Dear Mr. Pessimist {Completed}

~17~ Take My Hand, I'll Show You How To Dance

Dear Mr. Pessimist,

Did you have fun tonight? For the first time in years I felt as if nothing in the world could touch me. I was happy, I felt safe. So what do you think? Did you like my Safe Haven?

With Love,

Syd

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

I sat in my car, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel with my heart pounding against my chest in anticipation.

What had made me think that Bennett was going to come. He probably had more important things to do then spend his Friday night with me.

"Hey." I screamed, my hand flying over my chest as I whirled around to face Bennett standing outside my window, his knuckle frozen on the window.

"You scared the crap out of me." I gasped, climbing out of the car, "Call or text next time." He smiled a little but didn't respond. I followed him until we were standing at the foot of the hill.

"You're kidding me, right? You want to climb up this hill?" I nodded, starting to walk up it, glancing behind me with a laugh as I waved the small picnic basket in my hands in the air.

"You coming or not, Mr. Pessimist?" He looked ready to roll his eyes as he stomped up the hill after me. Once we reached the top, I turned around and laughed at how out of breath Bennett was.

"I take it you don't exercise very often." He shook his head, throwing his hands on his knees as he hunched over and tried to catch his breath. I moved to the top of the hill and sat down, setting the basket gently beside me.

"Not anymore." Bennett replied once he was able to catch his breath. He slowly sat down, his head resting on his knee as he stared at the view in front of us.

"I didn't think you were actually going to come." I said, knowing better then to ask him what his response had meant. He shrugged, glancing behind us at the cars.

I had been coming to The Hill for as long as I could remember. It had been the place where I came to think, to try and get through my problems. Jessie had joined me a few times, so had my mom. Once Zey had put me in the hospital, I had just stopped coming entirely.

"I had nothing better to do." He replied, "I just would have been sitting around and thinking about how shitty my life is and drowning my pain in alcohol." I didn't know what to say, so I reached into the basket and pulled out a sandwich, holding it out to him.

"I'm good." He muttered.

"Bennett." I said with a mother-like tone, "I've been working with you for over a month and I've never seen you eat. Come on." I nudged him with a smile, and after a second of hesitation, he took the sandwich.

"No wonder you're so skinny." I mumbled to myself, seeing the dirty look he gave me out of the corner of my eye.

"You could use a little meat on your body yourself." He shot back with a quiet laugh. He stayed quiet for a few minutes before speaking up again.

"I'm sorry about what I said the other day and-"

"It's cool, Bennett. You don't have to explain." I interrupted him.

"So, I just found out my dad's a little less of a piece of shit then I thought. My mom said that she was the one that kept me from him, he never left." Bennett blinked in surprise, his eyes finally starting to narrow after a second.