With or Without You - Pt 6

     “If corse love..” Daniel said softly into his cell phone.
     Willow peaked in, “Hey, you feeling any better? Got you some soup..” She said holding out the container of hot fresh chicken noodle soup her and Ben had picked up on the way back. “Oh, sorry.. Didn’t notice the phone..” She said quietly.
     Daniel smiled, “No, it’s ok. Smells good. Bring it over.” He went back to the person he had been talking to, “Yeah, sorry. Just a visitor wishing me well. Yeah, mmhmm. This is Willow..yeah,” He laughed, “You actually know whom I referring to? Yeah, geeze, your on top of it all aren’t you..”
     Willow pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat. ‘Who is it?” She mouthed quietly.
     Daniel covered the mouth piece briefly, “Michelle.”
     Willow nodded. “Tell her I say hi..”
     ”Sorry Michy.. I’m here, I am. Yeah, I was just telling Willow whom I was talking about. Yeah, I’m sure she knows who you are..”
     Willow nodded, “Yeah, tell her she’s hated by many..yet not as much as Colby is..”
     Daniel laughed, “Yeah, see, she does. Yeah, she said you’re hated by many, but not as much as Colby. Yeah, so who told you that? Oh, wow, so you were online then?”
     She looked at him oddly, “What?”
     He smiled, “Everyone knows about you and Ben now, Willow..”
     ”Words travelled THAT fast?” Willow asked half shocked.
     “You betcha..”
     Willow just shook her head. “Well I just came by to make sure you were ok and all. Here’s some soup, it’s quite good. Well I’m sure I’ll see you later,” She leaned down and gave him a brief kiss on the forehead, “Get better!” She said laughing as she left his room.

     Willow went to her room to call Dawn up. It was 4 P.M. so she was sure she’d be home by now.
     On the third ring the phone was answered, “Hello?”
     ”Hey Dawn, just me checking in!” Willow said flopping down on her bed as she put speaker phone on.
     ”Oh, hi Willow! So..did you get in? Hold up a sec, I’m going to switch phones..I want to get onto the computer..”
     ”Yeah sure..”
     Another line was picked up and another went dead, “Ok, there we go. As I was asking, you get in?”
     Willow grinned from ear to ear, “Yeah..”
     Dawn shrieked, “Oh my gawd, I hate you!”
     Willow laughed aloud, “Yeah, I love you to Dawn..”
     Dawn murmured to herself as she read through the few new messages on Savage Garden she had. “So, did you meet ‘my’ him?”
     ”Yeah, I got to meet the all and mighty Darren Hayes..” Willow wondered how long she should drag this out on Dawn before telling her the whole story.
     Dawn gasped, “Oh!”
     Willow frowned, “Dawn, are you ok? What’s wrong?”
     ”Oh, oh, oh..” Dawn continued, she sounded distant.
     ”Dawn, come on! What’s wrong?!” She could plainly hear ICQ being loaded, no thanks to the loud foghorn. She also heard her receive a few messages and enter a chat module.
     ”What’s Ben like?”
     Willow was too worried about Dawn to pick up on it, “What?”
     ”Are you that ‘Willow’ that is like seeing Ben?”
     Willow cracked a smile, “Shit, word travels fast don’t it..”
     Dawn shrieked again, “Ah! Your kidding! Oh my gawd! Does anyone know?”
     ”Well, Darren did mention it on the radio show he was on earlier. Actually, one girl I’ve been talking to, Dorothy, is from LA. We, Ben and I, ran into her while we were out earlier. She knows now that it is Willow as in me..”
     ”My lord, this is too much you know. Do you realize how much I hate you right now? I mean, really!” Dawn laughed, “Couldn’t latch onto Daniel?”
     Willow rolled her eyes, “Not so much that I couldn’t, but that I didn’t want to latch onto to Daniel.”
     Ben went to walk into her room as he heard her talking, he stopped to listen before he went in.
     ”And I mean, Daniel stated it best,” Willow said continuing, “With how he explained meeting Meg Ryan. I mean, I just worked him up to be TOO great. I had actually met Ben first. He had come into the room that I was in first. Well him and I just sat there and talked for a while. It’s almost scary how quickly we clicked.”
     Ben stood to the side of the door listening. He was smiling contently as she talked to the female on the other end.
     ”Daniel and Darren had come in later. So then I was talking to them too. A little music chat, a little author chat.. Then he, Ben, invited me to join them for lunch.
     ”We went back to the hotel each of us was staying at, which happened to be the same. Talked a bit more in my suite, which was really cool to say the least, I mean I had to try not to gush then. You know, the whole, I’m interested conversation. Meanwhile, I’m screaming inside, while I continue to keep a cool and collected outside.
     ”We met up with the rest of the band and went to an Italian restaurant. Oh, yes, Darren is a vegetarian by choice. Oh and I got to give Ben a neck massage, oh gawd, I’m gushing..ugg, this is bad.
     “Well Daniel isn’t feeling the best, I think it’s like a cold or something. Darren leaves for the radio show. Everyone goes their separate ways. I go back to this cafe with Ben. We’re there for a bit. We walk the city some more. I meet Dorothy, umm, we return here, that’s about it.” Willow sighed with a smile on her face.
     “So, have you kissed him yet?”
     Ben perked up and listened more closely.
     “What! Dawn, fuck off..” Willow said shaking her head.
     “Out with it Willow, have you? Yes or no?”
     Willow sighed, “No. Why does it matter to you anyway?”
     “Wow, you haven’t? I’m shocked, I’m surprised you haven’t yet, especially with the way your ‘talking’ about him. I just would have thought with it being you and all you would have already..”
     “What!? Are you implying that I’m quick / easy?! Why is this such a shock?”
     “No, I just mean..”
     “You just mean what?”
     “Well, ok, I wasn’t implying you are quick or easy. I just know you all too well and I know that when you want something you go ALL the way for it..”
     “I’m still insulted here Dawn.. That doesn’t sound much better anyway..”
     Dawn laughed, “Sorry! So are you planning on letting him make the first move?”
     “Shut up already! It doesn’t concern you.” Willow said getting flustered.
     “Oh my, is all great and mighty Willow in a relationship she DOESN’T control.”
     “And your implying? Geeze Dawn. You’re so well with words..”
     Ben still stood there, he felt bad for mainly easedropping, but he couldn’t help it.
     “Well I mean, usually you know where your relationships are going and all. Very quick to pick up on things that won’t work. But, I think you’re almost stumped with this Ben here.. You don’t know what’s happening or where it’s going..”
     “All too true Dawn. I don’t know.. I mean, he lives in Aus. right? It’d be all too hard..but still.. And, I wouldn’t mind letting him make the first move. I think it would be almost cuter that way..”
     Ben smiled knowing she was interested in some sort of relationship. He leaned against the wall.
     “Well how long until they leave?”
     Willow sighed, “Oh I don’t know..I’m sure within a few days. This is so going to bite you know..”
     “Yeah it sounds like it. I mean, you really seem to like him.”
     “And like just begins to explain it all..”
     A chill shot down Ben’s spine as he stood there outside her door.
     “Oh isn’t this cute.. Willow’s beyond fallen for a guy just barely out of reach.”
     “I know, all I need help with is that extra inch..”
     “So if you could..you would?”
     “Yeah, gawd, it just feels right.” She sat up and hugged her knees.
     Ben was beyond thrilled by what Willow had been saying. It was all he could do but to smile. He walked into her room silently then up to her.
     She looked up frightened then replaced it with a smile. She was barely able to get out a hi.
     Ben bent down and kissed her.
     “Willow?!”
     Ben laughed and pulled away a little, “She’s still there isn’t she..”
     Willow smiled and stroked the side of his face, “Yeah..” She couldn’t breathe properly, he was merely an inch or two away from her face, he was so close she could feel his breath on her lips.
     “Willow!! Who is that with you? There is someone there right?” Dawn asked, just a wee bit confused.
     Ben laughed and he sat, “Hello”
     “Ok, hi. Ohh, is this ‘the’ Ben?”
     He smiled, “I guess so..”
     Willow rolled her eyes, “Oh shut up Dawn..really..”
     “You knew I was going to bug you Willow. Well hello Ben. Nice to talk to you. Well Willow sounds annoyed, obviously the two of you were >in the middle of something’. So I will say my goodbyes. Bye! Take care..and don’t have too much fun!”
     Willow went red, “Dawn!” She yelled as she turned the phone off. She sat back and shook her head. She looked over at Ben who was sitting across from her on the bed. She shook her head, “Yep, that’s my best friend..”
     He laughed, “She seems fine enough.”
     “She’s always comes across like that. Then that’s when she gets you..” She hugged her knees again, “So, uhh, how long were you listening?”
     He smiled, “Not to long at all.” Ben cleared his throat a little and spoke up with a grin, “So, what was she referring to when she mentioned you being ‘easy’ and what not?”
     Willow looked over at him. She sighed and looked down, “Nothing..”
     “Come on..out with it. I don’t really care..”
     “Well obviously you do Ben or you wouldn’t be asking.”
     “True, I want to know more about you. Seeing I seem to be seeing you at the time, I think it only right to know what I’ve gotten myself into.”
     “You make that sound almost bad.” Willow said as she began fidgeting with her ring.
     “Well it wasn’t meant to be, sorry. So what happened with all those prior relationships? If you don’t mind me asking.”
     “I don’t know. They just never worked. They were never what I was looking for. Something was always not right. I couldn’t deal with them.” She laughed, “I’m sure I’ve gotten rid of perfectly fine guys because of something stupid, like the way they say a word..”
     Ben laughed, “Damn, huh? I’ll be in for a fun one, on account of this silly accent. The words I say weirdly..”
     “No, you have a VERY good excuse, they never did. You have a VERY good excuse my dear, I mean an Australian accent, how sexy! So what about you? Why isn’t someone much like yourself with a chick?”
     Ben exhaled loudly, “Wow, my story is a great one..”
     Willow laughed at his reaction, “That bad? Move too quickly for the poor lasses?”
     “No..not even.”
     “Awe..you didn’t make enough moves?”
     ”Once again, no..”
     She drew her eyebrows together, “Than what was it?”
     ”I, uhh, well, I didn’t do much of anything..”
     ”What?!”
     ”Yeah..I was really unsure in relationships. I mean, I didn’t know what and what not to do with a girl. So I didn’t do anything on account of I didn’t want the girl to think I was moving too fast or too slow. I tried waiting for her to tell me what she wanted. Which really didn’t work well at all..”
     ”Your kidding!?” She said in surprise, AYou seriously didn’t have a clue what to do? You couldn’t tell if she was ready to move onto a next level?”
     He shook his head, “No, I was seriously scared of messing a relationship up. And when she did end up showing signs of her being ready, I wasn’t sure if that was really what she meant, or if I was taking them the wrong way. It was all bad..I’ve yet to be in a good relationship where the girl hasn’t dumped me saying, ‘I’m sorry I don’t think this is working out properly’.”
     ”Well obviously there’s a reason you were like that..why?”
     ”Well I’ve always been dating on and off. You know, just to spend time out and all. Nothing ever amounting to much at all. And with this one girl I really started to like and I really started to think this could turn into something. I moved too fast for her and she ended up breaking with me. And from that day on, I’ve been scared of moving too fast for anyone..”
     ”Isn’t that cute, but what are you really like?” She asked with a grin.
     He looked at her a little confused, “What?”
     “Well, do you really like to move fast? You know, by the second date you’ve already played the whole game of baseball and won? Or is it like, grandparent slow?”
     He just laughed, “ADo you really want to know?”
     “Ouch, I don’t know. This could be scary, couldn’t it?”
     He laughed, “It all depends on you. What about you?”
     “I move at whatever pace I want to!” She stood up, “Ready?”
     “Oh, you want to get out of here and try to do something?”
     She looked down at him confused, “Try?”
     “Well, I’m sure Darren has stuff planned and if I don’t check in, I’m sure I’ll hear from him..” Ben said getting up himself and standing next to her. “So your own pace, huh?”
     She rolled her eyes and sighed as she stepped out of her room. She closed the door and went to lock it.
     “Are you only easy when the guy makes enough passes?” Ben asked smiling as he leaned against the wall.
     She stopped with the key in midair almost in the door lock. She turned to him, “Pardon me?!”
     “You heard me..well?”
     “Well, yeah, I’d suppose so. I mean, when Daniel had bumped into me last night and apologized to me for the whole elevator thing and then started laying on the flirting, I guess I did just let myself go..”
     He laughed and followed her as she walked toward the elevator. “Your going to use that whole Daniel thing to full extent aren’t you?”
     She smiled, “Damn right. I know you well enough to know that it gets to you. So hint one, whenever I use him, I’m either kidding around with someone else or I’m trying to prick your anger.”
     He pulled her aside and kissed her forehead, “And why on earth would you want to prick my anger?”
     She grinned at him, “I think it’s cute when a guy gets jealous like that.”
     “So your implying I’m cute when I’m jealous?”
     She laughed and looked down, “I suppose I am implying that..”
     “Well here, go sleep with Daniel, let me find out, I’ll get supremely jealous, and then I’ll be drop dead gorgeous.”
     “Really Ben,” She said walking toward the elevator again, “You shouldn’t be telling me things like this. I wouldn’t want to be on Michelle’s bad side when I haven’t even met her.”
     As they stepped onto the elevator and she leaned against him. He smiled, “Your too damn cute..” And he wrapped his arms around her chest.
     She looked up and smiled at him, “I am, aren’t I?”
     He kissed her atop her head and nodded, “Yeah, and you know it..”
     She sank into his embrace, she sighed to herself quietly. She couldn’t bring herself to kiss Ben herself and didn’t have the faintest clue why either.

     The two went up to Darren’s room and knocked on the door. Darren called for them to come in.
     Darren was lounging on his bed watching tv. “Hello there!”
     ”You have anything planned for us or are we free to go?” Ben asked plucking some of the cherry’s Darren was snacking on. He offered Willow a few.
     Darren just looked up at him, “Really Ben! I’m not THAT bad. Actually, I had been hoping to do something but AnnaMaria and Nichole aren’t around..”
     ”Shopping no doubt..” Willow said sucking on a cherry pit.
     ”Makes sense, either of you seen Daniel recently?” Darren said throwing a few pits in the garbage below him.
     Willow nodded, “Yeah, around a half hour or so ago. We had brought him back some chicken noodle soup. He still isn’t that well but he was talking with Michelle on his cell.” She spit a few pits into the can that was a few feet away.
     ”Nice one. I’m sure you’d play a lovely game of ‘baseball’,” Ben said with a smile.
     She looked back at him and elbowed him in the side.
     Ben took another cherry and pulled the stem off, “Hey can either of you do this?” He popped the cherry stem in his mouth and after a couple seconds and a couple of seconds of Willow standing there, staring at him, wondering what in gods name he was doing with his tongue and that cherry stem, he opened his mouth and took the stem out. “See?” He said holding it up, “It’s knotted..”
     Darren grabbed it, “Wow, it is..” He handed it back to Ben and wiped his hand off. Darren put on a smirk, “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your time with Ben, Willow. I mean, he has wonderful hands on account of playing the guitar like he does and he seems to be quite talented with his tongue..”
     Willow blushed and shook her head, “You two are horrible, really...”
     Ben laughed, “Thanks Darren. Well come on love. We should be leaving him now. I’m sure Darren is going to sit here for the next few hours trying his damnedest to tie a knot in a cherry stem with his tongue.”
     "Oh, don’t you know it. Well I guess I’ll see you two later. Bye. Close the door on your way out.”
     ”Yeah, sure. Later”

     Before they had left, Ben had stopped at his room and picked up his acoustic guitar. They stopped at this hippie store and picked up a large celestial printed blanket. And then to a grocery store to pick up a few things.

Chapter 7




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