King (Ben Simmons)

3- Marcie

Ben and Jada stood at the gate that Marcie was set to appear from once her plane landed, and Jada couldn't keep still.

"What's the matter with you, have to pee or something," Ben asked looking down at his best friend.

Jada rolled her eyes at Ben. It was three thirty in the morning, also too early for Ben to be acting like she and Marcie hadn't been separated for a little over a year.

"No I'm just excited to see my best friend."

"You never act like that when you see me," Ben pointed out.

"That's because I see your ugly ass all the damn time. Meanwhile Marcie and I haven't seen each other in so long."

"Did you just call me ugly?"

Jada went to say something else, but instead, shook her head. She was going to let Ben do Ben, her best friend was set to make her appearance any minute now.

"Jada Lynn."

She wiped her head in the direction of the voice and squealed before she ran over to her friend and hugged her. The pair couldn't help the tears that spewed from their eyes. Marcie pulled away first and took in her best friend before hugging her again.

"How are you doing?"

Jada looked back at Ben and bit her lip before turning around to face Marcie.

"We'll talk later."

Ben walked over to the two and hugged Marcie.

"Thanks for coming."

"My best friend needed me and here I am."

"How was your flight?"

"Really long. I'm just ready to get into bed and sleep."

Ben grabbed her luggage and the trio walked out to Ben's SUV before they headed back to his home.

"So what's going on," Marcie questioned in a low tone.

Jada had chosen to sit in the back with Marcie on the way back so they two could have a bit more privacy.

"Scott and I broke up."

"Thank God I never liked that asshole. But I was talking about you and Ben."

"What do you mean?"

Jada was truly clueless when it came to how Ben felt about her and it was a shame because everyone else was able to see it but her.

"Have you not seen the way he looks at you?"

"Stop it. Ben is like my little brother."

"Carter is your little brother. Ben wants to be your man."

Jada hit Marcie before laughing.

"Whatever."

"Don't think we're done talking about this situation."

"Oh but we are."

Marcie shook her head and caught Ben looking at her through the mirror. She blushed and quickly turned her head, so that she was looking out of the window. She had a few other theories about why she was really brought to Cleveland, but she would talk to Ben about that when they were alone. She took out her phone and let her parents know that she had landed safely and assured them that once she got some rest she would call them.

***

The next afternoon, everyone was pretty much getting into the flow of now having Marcie living in the house with them. Ben had given the girls his room and he was sleeping on the couch. Once they'd gotten home, they had tried to get him to let them stay at a hotel, but he insisted that he didn't mind giving up his room to them. Currently the girls were in his room lying in bed talking about any and everything under the sun trying to catch up with one another.