Fallen in Love

15 - Bently's Departure

December 24, 2009. Christmas Eve. Andy's words rang in Bently's head as he sat on the plane. 'It'll be like you never left.' Bently sighed and leaned his head back. He could—no, he should— be spending this Christmas with Malik and his friends, but no, here he was, on Christmas Eve of all days, sitting on a plane headed for who knows where. He hummed the song he had practically blasting in his ears. "Wake me up when September ends..."

Back in Arcadia City, Malik paced as he waited for the call. The call from Bently that would reassure him he got there safely. The last call the two would share for a while. The last time Malik would hear Bently's soft, sweet voice for who knows how long. "Malik? The demons are preparing. So should we." Noel said. "How long are you going to pace like this? We trust Andy to get there safely and you know this. You mustn't need to be so anxious." She added. Malik sighed. "Sorry. I just..." he trailed off. "You're scared, aren't you?" She asked. Malik slightly nodded. Noel gently put her hand on Malik's shoulder. "Andy will get Bently there safely. I trust him to. He is on our side, after all." She said. Malik sighed. "Sorry. I just...don't know what to do now." Malik said. "I know. But you need to calm down. And prepare for the Great War. It is coming, as much as we don't like it, and we cannot stop it."

Bently sighed as he stared longingly out the plane's window. He longed to be back in the city he once hated, to be back in the city with Malik, and Cain, and Charlie...and all of his other friends he made since moving there. He even, as much as he hated to admit it, longed to be back in Vegas with his dad. "Are you alright?" A voice from beside Bently asked. "Hm? I-I..yeah. I'm fine." Bently quickly said, though it was clear he was lying. "Sorry," the person said, "I'm Steve." He said. "You headed to Georgia too? Well, I mean you'd have to be or you wouldn't be on this plane- sorry, am I talking too much?" Steve asked. Bently giggled. "You sound like me. Just talk and talk nonstop. I could probably talk 24/7 if my body let me." Bently smiled. But his smile soon fell. "Y-yeah...I am, actually. Er...it's a long story." He said. Steve sat beside him. "We have plenty of time. This plane doesn't land for..." he paused, looking at his watch. "Another 4 hours, I think." Bently sighed. He wanted to tell Steve everything, but he wasn't sure if Steve would even believe him. "Do...do you believe in...angels and demons?" Bently asked. "Mm..don't believe I do, why?" Steve replied. Bently sighed and began to explain...literally eveything, from his arrival at Arcadia City up until that point. "Wow. That's...kinda crazy man." Steve said, running a hand through his hair. "I know. I'm still sort of processing it myself." Bently replied. Steve noticed Bently's tired eyes. "I-I'll let you sleep. Sorry for disturbing you." He said, getting up. Bently grabbed his arm. "No...stay. Please? This is my first time on a plane and I think I'd feel more comfortable having someone beside me in case, hypothetically speaking, something were to happen." Bently said. "Oh of course. I get that." Steve said, sitting back down beside Bently, and allowing the boy to lean on him if he wanted.
Bently was woken up by a tap on his shoulder. "Dude get up. We've landed." It was Steve. "Huh..? What- what time is it?" Bently sleepily muttered. Steve looked at his watch. "Eh..around noon-ish." He responded. Bently yawned, managing to get up. "My legs are killing me...think I've been sitting too long." Bently groaned. Steve giggled. "Yeah I tried to wake you up so you could stretch your legs a bit but you were out cold. Like...mouth open, drooling and snoring, dead to the world out cold." Steve giggled again. Bently blushed. "I...probably should've told you I do that sometimes..." he muttered. "So, where are you headed?" Steve asked, trying to make conversation with a half asleep Bently. "Some...reform school. I don't know. It was somewhere in that story I told..I think." Bently rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision. "Woah. Cool. I'm just visiting family." Steve laughed. "Like a...last minute surprise visit cause they think I couldn't make it for Christmas. I'm honestly surprised I could even get this flight on Christmas Eve of all days." The two walked together to the airport. Bently half expected to see Malik waiting for him there, but all he saw was Andy. Bently sighed. "Wanna call Malik now or no?" Andy asked. Bently pulled out his phone and called Malik. He paced as he waited for him to answer. "Bently?" Malik quickly answered. "Hey." Bently replied. "Oh thank the heavens. Are you safe?" He asked. "Yes." Bently responded. "Good."
Bently, Steve, and Andy walked together for a while. Bently was starting to get comfortable around Steve. "So, have you lived here your whole life?" Bently asked. Steve nodded. "Yeah. Was born and raised here. My southern accent's kinda faded though. Guess that's what I get for moving to California." He softly laughed. "What's it like in the south?" Bently asked. "Well, that depends on where you go in the south. But here in Georgia, it's either like a hundred degrees and you're dying from heatstroke, or it's pretty much below zero and you're freezing to death. There's no in between usually." Steve laughed. "We don't have spring or fall, or as you probably call it, autumn. We have winter and summer and that's like..it. Occasionally we get like one or two days of spring and fall but thats not often." He added. "I-is er...is there a bathroom nearby? I've been holding it since I got on the plane..." Bently muttered. Steve smiled. "Actually, yes."
The two went into the nearby library. "Welcome to my favorite place in town. I come here when I need to relax, or if I'm just bored." Steve said. "You don't look like the reading type." Bently replied. "Oh but I am." Steve smirked. "Why is it so...fancy looking, though?" Bently asked. "Ah, I'm glad you asked. See, back in like...the 70s and 80s, this place used to be a courthouse. Or that's what my mom told me. But the people decided they didn't need a courthouse here since there was one being built a town over. So they gutted this place and turned it into a library. If you look close at some of the walls, you can actually see some of the old tiles from the original building. Especially in the bathrooms." Steve replied. Bently could tell he was really passionate about the history of his hometown. "Speaking of which..." Bently trailed off. "Right. Follow me." Steve said, leading Bently upstairs and to the bathrooms. "I've never seen a two story library before." Bently said. "Eh, theyre kinda rare. Don't really see many of them anymore, but I believe this one is one of the oldest." Steve replied as the two headed into the guys' bathroom.
The two came out of the bathroom and headed back down to the first floor. "I'm surprised we were able to get in here, with it being Christmas Eve and all." Bently said. "Oh I have a key." Steve quickly replied, pulling one of the history books from its shelf. "What?" Bently asked, stifling a laugh. "You heard me. I love this place so much that the owners gave me a key, so I could come in whenever I wanted." Steve said, flipping through the pages of the history book he was holding. "Aha! Here we go." He said, putting the book on the table for Bently to look at. "What's that?" Bently asked, walking over to him. "Oh, just the history of this little town. It;s nothing special, but it's pretty fascinating. To me, anyway." As Bently read the pages, Steve came back with a stack of books in his arms. "Woah what's all that? More history?' Bently asked. "Yes and no." Steve replied. He sat in a nearby chair and opened one of the books. Bently could see a bookmark in the book. He glanced at the title on the front cover. "What are you reading?" He asked. Steve glanced up. "It's uh...just some book about this boy that falls in love with a fallen angel." He replied, glancing at the back cover before going back to reading.
The two soon continued to explore the little town together. As they walked, Steve would occasionally bump into Bently, and Bently into Steve. "Okay now you're doing it on purpose." Steve laughed. "Yeah cause you're doing it on purpose." Bently smirked. He playfully shoved Steve, who shoved him back. Andy said he would text Bently once things at the new school were ready for him, but Bently wasn't concerned about that now. He was just focused on having fun with his new friend. "Are you cold?" Steve asked after a few minutes. "Not really. My hoodie is keeping me warm." Bently replied, pulling his hood up. "Good." Steve replied, smiling softly.
Steve took Bently to Graycott and helped him get to his room. "How do you know this place so well?" Bently asked. "I...I live here." Steve replied. "You do? But...didn't you say you were coming to visit family?" Bently asked. Steve nodded. "Yeah. And I am. I just wanted to get you settled in before I leave." He replied. Bently smiled. "Thanks." Bently replied. "I'll be back after Christmas." Steve smiled. "Hey...thanks. For everything." Bently said. He went to his room, got in the bed Andy had set up for him, and eventually fell asleep.