39 ~ Sweet as a Milkshake-2

"No," Ben said firmly, shoving me inside and starting up the car. "I know, Dad," I scoffed, but inside I was kind of disappointed. I'd never done anything particularly bad before, except for not reading my assigned reading books in school, but maybe that was for good reason. Ben seemed to know his way to the town centre quite well, and we got there faster than I would've gone, mainly because he drove like a speed demon. "Benny, this isn't NASCAR, slow down please." He dropped maybe 3mph, but kept going super fast. "We need to get there before ten, otherwise we won't get the free ticket for your birthday." "How'd you know about that?" "I just looked it up." "Did you just look up cheap birthday deals?" There was a pause, and he glanced at me worriedly. "Yes." I stared at him blankly, trying to psych him out as if I'd expected him to pay a lot of money for me. Then I beamed and raised my hand. "My kind of guy!" Ben rolled his eyes, noticeably more relaxed, but gave me a high five anyway. When we reached the town centre and had taken advantage of the fact that it was my birthday, Ben turned to me and adjusted my coat so that it was covering me a bit more. I smiled, amused. "Ben, I live in England. Cold doesn't affect me that much." He ignored me and placed his hands over my ears like muffs. "You didn't bring a hat," he said disapprovingly. I frowned at him and pointed at his thin jacket and lack of hat. "Neither did you, silly." I reached up and flicked his ears. They were already tinged slightly pink from the cold, and we hadn't even entered the ice rink yet. He stepped back and made a rude face at me. I put my hands on my hips and made a ruder face back. "Real mature," he said. "Says you!" I replied in a sing-song voice. I bit my lip in an attempt to stop from laughing at his dumb expression, but I couldn't hold it and started giggling. Ben rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the ice rink, which was awkward because of the ice skates we wore. "Do you know how to ice skate?" I asked. "That would've been more helpful if you'd asked me before we got here," Ben sassed me. "Considering you're the one who asked if we should come here!" "Lottie, ask yourself, can I ice skate?" We got to the actual rink part, and I shoved him hard, causing him to topple over onto the frozen floor. I clapped my hands over my mouth to stop myself from laughing. "I guess not," I said. "Lottie, what the fuck," he moaned. I raised my eyebrows. "Are you hurt?" I asked worriedly. "No, but-" "Then bye!" I squeaked and spun around seeing that he was struggling to get up and get me back. "Wait, Lottie-" "Sorry, I can't hear you!" I spun around a little and started skating backwards, watching him carefully as he got to his feet and then slipped again. I smiled and skidded to a stop, watching him struggle. Ben was seriously such a cutie! I hastily slid back to him while he was on his bum and then bent at the waist, wrapping my arms around his neck and squeezing tightly. "Cute!" I said. Ben froze in my arms, and I stayed like that until I was sure that he was too dazed to try and push me down as well. "What are you doing?" he asked. I laughed at him and let go. "Oh I don't know, Benny. What is it called when a person puts their arms around another person?" "Strangling," he said with a perfectly straight face. I held up a finger. "Ding ding ding! A*, you got it!" I stretched out my hands to him and he took them, pulling himself up. "Now can we actually skate?" he grumbled, brushing off spare bits of ice from his front. "Of course, madam." Ben glared at me, but there was no heart behind it. I grinned cheekily, and he just shook his head. Antagonising him was so fun. *** "Do you think they give out free things on people's birthdays?" Ben asked thoughtfully. I stared at the shop he pointed at. "We don't have an animal, that's a pet grooming salon." "I've got you," he said. "Good joke." We'd already gotten a free ticket at the ice rink, then a free coffee at the coffee shop, and then a free kid's ice cream scoop at a random ice cream shop, and then went to a Italian restaurant and got five percent off the total bill. "What else should we do?" I asked. I'd really had a wonderful time with Ben, and he'd made it such a wonderful birthday. Perhaps my very best birthday ever. I missed Ginny, but we'd arranged to have a nice, long phone chat once Ben and I reached Papa's house. "We've done pretty much everything. Shall we go somewhere else and see if this little village has any other things to do?" "Unless you're up for smoking cigarettes behind buildings, there's nothing," I said. "Let's do it," he said unenthusiastically. I looked at him and he sighed. "Let's go back, Lottie." I grinned and pulled up his hand that I held and kissed his knuckles. "Okay," I said. I really loved holding his hand. His expression was a little softer when he glanced at me, and he started pulling me towards the entrance. I felt light, happy, so glad to be here in this place at this time with Ben. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted that creepy man from the bus. Rick. A few seconds later, he saw me and smiled widely, and then he saw Ben, and the smile became a glare. I blinked and shuffled closer to Ben, and when I glanced back, Rick was gone. And I was worried.