Just A Little Different

Chapter 21

When Ben and I got home, we sat down on the couch together and just talked for a while about our relationship, how we could work things out, what fears we had about the outcome. By the end, I realized just how tired I was. I had been awake all night and the night before and it was talking it's toll. I leaned on the arm of the couch and drifted off into a deep sleep with Ben snuggling close to my chest.

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"Ian, wake up." I woke with a start at Ben's worried tone.

"Huh?" Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I looked out the window and realized the sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows throughout the yard and painting the sky in beautiful shades of orange and pink.

"Your heart beat picked up. It sounded like it was beating a mile a minute. Did you have a bad dream?" He sat up and rested his head on my shoulder. I put my arm around his shoulders.

"I don't know," I admitted, my voice heavy with tiredness. I could feel myself starting to fall back into sleeps's warm embrace, but I couldn't let myself do that now or I would miss another opportunity to sleep through the night.

"I love you Ian," Ben whispered, his lips just inches from my ear. His tone was warm with affection. I smirked and turned my head, finding his eyes. My lips met his and, for a while, I found myself lost, wanting more. I found myself stuck in a want - no - a need that I was unfamiliar with, but I liked it. I felt Ben shift, his arms snaked around my neck. I fought the urge to pull him on top of me and make him feel that same way I did.

Just as soon as it had started, he broke it off. We stared into each other's eyes for a long time. We didn't have anything to say. His arms were still around me, and I was still lost in that long moment of bliss. His green eyes were brimming with love and affection. I felt like it had been forever since I had seen anything close to that. "I love you too." I murmured. I grinned sheepishly. I love everything about you. I'm so sorry for everything.

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We slept in my room that night. For a while, I just watched Ian's chest move up and down as he breathed, felt his heart beating steadily. I was laying with my head on his shoulder and my arm across his bare chest. He seems so peaceful for the first time in days. I looked up at his face. He had his hair tied back so it wasn't so hard to brush in the morning, but a few loose wisps hung over his forehead. I could almost see his annoyed expression in the morning as he fixed his hair. It really was a great sight to see. Feeling content, I fell asleep almost as soon as I shut my eyes.

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I sighed. I had tried waking Ian up three times already. He just kept falling back to sleep. I'd been ready to leave for almost ten minutes now, and mom was prepared to drive us to school on her way to work. As a last resort, I dropped my backpack, found a grip on the bottom of the mattress, and raised it. I could barely contain my laughter as he rolled off the other side and jumped up. "Hey! What gives?"

"You have five minutes to get ready or you're walking to school in the snow. I've been trying to wake you up for an hour and now we need to leave so we're not late for school and mom's not late for work.

"Snow?" he echoed.

I shook my head with a grin. "Just be ready." He nodded and ran down out the door and downstairs to his room. Today is going to be good, I thought happily. I closed my bedroom door behind me and crossed the hall to my mom's room. She was quickly filling her purse with whatever it was she thought she might have needed. "I finally got him up and running."

She jumped at the sound of my voice, then relaxed again and turned around. "If you hadn't said anything, I probably would've had a heart attack after turning around."

I laughed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Don't laugh at me," she warned, though she was laughing too. "I brought you into this world and I will take you out."

"Oh please," I snorted. "You couldn't hurt a flower."

She shrugged and turned back to her purse, a smile lighting up her face. "I guess that's true. I couldn't hurt my baby boy either." I walked over to her as she started mumbling to herself, making sure she had everything. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, and Ian should be ready any minute."

"Tell him we will be waiting in the car. Oh yeah, my keys," she added to herself before leaving the room.

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"Where were you yesterday?" Ambrew asked. There were not many people in school today, so our history teacher decided not to start a new lesson, leaving me, Ambrew, and four other kids to do as we pleased.

"Ian and I had some things to work out," I told him. I didn't want to be too specific about what happened. We had agreed to keep it in the past.

"Is that why I've seen Ian walking around with a big dopey grin on his face?"

"I would assume so." I couldn't help but snicker at the description. Ian's smile was what I loved most about him. It lit up his beautiful eyes and put me in a good mood every time I saw it.

We both turned our heads as the door opened and Adam's head poked in. "Are you doing anything important?" The teacher shook his head. "The drama teacher has been going between classrooms and says there's not a lot of people here, so me and a few others are being sent around to tell everyone she's setting up a movie in the auditorium if you want to come watch. It's going to run through this period and lunch, and another movie will follow and run until dismissal. Every class is invited, and if most classes show up, the principal will cancel classes for the rest of the day instead of making us go to class."

The teacher looked around at the six of us spread out unevenly throughout the class and gave it some thought. Then he turned back to Adam and said, "Alright, we'll go."

Adam looked at us and mouthed, "Meet me down the hall," before draw in his head back and letting the door close. We all stood silently, grabbed our backpacks, and left the room. This had only happened once before and I was glad it was happening again. Ambrew and I broke away from the small group and met Adam down the hall as he said. We followed him to the next few classrooms. In each room he said the exact same thing, almost as if he had rehearsed it. Finally, he said, "I only need to do one more class. The others can deal with the rest." He looked at Ambrew and I, and he seemed to be thinking about something. "Let's go get Ian."

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The four of us walked to the auditorium together and found a row in the back that was nearly empty, so we decided to sit there. Ian had not let go of my hand since he saw me and the smile Ambrew spoke of never left his face.

A few stragglers wandered in as the principal stood in front to make an announcement. He said classes were canceled due to the fact that nearly every teacher and student who had arrived at school participated in this rare privilege. Then he asked for all electronics to be shut down, so nobody distracted from the movie with ringtones and bright lights.

I was unable to pay attention anyway. My mind was elsewhere. I felt Ian rest his head lazily on my shoulder, our fingers still locked tightly together. For the first time in a long time, things just felt right.