Heart Pangs

Chapter 2 - 'Someone Like You'

Felix does indeed come back again. In fact, he comes over quite often.

By the end of the summer, his mother comments to Benji's, "I think he enjoys being around your family even more than his own. Maybe one day Benji could spend some time at our place."

The suggestion makes Benji's mom's heart drop to her stomach. She's careful to hide her reaction as she says, "I'm sure Benji would love that someday, but for now I'm too busy with the other kids to bring him over and pick him up."

For a terrifying second, she fears Mrs. Feuerbach will offer to pick Benji up herself, but instead she gives another winning smile before leaving with her son.

Felix, Mrs. Marotta finds, is surprisingly friendly with her children. Over the course of that one summer, she finds herself growing slightly more comfortable with having him around. She's not sure if she can ever trust him completely, but with Brandon watching out for Benji and Camille, she can now relax with baby Stephanie while the kids play outside.

She expects that once the school year begins again, Benji and Felix will start to drift apart, but she finds her expectations are wildly inaccurate. They continue spending time together throughout the whole school year. And then the year after that. And then the year after that. Three years go by.

By this point, Camille is 6 years old, the same age Benji and Felix were when they first met. Brandon also finally starts middle school. For the first time he's separated from other preds his age and he begins learning the real differences between his kind and theirs.

He understands now why his mom has been so cautious of Felix. He understands now why Benji has never been allowed at Felix's house. He understands now why Felix's mother always scares him so much. And now? He too is cautious of Felix. He watches his every move when he's around Benji and Camille. One slip up and Brandon is ready to defend his siblings.

As Benji and Felix grow older, they get more freedom around the neighborhood. They race bikes and haunt the local playground.

Benji's family can only afford one bike. Brandon no longer plays with them and Stephanie isn't old enough to ride yet. So Benji takes the bike, and if they feel nice enough to babysit and let Camille join them, Felix lets her sit on his handlebars.

This works pretty well until, one day, Felix hits a larger than usual bump in the road and Camille goes flying. She hits the ground hard and skins her knees. She's sobbing as Felix lifts her onto his back and walks her all the way back home. The whole time Benji tells her funny stories to distract her.

She's no longer crying when they get back to the Marotta household.

Benji immediately sets off, trying to find bandaids and disinfectant, keeping quiet so his mom doesn't find out what happened. Meanwhile, Felix lifts Camille onto the counter, wets some paper towels, and carefully cleans the blood and gravel from her knees. Of course, she begins crying again and the sound brings her mom rushing into the kitchen.

"What is going on?" she asks aghast.

"Camille fell," Felix says, leaving out the bike part. He doesn't want Camille banned from bike rides with them for being too dangerous. "I was just helping her out."

At that moment, Benji rushes in with a box of bandaids, a bag of cotton balls, and a bottle of disinfectant. "I've got them!" he says before stopping dead at the sight of his mom. "Oh."

His mom lets out a long sigh and waves for him to approach Camille. "Go on," she says, deciding she probably doesn't want to know the details. "Finish what you started." Then she steps aside to watch the proceedings.

Benji passes off his findings to Felix who in turn sets them on the counter.

"This will sting for a moment, but it'll help heal it faster," Felix says to Camille just before pressing a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant into her knee. He knows the drill. He's had his fair share of cuts and skins.

Camille gasps and squeezes her eyes shut but bites her lip to keep quiet.

"Great, now the other one," Felix tells her. When he's done cleaning, he pulls two bandaids from the box. One by one, he covers her knees with them.

"Better?"

Camille smiles at him through tears and nods. He helps her down from the counter and Benji goes to get her a juice to make her feel better.

"Felix?" Mrs. Marotta says.

He stops, looking guilty, expecting to be told off.

"You're... you're very kind for... for someone like you," Mrs. Marotta says instead.

Felix blinks. He's not sure what she means by that, but he's been taught to be polite so he answers, "Thank you. I was just trying to help."

After that, he gets pegs for the back tires of his bike so that Camille can stand and hold onto him while they ride.