This Side of Pain

Distance and Stories

Colton's POV

    The food comes not too long later, and I can feel my plan continue to sweat as the time goes on.

     This is my opportunity to get Ben on the hook and maybe even catch another date, but for the past ten minutes he's been nothing but quiet, even to his daughter when she goes to show him the pictures that she's coloring.

     I watch him out of the corner of my eye as I slice into my food, picking up the piece of steak and setting it in my mouth as I watch the man before me with furrowed brows, the things on his plate barely getting touched.

    Since I've met Ben, I always knew there was something that had happened to him, even to go so far and to say it had something to do with his Soulmate form the way he responded to the word during open house. And I know that in a way, this could put him back in whatever happened to him, all over again and ruin any chances I had with him.

     "Mr. Colton! I made a flower!" Maggie says and I turn towards her and softly grab the paper offered to me and look at the orange and pink flower shaped blob on the sheet.

     "It's very pretty, Maggie. Are you going to give it a name?" I ask her and she tilts her head at me adorably.

      "A name?"

      "Of course. All good flowers need a name and a friend." I tell her and she nods her head, eyes wide before she picks up a french fry to chew on it after I hand her the paper back and she gets back to work.

      "You have really long hair." She tells me a few minutes later while I stare at her dad who's eyes are vacant as he stares down at the full plate in front of him.

      "Thank you. I started growing it when my best friend died." I tell her giving her a sad smile. I notice Ben look up a little with a frown but I don't say anything as I continue eating.

     Maggie's gasps, her tiny hand covering her mouth i shock and the sight makes me want to laugh but I hold it in as she states at me in disbelief. I had that same reaction when I found out and it's funny to see the same look so exaggerated on a smaller face.

      "Why did he died?" She asks me and my smile stays on my face.

     I used to be sad about it every time someone brought him up or asked about how he passed, but as I get older, I realize that the bastard is probably somewhere falling in love with another soul, living his life while making fun of me for being lye to work and making a stumbling fool of myself over Ben.

     Will enjoyed his life all the way up until he didn't have it anymore and while I miss him, Indont really see him as a victim because he never saw himself as one.

     "He died two years ago because of Cancer. It makes you really sick and some times you get better and some times you don't." I tell her, trying my best not to scare Maggie while keeping it realistic.

      She gasps and look at me dead in the eyes. "Mr. Colton I had cancer this summer! I was really sick." She tells me.

     "Baby, you did not have cancer, you had allergies." Ben says with a small chuckle and i turn to him with a surprised smile, not expecting him to say anything more in the conversation. He looks up at me with a frown and I go to wipe my face, thinking something is on it, but he speaks up before I can get too paranoid. "I'm sorry for your lost." He tells me.

     I shrug my shoulders and look down at my plate before I look up with a half smile.

     "Thank you, but there's no need for sorry. I messed up a little and didn't spend the time we had together like I should have, but I'm grateful that I had the experience to meet him. He was my soulmate of sorts." I tell him and Ben flinches a little bit and zo curse myself for not remembering but he continues the conversation much to my relief.

      "But you're human. Did you guys date I thought you said he was your friend?" I laugh to myself as I realize how he may have taken that.

      "It's different for us a little. We have a lot of different kinds of soulmates. You have the friend kind, the ones that are meant to be in your life and help you grow and always believ in you and love you no matter what. They can't alwYs stick around though, they're there for a reason, a season or a lifetime. I like to think of Will that he was all three, because while the lifetime didn't last for me, it did for him."
I explain with a soft smile.

      "What are the other types of Mates?" He asks and I notice rhat with the shortened term he doesn't flinch away at all.

     "Then you have the ones where it's family. Those in your family whether a sister, cousin or aunt thats always going to have your back. The person you can tell everything to no matter how long you've been away from each other." I say and he seems to be listening, his blue eyes alight with the information I'm giving him.

     "But the most important kind are relationships. But just like with friends there can be more than one and they can stick around for certain reasons. You have your high school sweetheart, your first love, marriage all of it. Just because things don't work out doesn't mean that rhat person wasn't your Mate." I explain to him.

    I watch as he scrunches up his face a little, a little wrinkle appearing in his nose and it makes me smile a little. "Humans are weird. But I like that." He says.

    "Tell me about yours. The family and friends ones." I urge him, taking a gamble and thankfully he nods before he turn to play with Maggie's hair for a moment as he thinks.

    "My family are my friends. The only family that I had left after our parents left was my sister. She died six years ago. The only ones that I have left in my life now are my two best friends and their sons. They have a huge family of friends but I'm happy with just the four of them." He tells me and I can see tears come into his eyes before he looks away.

     "I understand the family part, I grew up without anyone. Raised in the system with my best friend since we were little assholes running around the building." I tell him and his laughs is like a soft bell. " We were the older brothers to almost everyone and it could get tiring.  It could be sad, but it was also a little great to have so many little ones looking up to us." I admit with a shrug.

     Ben gestures towards Maggie who's munching on her fries. "Is that why you became a teacher?" He asks me and I nod my head.

    "A little bit. I figured I would put that mentor skill to use." I say with a shrug and as I continue to talk to Ben, even though he's still not eating, his face has a soft smile on it, and I no longer feel nervous about this date or any that may come.

~~~~~~~
trauma seems to always bring people together

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