Deal With It By: Audrey B. Holley

Chapter 13

I run the chap stick over my lips in order to smooth the chapped skin. 

Time seems to pass by face. With that I say "Where'd the time go?" I shove the chap stick into my pants pocket, and take steps two at a time down the stairs.

I called Benjie 10 minutes ago, and now I linger near the front door.

"Mom!" I holler. "My friend Benjie is coming to pick me up. Thought we'd have a movie night or something."

She  stands against the wall, her arms are crossed, and she says, "Just because it's Friday, doesn't mean you can stay out late. I want you home no later than 10:30, understand?"

"Yes." Is all I say.

"Benjie is that big buff guy, right? Kind of heavy looking?"

"Yes mom." 

Then there's the knock that seems to halt my heart.

All I can think is that's him.

I answer, and manage the word, "Hello." I smile timidly, and my knees almost buckle beneath me.

"You look stunning." He then glances past me and says, "Evening Mrs. Hems."

"Evening Benjie. You kids be safe, you hear? Remember Keelie, no later than 10:30."

Kids?

"I know."

* * * * *

"Why are we stopping at a gas station? Your motor is completely full of gas." 

"Franky wants some smokes. Be right back," he explains.

I'd only ever been to his house once, and that was when I had to bring Benjies school homework to him because he had a cold. 

A breeze chills my face so to produce any kind of heat, I sink into my coat a little more. A few minutes pass, and my dear friend comes striding from the little building. Before I know it, we are zooming through the streets of his neighborhood. 

We halt before a house a bit small. I swing a leg over, and hop off the ride, but Benjie just sits there a moment too long. He stares at a black car parked in the driveway.

"Great, the hag is here," he mutters under his breath. His eyes of chocolate brown flicker to me uneasily all the while he flashes a smile that appears unnerving to me.

I trail behind him when we enter the house. Franky, a guy I've seen only a time or two, sits on a frayed object I guess to be a couch. I look to a dusty book shelf that looks as if it hasn't been cleaned in decades. I can almost make out baby dust bunnies bouncing around behind the small TV, peeking around the corner to peer up at me.

"Hey buddy," he says, and stands to his feet,  but is a bit wobbly in balance.

What is that wretched odor?

Franky leans in real close, and I know what it is. "I see you brought your lady friend." Alcohol clings to his breath and burns my nostrils as well as my throat. I can taste the foul bitterness of hard liquor, and I do all I can not to vomit on the faded blue carpet.

Just then, a woman with only a robe on walks into the living room. She slouches against the chipped doorway. I make out a creaking sound as if the weight of her fragile body might cause the old wood to cave in.

She's quite beautiful to be called a hag.

"Come on Dranky. You're wasting my time," her hazel eyes glare at me as she says, "Hurry it up."

Dranky? 

"You mean-" Benjie's scowled expression cuts me off. 

"Hey take care you two. Be safe now." Franky smiles in a heart warming way, and puts a cigarette between his skinny lips.

The front door closes with an ostentatious bang. I barely have the helmet buckled before Benjie starts the motor, and we are speeding away. I grope for his coat, and embrace his back in order to keep from flinging off. My cheek presses to his shoulder, and the back of my coat tousles in the wind.

When he comes to an abrupt stop, I have to peel my eyes open, for they were that tightly sealed shut. 

"I'm sorry Keelie, maybe we shouldn't see a movie tonight."

I get off and ask, "Who was she, and why did she call him Dranky?"

When Benjie takes a stand to his feet, he unbuckles his helmet, and tosses it to the snow.

"Because! She's a self centered woman, but Franky is too out of it in the head to even realize it." He turns to me; a look of despondency flashes across his eyes in a way that makes my heart sink to my stomach. "Why is it like this? Why did God give me parents that beat me, ignored me? Huh? Why can't He give Franky a woman that loves him and respects him? Why did he take your friend away?" He presses a finger to his temple, closes his weary irises a moment, and then a tear falls from his handsome face. "Why does He allow these things to happen? If God loves us so much, then why in the heck would He put us through these horrible memories?"

It takes me a minute to find my voice. "Maybe He wants you to learn something, and this is the only way He can get through to you. To me, it seems like you try to block everything out with your music, but how can you hear what He's saying if you're not even listening?"

He drops to his knees in the snow, and I kneel in front of him. 

"Everything happens for a reason." I assure him. "It's going to get worse before it gets better, but in the end, it's worth it. Everything is worth it."

He stares at me with watery eyes, and says, "How can you be so strong when someone you loved died? I can't imagine what I'd do if I lost Franky."

"Well..." I clear my throat. "God gave me someone else to fill the whole in my heart." I manage a smile, and place my thumb to his jaw.

Within a moment of passion, Benjie snakes his hand around my neck, and compresses his mouth to mine. We stand, and my heart quickens at the touch. His lips part as well as my own, and at that, I am able to taste the loveliness in his accommodating kisses. It all spirals my hormones into whack, his cloesness, the motion of his gentle hands, the way his body curls into mine. The whole prospect weakens my quivering knees. The very plumpness of his delicate lips seems to puke out butterflies into my stomach. His lovely palms welcome themselves to my back, all the while I grasp the front of his coat.

It's cold out here, yet my body is on fire.

Benjie withdraws from me so swiftly that shock paralyzes me in place.

That was one heck of a kiss. I can still perceive the taste of his mouth, it dawdles over my tongue.

We then stand there in gawky silence.

"H-how about that movie?" He suggests with a slight stutter.