Walking with {Leslie} A Ghost

[Laura Stillings]

A rapid knock was heard on the door to Laura's Hotel room. Her roomies were all out an a bout different places. Faden and her were going to walk around the strip, maybe go to a magic show or something. "Laura, I know you're in there." Faden said from the hallway. He was looking forward to this but then again, they didn't have anything specific planned. He was simply happy to in Vegas.

Laura laughed as she pulled her sunglasses out of her hair and placed them on her dresser. "I'm coming I'm comming calm down." She said running over to the door. She unlocked it and Faden came in.

"So, what are we doing tongiht?"

Laura shrugged, "Who knows?" She said with a smile pulling the band out of her hair. She had it up for the heat of the day but now that it was later she let it down. She liked having her hair down better anyways.

Faden laughed, "Done? Ready?"

Laura nodded, "Shut up, I'm a girl I'm allowed to take a long time."

"You? A girl? Who carries a wrench around?" Faden added with a laugh.

"A lucky wrench." Laura said with a nodd as if it were something normal for a girl to do.

"Right"

[leslie]

Ben's mind was in a panic. He'd been down at a club, keeping a close eye on his sister, Emilia. When he'd heard that she'd gone out with none other than Luke Summitt. He hadn't meant for anything to happen, but then Luke had kissed her. His little sister who was practically his life, kissing Luke Summitt. He didn't know what happened next, but suddenly he and Luke were throwing punches. Ben now sported a black eye and a bruised soul. What had happened after that was something he'd rather not think about.

There was only one person he had to see now. Laura Stillings. Even though they'd only met a few weeks before, Ben knew that he could trust her to help him in his current state. Somewhere along the way home, he'd started crying. The act made his eye throb painfully, but he couldn't seem to stop. People gave him weird looks as he staggered along down the hallway at an almost sprint. Having not had enough patience for the elevator, he'd went up the stairs three at a time, and was now nearing Laura's door.

Ben didn't even bother with making himself calm down a little before all but pounding on her door. He leaned his head on it, taking in quick breaths. "Please be there...Please be there..." He whispered.

[Laura Stillings]

Laura rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up her white tennies but she couldn't seem to find them. She got down on her hands and knees and began crawling around. Laura was extremely organized when it came to her work with the theatre but when it came to her life she was the Clutter Queen. She liked everything clean as in nothing growing or smelly and she couldn't handle old food or dishes but she always had scattered books and papers. She flipped up the skirt of the bed. "Ah HA!" She said reaching for her shoes.

"You know..." Faden began with a smile, "This wouldn't happen if you ju-" He was interupted by rather strong knocking at the door. Faden nudged Laura's leg with his foot, her top half still reaching under the bed without much success.

"I heard it." She said crawling out, still with no shoes. "Can you be a dear and not an ass for one moment and get those for me?" She said and without waiting for an answer said "Thanks" and made her way over to the door. She smiled a bit as Faden grumbled and began to reach under the bed. " I so own you." She said with a bit of triumph in her voice. She then opened the door and smiled to see Ben, "Hey!" She said immediatly without thinking. After a second she saw how upset and paniced he looked, "Are you okay?" She asked holding the door open, "Come on in."

[leslie]

Ben stepped back from the door as Laura opened it. She seemed happy to see him right off, but then noticed his dishevled and paniced state. He couldn't say anything right away, but stepped in. He didn't see Faden, because he was hidden under the bed, looking for Laura's shoes. He began pacing the room, gathering his words before he spoke. Ben wondered what she would think of him after this. Would she be mad? Would she be okay with it? Would she comfort him? Or kick him out of her room?

The story spilled out of his mouth before he knew it. The scenes played before his eyes like a movie. He didn't even feel like it had been him, except for his eye that was a lovely color of dark purple at this point. Ben stopped pacing as he reached the end, looking over at Laura. "And...And then. I went to punch Luke in the stomach..." He took in a deep breath. "And I...Laura I hit Emilia! I punched my baby sister!" His voice had risen, and the words tumbled out. Ben sat down on one of the beds, putting his head in his hands. "She told me to leave. So I did. And I didn't know where to go except for here. Laura...I've never heard her like that before." He looked up at her again. "You have to believe me. I never meant to hurt her. Never. I was just trying to protect her."

[Laura Stillings]

Laura stood back as Ben came into the room, rather quickly. Before he began to let all of the words flow out she had attempted to warn him Faden was in the room but it was fairly obvious Ben had to get this out. So she shut the door and listened. Her eyes widened a bit as the story came out. Intense. was all her mind came up with and she was a tad worried about Faden when Ben sat down at the edge of the bed he was under. She could see Faden's foot disapear under the bed so now all of him was under there. Laura looked at Ben as he held his head in his hands. She felt bad for the guy.

"Of course I believe you." She said walking over to him. She sat down on the little foot rest/ bench thing in front of her bed so she was facing him. "And since it's Luke...in the end it'll probably be better than if you hadn't done anything." She added. She never really liked Luke. He was one of Chase's good friends and a lot like Chase when it came to girls. Chase had told her so many times if a guy like himself or Luke ever came towards her to run. She had spoken to Luke a few times, and being hit on in such a manner never really appealed to her. But then again, thanks to her father and what had happened to her, she had never been easy to manipulate and had always been fiercly independent.

Faden was in a bit of a shock at what he had just heard. He got beat up on purpose by his foster brother all the time but that was not the same thing by a mile. He understood though. Faden hated Luke, simply because Luke was one of the guys that harassed him at school all the time. Faden had met Emilia, she was sweet and he was glad Ben had attempted to stop her from becoming just another notch on the bedpost to Luke. Faden was a tad worried because he knew Ben really only meant Laura to hear that. It was simply the story came out so fast, he didn't have much of a chance to show himself.

Laura glanced down under the bed, and with one look of regret said to Ben, "And I'm sorry add another thing to the list of crappy events on this night but...You should get up for a moment, so Faden can get out from under the bed." She added with an apologetic tone. please don't hate me. She thought to herself. Faden stuck a hand out to show himself and where he was under the bed, the same thought passing through his head as Laura's.

[leslie]

Ben nodded slowly, glad the he believed him. It was a start. Maybe if he and Laura talked about it enough, he'd be able to talk to Emilia again. He could feel himself calming down a little, the adrenalyn depleating a little from his blood. The entire right side of his face was throbbing, and he touched his eye carefully. It had started to swell a little, and the cold touch of his fingers made him wince. "Thanks Laura..." He said quietly, looking back at her as she sat down. "I'm sorry I barged in like th-" Ben stopped, hearing Laura say something else.

Faden was in here? The thought almost made his heart stop. He hadn't wanted the story to get out, let alone allow Laura's appeared boyfriend hear it. Even though Laura hadn't exactly said that she and Faden were dating, Ben could only assume, considering how much they hung out. Ben got up without a though, blinking a few times in surprise. "O-oh...Hi Faden." He mumbled, plastering on a small smile. "Sorry about that. Didn't know you were down there." He was a little mad that Laura hadn't said something right away, but didn't say anything about it.

[Laura Stillings]

"Sorry about that. Didn't know you were down there."

Faden pulled himself out from under the bed fully. His top half emerging first. He tossed Laura her shoes. Which she caught. "Ah yeah you're not the one who should apologize." He said standing straight and dusting off a bit. He really did feel bad. "And not for punching Luke either, touche." He said with a nod. "Sorry about being under the bed. I was getting Laura's shoes and then you came in and by the time you made it fully into the room, the storie was already half out....and I'm gonna go." Faden said quickly and awkwardly pointing towards the door.

She felt sort of bad since she had planned to spend the night randomly walking around with Faden seeing what was out and about but then again, she could see Ben needed to talk, although he might not want to after what had just happened with Faden being under the bed. Laura nodded, "Yeah about that Faden-" She began.

"Laura, please. Friends are friends and when one friend needs you more, the other can take the hint." He said with a smile, trying his best to let her know he wasn't disappointed or upset at all, actually he was glad Ben thought of coming to Laura. He only hoped her hadn't ruined it by being in here. He looked at Ben, "Sorry again, but uh...just to let you know, lips are locked and sealed and I'm not judgemental." He said again very quickly nodding as though it was a chronic condition. Before giving yet another awkward wave and dashing out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Once that door shut the silence was deafening. Laura, as great of a friend as she could be, wasn't the greatest with emotions other than happy and frustrated. And as much as Ben should be frustrated, he also seemed hurt, angry, and more. She looked at the shut door for a moment before looking at Ben again. She took a deep breath and looked at Ben, "So...." She began not sure what to say. She had already apologized for Faden being under the bed but saying it again wouldn't hurt. "Again sorry about..." She said pointing to the bed, "It just happen so fast...I uh....I'm not good at this." She said plainly after stumbling all over her words. "I'm Sorry" She said once more, but this time it seemed a bit more like she meant it and not like it was protocal. After another long pause she said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

[leslie]

For some reason, Faden’s comment about punching Luke made him smile. If he’d thought about it, he might have realized it was the first time he’d smiled in a long time. It almost felt good to know that Faden could make him laugh, even though Faden could be Laura’s boyfriend. “Really though. It’s okay.” Ben assured him, shoving his hands in his pockets. “At least you didn’t sit on me like I practically did to you.” He shrugged one shoulder, the smile still on one half of his lips.

He moved over to the mirror as Laura and Faden went to talk. Flipping on the light that was nearest to it, he was almost taken aback. He knew Luke had a good punch, but he hadn’t known how well up until he looked. The edge of his right eye was bruised in a ‘U’ shape, extending from the corner of his eyelids down below his eye, and was starting to swell slightly. Ben cursed softly, taking one of the wash cloths and getting it wet with cool water. Holding it to his eye, he turned as he realized Faden had left and she was now talking to him.

Ben almost smiled at her stumbling over words. When he’d first met Laura, she seemed very confident. But now, he could tell she actually did feel bad about Faden being in the room at the time. “Laura, it’s not that big of a deal. As long as Faden doesn’t say something to anyone, it’s not an issue.” He sat in a chair across the room, still holding the wet cloth to his eye. “And I don’t really know what to say any more. I was just frustrated and scared for her, you know? I’m afraid that she’ll never want to talk to me again.” He sighed. “Not that I would blame her.”

[Laura Stillings]

Laura gave hima small smile, "He won't, I know him. And he's not the type" She watched as Ben sat down and held the moist cloth to his eye. She walked over to him and put her hand out for the cloth, "Here, let me see it." She said softly. She had gotten many black eyes in her day. Both her and Chase had gotten pretty good at making sure they disapeared quickly. "We should probably get ice on that, cool water doesn't do as much as you'd think." She stood up and walked over to the ice box that hotels gave each room, but no one ever filled them. Laura on the other hand did. She was weird and put ice into her hot coffee to cool it down so she could drink it immediatly.

She took a few ice cubes, maybe five into her hand and placed them in a small ziplock bag which she then filled the empty space with cold water. She pressed the ziplock seal and wrapped it in a single paper towel to dull down the cold a small amount and handed it too him, "Home made ice pack." She said simply. That's what it was at least.

“And I don’t really know what to say any more. I was just frustrated and scared for her, you know? I’m afraid that she’ll never want to talk to me again. Not that I would blame her.”

Laura sat down on the bench again and bent on leg up, turning to face him. "You were trying to protect her, and you made a mistake. Your heart was in the right place. And if she's nearly as wonderful as you make her out to be, then when she cools off, she'll see that." Laura hoped that was the truth. That's what happened with her and Chase all the time. Laura didn't want to give Ben false hope though. The truth was, if she never forgave him, it'd be pretty self centered in Laura's mind and that was something Emilia didn't seem to be. At least not from what she heard of from Chase and Faden who had met her briefly.

[leslie]

“Well, that’s good. Faden seems like he’s a good guy.” Ben said, smiling back at her. Handing her the cloth, he crossed his legs on the bed. How calm she was about this whole thing surprised him a little. His dad might have told him to suck it up, while Emilia would have gotten pissed at Luke; had she not been part of the ordeal, that is. But not Laura. That could be one thing he liked about her. It took quite a lot to make her freak out about something. She didn’t tell him to suck it up, and didn’t appear to want to kick Luke’s ass. Not that she could have if she tried; Luke was a million times stronger than anyone he knew.

Ben took the ice pack from her, smiling a little again as he pressed it on his eye. “Clever.” He remarked. Already, his eye felt better than with the cold cloth. “How did you come up with that?” He laughed. “You should copy-right the idea. It’s genius.”

The mood turned solemn again as Laura talked about Emilia. What she was saying sunk in, and he nodded. “I know I was, I just hope that she’ll be able to see that. And I hope she’s okay.” The thought came to him that Emilia might still be in the club, and his eyes widened a little. “Aw shit. What if she’s still down there? That ass hole probably didn’t stay with her for long.” He shook his head. “Emilia doesn’t cope well with confrontation.” He explained to her. “She shuts down to most everyone when shit like this happens. Everyone but me and my mom and dad that is.”

[Laura Stillings]

“How did you come up with that? You should copy-right the idea. It’s genius.”

Laura smiled but shook her head, tucking one of her dark brown curls behind her ears. "No, um...I didn't come up with it." She said walking into the bathroom for a mometn, only to re-appear with one of the hand towels. She wiped off the melted water from the ice on her hands. "It was my mother's genius I suppose." She added. Her mother had taught it to Chase who had helped Laura out with it, then she picked it up. She doubted her mother kew how helpful it would be after she died.

She nodded as Ben went on, worried about his sister. It was strange being on this side of it, watching the brother be protective, instead being protected but the brother. From this angle, it was sweet what he did. And how much he cared. Yeah, so perhaps violence wasn't the perfect way to deal but the heart was there. "Well do want to go check it out?" She asked. She didn't want him to keep worrying about Emilia. "I can go with you, if need be."

((Crappy post I know, Sorry))

[leslie]

Ben nodded with a smile. "Mothers pretty much are geniuses." He mused. His tone was lighter now, as was his mood. Laura was distracting him from his issues, which he liked. He could deal with them later, but right now, all he wanted to do was calm down. "I swear they don't get enough credit for how smart they are." He laughed, shaking his head. "I know my mom doesn't." It was true, Ben realized. He hardly ever thought about all that his mom did for him. He made a small mental note to do so when he got home.

Ben thought about her offer for a minute. Should he let Emilia cool off for a bit? Or should he go running after her right then? He knew that she would already be mad at him, and he also knew that just getting near her would make it worse. So, he shook his head. "Probably better to just...Leave her alone for now. But thanks, Laura. I feel a ton better now." He really did too, if you didn't count his eye. "I really appreciate this, you know. I mean...You being cool with my barging in here and all." Most people he knew wouldn't want to deal with this kind of drama and might have kicked him out as soon as possible. But here she was, making sure he was okay.

((Mine too. Sorry.))

[Laura Stillings]

"I swear they don't get enough credit for how smart they are. I know my mom doesn't."

Laura looked at him, amused. So that's what she liked about Ben, he was extremely nice. Laura sometimes got annoyed with the kids that were so close to their parents, because they seemed fake. Laura had assumed no one could be that close but Ben reminded her of how close she, chase and her mom had been when she was alive. Yeah Laura was very young. 7 at the oldest point. But she still remembered her. The long walks along the river, downtown Milwaukee, going to the Celebrate Wisconsin store and buying big Cheese Hats, and of course there was always tailgating at Miller Park before the Brewers took to the field and true to form, lost their game. Didn't matter if they sucked, the Milwaukee Brewers were still the greatest base ball team out there.

But when she died, all that ended and her dad...well, whatever happened, happened. It's not like she could change the past. And she was always doing her best not to let it happen again, but it always did. "Good mother's never get the credit they deserve, until it's too late to thank them for it." She said with a smile. "Tell me Ben, Have you always been this nice to and about people?"

"I really appreciate this, you know. I mean...You being cool with my barging in here and all."

Laura shook her head, sitting down, once again but this time at the end of the bed, "What are friend's hotel rooms for besides helping other friends to vent?" She replied with a shrugg. "Besides I wouldn't call it 'barging in'. That sounds so negative, how about a surprise visit?" She smiled for a moment before looking around the room for a moment. Thank god Chase was at a club, Ben didn't really need another bruised up eye. After all, he only has two. "I'm sure she'll be fine Ben, she probably pushed Luke away. After all, he did punch you back, he can't look as attractive as he had before."

[leslie]

"Tell me Ben, Have you always been this nice to and about people?"

Ben had to think about it for a moment, but with a small smile on his face. Had he really been so nice? He supposed so. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d been intentionally rude to someone. It had always been against his morals and his life teachings. Both his parents had been based entirely upon manners and etiquette. Being polite around people, and if you ever needed to be rude, do it on your own time. “Yeah…I guess I have. That’s the way it’s always been with me though. I find it useless to be pointlessly rude.”

As Laura sat down again, Ben almost found himself wishing that she were closer. He didn’t exactly know why, but he did. He laughed a little though, as she talked about his ‘surprise visit’. “Well, if you want to look at it like that, it doesn’t sound quite so bad. But still, thanks.” He curled one knee up so that it was up near his chest, and put his hands over it as she brought up Emilia again. “You’re probably right. After all, if someone you might have liked punched your brother, I doubt that you would have hung around there for long.”

[Laura Stillings]

“Yeah…I guess I have. That’s the way it’s always been with me though. I find it useless to be pointlessly rude.”

Laura laughed a little. "Wow, really? I find it quite fun." She said. When Laura was working and overwhelmed, which she usually was. Laura was the type to love a busy scheduale, besides, it gave her a reasen to be at the theatre later than everyone else and earlier, making it easy for her to sleep under the prop table when she wasn't ready to go home or in the dorms. And when she had a lot to get done and was working with people who didn't know what they were doing, she got snappy and quite bitchy, mostly in the tone of her voice though. And she had to admit, it felt good. It helped get out everything she let build up inside. She was a workaholic and a perfectionist.

“You’re probably right. After all, if someone you might have liked punched your brother, I doubt that you would have hung around there for long.”

Laura thought for a moment. "Maybe, but it seems different. I don't want to offend you but..." She shrugged looking down for a moment before look righ back at him, wow great eyes. She shook that thought out of her head quickly, "You're the nice guy, softer...Luke isn't. heh this makes no sense. My brother is one of the assholes so if he got punched, it would make more sense. If you got punched, it was just the other guy being an ass." God damn she made him sound pathetic which she didn't think at all. She hoped he understood what she meant, just to be sure, "I mean to say... my brother, if punched, probably deserved it. You didn't."