What Happens in Clarketown

5

(Sexual activity warning.)

Ben leads me to a park. We walk down the pathways, through tall pine trees, in silence. Ben stares at the sky through the tree tops, and I stare at him. Every once in a while, like when he sees a bird, he smiles contently. I'm happy knowing he's calm.

We reach an opening near the edge of the park. All it is is a patch of grass, but there are no trees to block the sky. Behind it is a fenced off chunk of forest.

I take Ben's hand in mine lightly, and walk him to the grass. We lay on our backs, staring at the clouds. My hand doesn't let go of his.

We talk without looking at each other. The conversations we have would seem pointless if it were with anyone else, but every moment with Ben is important. It seems to last forever and barely last at all at the same time. Before we realize it, it's close to dark out.

"The park closes at seven." Ben says softly.

I look at him. His face shows fear once more.

"Let's go to my place." I say. "You won't have to face your dad then."

"Okay." Ben says unsurely.

"We don't have to." I respond quickly, sitting up. "Not if you don't want to."

"I want to," Ben says, also sitting up, "but I'll have to face my dad eventually."

"So don't worry about that tonight." I say. "You can spend the night and we'll go to school tomorrow and we'll only worry about your dad at the end of the day." Ben smiles cutely. "We won't even think about it until then." I lean over to kiss him on the forehead, then the lips.

We sneak back into the building. I can hear Craig on the phone in the office. We slink upstairs and into the apartment.

The twins sit, watching TV. "Hey." Rachel says without turning toward us.

"Have you heard from Jason?" I ask.

"He said he'll be back around midnight." Rosey answers, turning toward us. "Hi, Ben."

"Did you talk to Craig at all?"

"Yeah." Rachel says. "He caught us getting off the bus and asked if we wanted to hang out there. We said no."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Just that you two ran off to who-knows-where." She says with a light tone. "He said Ben knows his way around, though, and that you'll be safe wherever you are."

"Yeah." I say softly. "We'll be in my room."

"Jason says to keep the bedroom door open." Rosey says with a giggle.

Ben sniffles as I run over to the couch. Rachel jumps off of it with a laugh as I restrain Rosey in my arms.

"No!" Rosey says between laughs. She knows what's next.

"Yes!" I call out, shoving my hands into her armpits and tickling her. She shrieks and laughs. She tries to pull away, but only partly succeeds. I push her onto her back on the couch and tickle her stomach and sides.

"Xander!" Rosey yells. "Stop!" She's laughing, but I stop.

We huff and puff from laughing and Rosey sits up.

"Now," I say confidently, "we are going to my room."

"I was serious, you know." Rosey says while I climb off of her. "Jason mentioned, on the phone, that if you two went into your room together, the door has to stay open."