Hot Chocolate
Ben stood in front of her wardrobe having trouble on deciding what to wear. Gwen and Helen had planned a trip to a Christmas fair for everyone. Kevin and Gwen would be picking her up in an hour and she still had no idea what to wear. Why did her parents have to be one vacation? She could really use her mother’s help now.
Ben sighed and pulled out some of her clothes from the wardrobe and spread them on her bed. She tried out some combinations by arranging her clothes on the bed. In the end she decided to go with a pair of black jeans and a white, sleeveless shirt. She put her trademark jacket on. Ben didn’t bother with make-up. She might be a teenage girl, but she was rather boyish. She decided to wear her hair down for a change.
The door bell rang just when Ben entered the living room. Ben grabbed her black coat from the couch and slipped it on. She made sure she had her keys and wallet. Then she opened left the house meeting up with Kevin and Gwen.
Ben, Gwen and Kevin arrived at Christmas fair not much later. It was really cold and the snow made the landscape white. They were just glad that it didn’t snow. The trio left the car on a nearby parking lot and walked to the fair. On the way they met up with Pierce, Alan, Helen, Cooper and Manny.
“So. Are we going all together or are we going to split into groups?” Ben asked the gang.
“I would say we split up into groups and meet around four at one of the food stands,” Kevin suggested. It was clear he wanted some time alone with Gwen.
“I’m going with Pierce, Alan and Cooper, if that’s alright with you,” Ben offered and got positive replies from the three boys.
“Then Helen’s going with Manny and Kevin’s with Gwen, right?” Pierce enquired. The four mentioned teens nodded in agreement.
“Let’s meet at Christmas Food. I hear they have great food and drinks,” Gwen proposed.
“Alright,” chorused the other teens. Then they went off in their respective groups to explore the fair.
“Where do you want to go first?” Cooper asked the others of his group. Each of the boys gave a suggestion, but they couldn’t agree on one.
“Why don’t we let the lady of the group decide?” Pierce proposed after a while with a glace towards Ben who had been listening to the arguing of the boys. She blushed slightly at being called a lady since she was more of a tomboy than a lady. Then again Pierce always called her a lady just like she often called him a walking pincushion. That nickname had stuck with her since they first met in person.
“I would like to get some presents for my parents,” Ben said scratching the back of her head. The boys glanced at each other. They agreed since they needed presents for their families as well.
Helen, Gwen, Manny and Kevin were already at their meeting point. The stand was small but looked very welcoming. There were tables one could stand at with their food and drinks in front of the stand. Everything was decorated with Christmas colours.
“Where the hell is the rest?” Kevin grumbled as they stood around two tables they had put together in order for everyone to have enough space. Each of the four had a cup of hot tea in front of them. It was twenty minutes past four.
“Maybe they got lost,” Helen wondered aloud after taking a sip of her tea.
“Nope, not with Ben in their group,” Gwen said remembering what had happened in the Perplexahedron. Manny was about to make a comment when Ben, Alan, Pierce and Cooper arrived.
“Sorry. We got sidetracked,” Ben said as they neared the tables. Each of them had a small bag with them which contained the presents they had bought. Ben was also carrying a small tiger soft toy. Ben and Alan got themselves hot chocolate while Manny and Cooper got hot tea. They talked about what they had done during the past two hours.
“By the way, Ben. Where did you get this tiger?” Gwen asked her cousin. She knew Ben would never buy something like this herself. She was curious who would give her cousin something like that.
“It’s Pierce’s Christmas present for me,” Ben chirped and cuddled the tiger. Helen raised an eyebrow and shot a questioning glance at her brother.
Suddenly Ben cursed softly drawing the attention of her friends to herself. Some of her hot chocolate had got spilled on the table and Ben was rubbing her tongue.
“Everything alright?” Alan asked worried.
“Burnt my tongue,” Ben grumbled continuing to rub her tongue. Pierce sighed and grabbed Ben’s wrist. He pulled away her hand.
“I’ll kiss it better,” Pierce said and kissed Ben without a warning. Alan and Cooper placed their hands over their eyes. They didn’t want to see how Ben slapped Pierce. The sixteen year old girl had a great strength in her human form that could even send Manny flying a meter or two. The others just stared at what they were witnessing.
“Gwen. Did that pincushion just kiss your cousin?” Kevin asked in a disbelieving voice after the two had stopped kissing.
“Hey, Pierce is my pincushion. I’m the only one who’s allowed to call him a pincushion,” Ben exclaimed earning a chuckle from Pierce and shocking their friends even more.
“Wait. When did you start dating?” asked Gwen, who was the first one to get a hold of herself.
“Pierce asked me out after Grandpa Max and I put the team through the test,” Ben said with a cheeky grin. They instantly knew that she was talking about the test during which Pierce, Alan, Helen and Manny had ejected Ben into space.
“I realised my feelings for her during that test,” Pierce added smiling. His heart had almost broken both times when he had fought Ben as Goop and after they had blown her into space. He had been so relieved when Ben had come back to the training station alive. He had wanted to kiss her but hadn’t done it since they had had company at the time.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Helen feeling a tiny bit hurt that her brother hadn’t told her. Ben and Pierce exchanged quick glances.
“We didn’t really know if it would work out, but we decided that we would tell you today,” Pierce explained.
“We thought we could tell you after a fun day, but I guess we showed you instead,” Ben snickered and gave Pierce a short kiss. The others laughed as well seeing as the little incident, which just had happened, hadn’t been planned.
End
I hope you enjoyed reading it. Critique and Comments are always welcomed ^^
