Solstice

Chapter 3

*above is a picture of  Ben played by Braeden Lemasters*

On Thursday morning, I woke up in a bubble of dread. The next day was April 6th, my seventeenth birthday, and I knew Tina would be on me all day asking about my plans. I never did anything for my birthday anyways, so I don't know why she insisted on always knowing.

"What are you doing tomorrow Iris?" She asked when I sat down at the table for breakfast. "Any big plans?"

"I'm going for dinner with Ben," I muttered, placing two fingers to my temple, "like every year, Ti."

I looked up to see her shake her head.

"Oh. Okay." She said nothing else.

•••

"So for dinner tomorrow, I was thinking we could go to that old Italian place over by the theatre."

Ben and I were at the coffee shop after school, brainstorming ideas for dinner the next night.

I shook my head. "Got closed down, remember?"

Ben nodded. "Health regulations or something, right?"

"Yeah."

"So what about a steakhouse?"

"That'll be a lot of money, Ben"

"I know, but-"

"How about the diner? You love Rita's fish tacos."

He frowned slightly, then replaced it with a small smile. "Whatever the birthday girl wants," he said with a laugh, "and you're right, I do love those tacos."

We were quiet for a moment as I smiled at his comment.

"Hey Ben?" I said softly.

"Yeah?"

I paused. "What are we gonna do when we're in college and we can't get away for each other's birthdays?"

"We'll find a way. We always do."

I smiled sadly and grabbed his hand across the table. "You're the best friend a girl could ask for, you know?"

"Oh I know," he replied with a smirk.

I laughed, reaching across the table to punch his shoulder.

"Who else is gonna bail you out after you drink too much and fall down the stairs?" His smirk grew.

"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot about that!" I was laughing even harder now.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you were hallucinating that night. You thought there were chickens all over the place or something!" He was laughing now too.

"Oh, come on, you're over-exaggerating!" My sides hurt from laughing, and as I went to grab them, my hand skimmed my coffee mug.

"Hey watch the-" Ben tried to warn, but it was too late. The cup was tipping off the table, and I was praying for time to stop.

Then, funny enough, it did.

Time stopped as if it had heard me, and decided to be nice for once. I looked around me, my heart beating faster in my chest. Ben was frozen, eyes wide and mouth agape, saying something. All the sounds were cut off, as if I had suddenly gone deaf. The mug was paused two inches below the edge of the table.

What's happening? I thought. What do I do?

I let out a sharp breath, and it all resumed. I cringed as the mug smashed on the hard floor.

"Crap," Ben stated, "they're gonna make us pay for that, aren't they?" He looked up at me, and concern flitted across his eyes when he saw my face. "Whoa, it's okay, it's just a mug," he rushed to calm me.

"I know, it's just-" I paused, debating whether or not to tell him what just happened. "Nothing, sorry." I let out another breath and grabbed some napkins to mop up the spilled coffee.

We payed for the broken mug, apologizing many times as we did. The sun was starting to set as we stepped onto the dirty sidewalk.

"See you tomorrow?" He sounded worried.

I nodded, not looking him in the eyes. I watched as he walked away towards his car, hands pushing down in his pockets, dark hair ruffling slightly with the wind.

•••

I had a hard time falling asleep that night. I tossed and turned, my mind ablaze with thoughts of what had happened, and how exactly it could have happened. I was angry that I didn't understand what was going on. I just wanted to fall asleep. What I didn't know, though, was that stranger things were to come when I did.