The Untold Truth

Chapter 12

*Aleksandria's POV*

When I woke up, I found myself in my room. How did I get here? I tried to remember to last night, but my thoughts were quickly interrupted when my door opened loudly.

Benjamin said loudly, "Good morning!"

I mumbled incoherently back at him, showing my obvious dislike for mornings.

He laughed and said, "Come on Aleksandria! It's a new day!"

I made a motion with my hands for him to wait outside for me to change, and he quickly left the room. I threw the covers off of me and put my feet on the hardwood flooring. I noticed that I was still wearing the clothes I wore yesterday, which made me wonder even more how I had made it to my bed without remembering what had happened. I quickly changed into new clothes for the day and walked out of my room. Benjamin smiled at me as we started our walk to the kitchen.

I laughed and said, "You know, I thought you were only joking about walking me to the kitchen yesterday."

He smiled and said, "I mostly was, but Bradan just wanted me to check on you since it was getting to be later than usual for breakfast."

I nodded my head inattentively before asking, "Benjamin, how did I get to my room last night? I don't remember anything after I fell asleep in the movie theater."

Benjamin smiled and asked, "You don't remember anything?"

I shook my head uncertainly and a sly grin made its way onto his face.

All he said for a response was, "Having you in the house is fun. It makes things much more exciting."

I was about to ask him about his vague response, but he bounded down the kitchen stairs before I could say anything else. I walked into the kitchen and noticed Bradan already loading plates full of food that made my mouth water when I smelled it. I saw Bradan had a few bruises on his face and I could see cuts on his arms since he was wearing a black v-neck shirt. Over the course of being here, I had gotten used to seeing him with injuries. When I had first noticed his healing cuts, Benjamin had to assure me that it was just a part of the job sometimes.

I sat down at the table as Benjamin grabbed two of the plates from Bradan. I saw Bradan's hand grip the extra plate and shoot Benjamin a glare. Benjamin quickly let the extra plate go and they both walked toward the table with the plates. Bradan gently put the plate in front of me and sat down at the same time as Benjamin.

I asked him incredulously, "You're eating breakfast with us this morning?"

Bradan smirked at me and said, "If I'm allowed to, I would like to."

I blush burned it's way onto my face and I looked down at my plate. Why was almost every question that I asked him rude? I really needed to stop doing that.

Bradan brought my attention back to him and asked innocently, "Is there a reason I would have to watch over you two during breakfast?"

His voice feigned innocence, but I saw the look in his eyes challenging me to say something about Benjamin and I's relationship. He knew there wasn't one, but it was almost as if he wanted us to say that out loud in the open. I was tempted to say something sarcastic toward him, but Benjamin spoke before I could.

"Bradan calm down. You're just funny to get riled up. I'm not going after Aleksandria and we don't have anything deeper than friendship."

I felt butterflies in my stomach when I saw a slight blush creeping onto Bradan's face. He picked up his plate and walked out of the kitchen.

He said as he walked out, "I have work to do. I'll see you two later."

I was about to stop him, but Benjamin gently grabbed my hand that was lying on the table. I turned back to look at him, but he just shot me an apologetic look. He quickly let go of my hand, making sure the movement wasn't read wrong.

He said, "I'm sorry you're in the middle of this. We've always been trying to get at each other in a joking way, but I think I might have taken it to an area he isn't ready to joke about. I'll talk to him as soon as we're done and clear things up."

I nodded, not really knowing what to think. An area he wasn't ready to joke about? Was Bradan really that hurt? He left us to go be by himself, but he always did that. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and started to my breakfast.

I said in-between bites, "Are you going to explain what happened last night or are you just going to leave it at the vague response?"

Benjamin smirked and said, "What I said wasn't vague, it just didn't answer your question. It is more fun having you around the house, especially when you get really tired and try to kiss Bradan."

I coughed a little on my breakfast as he said those words. Kiss Bradan? What on earth was he talking about? I felt the deep burn of my blush on my cheeks as I waited for him to explain. Was he talking about when he stopped Bradan and me from tickling each other? Had he seen us almost kiss before he interrupted us? I wasn't really tired then, but that's the only time I could think of Bradan and I even close to kissing lately.

I glared at him and he held up his hands in mock surrender, "Hey don't get all mad at me. You're the one who was going around almost kissing people last night."

I gave him a confused look and said harshly, "Just explain Benjamin. Stop being so vague."

He laughed and said, "Well, you fell asleep in the movie room, so when Shadow came to check on you in your room, he freaked out when you weren't there. He ran all over the house trying to find you..."

He trailed off and looked down at his plate of food. It was almost as if his next thoughts derailed the fun that he was having in holding me in suspense.

He continued quietly, "When he did find you he acted really strange, and I know him better than anyone else."

I asked him, "What do you mean?"

"Well, he picked you up and hugged you...and I mean he hugged you. It was almost as if he wasn't ever going to let you go. I offered to take you to your room since he was still wearing his Shadow clothes and bleeding, but he glared at me. I've never seen him glare at someone so...so...well honestly it scared me. I honestly thought that if I made any move towards you he would have taken me down. He looked like the only thing stopping him from killing me was the fact he was holding you. I've never seen him look at me like that."

He trailed off, seeming as if he was lost in thought. My own thoughts took over at this new information. Why had Bradan freaked out so badly? He barely saw me around the house anyway with him leaving constantly to work. Was it just because I wasn't where he expected me to be? I was pulled out of my thoughts as I realized that Benjamin still hadn't answered my question from earlier. I raised my eyebrows for him to continue, but he didn't notice.

I said after a few seconds, "Well?"

He pulled himself out of his thoughts to continue, "Oh, right. Well after...that exchange, he turned and walked out of the room, while still carrying you. He was whispering something to you the entire time he was carrying you, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I followed him to make sure that he didn't hurt himself more than he already had been hurt, but I made sure to keep my distance. When we got to your room, he set you down and sat down next to you. He just kept touching your hair or face but when I tried to talk to him, he gave me that same glare as earlier. He started to get up but that's when you woke up."

He gave me a mischievous grin before continuing, "When you saw that he was leaving, you grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to you trying to get him to stay. Your face was all scrunched up as if you were going to kiss him but he just hugged you instead, but I don't know if he would've done that while I was in the room. I should be hearing a thank you for saving you from the embarrassment of kissing him without knowing."