Travelers

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Merry-
After an entire week with Benedict, Kyle, and Tasha, Benedict and I were now on the flight to Los Angeles. On the three and a half hour flight there Benedict and I talked about all we did with Kyle and Tasha. Over the course of the week we went shopping, went to plays, went to the Houston Space Center, went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, went swimming, and just hung out. I made sure I got a "Houston. 1837" t-shirt. I said,"Benedict, remember when we were playing The Great Escape and it was boys against girls. Tasha and I took the kidnapped one and you and Kyle took the Museum Heist." Benedict said,"I remember how it took Kyle and I 45 minutes while it took you and Tasha and hour and a half. It was funny to watch you both." I said,"hey! Ours was more difficult! We were handcuffed!" Benedict said,"that's not a big deal!" I said," oh yes it is! I bet you both couldn't have gotten out of the handcuffs at all! I've had practice getting out of handcuffs, but I should probably brush up on it. It seems I'm a little rusty." I laughed. I expected Benedict to laugh with me, but he didn't. I looked at him and he was frowning. He said," what?"

Benedict-
She... she has practice getting out of... handcuffs. I said,"what?" She said,"Oh." She laughed and said," just the life of a gang leader's daughter." I gently wrapped my hand around hers and said,"Tell me. What did they do?" She said," ah, well. Before I refused the family business... which was probably when I was around thirteen. My family and I were all close. My father was kind and caring. He made sure I was trained in case our gang went into war with another gang who, at the time, was trying to push our lines back. So I was trained in fighting and how to escape handcuffs." She smiled and said," it was actually fun to learn how to beat up my brothers. My father was sooooo proud every time i knocked him unconscious. I remember he would smiled, hug me, give me ice cream, and say,'good girl! I'm proud of you.'" I released the breath I didn't realize I was holding in. I was worried about what they had done.
Once we had landed we went to a hotel. It was 5:00pm. On the way to the hotel we ate at a restaurant. Merry said," so... want to go to the pool? I'm in the mood to swim." I said," okay. Let's go change." We changed and then walked down to the pool. Merry wore only a large t-shirt over her bathing suit. We rode the elevator down to the pool. There was a pool party going on. There was loud music playing, people swimming, laughing, and dancing. I glanced at Merry. She said,"is it to loud or to many people in here for you?" I realized she meant about my anxiety. I grabbed her hand and said,"no, its fine." Though the music was loud there were maybe twenty people. Not to many. I would be fine. We walked to an unoccupied lounge chair. Merry took off her t shirt.

Merry-
I took off my t shirt. I was wearing a one piece bathing suit. Except this one was different from my other one. The back was cut low. My hair was French braided. I turned to see Benedict staring at me. I said,"what? Have I grown wings?" He said,"n-no." I asked,"then why are you staring?" He said,"I'm sorry. I just noticed you had scars on your back...Sorry, that was rude." I laughed and said,"Benedict, you're my friend. It's not rude. Don't worry bout it." He asked,"what happened?" I said,"ah, my mother threw a vase at me. It hit my back. She was mad because I cussed her out and tore up her B&B. Her face was hilarious. Totally worth it." Benedict said,"you're so upbeat about stuff like that." I said,"I either move on or get stuck in the past. Sure it's hard, but not impossible." He nodded. He would never understand how broken I felt when I thought about it... How i felt like I had no control of my emotions. No one would understand. Ever. i said,"now lets swim!" We ran and jumped into the pool. When I came up above the water Benedict's back was to me. I splashed him. He turned around and whipped the water off his face. I laughed. He splashed me and I spit the water out of my mouth. Suddenly someone yelled,"water fight!" Every started splashing everyone around them.
When Benedict and I decided to leave the pool it was midnight. The t shirt was sticking to my swimsuit as we walked into the hotel. I don't know why, but I whispered," good night." He smiled and said," night, Mer." He went into his room while I went to shower.

Benedict-
In the morning Merry and I got up early at 6 for a quick breakfast then went to Universal Studios. We had a pass till lunch time. We rode on the all the rides we saw. I went on the super fast and high roller coasters by myself. Merry didn't want to go on those rides so she waited while I did. At lunch we left the Universal Studios. When we left I said," So what do you want for lunch?" Merry said," umm. Oh! I know! Subway." I said," I thought subways were where like our Tubes... like a underground train." She laughed. I was confused. Do we eat in the Tube...subway? She said," no its a sandwich restaurant. Not the underground train." I said," oh. Sorry. " she smiled. Her smile was pretty. It seemed to make the whole area around her brighter. She said," you're staring at me again, Benedict." I looked back to the rode. I said," Sorry." She said," what is it now?" I glanced at her to see if she was mad at me for staring. She wasn't. She was actually curious. I said," I was just thinking about pretty you smile is." She said,"oh." I glanced at her again... she was blushing. Merry gave me directions to the nearest Subway. On the way there we stopped by a store and let Merry get a "Los Angeles. 1781." When we got there and got our sandwiches we went back to the hotel to eat. We sat down on the couch. Me at one end and Merry at another. She layed her feet in my lap as we ate and watched some movie. I found myself once again thinking about Merry's and mine relationship. We had known each other for three weeks. I know that is still not long enough. I don't want to rush things between us... that is, I want us to stay friends for a long time. Maybe one day we could be more, but if I rushed things and we weren't ready it would end badly... and i know how much this friendship means to me, I'm sure it means a lot to Merry too... at least I hope so. I sighed. Why was this so complicated?