"You think I can let you leave after that?" Ben snapped, trailing behind me like a lost puppy.

I sped up as I walked down the hall, trying to get away from him. "Your mother wants to talk to you, Benny," I said patiently.

"Are you going to pretend like that didn't just happen?"

Truth be told, I still felt dizzy and I knew the red hadn't faded from my face. I didn't know why I kissed him, but I was glad I did, because that kiss was amazing. It blew my other ones with Seamus out of the water, and not because Ben was a much better kisser.

Okay, that was part of it.

"Lottie, are you seriously going to pretend like that didn't happen?"

I kept walking because I knew I needed to get to my dad as soon as possible. "But it did happen."

"I know!"

I smiled at his frustration. I didn't know why he was so upset. I just wanted to go see Papa, and alone. "So what's the problem?"

He sighed deeply. "You're going the wrong way," he said in a patronising tone.

I frowned and stopped. It looked like I'd passed this corridor before...oh man. Ben caught up with me and I looked at his annoyed expression. "Where should I go?" I asked.

"I'll take you."

"Ben, for the last time, I want to go mys-"

"I'll take you to the front, Chatty Pants," he interrupted, rolling his eyes.

I blinked, wondering why he didn't put up a bigger fight. "Oh. Okay. Er, do you-?"

"Do I...?"

Without asking, I poked his hand. He was angry at me, so I didn't know if he'd want to hold my hand or not. Ben snorted and scooted closer to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I smiled at the floor.

After a couple minutes, we reached the front door, and the smile slipped off my face. I clenched my phone so tight that my knuckles turned white. "Bye, Ben," I said. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

He looked at me blankly. "I hope you know I'm not happy."

I rubbed my arm and stepped away from him. "You made that quite clear."

"And I don't want you to go without me."

"I know."

"And you better listen to my rules, alright?"

I laughed. "Why are you still speaking and not kissing me?"

At that, Ben cracked one of his heart-melting smiles which just made my insides fall into a puddle on the ground at the sight. He stepped forward and touched my cheek before bending down and giving me one small kiss.

My eyes stayed closed as he kept standing there, our foreheads touching. "Bye, Benny. I'll see you soon, promise."

"Alright, Lottie. You better keep that promise."

I grinned and punched his arm lightly. "You can trust me, Benny."

He shrugged and watched as I walked backwards from him. I kept smiling and waving and walking, even as his expression screwed up and he opened his mouth. "Would you watch where you're going?" he snapped, just as I smacked into the gate.

I scratched my head sheepishly and patted it as if to say sorry. "My bad, Mr. Gate," I whispered, flicking the bolt open so that I could walk outside. "Goodbye, Benny!"

Ben frowned at me but raised one hand up in farewell regardless. I felt an ache in my chest, but I shrugged it off. I was just being childish.

I'd see him soon.

***

"You can sit here," I said to the elderly man who'd just gotten on the bus. I sprang up and gestured to my seat with a big smile.

The man smiled and patted my back before falling heavily onto the seat. I sighed and tried to find somewhere to grab onto, but there wasn't any room. There were too many people.

The bus took a sharp turn and I stumbled, crashing head first into some poor guy wearing a backpack. "I'm so sorry," I gasped, straightening and backing up. "I'm really sorry!"

The guy smirked, and I realised he was dressed expensively. "No worries. But you should probably come hold this bar in case it happens again." Him and another bulky man were already holding it, but a quick glance around told me I had no other option. I blinked at him. He seemed familiar, but I couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd seen him.

"Thank you," I said softly, grabbing onto the bar a decent number of inches under his hand. My scrawny height didn't make it that uncomfortable, but the position I was in caused me to bump into the guy multiple times. I felt like my face was going to burn off from embarrassment. I clutched the bar tighter and looked steadily at the floor and not at the guy's staring eyes. He was making me feel extremely violated.

I sighed shakily and scooted a little further away from him, only to bump into a woman and her child. I blushed and murmured my apologies, and then I noticed the guy's smirk widen when I had to scoot back near him.

My heart was beating furiously and I felt more and more like prey every passing second. I took out my phone and dialled, then waited impatiently for the answer.

"Lottie, it's been ten minutes, don't tell me you're already lost," came Ben's voice, clear and deep and soothing.

I sighed, feeling my tensed muscles relax just at the sound of his voice. "I'm not lost," I said. "I just missed you."

There was a short pause, and I was almost certain that Ben had frozen. He was weird like that when people expressed emotions around him. It was quite funny, to be honest. "You missed me? I saw you ten minutes ago." He said it like I was a chore, but I figured it was just one of his manly ruses.

"Yeah, I know," I said. I wanted to keep talking to him so that he would distract me from this guy's creepy looks.

I heard Ben knock something over on the other end, and that made me smile. "What's really the matter, Lottie?" he asked seriously.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion at how he knew I wasn't just calling him. So Ben was intuitive now, was he? I was impressed and felt my heart swell up at how concerned he was. I glanced at the creepy guy and saw that while he wasn't looking at me, he was definitely listening in.

"Lottie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. "Did you talk to your mum?"

He snorted. "That was very subtle, Carter, but I get the hint. I did talk to her - I'll tell you about it later."

I kicked at the dirty bus floor and braced myself when the bus turned again. This time, the guy's hand touched my back as I straightened myself out. I stiffened. "Please don't touch me," I said politely.

"We're talking on the phone, how the hell am I touching you?"

I squirmed and stepped back. The guy raised his eyebrows. "I was just helping you out," he said patronisingly. I didn't like how he spoke to me like I was a child. It was different from the way Ben teased me.

"Please don't touch me," I repeated, more firmly this time.

"Lottie, who the hell is touching you? You better fucking get out of there or at least beat his ass, I swear to God!"

The guy nodded and smiled as though he was so charming, but I felt a chill go down my back. Who was he? The bus stopped then, and people started to file out, so I took that opportunity to snag the back seat next to a middle-aged woman and her kids.

"Lottie!" Ben said loudly. "Are you okay?"

I jumped and realised that I hadn't been answering his calls. "Don't worry, nothing happened," I tried to assure him. "Just a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" he said dubiously.

"Yeah." I started nodding vigorously before I realised that he couldn't see me. My phone started beeping, so I frowned and looked at the screen. Delia's name flashed as a waiting call. "Can you hold for a second, Ben?"

"I actually have to go, Lottie - Miss Franny needs something. Make sure you call me when you get to the hospital, okay?"

I grinned, suddenly feeling shy for some reason. "Okay," I agreed. I hung up and switched to Delia. "Hi, Delia. How's my dad?"

"He's doing okay. He hasn't woken up yet," she said in a subdued version of her normally peppy voice.

I sighed in relief and closed my eyes, massaging my forehead with my fingers. Papa was okay! "How okay is he?"

"Okay as in he would've been perfectly fine if he was twenty years younger."

"But since he's not...?"

"The doctors are waiting until you get here to tell me what's going on, Charlie. How much longer will you be?"

I peered up at the board that said where the bus would be stopping next. "Maybe an hour?"

I heard Delia sigh. "Okay. Try and hurry."

She hung up before I could say bye, and I frowned at my phone. She normally wasn't so rude. Maybe she really was worried about Papa?

My lips puckered. It wasn't that I didn't like her. It's just that...once my dad met her, he started to forget about me. I didn't doubt that he loved me, but...aw man, I was just selfish. She made Papa happy, and that was all that mattered. Even though she wasn't Mum, she still made him happy, which was more than I could say about myself.

I cast my eyes up towards the dingy blue ceiling. "Are you okay, darlin'?" the woman sitting next to me asked with a thick Brummie accent.

I smiled reassuringly and nodded. "I'm doing well, thank you," I said.

The woman patted my arm, then went back to scolding her kids, who were squabbling about something indistinct.

I sat stiffly in my seat for the rest of the ride. The guy from before hadn't left yet, even as the bus emptied and filled again and again. Sometimes out of the corner of my eye, I would see him look at me and smirk knowingly, which made my stomach clench up. I wished I could call Ben, but he would question it and probably track me down, and I didn't need that right now.

Finally, the bus stopped near the hospital, and I surged to my feet. As I scurried to the front, I felt something grab my arm, causing me to stumble.

"Whoa there, clumsy." I frowned. Clumsy? He was the one who make me fall.

I tried to subtly extricate myself from the guy's hold, and then stepped back. "It was lovely to meet you," I said, lying through my teeth.

"My name's Rick, hen," he said, the pet name making me dislike him even more. What respectable man called a woman hen? Was he not taught any manners? "And yours?" But I could tell he already knew it. Rick. Oh my god, it was Rick.

I felt bile rising in my throat. I had to get out of there immediately. Not only was it Rick, but I was also really worked up about Papa, and I didn't really like things getting in my way.

"I need to get off now, I'm sorry," I said, panicking. I turned around and ran off before the bus could drive away again.

When I entered the hospital, I immediately felt sick. The scent of disinfectant and the bright white of the walls brought back memories of Mum and her last days. She'd had colon cancer, and we didn't catch it until it was too late. She died last summer, and thinking about it was too painful. It was too soon.

I gulped once and sniffed two times to get rid of the incoming tears, and then pressed my palms against my eyes. "No," I whispered. "Don't do that now."

"Miss?" a man in pale green scrubs asked me, looking concerned. "Do you need something?"

I breathed in and blinked a few times. "Do you know which room Charles Carter was assigned to? I'm his daughter."

He beckoned me to the front desk. "Can I see some ID?" he asked as he looked through the computer. I fumbled with my purse and showed him my driver's licence, and he nodded. "Okay, he's in 21B - if you walk down that hall and take a right, it should be the second door on the left."

I smiled gratefully and spun around. "Thank you!" I called as I walked as quickly as possible in the direction he had pointed.

My body tensed more as more as I ventured further into the hospital. The sight of gurneys and the rolling beds and the carts of medical supplies and noises varying from screaming to crying wasn't unfamiliar to me. I stopped in front of 21B and raised my hand to knock on the door. I stopped midway. I breathed in and willed myself to open the door and get inside to where I was needed. Open the door, you cheesehead.

I couldn't. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. My chest began to ache, and my hands turned white. I didn't know why. Papa was okay. What was wrong with me?

I clasped a hand over my mouth to stop the sob and grabbed my phone, dialling Ben's number once again.

"Lottie, you've reached?" he said immediately upon answering.

"Yes," I whispered.

I could literally hear him frown. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I can't go inside." My hands began to shake.

"Why not? Do you want me to teach you how to open a door or something?" That made me giggle softly, and the relief in his next words was almost palpable. "Lottie, all you gotta do is twist the handle. Your dad's waiting for you."

He was right. I needed to see my dad. "I know."

"Then why aren't you?"

"I don't know. I don't know, okay? Ben, my tummy hurts and my head aches and my chest pains and my eyes burn and I don't know why because I'm perfectly healthy and I just-I just-"

"Lottie, babe, you're okay. You're fine. Your dad's fine, too. This isn't like your mum, your dad is gonna be fine. Alright?"

I blinked and rested my head on the door. His voice was the most gentle I had ever heard it, and there was no sign of his usual gruffness. "Alright," I said quietly. My muscles started to relax again. He was right. Papa was okay. He'd be okay.

There was a pause. "Are you okay?"

I smiled. "I am now."

"Good," he said, and I almost laughed at how manly and brusque he made that one word.

"Thank you," I said sincerely.

"Yeah, okay. So are you going inside or what?"

Even the least romantic things he said made me blush. He made me so happy. "Yes, I am. Benny, you're a lovely person." At my words, I heard a large thud and the sound of Ben cursing extremely vulgar things that I really don't feel comfortable sharing. "Are you okay?" I asked, holding back a laugh. That was how easily he could turn my mood around.

"I'm fine," he snapped, but the annoyance didn't seem to be directed at me. "I'll talk to you later, okay? Go check on your dad first."

"Okay, bye," I said softly. He said it in return and I hung up.

I took a deep breath and opened the door, my eyes blinking hard to get used to the dimmer ambience of the room. I saw Papa sleeping peacefully on a small bed, and Delia was sitting next to him in one of the chairs, her face solemn.

She glanced at me when I walked, and then did a double-take. "Charlie," she said. "You look so beautiful! Like you're glowing."

I may have been mistaken, but at that moment, I only knew one thing.

I was in love with Benjamin Fisher.