Fire Down Below by Andrea Simonne Read Free Book Online

try
to appear interested and amused. People didn’t just talk about mountain
climbing either. They talked about hiking, biking, snowboarding, and I think scuba
diving was even mentioned. Everyone was polite to me in the way that people are
when someone is so out of place that it is literally painful. I smiled and
tried to act like part of the group, but I felt like the bimbo someone had
accidentally invited to the neighborhood barbeque.
    It was a relief when we were
finally able to leave. It took all my will power not to run out of the front
door screaming, “Lord Almighty free at last!”
    “Thank you for inviting me,” I
told Megan as we were leaving. “I had a nice time.”
    She shrugged. “Ben invited you,
not me.”
    I stared at her with my mouth
open. I looked around to see if Ben had heard her, but he was across the room
saying good night to Bernard. All I could think was—what a bitch!
    Once we were in the car and
driving away, I told him what she said to me.
    “Well, it’s true I did invite
you.”
    “Yes, but she made it sound like I
was unwelcome.”
    Ben rolled his eyes. “That’s
crazy. She’s only just met you.”
    “She hates me though.”
    “No, she doesn’t. Though I will
say, Kate, that you could have acted a little more enthusiastic. You hardly
spoke the whole night.”
    Now it was my turn to stare at Ben
with my mouth open. What was I supposed to say to this?
    “You know what? Take me home. I’m
not staying with you tonight.”
    He looked at me in surprise. “Come
on, don’t you think you’re making too much of it? All I’m saying is that you
could have been a little friendlier.”
    I didn’t say anything. It struck
me then how Ben and I were too different. I stared out the window as we drove and
had an intuitive flash where I knew with absolute certainty that not only did
Ben not “get” me, but that he never would.
    We arrived at my house and I
immediately reached for the door handle on the car.
    “Kate...,” he said, but I ignored
him and silently got out, slamming the door behind me as hard as I could. Walking
up the front steps, Ben waited in his car, presumably to make sure I made it safely
inside, or maybe he was waiting for me to change my mind and go back to his apartment.
    Once inside the house, I locked
the door and went upstairs to my room. I could see the street from my bedroom
window, but when I got up there his car was already gone.
    Good riddance, I thought. Asshole.
    I took a long hot bath and as I
soaked I wondered if this was it then, if Ben and I were going to stop seeing each
other. Despite my anger, I felt saddened by the idea.  I think I really was
falling in love with him. I knew one thing for sure though. I could not hang
out with his friends, especially not that horrible Megan. Ben was either so
dense that he couldn’t see how rude she was to me, or he didn’t want to see it.
    After my bath I brushed my teeth
and put on my favorite flower print nightgown that I’ve worn in times of stress
since I was sixteen. I tried to sleep, but felt too riled up, so I read for a while,
trying not to think about Ben and all his pretentious friends that I’d wasted a
perfectly good Saturday evening on. Around midnight I heard the sound of the
doorbell being rung over and over again.
    I figured one of my roommates must
have forgotten their key.  It wouldn’t be the first time. It never occurred to
me that it might be Ben, which is, of course, who it was.
    I stared at him. He didn’t strike
me as the kind of guy who went around ringing doorbells in the middle of the
night. Seeing him I felt angry all over again.
    “Stop it!” I hissed. “Are you
crazy? You’re going to wake up the whole house!” Although in truth I didn’t think
anyone was home but me.
    “I need to talk to you.”
    “There’s nothing to talk about.
We’re too different.”
    He got a pained expression on his
face and stepped in closer towards me. “Don’t say that. Please let me come