ben

The question was, could he forgive the past in order to have a future with her? Any future?

What happened to you?" she asked."Ben was feeling artistic. Wanted to rearrange my face.

Funyuns make you fart," Caspian said, and I exploded in laughter."What's so funny?" Ben asked.I tried to stop laughing, but Caspian was leaning forward now, his face stck right in between us. "Funyuns give you bad breath, too. Not very attractive to the ladies." He paused. "ON second thought... enjoy your Funyuns, Ben!" I had to bite the side of my cheek to keep from giggling. The fact that Ben had no clue what was going on made it even harder to stop.

Are you okay?" I (Cassie) call up to him."Um. Define okay." (Ben)"Okay means you're not bleeding to death.""I'm okay.

In the year 2025, the best men don't run for president, they run for their lives. . . .

I looked at him and the other two people whose names I__ just learned. __o . . . so this is home then?__kinli looked at me, perplexed, then turned to Ben and Julie.__he said some girls left her here and told her it was home. That__ all she knows. She doesn__ even know you._ Julie wiped at her tears, trying to calm herself.He moved his eyes back to me as quickly as he could manage. __ahlen? You remember me, right?__ stared into this face, searching for something familiar. I didn__ recognize the angle of his chin, the length of his fingers. I didn__ know the slope of his shoulder or the shape of his lips.__kinli, right?_ I asked. This poor boy. I pitied him in the depths of my heart. Clearly, he__ already been going through something, and I could see the last scrap of fight he had in him dying with those words.__es.___ don__ remember ever seeing you before in my life. I__ sorry.__e pressed his lips together as if he was swallowing the urge to cry.__ut,_ I said, __ know your voice. I know it as if it were my own.

In the beginning, one soul split into two creating soul mates. And ever the two shall wander seeking each other. -Unknown

Ben wore the same goofy smile as in the photo. Take that, new guy! I can make him happy too!

When we__ all settled down from that first night, Julie found a bag on the porch, which we thought must have been left by the same three girls who had brought me to them. Just like the clues on my skin, I__ only been left with two worldly possessions. The first was a wad of cash that I immediately handed to Ben and Julie as compensation for giving me a home. Most of it went to pay for Akinli__ medical bills, which was fine with me. I didn__ know if there was a word bigger than soul mates, something that meant the feeling of being so connected that it was hard to tell where one person ended and the other began. If there was, that word belonged to Akinli and me.The second thing was a bottle of water. It was so peculiar, this water, a blue that was both dark and brilliant, too thick to see through but still carrying light. No matter the season, it was always cold, and there were tiny shells in it that never settled.Sometimes I slept with it, even though it was cold enough to wake me up if I rolled on it the wrong way. It was the only clue I had to tell me who I had been before the night I was left on the porch, and I loved it second only to Akinli.Somehow, I knew that this love was important, as if treasuring the water meant I treasured myself. And I did. I loved my recovering body, I loved my blue-eyed soul mate, I loved my adopted family.I held the water to my chest, and I loved.

For nearly four weeks, his family had been walking on eggshells around him, expecting him to fall apart at any moment and he was damn tired of it. He wished he could apart. Maybe it would hurt less if he could just say to hell with everything and find a corner to hide away in.

Heart turned to me, his face thought­ful. __es­ter­day morn­ing. Yes, that means that Daphne hadn__ been home for two days be­fore that._ He smiled at me. __ou were sup­posed to be the Al­pha__ eye can­dy.__dam laughed.__hat?_ I asked him. __ou don__ think I__ be good eye can­dy?_ I looked down at my over­alls and grease-__tained hands. I__ torn an­oth­er nail to the quick.__on­ey is eye can­dy,_ said Ben apolo­get­ical­ly. __ou__e . . . just you.___ine,_ said Adam, edg­ing be­tween Heart and me. __ine is what she is.

You are a sick, sick man,_ I told him.__hank you,_ Ben replied, looking modest.

Tell me to leave," he said roughly."No," I whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to his jawline."Then I'm staying," and his lips consumed mine.

You don__ fucking get it, do you, Sparks?_ Out of sheer frustration, Ben thwacked the wall with his hand. Hard. So hard his palm stung. __ love you. I am so goddamned, madly in love with you, I can__ see straight._ Ben__ voice resonated through the offices, echoed in his own ears. __ou__e the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I imagine before I fall asleep. I dream about you. Every single night. I live to see you, at the office, at home, anywhere. I just need to see your face. Hold your body. Touch your skin. I need you, Mel. More than I need air. You can__ walk away from me. You can__ love someone else._ He gulped in a breath and almost choked on the emotion clogging his throat, so when he spoke again his voice was scratchy, and much, much softer. __ screwed up. I made you choose. And I__ sorry. So desperately, pathetically sorry for that. But I can__ let you go. I can__ let him have you, because you__e mine. You were made for me, like I was made for you. We__e two peas in a pod, sweetness. We__e the same, you and I. We__e meant to be together.

Akinli, this strange boy whose life at the moment seemed to be hanging on this, pushed himself from the bed.Julie gasped, watching as his arms trembled under his weight, even as thin as he was. He crushed his eyes together in concentration, willing himself up.I heard Ben whisper to himself, __ome on, come on, come on.__hen Akinli, breathing as if he truly had just run a marathon, was fairly close to upright, he held out an arm for me.I fell into it fearlessly.We leaned into each other, neither of us strong enough to stay up on our own.__ thought I__ never see you sit up again,_ Julie cried.We both turned to her, smiling at the happy tears on her face.

Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.