Derailed by Alyssa Rose Ivy Read Free Book Online Page A

back to work.”
    “All right, see you later,” he called over his shoulder as he walked out. He hadn’t even ordered food.
    The next hour went quickly, and things had just started to quiet when Ben walked through the door.
    “Wow, fancy meeting you here.” He smiled, strolling right up to the counter.
    “This is what you call staying away?”
    “If you recall, I never agreed to that plan.”
    “Are you here to eat?”
    “No… I grabbed lunch earlier but I thought I’d just say hello.”
    “Well, hello.”
    “Any plans for a night swim again?” He leaned against the counter, getting too close for my comfort.
    I took a step back. “I think I got that out of my system last night.” We were really getting good at having conversations with hidden meanings.
    “Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”
    “What part of staying away don’t you get?”
    “All of it.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind. See you later,” I waved before turning my attention to cleaning the counters.
    “Oh, I’m not leaving.” He walked over to a table across from the counter and put a book down in front of him.
    “I thought you weren’t eating?”
    “I’m not, but I have some time to kill. I remember this being a pretty good place to hang out.” Ben used to spend half my shifts just sitting there while I worked. He said he liked to be near me, but I’m pretty sure he was making sure other guys didn’t hit on me.
    “You can’t just sit here if you aren’t ordering anything.”
    “Who says he can’t? It’s not like I care.” Gail suddenly joined our conversation, placing a Coke down in front of Ben.
    “Don’t mind me. I’ll just read and maybe enjoy the view.”
    I did my best to ignore him, but I couldn’t help glancing over every once and a while. Each time, he smiled, letting me know that he’d caught me.
    Before I knew it, he was back at the counter. “Well, time to go back to work. Nice staying away from you today. See you around.” He grinned before disappearing through the door.
     
    ***
    I decided to do some unpacking before going over to Kelly’s for dinner. I had brought most of my clothes with me and a lot of shoes, so it was no easy task. It felt funny to stock the shelves of my old closet again.
    While hanging up some skirts, I noticed an old shoe box on the top shelf. I pulled over my desk chair and climbed up so I could reach it.
    I knew exactly what was in the box. With a mix of excitement and dread, I settled onto the plush, tan carpet. Opening the lid caused an avalanche of photographs, letters, movie stubs, and little trinkets to fall into my lap. Looking at the lid of the box again, I ran my hands over the fancy script spelling out Ben’s name. I smiled thinking about how girly I used to be.
    I picked up one of the folded letters, my name written in Ben’s barely legible handwriting. The letter was short, just like all the ones he used to slip in my backpack and locker back then, but they always did the trick.
    I can’t wait to see you tonight, and you’re killing me with the surprise thing. I love you, my little spitfire.
    Spitfire—I tried to remember when he’d started calling me that. Well, he never just called me spitfire, it was always preceded with “my.” Ben was a little possessive like that. Like how he hung around Marney’s so much. In the beginning, I’d pretended that it bothered me, but it never did. I liked how important it made me feel. I never felt safer then when I was tucked in his arms.
    I pulled out a ticket stub from our high school production of the Wizard of Oz . Kelly was Dorothy, her first starring role. I’d designed and painted most of the sets, spending almost every afternoon working on them for over a month. I frowned at the worn paper. Ben stood me up that night. He’d been out getting high with his friends and forgot. I ended up watching the play with Jake of all people. I think the only thing Jake and I ever agreed on was that Ben needed to lay