Feeling Faint (BxB)

Chapter 29

Ben's P.O.V.
I walk down the hall and turn the corner to the bedroom, stopping short at the sight that greets me.

Jay's sitting upright in bed, panting heavily. I hurry over, scanning him for signs of injury. "Hey what's wrong?" He shakes his head. "I'm fine. Just a bad dream." He says, avoiding eye contact.

I watch him carefully for a few moments before deciding to drop it. He clearly doesn't want to talk about it now.

Madelyn suddenly runs into the room, leaping onto the bed and scaring Jay in the process, him visibly jumping.

"Madelyn I told you to wait in the living room," I chide.

She twists her face into a pout. "I wanted to meet him." She whines, and I sigh. "Okay, Madelyn this is Jay. Jay, this is my little sister Madelyn."

She tilts her head at him, looking closely at his eyes. "Blue Jay!" She exclaims, clapping her hands.

"What?" Jay says, chuckling.

"Your eyes." I say, smiling. My eyes widen as I realize what just came out of my mouth. "Uh, I mean- that's not to say- I didn't memorize- er- uh. You have blue eyes." I say, stumbling over my words.

His eyebrows raise in amusement. "Yeah, I do."

"Blue Jay!" Madelyn exclaims again, climbing out of the bed and tugging his hand in an attempt to pull him along with her.

"Whoa now little monkey." I release her hand from his and scoop her up into my arms. "Let's give Jay time to wake up. Why don't we make some breakfast?" She nods enthusiastically and I take her down the hall again into the kitchen.

I start on making eggs and am helping Madelyn make toast when Jay stumbles sleepily into the kitchen. "Hey." He says, voice still laced with sleep.

He clears his throat with a frown and plops onto the stool by the counter. "Good morning." I say with a smile, sliding him a glass of water.

"We're in charge of Madelyn today. My mom's dropping off my brothers at summer camp." I say, sliding the eggs around in the pan.

He takes a sip of water and frowns again. "Just how many siblings do you have?" He asks. "Three- Madelyn, and the twins, Jasper and Miles."

He nods. "I was thinking we'd take her to the zoo today, if you're up for it." I say, studying his face carefully.

"That's fine, I'm going to go shower first though." He says, climbing down off the stool.

"Zoo!" Madelyn exclaims with a grin.

"Jay, the food's almost done, why don't you eat first?" I say, demonstrating to Madelyn how to butter toast.

He simply shakes his head and wanders off down the hall. I bite my lip in worry as I watch him leave. Something's off with him.

I pull the eggs off the burner and plate some for Madelyn before guiding her to the living room and then following Jay down the hall to the bedroom.

I walk into the room and stop abruptly. Jay's digging around for clothes in my drawer, which is normal. However, he's shirtless, his broad back muscles exposed directly to me, something I was not expecting.

The words I was about to say completely disappear from my brain and I draw a blank.

Instead, a "uhhhhhhhh" comes out of my mouth. He turns around and my face flushes. "Um, I was just, uh, just..." I take a breath, trying to refocus my thoughts while simultaneously being distracted by his bare chest. "Are you sure you're alright?" I ask, finally getting words out. "Did you want to talk about your nightmare?"