Mustache101

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.

Forget Me Not
  9

“I was always a skeptic on that kind of stuff,” Oliver admitted, and Randi’s heart sank. Oliver turned to face her. “But the first time I saw you, any doubt I ever had was gone,” he continued earnestly, taking both hands within his own. Randi’s fingers tingled, and the feeling went all the way up her arms until it faded away near her elbows. “I saw you, and I knew right away that you were the one for me,” Oliver watched her face closely for her reaction as he continued his confession, hoping to see that her emotions mirrored his. “And maybe it’s crazy, I don’t know. I know we’re young, and I know we just met, but… Miranda, I’m in love with you,” he finished.
The words were the sweetest Randi had ever heard. Although she hated being called Miranda, the name coming off of Oliver’s lips sounded more wonderful than anything she had ever heard. Somehow she knew that just by using her full name instead of Randi, he instantly made those words mean even more. They became even more personal than they already were – and that meant everything to Randi. Tears filled her eyes – happy tears – as she tried to think of some response, but how do you come back to that? How do you answer someone who just told you the sweetest thing you have ever heard, and probably will ever hear?
Randi did what came naturally. She took Oliver’s face firmly between her hands, leaned forward and planted a firm kiss on his flawless lips.
“I’m in love with you, too,” she whispered without thinking. The words just flowed out of her mouth, surprising both of them. Oliver wrapped his strong arms around her tightly. Randi let herself cling to him, and she felt the full impact of both of their words.
Every word Oliver had said matched how Randi felt almost exactly. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was that the feeling was mutual. She breathed him in, the already familiar scent of his cologne, wishing she never had to let him go. Oliver felt as if he were in heaven.
Since they still had some extra time, Oliver asked to take Randi one last place. Randi agreed, naturally.
“It’s a surprise, though,” Oliver added as he got in the car. “You have to close your eyes.”
“Really?” Randi said, skeptically, looking at him with eyes brows raised. He raised his eyebrows back, and gave her a firm “I’m-not-backing-down” look. “Fine,” Randi laughed and with a dramatic sigh, closed her eyes.
Once Oliver was positive she wouldn’t peak, he put the car into drive and pulled out. Within minutes they reached their destination.
“Now,” Oliver put the car into park. “You can’t look yet. Okay?”
“Alright,” Randi smiled and would’ve rolled her eyes. Oliver turned the car off. “Now?” she teased.
“No!” Oliver got out. Randi frowned when his door closed, but just moments later, Oliver opened her door. “Okay, here,” Oliver took her hand.
“Where are you taking me?” Randi asked as she blindly let Oliver lead her. He walked slowly and warned her of ever bump or step in her path.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you,” Oliver grinned, and Randi heard it in her voice. She attempted to playfully hit him, but missed. He laughed. “Okay,” he murmured. “You can open your eyes.”
When Randi did, she laughed. They were in the exact spot where there first kiss had taken place.
“I can’t believe you,” she smiled.
“I have something for you,” Oliver said before her last word was even out of her mouth. Randi took in a breath of surprise.
“You didn’t have to –“
“I wanted to,” Oliver said as he pulled out a white rectangular jewelry box with a blue ribbon wrapped around it and tied in a bow on top. He handed it to her, but she looked up at him nervously.
“You’ve already done so mu –“"
Shut up and open it,” Oliver ordered with a grin. Randi smiled, and obligingly pulled the ribbon off.
Author's Note: Here's chapter 9. Opinions? (:
*Don't forget to comment if you'd like to be notified for chapter 10*

Forget Me Not
  7

The next few days passed painfully slow for both Oliver and Randi. Between school and Oliver’s busy schedule (on the other hand, Randi had nothing to do, being grounded), they barely got to talk. They didn’t see each other at all either.
On Randi’s birthday, Suzanne agreed to let her go out with Katie and a couple other friends only after talking to Katie’s mom and lecturing Randi about lying and sneaking off. Randi tried not to roll her eyes. Suzanne was trying to protect Randi from making the same mistakes as she did and from losing her childhood, but Randi felt more like she was being smothered than protected.
As much as she wanted to, Randi didn’t go to see Oliver. She followed Suzanne’s rules and was even back early. She decided to get on her mom’s good side so when she wasn’t grounded anymore, she could go out with Oliver, who already had some big surprise planned for her.
It was a Saturday the day that Randi’s house arrest before. The night before, she went to talk to Suzanne who was in her office, grading essays.
“Can I go out tomorrow night?” Randi asked, apprehensively. She knew she was pushing it asking to go out so soon after she got out of trouble. She just hoped her good attitude recently was enough to give Suzanne reason to agree.
“Tomorrow?” Suzanne looked at Randi over her reading glasses and the wooden desk, red pen poised in the air over her stack of papers. “You’re barely ungrounded.”
Randi bit her lip. “I know,” she said softly, staring at the ground. Suzanne sighed and sat back, dropping the pen on the desk and setting the glasses next to it.
“With who?”
“Oliver,” Randi said, looking straight in Suzanne’s brown eyes – it was one of the few things the two actually had in common. As much as Suzanne scared Randi, she refused to be ashamed of Oliver, or even to appear ashamed of him.
Suzanne raised her perfectly-waxed eyebrows in surprise. “Elliot?”
“He’s planning on picking me up at seven,” Randi said, pluckily. Either Suzanne would admire her courage or be annoyed they’d made plans without asking permission first. Randi was hoping – praying, even – that it would be the former.
Whatever Suzanne was, Randi could see on her face surprise. Randi had always been submissive, trying to be the best daughter she could be, the perfect daughter. Although Suzanne had always appreciated it, she admired this new attitude that she saw in her daughter. It reminded Suzanne a little bit of herself when she was that age.
After studying Randi for a moment, Suzanne sighed and sat forward, picking up the pen once again, playing with it.
“Is that who you were with at the mall?” Suzanne asked, looking up at the end of the question.
“Yeah,” Randi said, not bothering to lie. She’d already paid the penalty for that deception, so now there was only something to be gained from her honesty.
“He’s a nice boy,” Suzanne said, thoughtfully. She liked him enough and knew him to be respectable. She sighed. “Alright. You can go.”
♥                             ♥                             ♥                             ♥                             ♥
The next day as she was getting ready, Randi took a leap of faith and asked for Suzanne’s opinion on an outfit. She put her foot down, however, and refused to wear a dress, a skirt, or any type of heel.
Then Suzanne did Randi’s hair so it fell in long waves down her back. By the time Oliver rang the doorbell, Randi felt closer to her mother than she had in years.
 Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in so long, but I've had a fever since Sunday.
I wrote this while I was sick, so if it's not the best I've written, I'm sorry. ):
*Don't forget to comment if you'd like to be notified for chapter 8*

Finding My Way
Chapter 7: Ben's P.O.V

“Ben?” Jamie lightly knocked on the door and walked into my bedroom.

“What is it Jay?” I asked, picking my head up. I looked at my clock and saw it was past 1 in the morning.
“Why are you still awake?”
“I had a bad dream again. Loretta was in it. I miss her.” Her eyes were glossy and I sighed, patting my bed and scooting over for her to join me. She rushed over as soon as I did this and slid in beside me, holding onto me tightly.
“I’m sorry, Jay. I know you miss her, I do too. It’ll be okay.” I soothed her, rubbing her back. I felt so bad for her. My eight year old sister lost her best friend only three months ago. She was so young and confused, it was so unfair to her. I could never imagine how Valerie felt every day. I would be lost without my little sister.
Jamie nodded and sniffled, snuggling into me as I settled back down into bed.

When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

I lightly sang the lyrics to Fix You by Coldplay to her, until her breathing became steadied and she fell asleep. When I was sure she was out, I stopped singing and just stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Valerie deserved a lot more credit than she got. I remembered hearing the whispers, “It’s because of her sister; she’s been wacked ever since,” at the preparation for auditions, and I couldn’t believe people could be so ignorant. It’s only been about three months since her little sister, her number one fan, was kidnapped.
How does one even cope with that? I was seriously impressed with how put-together she was. She carried herself so well and looked as confident and happy as she always had when she walked through the halls. But I knew she wasn’t okay. And I knew that because of her meltdown in the hallway when she completely snapped at me. That was when I realized that Valerie Anderson totally hated me.
I didn’t know why, but it bothered me more than I thought it should. Why should I care what she thought? We weren’t friends anymore. Sometimes I missed her and the fun times we used to have together, but we both moved on. I was sick and tired of being teased about her. I used to have a crush on her when we were younger and all of my friends made my life miserable for it. I didn’t want it to ruin our friendship, and I knew they were really close to telling her. That made me angry. I hated being angry at my friends, and I blamed Valerie for coming in between us, the same way that any stupid thirteen year old boy would.
So I just started being a total jerk to her to try and get over her. And it worked. I didn’t like Valerie anymore. But I was sad we weren’t friends anymore. So I continued to be a jerk to her. But now I felt bad. I felt terrible. She just lost her inspiration for acting and all I’ve done is been a jerk to her. I knew I owed her an explanation. But I wasn’t good at apologizing.
I sighed and kissed Jamie’s head, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Valerie’s P.O.V.
I lightly knocked on the door and after being pleasantly greeted by Sharon, I made my way up to Ben’s room. I knocked on the door, and didn’t hear an answer. I gently pushed the door open and peeped my head inside.
“Oh, wow. Um, sorry.”
“Aly?” Ben broke away from the girl he was kissing and looked over at me, confused.
I sighed. “Did you forget?” I asked, completely ignoring his usage of my old nickname.
He looked lost for a moment and then realization dawned on his face. “Oh, yeah I totally spaced! Sorry Val--”
“It’s okay, just go over your lines later and make sure you know the first few scenes, we have our first rehearsal tomorrow.” I reminded him.
“Hi Valerie.” Natalie said as got off of Ben and helped him off of the couch.
“Hi Natalie.” I smiled at her. Natalie was in my French class at school. She was always happy and really sweet.
“Oh! I love your shoes!” She gushed.
I laughed and looked down to examine my tie-dye toms. “Thanks. Sorry I interrupted. I’ll leave you guys to it.” I smiled before turning around and walking back to my house.
I was so angry. Not because Ben was kissing Natalie, but because he totally blew me off. I thought he was changing. But he was still a conceited jerk. I knew he wasn’t serious about the play. I just wished that someone who really deserved the part and would work hard for it had gotten to be Romeo. But I wasn’t surprised. I was just waiting for Ben to screw up. I was right. Ben Jackson was so predictable. 

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Finding My Way
Chapter 6

It was Saturday; therefore our first dance class was today. Ben drove us there and the car ride was silent. About six other kids from the drama club were there, I’m assuming to start learning the background dancing for the number. I wore black leggings and a loose black tank top and Ben wore sweat pant capris and a muscle shirt. When we got there, I slipped my black heels on, and stood up, dusting myself off. For the actual dance scene, I would have to wear heels, so I wanted to get used to dancing in them now.
We jumped right into learning the choreography after a few warm ups and stretching, and we learned the first part of the dance where Ben and I are doing the dance with everyone else, before we separate and do our own thing.
When we finished that, the other instructor took all the backup dancers into another studio so Ben and I could work on our separate dance.
Ben and I stood together awkwardly in the middle of the floor as our instructor, Gina, walked up to us.
“Okay kids, I’m so excited to teach you this dance!” She smiled excitedly. “Unfortunately, my partner James couldn’t make it today but he will normally be here so we can set an example of how it’s going to look.” It sounded like she had a slight Italian accent in her voice. “Alright, so start off in the normal dance position with one hand in each other’s, and Ben your other hand goes on her waist.” She directed Ben, and I rested my other hand lightly on his shoulder.
“What? Are you afraid of cooties?” Gina laughed. I hadn’t realized how far apart Ben and I were. We were standing a full arm’s length apart; as far as we could be with my hand still on his shoulder and his on my waist. “Come on, we’re all friends here.” She said, pushing us a little closer together. I looked up into his green/grey eyes, and they were lighter than usual. There was small droplet of sweat that was trailing down his face from his forehead and I had to stop myself from reaching up and wiping it away. I was very aware of the hand that gripped my waist and I was, surprisingly, not repulsed by his touch. I looked back into his eyes to find him staring at me and I felt my cheeks flare up a bit and a small smirk played on his features. We both looked away awkwardly and turned our focus to Gina.
We got through the beginning, basic steps today, but we obviously didn’t finish. There’s a lift in it that Gina said she can’t wait for us to do, and there’s some tricky footwork, but she said if we practice with each other every day then we wouldn’t have a problem learning it. I had taken dance for 4 years when I was younger and I was fairly flexible, and Ben was just naturally good at it, as he was at most things.
As we drove home, I let out a sigh, thinking of all the time I was going to have to spend with him. And all the time I was going to have to spend acting like I was in love with him. I looked out the window and thought about our class today. I couldn’t believe I had been staring at Ben and thinking about how good he looked, even when he was sweating. It drove me insane. I didn’t like Ben; I could never like Ben, but he was so attractive. It just wasn’t fair. I felt kind of bad that his terrible personality had to ruin his beautiful exterior.
No, stop it Val! You do not think Ben is beautiful! He’s a jerk, remember? I tried to talk myself out of thinking Ben was attractive, but I decided it didn’t hurt that I thought that. It didn’t mean I liked him. If anything, it made it easier that I was going to have to dance with him and kiss him and spend a majority of this semester with him. But I still didn’t want to.
“Val?” I snapped back into reality and turned to face Ben.
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s alright…Um, so did you want to run lines again? And maybe work on what we learned so far?”
“Oh, uh, sure. That’s fine.” I smiled tightly and he sighed and looked back at the road. He could obviously tell I didn’t like being with him, and I felt bad for being so blah. He didn’t want to be with me as much as I didn’t want to be with him. We were both screwed, so we might as well make the best of it.
We ran lines for over and over again, and I was getting pretty comfortable with them. We decided to run the party scene, so we could insert what we knew of the dance, and as we were running lines we realized that we had to kiss in this scene. Three times. I was screaming inside my head, and I was sure Ben wasn’t too thrilled either.
When we reached that part in the script, it got really awkward. Ben read his line and then stopped abruptly. The dialogue they swap in this scene is them stealing ‘sins’ their sins from one another to keep them pure, but really it is their excise to kiss even though they’ve only just met.
“And then, I, uh, kiss you...” Ben said awkwardly and I couldn’t help but laugh. “What?” He defended himself.
“Nothing. I mean, come on Ben, don’t be so first grade about it! Believe me, I don’t want to kiss you as much as you don’t want to kiss me, but we kiss like, five/six times in this play, you need to get over it.” I laughed slightly, even though I still wasn’t over the fact that I had to kiss my former best friend, the same guy who made my life miserable in eighth grade.
“Oh, please, you so want to kiss me.” He smirked and I scoffed.
“I do not!” I protested. “You’re the last person I want to kiss!”
“We could practice now.” He said, his smirk growing as he stepped closer to me, leaning in. He gently placed his hands on my hips and closed his eyes, his face an inch away from mine. Against my will, my heartbeat quickened and I felt my eyes start to close. Luckily, the little voice inside my head reminded me who about to kiss me and my eyes shot open. I balled up my fist and jammed it in his stomach and he doubled over and grunted. “Really Val?”
“Nice try, Ben. We’ll just wait to practice with Mrs. Flannigan.” I smiled, crossing my arm as I stepped away from him.
“Just trying to do you a favor.” He said and I snorted.
“Yeah, Ben, because kissing you would make me the happiest girl in the world!” I said sarcastically.
We finished with rehearsing and we actually…got along. I think we were just becoming more comfortable with each other, and we knew we were stuck with each other so we just wanted to make the best of it. But I still didn’t like him. I knew he was still a jerk underneath the act. Someone can’t change who they are in the matter of a few days.
But no matter how much I told myself I still couldn’t stand Ben, I involuntarily fell asleep, thinking of our almost-kiss.