Be With Me

Chapter Two

Ben stared at his phone which showed the most recent post of @Rey.Nobody. He was almost mesmerized by the cute, brown-haired girl in her light pink cat-ear hoodie and matching polka-dot pajama bottoms posing in her mirror that was decorated with fairy lights. She had always stood out to him with her almond-shaped, hazel eyes and light freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. The opportunity of an encounter never came up. They only had one class together but he had never really engaged in conversation with her or her friend group. Then again he did skip classes a lot.

"Kylo, you want another beer, dude?" Vicrul asked who was standing in front of the open mini fridge in Trudgen's apartment. Kylo was the name he chose when he was initiated into the gang. That was part of their ritual and code in order to keep a level of anonymity from other gangs and especially authorities. His brothers of the Knights of Ren had welcomed him with open arms when he had joined them two years ago and he really found a sense of belonging within that unit. Although they engaged in minor delinquencies ever so often, he never perceived the gang as criminals or a huge threat to anyone. Besides, he had no other choice than to join and stick with them after the fire. He knew they did business with drugs but he stayed away from that, and so far everyone had respected that.

"Nah, I'm good. I think I'm gonna take off here soon anyway." He drank the last sip of his beer and tossed the can in the bin next to the couch he and Ushar were sitting on. The air was filled with the dense smoke coming from Trudgen's joint.

"You just got here." Trudgen puffed and pulled Dalia, who was sitting sideways on his lap, closer. Dalia grabbed the blunt out of his hand, took a hit, and passed it to Ben.

"C'mon, Kylo. Smoke with us, you'll be just as relaxed as me!" To emphasize the mellowing effects, she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair, then stretched her hands in the air and fell back on Trudgen who laughed and held onto her. "What's so important that you have to leave us like this, anyway?"

"I have school in the morning." He said unimpressed.

"So? Since when do you care about school?" She huffed.

"Unlike you, I actually wanna graduate," he said gently rubbing his knuckles under his chin without breaking eye contact. She stood up, slowly walked over to where he was sitting, leaned over to him, and pushed him back with her stretched-out finger.

"Is that so?" She asked and sat on his left leg.

He tilted his head in slight annoyance. "Yes. Besides, I made someone a promise." Her long, matt-black acrylic nail ran up his chest and up his chin, holding it in place. "And I always keep my word."

Still holding his chin up, she raised an eyebrow, "You made us a promise, too."

"I don't owe you a goddamn thing, sweetheart." He nodded towards the others. "I'm loyal to them, as they are to me." He slid his arms under her legs, raised her by standing up, and put her back on the ground. She only came up to his chest but she wasn't easily intimidated by his large size. If she was intimidated then she hid it well, he thought. After a few seconds of staring up at him, she returned to Trudgen's lap and let out a long exaggerated sigh. Kylo walked over to the door, picked up his helmet, and put on his black jeans jacket. "See you tomorrow, guys."

Ap'lek and Ushar waved from the couch, Vicrul and Trudgen nodded and Cardo pointed at Kylo yelling, "Adios, muchacho!" He smirked and opened the door to leave.

Kuruk came jogging after him, "Kylo, wait! On Saturday there's this party at the lake house near Ap'leks house. You wanna go?"

"A party? Nah, I don't like large crowds."

"C'mon, it'll be fun, plus I really need a night out. We could go swimming, skinny dipping -"

"What? You have no shame, bro."