Totally Inappropriate *UNDER EDITING*

Chapter 8

True to his word, Benjamin woke me up every two hours during the night. I could only really take it for the sweet gesture it was when I got out of bed in the morning, though, as each wake up call made me grouchier than the last. When he came down I was in the middle of making pancakes, which I put on a plate with some bacon and put in front of him.

"Thanks for waking me up a gazillion times last night," I told him as I made a plate for myself and sat down opposite him. Nowadays I didn't find it so shocking when he pranced around in just a pair of boxers, but it was no less difficult to keep my eyes off his gorgeous body.

At my thank you, Benjamin raised an eyebrow at me. "You've changed your tune. Maybe my mind's a little messed up since you tried to whack me over the head with your lampshade at four o'clock in the morning."

I offered him a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that," I said in my sweetest voice, even though I don't think he could ever view me as innocent. "I like my sleep."                                                            

"Really?" He forced airiness into his voice, making me laugh. "I never would have noticed."

We ate in a comfortable silence for a little while, nothing but the quiet hum of the radio going in the background, before Benjamin spoke. The same sincerity and true emotion from last night was there again, but not on the same scale. This was just him being able to show his genuine interest; not shying away from the fact that we were friends anymore. I felt like now I held a piece of him with me, one that he'd willingly revealed, and nothing could ever take that away from me.

"Hey, can I ask..." he shook his head as though to remind himself he was still the ballsy Benjamin I knew. "Why'd you try out for the cheerleading team in the first place? Why'd you want to join?"

I had been foolishly hoping he wouldn't ask me that question, but I knew it had been a long-shot. Benjamin was not only as nosy as me but could, apparently, read me as well as I could read him. Maybe I could spot the tick of his jaw or notice when he was being purposefully aloof, but he returned it just as well. He knew me. "I, uh..." My throat had suddenly gone rather dry. "Okay, but it's going to make me sound stupid and-"

"Sveta?"

That was when I noticed he had started to call me by my nickname, but I figured pointing it out would be pushing it. "Yep?"

"Spit it out."

I glared at him but spoke anyway. "I kind of thought it would help me to fit in," I said lamely. Ignoring the sad look that crossed across his features, I carried on, "I've never really fitted in anywhere. Not with my families before I ran away, not when I was stripping... and now not here. I mean, you guys are amazing, don't get me wrong, but now the problem's at school, not at home. I just got my hopes up a little, that's all." I shrugged. "I thought things were gonna be perfect now or something. It was only until last night that I realised how stupid that was. I mean, I already have a friend. I have you."

Benjamin looked- dare I say it?- touched at that last part. It took him a moment, it seemed, to find words again and when he did he continued with the loving theme in the room. Oh, how little time that would last. "You don't need to do that, Sveta," he told me. He came over to sling his arm around my shoulders, nudging my side. "If they don't like you, they can fuck off. So no more trying out for stupid extra-curricular activities." He paused. "Oh, and stop wearing granny clothes. There is an happy medium between that and 'stripper', you know."

"Nothing from my closet, then," I muttered lowly.

Benjamin suddenly pulled away and started to back out of the room, a mockingly-afraid expression crossing over his face. "I sense shopping talk coming, so... I'm gonna' leave now. Hey, maybe you can ask that, um, Malia chick or something? She seemed alright."