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THE NEXT DAY, I'M ABSOLUTELY shocked to get a message from Ben on my LightTab. It just says, “Wanna go out for ice cream?”
I think he's asked this before, and I'm not sure how I deflected it the first time. I'm not sure I even want to deflect it. Would it be so terrible to spend time with Ben outside of missions?
I reply to him, “Sure. Where would you like to meet?”
Ten seconds after I send the text, Ben appears in my bedroom, and I scream at the top of my lungs. I'm rarely the screaming type, in fact, I didn't even scream when I had thirty spiderlings coming at me.
“Ben, what do you think you're doing?” I wail. “You can not just appear in a girl's room like that!”
“Why not? You do it to me.” Ben wanders around my room like he belongs there. Pointing at the mounted weapons on my wall, he says, “Most people have posters. You have medieval swords. That's kinda sexy.”
“You can't just appear in a girl's room without knocking. You just can't.” I probably sound like a hypocrite right now, since I've done the same thing to Ben. Nevertheless, I think he deserves this lecture. “I'm not your friend. I'm not your girlfriend. I'm your instructor, and you're my student. This behavior is... inappropriate.”
Ben sticks out his bottom lip. “Aw... we're not friends?”
What I just said reminds me of Phineas' I'm not your friend speech, and I don't think I like it. I answer instead, “We're not not friends. Anyway, you're lucky my dad wasn't home to hear me scream.”
“Why? Do you think he would've kicked my ass?”
“No. But he would have had a few words with you for appearing in my room like that! I thought you weren't that good at warping?”
“So did I. In fact, in my defense, I didn't even mean to do it. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be funny if I appeared in Kaylene's room, and then it just happened.”
I narrow my eyes until I can barely see Ben through the slits. “In that case... I guess I can forgive you.”
Ben demonstrates his warping skills a second time and takes us to an ice cream parlor called 3999 Flavors. To my amazement, the name is no exaggeration. They really do have three thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine flavors. My face pinches into a grimace as I peruse the unusual options.
“Potato?” I squeal. “Who would ever want potato ice cream?”
“I don't think it sounds so bad. Look, you can even get it with a gravy topping.”
I audibly gag at the thought of it, and Ben chuckles at my disgust.
Most of the flavors sound totally normal, or somewhat normal. There's vanilla, strawberry, blueberry cheesecake, cinnamon swirl, green tea and—
“Chicken teriyaki?” I cry. “Ewww. That sounds disgusting.”
“Hey, chicken teriyaki is one of my favorite flavors. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.”
I turn toward him, arms crossed, and ask, “Seriously?”
“No. I'm just messing with you. But it might not be so bad. Why don't we try it?”
I play along and sample a spoonful, and it's even worse than I thought. I almost spit it out, but I don't want Ben to know my weakness, so I swallow it down with a smile.
“If you're still feeling adventurous, the lobster bisque ice cream isn't bad,” Ben says. “And the sweet corn ice cream is—”
“Oh, hell no.” I'm so appalled by the thought, I give him a light punch on the arm. “You can get something crazy if you want. I think I'll stick to something normal.”
I end up with a vanilla ice cream cone, which is about as normal as normal can get. Ben orders a dragonfruit and mango sundae, which doesn't sound half bad. The ice cream parlor is crowded, and I'm pretty sure there are at least a few people who recognize me, so I warp Ben to another location: a private beach for Archangels. There, I manifest a black and white polka dot bikini.
“Damn, girl!” Ben squawks. “You need to give me a warning before you do something like that!”
“Something like what?” I ask.
“Like that!” He points at my bikini, but I don't know why he's freaking out. It's not that skimpy.
Between licks of my ice cream, I joke, “If you'd rather, I could manifest one of the bathing dresses from the 1900's?”
“No, I like this. This is good. This is... hot,” Ben mutters. “Am I allowed to say that, or are you going to give me one of your I'm your instructor and this isn't appropriate speeches?”
“It's probably not appropriate, but I'll let it slide.” Leaning closer to his cup of ice cream, I say, “You know... that actually looks really good.”
“Want some?” Before I can answer affirmatively or negatively, Ben manifests a second spoon and dips into his ice cream. “Here.”
“But I wasn't going to—”
“Come on!” Ben practically shoves the spoon into my hand. “You'll like it. It's one of the better three thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine flavors.”
“That is way too many flavors.” I sample Ben's ice cream and give him an approving nod.
Ben crashes into the sand and pats the spot next to him. I join him on the ground, but I try to sit as ladylike as possible. A bikini isn't something I wear that often, and for good reason. In my time, girls would never wear anything like this.
Ben says, “You know, deep down, a part of me thought it was sexy when you banished and failed me. It hurt my feelings... but on some weird level, it was kind of hot.”
I could have this boy if I wanted him. That thought has invaded my mind before, but I push it out every time it creeps in. He is cute, and he flirts with me a lot. If I asked him for a kiss right now, I'm pretty sure he would indulge me.
No, that can't happen. I can't throw away years of professionalism and celibacy on a boy like Ben, so I quickly change the subject. “Your previous instructor... what was he like? You haven't been a bad partner, so I keep wondering if he was partly responsible for the fact that you failed so many missions.”
“I'm not a bad partner?” Ben reclines on his elbows and smiles up at the sky. “I thought you couldn't stand me.”
“You're wrong. On the Katy and Sebastian missions, you really pulled through. I didn't expect you to care as much as you did.”
“Well... I do like kids,” Ben says. “Anyway, my last instructor and I butted heads a lot. I have a hard time respecting authority, especially when I know I'm right.”
Flatly, I reply, “I've noticed.”
Ben and I finish our ice cream around the same time. I'm chomping on the last few bites of my cone while he's scraping the dregs from his cup.
“So, I'm just wondering...” As he speaks, Ben sits up and leans closer to me. He's so close, I half-expect his lips to brush against my shoulder. With a cheeky grin on his lips, he asks, “Are you attracted to me?”
I can feel every inch of my body tightening in resistance. I am attracted to him, but I can't give in to this. “I'm not going to answer that.”
“Aw, come on!” Ben whines. “I kind of think you are.”
I shake my head and shut him down. “Nope.”
“I think you're lying,” Ben says. “I feel the vibe between us... and there's this look in your eyes that says... Ben, I want to marry you.”
“Crap, you caught me. I can practically hear the wedding bells in my head.” I hope my answer sounded sarcastic enough. I would hate for him to think I was serious.
“Cool. Go ahead and manifest a dress, and let's get married right now,” Ben teases. “For real, though... do you like me?”
I start my answer with the heaviest of sighs. “It doesn't matter if I do or don't. I'm your instructor, and even if I wasn't, I have no interest in dating... not until I finish my Archangel training.”
“Then I'll wait for you to finish. You're almost done, right?”
I don't really have a good rebuttal for that, because he's right. I'm two missions away from finishing, and at that point, I won't be able to use my “I'm your instructor” excuse on him either. I can feel my face getting hot, because there's a small part of me that wants to tackle him to the sand and kiss him. Hard. Ben can't know that, though.
I'm really glad he can't read my mind.
“I'll ask you out again when you've finished your training,” Ben says. “If you say no, I won't bother you again.”
If Ben stopped flirting with me, I think I'd probably miss it. I should probably say something encouraging so he won't stop.
“You're not bothering me,” I tell him.
“I already knew that.” Ben manifests a second cup of dragonfruit mango ice cream, and as his spoon plunges into it, he adds, “Like I said, I can see it in your eyes.”