“Okay, when you put it that way, not very well. So, what do we do?”
“I don’t think we can do anything. We know next to nothing and have no proof that anything happened.”
“I see your point, but I don’t like it.”
“I don’t imagine that you would, but I don’t think you have much of a choice. So, let me ask, do you still feel safe here? Are you scared at all?”
Alix thought about what Shay was saying. Was she scared? She didn’t think so.
“No, I’m not really scared, I’m madder than anything. I guess I’ll have to tell Ben about the coin, that is if he stops acting like a jerk. This week sucked, I’m so ready for it to be over.”
“That I have a cure for. I brought the sleepover kit with me.”
That made Alix smile. “That actually sounds like a good idea right about now.”
Shay’s sleepover kit consisted of a bunch of really ‘girly’ things. Teen magazines, chocolate, movies, mud masks, and everything you would need for a pedicure.
“So, what do want to start with?” Shay asked.
“I think a pedicure is in order.”
So, the girls got changed into their comfy pajamas and went to soak their feet in the tub for a few minutes. Shay put her special foot soaking salts in and they sat on the edge of the tub with their feet in the water.
“This feels so good,” Alix said relaxing a little. “What kind of salts did you put in this time?”
“Lavender. It’s supposed to be relaxing or something and after I saw you bite Ben’s head off I thought you could use something calming.”
“Um, yeah about that, do you think I was out of line?”
“No, he’d been acting like a jerk the whole week. It was like he didn’t want to be around us, and someone was forcing him to be. If you hadn’t said something I would have. He’s going to have to be the one to apologize. But enough talk about Ben, it’s time to relax and get girly.”
Once their feet were thoroughly soaked and dried they went back to Alix’s room to buff and polish. Shay had brought about ten different colors to choose from. Alix picked a bright pink and Shay put on a dark blue. After their toes were all pretty Shay declared that it was movie time and in Alix’s mind that also meant popcorn time. They went to the kitchen and Alix popped three big bowls of popcorn and Shay melted the butter. Alix made one bowl for herself and one bowl for her dad and took it to him in the living room. When she got back to the kitchen Shay was looking through the cupboards.
“What are you looking for?” Alix asked her.
“The sugar. Do you hide it when you know I’m coming over?”
“Not on purpose but that might be a good idea.” Alix went and found it for her. “Here. You know I still think it’s weird that you do that.”
Shay proceeded to sprinkle sugar on her popcorn along with the salt. “You say that every time and I’ve been eating my popcorn like this for years.”
“I know, and I think it’s weird every time you do it. It’s my job as your friend to point out when you do something weird.” Alix smiled and nudged her in the ribs.
They went back to her room with their huge bowls of popcorn. Alix set up her laptop and Shay got the movies.
“I went with mostly 80’s movies tonight. We have Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, The Princess Bride, and Pretty in Pink. What should we start with?”
“Hmm, all excellent choices. I haven’t seen any of these in a while, but I think I’m in the mood for Pretty Woman right now.”
Shay handed her the movie and they got comfortable. Alix had a no popcorn on the bed rule, so they set up blankets and pillows on the floor. The movie started, and Alix smiled. She secretly, or maybe not so secretly, was a romantic a heart. The idea of the man of your dreams appearing and sweeping you off your feet was always something she thought would be awesome. She didn’t think it would ever happen in real life but was still a great thought. Despite the week and the weird night, as the movie continued she was enjoying it, but she still couldn’t quite get the missing coin off her mind.
Around the end of the first movie, her mom came home. She stopped by to say hi to the girls before joining Alix’s dad in the living room.
It was Shay’s turn to pick the next movie. She waffled back and forth between Dirty Dancing and Pretty in Pink. Finally, she settled on Pretty in Pink. Alix put the movie in. She knew she was tired but hoped that she could stay awake until the end.
Chapter 14
She didn’t make it to the end of the movie after all. She had fallen asleep about halfway through. She was barely awake when she heard knocking on her bedroom door. She really didn’t feel like getting up, so she yelled at the door.
“What do you want mom?”
Well, that woke up Shay who had fallen asleep on the floor beside her. “What’s going on?” Shay mumbled.
“My mom is at the door.”
“Oh,” was all Shay managed before her head flopped back to the pillow.
“Come in mom.”
The door opened, and Alix was so shocked at who stood there she couldn’t say anything. All she could do was poke Shay. Shay looked at her, “What?” then turned her head to the door. It was Ben and they were still mostly asleep.
“Get out!” Shay yelled and threw a pillow at him. “No boys allowed!”
Ben laughed and closed the door. “I’ll just wait for you ladies in the kitchen,” he said through the door.
“Oh my God Shay, what is he doing here? And at …” Alix had to check the clock, “8:15 on a Saturday morning. Is he crazy? And who let him in the house?”
“I don’t know but no boy, no matter how cute he might be, is going to see me after just waking up with no warning. This calls for an emergency get ready fast plan. You go to the washroom first, brush your teeth, wash your face, put your hair up, etc. And I’ll get dressed here. Then we switch. Sound good?”
“Yep.” Before Alix ran to the bathroom she looked out her bedroom door to see if the coast was clear. It was, so she sprinted to the bathroom. There were so many thoughts swirling through her head by the time she got there that she couldn’t focus on any one task. She took a minute to take some deep breaths and slow down. She managed to get her hair brushed and up in a ponytail and her teeth brushed. Finally, she washed her face. Feeling a little better she hurried back to her room. Shay was dressed.
“I found something for you to wear as well, it’s on the bed. I’ll meet you in the kitchen in a few.” And then Shay was off to the bathroom.
Alix got dressed and took a few deeper breaths. It was still early and there was too much going on in her head. She decided to fold the blankets and put the pillows away before she went out to meet Ben. Finally, after she figured she had stalled long enough she went out to the kitchen. He was sitting at the table and her mom appeared to be making pancakes.
“Good morning mom,” Alix said to her mom in an even tone. She wasn’t happy with her mom sending Ben to her room while she was still sleeping. She could smell the coffee, so she made herself a cup and sat at the table. “Good morning Ben. What are you doing here so early on a Saturday?”
“I thought about what you said yesterday, and I want to talk but I think we should wait for Shay before I say everything I need to say.”
“Fine.” Alix was still angry and now kind of confused. Shay couldn’t get there fast enough for her. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long.
Shay came into the kitchen, went to the fridge, poured herself a glass of juice, and sat at the table with them.
“It smells good in here Mrs. D. Are those your famous pancakes?”
“Yes, they are Shay. I figured you girls could use a good breakfast after your late-night movie fest.”
“Awesome, I love your pancakes. I think they might be the best in the world.”
“What makes them so special, other than the fact that they look really small?” Ben asked.
“You’ll see when you try one. I’m not giving away the secret,�
�� Shay told him.
Even though Alix was still a little upset with her mom she didn’t want to be rude in front of her friends, so she got up and started gathering all the pancake fixings. Out of the fridge, she got the strawberries, peach jam, blackberry jam, and whipped topping. She sliced the strawberries and put them in a bowl with a little bit of sugar. She sliced a couple of bananas and put them in another bowl. Then she went to the cupboard and got out the mini chocolate chips, toffee bits, peanut butter and colored sprinkles. She surveyed the spread and turned to Shay.
“Did I forget anything?” she asked her.
Shay got up and looked at everything on the counter with a very serious expression on her face. “Yes, you did, I don’t see the chocolate sauce.”
“Holy crap, how could I forget the chocolate sauce.” Alix grabbed the jar out of the cupboard and put it with the rest of the stuff. “How about now?”
“I think we’re good now.”
The girls started moving everything from the counter to the table. Ben was staring at them as they transferred the jars and bowls.
“What is all of this for?” he asked.
“You’ll see in a minute,” Shay answered.
The last thing on the table was a big plate of small pancakes.
Ben just stared at everything not sure where to start. “Um, where’s the butter and syrup?”
“We don’t use butter and syrup when we eat pancakes in this house Ben. Watch us and you’ll get it,” Alix told him.
Alix took one pancake and put peach jam on it, then sliced strawberries on top of the jam. Then she put another pancake on top of that and put blackberry jam on it and a few banana slices on the jam. Then she finished it off with whipped topping. Shay did the same. Ben just kind of looked at them like they were crazy.
“Quit looking at us like that and just try it,” Shay said. “I promise it’s good.”
So somewhat reluctantly Ben made the same pancake stack as the girls. He took a bite and was very surprised at how good it actually was. When he was done with that one he watched Alix make another one. She put peanut butter on the pancake then sprinkled on a few chocolate chips. She put another pancake on top of that and spread the chocolate sauce on and some toffee bits. Then she finished it off with some whipped topping and colored sprinkles.
“That looks more like a sundae than a pancake,” Ben said, shaking his head.
“No making fun of the pancakes,” Alix told him. “Go on, make one.”
Ben made the crazy pancake and tried it. Again, he was surprised at how good it was. “Why aren’t these sweeter? With all the gooey sugar filled toppings I would have thought it would be too sweet to eat.”
“It’s the pancakes,” Alix responded. “The way mom makes them it takes some of the sweetness out of the other stuff and you get more of the flavor from the toppings.”
“Huh,” was all Ben could say.
“Well …” Shay started, “Alix invented the strawberry banana pancake and the chocolate peanut butter one was my creation, so I think you should make a Ben pancake.”
“A Ben pancake?”
“Yep. Make what you like and we’ll each have one.”
“Okay, give me a minute to think.”
Ben looked at the array of ingredients on the table and started to assemble his pancake. He took a pancake, covered it with chocolate sauce then put bananas on top of that. Next, he took another pancake put it on top of the bananas and put chocolate sauce on top of that pancake too. Then he put strawberries on it and covered the whole thing in whipped topping. He added a few chocolate chips to the top and he was finished.
“There, what do you think about that?” he asked them.
“That looks good,” Shay said. “But, until we try one we’ll have to reserve judgment.”
The girls each made a ‘Ben’ pancake and they all tried them at the same time. All three of them agreed that it was really good. They were pretty full by the time they finished the last pancake. Most of Alix’s anger had dissipated with the yummy pancakes. She was getting anxious to say something to Ben about why he was there. Her mom had left the kitchen, so she cleared the plates and sat back down, but before she could say anything Shay was talking.
“So, Ben, you appear to be back to your old self. What was with you acting like a jerk last week?”
“Shay!” Alix whispered loudly but was smiling to herself inside.
“No, it’s okay Alix, she’s right and you were right to say something to me yesterday. I was acting like a jerk last week, and I’m here to say I’m sorry. There is some stuff going on with my family and I wasn’t sure how to handle it and I guess I handled it badly.”
“Are your mom and dad okay?” Alix asked concerned.
“Yeah, they’re fine, it’s an old family thing. I can’t really talk about it but I’m very sorry that I acted the way I did. Do you forgive me?” he said with his most charming look.
Alix and Shay looked at each other and tried not to smile. It was pretty much impossible not to forgive him when he looked at them like that. The girls pretended to think about it for a minute, Alix nodded at Shay and she finally answered him.
“Alright,” Shay said, “We forgive you this time but don’t do it again. I mean it. If you’re having any issues just warn us in advance if you plan on being a jerk.”
“I think I can agree to that. Thank you. I’d better get going ladies. Thanks for the pancake experience, it was memorable. Alix, I’ll text you later and we’ll figure out how to finish our English project.”
“Oh Ben, speaking of English, there’s something I need to tell you. Well, you see, um, okay, well, the coin is gone,” she finally blurted out, looking at the table. “And the pictures, notes, everything. And there was a note left in my project folder that said to forget I ever saw the coin. I only just found this out last night.”
Alix looked up at Ben and he looked mad. He had a scowl on his face and his hands were clenched into fists on the table. He took a few deep breaths, then he finally spoke. “Tell me everything that happened,” he said, in an uncharacteristically angry voice. Then he added “Please.” In a softer voice.
Alix proceeded to Ben everything that happened the night before.
“Are you alright?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, I’m ok. I was really mad last night.”
“What do you think happened to everything?”
“I’m not sure. The best we could figure out was that someone was in my room and took everything. But the house wasn’t broken into and nothing else seems to be missing. The only thing out of place was that my laptop was on the floor and I couldn’t find my English folder.”
“So, you think that someone was in your room and you’re okay with that?”
“Not really, but Shay and I talked last night, and it looks like the only reason anyone might have been there was for the coin. Shay thinks it might be dangerous and for the best now that it’s gone.”
“She might be right. I’m glad you were here for her last night Shay. If I hadn’t been acting like such a jerk would you have called me?”
“Maybe,” Alix answered.
“If anything else happens promise you’ll call me, no matter what. I don’t care if it’s late or you’re mad at me or whatever, just promise me, okay?”
Alix thought that was kind of a strange thing to say. He was acting like, well she wasn’t sure, but she thought he was acting like something else was going to happen. She also couldn’t deny that having him react this way didn’t make her just a little happy. He seemed to be acting like her protector, that made her smile inside.
“Okay Ben, I promise that if anything ‘happens’ I’ll call you,” she said, making air quotes with her fingers.
“Okay good, that’s good. I really need to get going now. Talk to you later and thanks again for breakfast.”
Ben left, and Alix and Shay looked at each other. Alix was the first to speak.
“Is it just me or was that a little weird?
” she asked Shay.
“No, it was weird. That was an interesting reaction he had. He seemed mad at first then making sure you were okay, then like all macho, like ‘let me save the day.’ It’s like he wants to keep you safe or something. Why do you think he wanted to know everything that happened?”
“I don’t know, maybe he’s writing a book about how to break into a house and not get caught?”
Shay gave her the, ‘be serious’ look.
“Look, Shay, all I know is that for the last two and a half weeks everything has seemed out of whack and just getting stranger. Do you think anything is ever going to be normal again?”
“Of course, I do. It’s Sunset Creek Alix, we are the epitome of normal. Just one more thing and then we’re done with this conversation for a while.”
“And what would that be?”
“How hot was it when Ben got all puffed up and angry about someone being in your space and wanting to protect you?”
Alix couldn’t lie or keep the smile off her face. “Pretty hot.”
****
The girls spent the rest of the morning watching the other movies that Shay had brought with her. Halfway through The Princess Bride Shay sat up and yelled scaring Alix.
“Oh my God Alix!!!”
“Shay, you’ve got to stop scaring me to death. What is it?”
“With everything that’s been going on, I totally forgot that your birthday is in two weeks! I’m a terrible best friend. What do you want to do?”
Alix had to laugh at her. “You are not a terrible best friend, you are the perfect best friend. And I don’t know what I want to do.”
“We could have a party like we did for mine.”
Shay had turned seventeen in July and had thrown a big party in her backyard with most of the kids from their class.
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