just met he was ready to do anything to make her happy.
"That's not possible," Stella's voice crackled. She missed her grandma. The thought of her made her heart ache. "She's dead."
Stella's grandma, Evi, tried to hide her illness for as long as possible. It wasn't until she was too ill to work that Evi understood how serious it was. At first Evi sold stuff to cover their bills, but it wasn't enough. She never asked Stella to start working. It was Stella's own idea. She would have done anything for her grandma.
"I'm sorry Stella. You've had a tough life. I have a lot of respect for you."
"Thank you. She was sick for a long time. We knew she didn't have that much time left so I wanted to be with her. It's strange. Even though I knew she was going to die, it still shattered me."
Ben's phone rang. He glanced at the screen and sighed.
"I'm really sorry Stella, I have to take this, it's my job."
Ben answered the phone. Stella couldn't hear what the person on the other side was saying, but she heard that he was screaming frantically. Ben's face turned into stone. It was almost frightening. He looked like a completely different person. He went from charming, kind and caring to looking as if he was ready to kill someone in a few seconds.
"I understand. Calm down. I'll be there soon," Ben said and hung up the phone.
"Is everything okay," Stella asked.
"No," Ben sighed. "There's a crisis at work. I'm sorry, I have to go.
Stella didn't want him to leave. Even with the harsh and intimidating look on his face, his presence was still mesmerising. She wanted to spend every waking moment with him, know everything about him and tell him everything about her.
"Of course. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"You are too good to be true," Ben answered. His face softened a little bit and Stella felt butterflies in her stomach. "Thank you for asking, but no. We're having issues with an employee. He is threatening others at work. It's not the first time, so I'll have to fire him. He wasn't always like that. He actually used to be a really good guy, we used to be friends, so it sucks."
"I'm sorry, but don't worry, you're doing the right thing."
Ben got up from the table and started walking towards the parking lot. Stella followed him with her eyes. She wanted to soak up as much as possible of their time together. To her surprise he didn't get in any car, instead he walked right into the forest.
Stella took a final sip from her glass of wine and walked up to her room with Winston. She walked up to the window that overlooked the forest to see if she could see Ben's office. There were a few houses visible from the window, but they were all miles away and it would definitely have been faster for him to take a car. She realised that he might have had too much wine to drive, but it would still have been much faster for him to take a cab.