New Girl on the Block

Chapter Fourteen: Benjamin

I slowly wake up to the sound of birds chirping outside the living room window. Helena is lying in my arms, her head resting against my chest. She's so incredibly kind it's almost unbelievable. I'm assuming Mom came home last night and just went straight to her room because I haven't heard any cursing or yelling hurled in my general direction.

I comb Helena's blonde hair out of her face with my fingers. Her bright blue eyes flicker open at my touch, and she smiles. Helena looks up at me for a moment, but then her expression drops. She pushes off of me and stands, pulling her hair into a ponytail. "I should, uhm. I should go," she says, searching the couch cushions for something.

I stand, the blanket sliding off me and onto the couch. "Let me take you home then," I tell her as she successfully finds her phone. She shakes her head, typing something into the small device. "No, it's okay. I'll just–uhm," she looks up at me, then turns toward the front door. "I'll just walk. I'm sure it's not that far from here," she says, walking toward the door.

"What? Don't be silly. I'll take you. Come on, I remember where it is," I tell her, following her to the door. "No, really, it's alright. I wouldn't want to be a burden," Helena says, opening the door. I stop her by shutting the door with one hand, blocking her from moving.

"Turn around, my love," I tell her, and she does. I started calling her "my love" that night when she rushed to my side immediately after I was hurt. It just feels right. I tilt her chin up to face me and say, "If you were a burden, I would pray to be overwhelmed with burdens for the rest of my life." She gasps softly, unable to move her eyes from mine.

Our lips are practically centimeters apart. I want to kiss her so bad. Helena's eyes are searching mine like a horse searching for water during a drought. "Ahem," I hear Mom mutter from the kitchen. I drop my head in front of Helena's, cursing under my breath. I turn around to face Mom. She's standing with a steaming cup of coffee in her hands.

"Benjamin Anderson, if I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times: take your personal affairs upstairs," Mom says, and I grit my teeth. I've had maybe two girls over before, but Mom is making it sound like I've had thousands of girls over before. "Wait," Mom says, walking toward me and pushing me out of the way to see Helena.

"Are you Helena?" Mom asks, and Helena steps off the door she must've still been pressed against. "Yes ma'am," Helena says, and Mom smiles brightly. "Well, I'll be darned. This kid hasn't stopped talking about you since he metcha!" Mom says. My cheeks burn pink with embarrassment. Helena looks to me almost as if for confirmation.

"Really?" Helena says, hope and happiness reigning through her voice. I smile at the joy caused by my actions. "Mhm! Well, I'll let him take ya home. Good day, Helena. I'll see you later, dear," Mom says, then walks back to the kitchen.

I hold the door open for Helena, and she walks outside with a grin spreading ear to ear. I pull one of my dark blue sweatshirts off the entryway table and hand it to Helena before getting in my truck. By the time we're both buckled, my sweatshirt is on her, hanging loosely on her figure.

It takes everything I've got to rip my eyes off her body and say, "I'm so sorry about my mom. I swear I haven't had thousands of girls over and–"
"Ben," Helena cuts me off, so I turn to look at her. She's pulled her hands through the long sleeves, tucking her arms in front of her chest. "I like your mom, she's nice. As for the girls...uhm," she looks away, "It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything. And even if I was, I wouldn't really care." I. Can. Hardly. Breathe. The sound of the word "girlfriend" coming out of her mouth makes my heart want to explode. She's so freaking sweet and considerate I don't know if she's real.

Helena looks at me nonchalantly, her blue eyes shining in the morning sunlight. "Good," I say simply, still trying to remember how to breathe as I turn my head back to the road. "What do you mean 'good'?" Helena weirdly mocks my voice, causing an inevitable smile to form across my lips. We pull out of my neighborhood and onto the quiet and almost empty freeway.

I turn to her for a second then back to the road saying, "Nothing." I shake my head slightly and see Helena twist her body to me with frustration. "You can't just say 'Nothing' and expect me to believe it!" She says, interrupted by the GPS lady giving directions.

"Yes, I can!" I argue back to her, smiling widely. Helena slumps in her seat, crossing her arms in front of her chest. We sit in silence, and after a while, Helena sits back up and bounces her leg quickly. We drive through downtown and weave our way into a small parking lot rounding a three-story, brown-orange brick apartment complex.

A few random, and pedophile-looking, guys lean up against the tattered brick exterior. I pull into one of the barely visible parking spaces, looking over the black leather steering wheel at the scenes and people around me. A young man and woman argue by the bus stop to my left, a woman in her pajamas sits on one of the fire escapes with a cat and a bottle of wine.

Why did she move here? This is the complete opposite of where she was living. "Okay, uhm, thanks for the ride. I'll uhm...see you tomorrow!" Helena rushes to say, but when she goes to open the door, I lock it with the button on my door. She turns to me, confused. "What're you doing?" She says, pushing the button on her door to unlock it. I quickly lock the door back, and Helena turns to me again.

"Let me out, Ben!" She shouts at me. "No, not unless I'm right next to you," I tell her. Helena exhales with frustration. I can't believe she wanted to walk here. Alone. I mean, she's still wearing the dress from last night, which not only makes her look gorgeous but compliments her figure so much it's like it was made for her. "Come on, Ben! Don't be silly! I'm fine. I've lived in worse places before. I can take care of myself. Not to mention those guys over there are probably too high to even think about doing anything, let alone actually be able to follow through.

Helena unlocks her door again, and I let her. I unlock all the doors and get out with Helena. I lock the truck back and round it to walk beside Helena. She rolls her eyes and exhales overdramatically. I ignore her dramatics as we walk side by side to the metal stairs leading up to the side door on the second floor. Helena steps in front of me, causing my eyes to shift to anything but her hips swaying her skirt practically right in front of my face.

That is...until she trips over one of the stairs and falls back into me. I catch her in my arms, looking into her eyes. Our gazes lock for a moment, but then she stutters and says, "S-sorry." My lips curve into a smile.

"If you wanted me to hold you in my arms and treat you like the queen you are, you could've just asked," I say softly. Helena's eyes widen slightly, her cheeks blush, and her eyes flutter away from mine. She attempts to turn and walk away, but I pull her back close to me because there's a man trying to walk down the stairs past us. She's so close to me, that I can feel her breath against my skin.

My gaze shifts continuously from her eyes down to her lips, reddened like roses from the cold, and back up to her eyes again. "Uhm..." is all Helena says. One of my hands is interlocked with one of hers, and the other is pressed against the soft fabric of her dress wrapped around her lower back. Her heart is racing so quickly that I can practically feel the beat through her fingers.

Her eyes won't stop shifting, yet they keep returning to meet my gaze. She's so beautiful, and the sad part is I don't even think she knows it. The sunlight seems to bow at her will, bending across the curves of her cheeks and glistening through her eyes to make them glow gracefully and perfectly. The wind brushes the strands of baby hair out of her line of sight.

Our eyes lock. I can't quite tell if they're pleading with me to do something, anything, or if she's simply confused and unable to process the thoughts flooding her incredible mind. However, it could be a mix of the two. I lean in. She doesn't pull away, so I press my lips against her's.