golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter fifty-eight

"phoebe?" lola's eyes widened. "phoebe sinclair? that bitch who thinks she's better than you on bars?"
eliana let out a sad laugh. "yeah. her."
"oh, my god, el, i'm so sorry." she reached over and hugged her friend. "did he do anything with her?"
"i don't know."
"wait, have you guys..." she trailed off, and eliana shook her head. "no."
"if it makes you feel any better, he probably didn't...with her either."
eliana sighed. "it doesn't. but thank you."

eliana told lola all about ben's mysterious friend, and phoebe giving her his glasses, and everything that led up to her sitting on lola's worn out couch, crying her eyes out because of a boy she thought loved her.

     "anything." ben said to her.
"okay, um..." the help desk lady tapped at her computer. "i can get you a flight to seattle, and then one to chicago from there."
"how long?"
she tapped a few more keys. "you'll get there at midnight tonight."
ben sighed and checked his watch. that was a little less than eight hours from now.
"fine, yeah." he said. "i'll take it." he handed her his debit card, and she gave him two tickets for the two flights he would take.
"do you have any bags?"
he looked down. "um, no, i don't."
"spontaneous trip?" she laughed.
"something like that." he smiled half heartedly. "which gate?"
she pointed him to the right.
"thank you."
"have a safe trip." she smiled.

it was 11:37 when ben's plane finally landed in chicago. he barely made it onto this flight from the first one, but he'd sprinted all the way from one end of the airport to the other to make it.
he got a cheap sandwich from one of the stands in the airport, then checked his bank account balance.
$98.67.
he hoped to god that would last him as long as he needed.

before leaving the airport, he texted sky.
in chicago. i don't know if she's here, but i'm gonna look for her
seconds later, sky answered.
good luck. we're all rooting for you guys
ben shut his phone off to conserve the battery and stepped through the doors of o'hare onto the chicago streets. it was late, and there were less cars than he was used to, and he realized that he had no idea where he was going.
shit.
eliana was usually the one taking him places, and he was always too focused on her to pay attention to anything else.
he did remember that he wasn't supposed to go to the south side. the memory of her grabbing his hand with a whisper of "for safety" clouded his vision, and he tried to hold on to the picture of her laughing face. it was the only thing that was keeping him going.
the one place he did remember was her gym. he'd go there first and figure it out from there.

lola tossed eliana a blanket. "i'm sorry i don't have a spare room."
"it's okay, i kind of sprung this on you." she settled onto the couch. her cheeks were puffy and glistened with half dried tears.
"did you tell him you were leaving?"
she shook her head. "i didn't tell anyone. i just left."
"they've got to be worried about you."
"i don't really care right now." she said honestly. "let them worry. i'll get to them when i feel like it."
"okay." lola nodded. "get some rest, el. i'll see you in the morning."

ben looked up at the gym front. the lights were still on inside, thought he couldn't see anyone inside from where he stood. he went to open the doors, but they were locked. after trying every single door, he pounded his fist against it, frustrated.
peter carlisle heard the sound coming from the front, and looked around the corner. a head of blond hair was resting against the glass. he recognized the curly locks almost immediately.
"ben?" peter called just loud enough for the boy to hear. he lifted his head, and broke into a relieved grin. "peter!"
peter unlocked the doors, and ben stumbled in.
"ben? what are you doing here? you look like you've been through hell."
ben wiped at his nose. "it's, um, it's a long story."
"aren't you supposed to be in california right now?"
"yeah."
"does this have something to do with eliana?"
ben pressed his lips together to try and fight the tears, but his attempts were futile. "ellie, she-she thinks i cheated on her, but i swear to god, peter, i didn't, it's just-"
"woah, woah, she thinks you cheated on her?"
ben nodded and quickly wiped the tears off of his cheeks.
"what gave her that idea?"
ben explained how he met phoebe, how she made it out that her and eliana were good friends, and how she convinced him to start hanging out outside of their brief talks at the gym.
"and i guess phoebe told ellie that we were hanging out, and ellie just connected the dots in the completely wrong way." ben choked out. peter stood there blinking.
"okay, wow, that's-that's not what i expected."
"was she here?" ben asked. "i need to find her."
"she wasn't here." peter shook his head. "i can give you lola sanchez's address, though. that's where she would probably go."
"please."
peter scribbled down the address on a sticky note, and ben rushed out the door.
"kids." he laughed to himself.