Chapter 32
“If this gives me a rash, I’m going to kill you,” Mylie said from underneath the clay mask Cassie was slapping onto her face.
She’d come home from work to Cassie waiting to pounce. Even though all Mylie wanted to do was collapse in front of the television
and speak to no one, she couldn’t ignore the hopeful look in Cassie’s eyes. Besides, all the preparation for the tournament
was doing a number on her skin. Jodi was always telling her to drink more water, but Mylie simply said she’d die without a
daily Dr Pepper.
“Calm down,” Cassie replied. “You’re fine.”
“It’s burning!”
Cassie sighed. “And they say teenagers are dramatic.”
“Where did you get this, anyway?” Mylie asked, resisting the urge to claw at her skin.
“The ninety-nine-cent rack at the Gas ’n Go,” Cassie replied.
“What?” Mylie sat up, batting her sister’s hands away from her face.
“I’m kidding,” Cassie replied. “I ordered them online.”
“Where?”
“Would you just let me do this?”
“Fine,” Mylie grumbled.
Downstairs, the doorbell rang.
“Granny!” Cassie yelled.
“She’s not home,” Mylie said.
The doorbell rang again.
“I’m not answering it!” Cassie exclaimed, backing away from Mylie. “I have this mask on my face!”
“So do I,” Mylie replied.
“Yeah, but what if it’s Ryan?”
Mylie tried and failed to raise her eyebrows, the clay on her skin crackling. “I thought you were done with him.”
“I am,” Cassie said. “But I still want him to come over and beg for me to come back to him.”
Mylie stood up and replied, “You watch too many romantic comedies.”
“Just go see who it is!” Cassie pleaded.
“Okay, okay. I’m going.” Mylie made her way downstairs, determined to tell whoever was at the door to go away, especially if that person was Ryan.
When she pulled open the door, Ben stood there, his hands shoved down into his pockets and an amused smile playing on his
lips.
Mylie tried not to look at his lips.
“Hello, ma’am,” Ben said. “I’m looking for Mylie. Do I have the right house?”
Mylie’s hands flew up to her face. Goddamnit. She stepped aside to let him in. “This is Cassie’s fault,” she said.
“No,” Ben said. “I think it looks good. Really brings out your eyes.”
“Be careful,” Mylie warned. “Or I’ll wipe this shit all over that nice, white shirt of yours.”
“You wouldn’t,” Ben said, his eyes going wide.
“Try me.” Mylie lunged at him.
Ben leapt out of the way, laughing as he rounded the couch and stood there, hands outstretched to stop her from wiping the cracking mask all over him. “Don’t even try it.”
“Or what?” Mylie taunted, attempting to climb over the couch and failing to catch his arm.
“Or,” he huffed. “You’re going to... regret it!”
Ben grabbed at Mylie, catching her around the waist and pulling her down onto the couch on top of him.
“Let me go!” Mylie screeched, wriggling as he held her there.
Ben loosened his grip around her waist, his hands wandering down past the small of her back toward her ass.
Mylie went still. “So far, I’m not regretting it,” she whispered.
“It’s hard to take you seriously with that shit all over your face,” Ben said, grinning. He didn’t move his hands.
Mylie didn’t hesitate. She leaned down and rubbed her cheek against his. “Ha!”
“What are you two doing?” Cassie stood at the bottom of the stairs, glaring at them.
Mylie jumped off of Ben and glanced over at her sister guiltily. “He started it.”
“I did not,” Ben protested.
Cassie only shrugged. “Don’t let Granny catch you two on that couch together.”
Mylie felt her face grow hot beneath the mask, and she anxiously reached up to scratch at it. “I’m going to wash this off,”
she said.
“Good!” Ben called after her as she hurried upstairs. “Because I need your help with something.”
Fifteen minutes later, Mylie stood inside Ben’s house, staring down into one of the hallway air vents.
“I don’t understand what I’m supposed to be looking at,” Mylie said, peering down into the vent as a blast of chilly air hit her face. “It’s not that hot out. Why do you have the air on?”
“I haven’t acclimated to the heat yet,” Ben replied. “But that’s not my issue. Are you telling me you don’t see anything...
down there ?”
“No?”
“I swear I heard something earlier,” Ben replied. “And then, just before I came over to your house, I saw a face.”
“A face?” Mylie asked, twisting around to look up at him. “Like a human face?”
“No,” Ben replied. “It looked like an animal, but the hallway light was off, and by the time I turned it on and came back
to the vent, it was gone.”
“I think you’re losing it,” Mylie said.
“I swear I saw something,” Ben said, leaning his head down next to Mylie’s.
Mylie looked over at him and laughed. “You look terrified.”
“I’m not,” Ben said. “But there is something down there.”
Mylie stared at him, and he stared back, her smile fading to match his own, serious expression. No, it wasn’t serious. It
was something else. The kind of expression she’d seen every time they got this close to each other.
“It’s a bad idea, you know,” he said to her.
“What’s a bad idea?” she asked, her breath hitching in her throat.
“This,” Ben said, but even as he said it, he inched close to her until their breath met.
“Because you’re leaving,” Mylie replied.
Ben scooted so his forehead was resting against hers and then replied, “I don’t want you to hate me again.”
Mylie considered his words. She knew if she let it go further, today or any other day, everything would eventually fall apart. It had to. There was no way around it. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to move, to get up and leave like she knew she should.
“What are you thinking?” Ben asked her when she didn’t answer.
“I think,” Mylie said, “that if you don’t kiss me right now, I’ll hate you even more.”
Ben obliged. It was soft at first, sweet and calm, given their positioning on the floor. But it didn’t take long of her nipping
at his bottom lip before they were tangled in a heap on the hardwood.
Mylie let out a groan as he traced her jaw and dipped down to her throat, his hands roaming freely on her body. She was about
to ask him if they could move to the couch when she heard it.
A noise coming from the vent.
“Did you hear that?” she asked Ben.
“Hmm?” Ben replied, his mouth busy at her collarbone.
Mylie pushed him back. “Listen!”
Another noise, this time closer, almost as if whatever was in the vent was trying to get out and into the house.
“See!” Ben hissed, pointing. “I told you!”
Mylie sat up and crawled over to the vent, peering down into it. At first, she didn’t see anything but a flash of fur. Then
it turned to face her.
“Oh my God,” Mylie said. “Oh my God, it’s Fat Tony.”