Finding My Way
Chapter 11: Ben's P.O.V

A week later, we pulled into my driveway and got out of the car, laughing. We were going to go over lines, but when we were walking up the driveway and I was laughing at something Valerie said, I looked up and saw Natalie on my front steps.

“Natalie?” I asked, and we both stopped laughing.

“We need to talk, Ben.” Natalie looked mad.

“About?” I questioned, confused. I didn’t know what I had done wrong this time.

“This.” She motioned frantically with her hands at me and Valerie, who looked up at me confused. “What’s going on with you two?” Natalie inquired.

 “What? Noth--” I started.

“Are you cheating on me, Ben?”

“That’s ridiculous! Me and Val are just…” I trailed off, looking at Val for help. I wasn’t sure what to call us. We had hung out a couple of times, mainly to rehearse, but we took breaks and talked and laughed. We really did just start with a clean slate and I was happy. The way I treated her before was so childish and I realized just how much I had missed her. I knew she still hadn’t forgiven me though. We weren’t actually friends, but I was hoping we would be again someday.

“Ben and I are just friends. I would never do that to you.” She smiled at Natalie and Natalie rolled her eyes in response.

“Oh really? Because I heard you kissed, and it was pretty steamy. And you guys are always together! You don’t have any time for me anymore, Ben. Why did you kiss her?” She hissed, firing questions at me while walking up to us. Val looked really uncomfortable and I couldn’t help but think that this was not good for our newfound friendship.

“Natalie, calm down, it was just a stupid game of spin the bottle, and I made a commitment to the drama club, I can’t just skip rehearsals to hang out with you!” I said and snuck a sideways glance to see Val smirking at that, since I had done exactly that just two weeks ago.

“Well Ben, maybe you should reconsider your priorities, because--”

“Natalie, trust me, there’s nothing going on between me and Ben, we’re the leads in the play, it’s important that we get along and rehearse together. We’re just fr--”

Val said, trying to help, but was cut off my Natalie’s fist slamming into her jaw.

“What the hell Nat?” I yelled at her, grabbing Val’s arm and standing in front of her out of instinct.

“See? Why are you protecting her? She’s not your girlfriend! I am!” Natalie yelled.

“Not anymore.” I said and she raised an eyebrow at me.

“Excuse me?” She scoffed.

“Get out. We’re done.” I stated and grabbed Val’s hand, pulling her behind me and inside my house, shutting the door and cutting off Natalie’s yelling.

I sat Val on a stool at the kitchen counter and got her an ice pack. She put it on her cheek gratefully. “Are you okay?” I asked her and she smiled.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s not a big deal. She isn’t as strong as she thinks. I could’ve taken her.” She smiled at me and I laughed. Val was never one to milk any sympathy from anyone. She hated when people made a fuss over her.

“Oh, I’m sure you could’ve.” I rolled my eyes at her, sitting down in the seat beside her.

“I’m sorry though.” She said quietly.

“For what?” I asked, baffled.

“For kind of ruining your relationship.” She said and I just shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter. I was going to break up with her anyways. She was too clingy. I wasn’t really feeling it anymore, I was just waiting for a good time to do it and that seemed pretty good to me.” I grinned and she smiled.

“Here let me see it.” I said, turning to her. She took the ice pack from her face and winced a little, looking at me. Her cheek was red and slightly puffy, but I didn’t think it would bruise. Without thinking, I put the back of my fingers up to her face and gently caressed her cheek. I looked at her and she was staring at me intently, probably wondering what I was doing. But I wasn’t really in control of my actions right now. It was like I was watching us from across the room.

My eyes flickered to her lips and I started to inch closer to her.

She hopped off the seat and cleared her throat. “Um, I should probably get home. I’ll see you tomorrow?” She asked.

“Uh, yeah. See you then.” I said as she nodded and closed the door behind her. I sat there for a moment, thinking about what just happened. I couldn’t help but look at her lips and think about our kiss. And I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss them again.