Devil Inside (Ben Bruce)

12

Lily's POV: 

When I woke up, I realized that I was somewhere I'd never been before. I could hear the sounds of snores around me, but I still had no idea where I was. Memories of last night were foggy. I remember telling Ben about my parents, but the rest is pretty blank after that. I saw light shining in through a curtain which blocked my view of where I was. I threw off the sheets and opened said curtain, finding that I was sleeping in someone's bunk. 

I didn't bother wondering whose it was, because as soon as I went out into the front of the bus, I saw that Ben was sleeping in a chair at the table. His head was pressed against the window, and he was snoring softly. He looked kind of adorable. 

Because no one else was awake, I went to get my things from the front of the bus. I felt dirty, so I'd take a shower. I grabbed some clothes and a toothbrush, and went back to the bathroom. Before entering, I knocked. When I received no response, I opened the door. 

After said shower, I felt significantly better. Aside from the terrible hangover of course. When I went out to the front of the bus this time, I found that Cameron was up. 

"Morning, " He greeted in a whisper. I smiled lightly in response. Since he'd already seen my drawings, I figured that it was fine if I drew in front of him. 

I pointed to a laptop. "Can I borrow this? " I asked. 

He nodded, coming over to me. "Can I talk to you first, though? About Ben? " 

"What about him? " I asked. 

"I've never seen him like this before. He's not even sleeping around anymore, and he's the horniest person I know. " 

"Why are you telling me this? " 

"You know guys don't really talk about feelings much, don't you? "

"I know. " 

"Last night, Sam told Ben that he had to figure it out. What he feels for you. " 

"And? " My heart sped up, as though I was waiting for good news. 

"That's for him to tell you. But it's not fake. He's not faking this thing you two have." 

"What are you saying? " I tried to play dumb, because I needed to hear it. 

"He's definitely crushing on you. But you can't act different, okay? He can't know you know that." 

I nodded, not really understanding the gravity of the situation. So Ben likes me? What difference does that make? 

"Well... Anyways, you'll need the password to the computer, so let me see it. " 

I slid the laptop over to him and watched as he quickly typed in the password. He passed it back over to me and I took it gladly, thanking him. I reached into the back of my binder and found a blank piece of paper and a pencil. 

I used the MySpace page of Asking Alexandria for reference this time. There were images taken from last night's performance already up. And then my hand got to work. 

"Hey, that's me, " Ben whispered groggily. I jumped. I'd forgotten that he'd been sitting there. He looked over at my binder, flipping through the pages without asking first. "And those are me too." He squinted as he focused on the detail. "How did get these to be so accurate? " 

I shrugged. "Practice I guess. " 

"How long have you been drawing for? " He continued to flip to earlier images. 

"Ever since I can remember, " I confessed. "But I didn't start drawing seriously until about four years ago. " 

"You did so much in four years. " 

"This isn't all of them. I have a ton of lost drawings. I don't know where they went." I smiled at him. "By the way, happy birthday. " 

"Oh, thanks." He paused on one image. "Who's this? " He asked, pointing to the girl in the picture. 

"That's Rachel. She was my girlfriend before, " I made a gesture suggesting he already knew what happened. 

"Oh, right. She's really pretty. How did you get the eyes to be so real? " 

"Shading. A lot of shading. " 

"I can see her sadness. Why is she sad? " 

"Because her dog had died. She asked me to draw her. And I did. But she gave me the drawing back when we broke up. I kept it ever since. "

"Why keep a reminder? "

"I don't know. I guess I just really liked the drawing. " I shrugged. It didn't really mean much to me anymore. Back then I kept it to remember her. Now I keep it just because it's beautiful. 

"I understand." He handed me the binder back. "You'll be leaving today, right? " He asked. I could hear a hint of bitterness in his voice. 

"I should. Sorry. " 

"Come with us! " He pleaded, grabbing my hands. 

"I can't. There's no room. And I need to get back to work. " I pulled out of his grip gently. "I'm sorry, Ben. We'll get to see each other again though. I promise. " 

He pouted. "Oh, alright. " 

I quickly signed my newest drawing. "You can keep this though, if you want. " It was simply a picture of him playing guitar at the show. 

He took it. "I think I will. "