Suzie’s House 34: Lost Boy

 Previously, in Suzie’s House:

After having fought their attraction to one another, Drew and Suzie were finally overcoming the barriers between them when Ben, Suzie’s son, came home.  Ben was supposed to stay with his father, from whom he is estranged.  Ben walked out when he couldn’t get his father to listen to him.

“Mom?”  Ben tapped on the door to his mother’s office.  Funny, she hardly ever closed it.  He tried the knob, but it wouldn’t turn.  The door was locked.

He knew she was in there.  The light was on, and he could hear a lot of rustling.  Was that a zipper zipping?

“Mom,” he said a bit more forcefully.

“Just a minute, Honey.”

“Mom, I need to talk.”  He’d been desperate to talk to someone all day, starting from when his teacher, Mrs. D, slapped a corrected quiz on his desk with that odd kind of twitchy smile she got when she was going to do something nasty.

Sure enough, she’d given him an F.  The thing was they went over it in class, and his answers didn’t use the same words as hers, but they meant the same thing and she didn’t make anyone else use the exact words.

And then there was that whole big scene in the hall when Mom showed up looking for him.  She looked so upset, but Mrs. D. wouldn’t let her alone long enough for her to say anything.  Ben thought maybe she was upset about his grades, but he never got a chance to explain, and then the Vice Principal made him go home with Dad when it wasn’t even the weekend and he should have been going home with Mom.

It was all messed up, totally whacked, because all the way home he kept thinking about how Dad yelled at him about him not being his real self with his mother.  That wasn’t really what Dad yelled at him as he walked out, but that was the thing that bugged Ben.

What Dad yelled was that Mom was fooling around with both Drew and Vin, which was totally not fair because Dad fooled around with women all the time and Mom never did it with anyone.

Only when he said he needed to talk just now, the sound of rustling stopped, and laughter started.  It wasn’t mean laughter.  It was low and quiet and not meant for him to hear.  And it wasn’t just Mom either.  There was someone else in there, a man, who was laughing with her.

Ben couldn’t think of any good reason why his mother and a man would be in her office with the door closed.  What’s more, all that rustling sounded a lot like clothing being put back on.  His mom WAS messing with someone, and considering the way they’d been keeping the front door locked, and not letting people visit, it had to be either Drew or Vin.

Ben felt betrayed.  He had been so sure when he told his Dad that Mom fool around that she didn’t.  She made him feel like a liar.

“Never mind,” he called through the door.  He headed up the stairs to his room instead.

If Dad was right about Mom, was he right about Ben too? 

It was true that Ben did behave differently with Mom than with Dad, but he always thought it was his Dad’s fault.  It wasn’t like he wanted to be different with each of them.  And he wasn’t really such an angel with his Mom either.  Not all the time.  It’s just that Dad wasn’t going to approve of him no matter what he did, but Mom always looked so pleased and happy and proud when Ben did something good.

But maybe there was something more too it.  Maybe he was a little afraid too.  Maybe he thought if he did something wrong Mom would let Dad win the custody battle they always had going.

Ben shuddered.  It was bad enough staying with Dad on weekends.  Living with him all the time?  He couldn’t even get through tonight.  How was he supposed to live with the man all the time?

Ben pivoted to the right at the top of the stairs, his hand resting on the knob at the end of the railing.  This was home, not his father’s apartment.  This was where he was supposed to be.  He let his fingers trail over the railing all the way to the end.

He stopped in front of his room and looked across the hall at the door to Mom’s room.  Everything was different now that they had boarders.  At first Ben thought it was neat.  It still was neat, but maybe not such a good thing if it meant Mom found someone who might not want him around.

At least one guy wanted him around.  Ben wasn’t sure what to make of him.  He said his name was John.  He drove a silver Jeep Cherokee with white-wall tires and had bright red hair.  He was the same guy Ben had seen hanging around the bus stop the last week or so.

While Ben was walking home the guy had pulled up and talked out his window at Ben.  He said he was a member of a special club for good drivers, and that he though Ben would make a good member.  Ben told him he couldn’t drive.  The guy offered to teach him.

That would be cool, learning to drive before any of his friends.  Ben would have said yes but he knew Mom wouldn’t like it.  Besides, it was kind of creeping, like some guy who offers you candy if you’ll get in the car with him.  Only this guy just said “Think about it,” and drove off.

Ben sat down on his bed.

“Ben.”  Mom called from the stairs.  Ben could hear her feet moving fast.  “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”  He would have said something like why wouldn’t he be, but something made him hold back.

Mom looked so relieved as she came up to the door to his room.  Relieved, and very glad to see him.  It made Ben feel good.  “I thought you were supposed to stay with your father.”  She didn’t sound judgmental, just worried.

“That’s what the Vice Principal said, but he doesn’t have the right to say where I sleep.”

Mom smiled, looking surprised and pleased.  “That’s right.  He doesn’t.”

Drew came up behind her.  His hair was mussed and his clothes too, which wasn’t like him at all.  His eyes were sharp like a cop, but he smiled like he was glad to see Ben.

Something inside Ben let go.  If it was Drew that Mom loved, everything would be OK.  Drew understood him.  Drew liked him.  Drew pushed past Mom, and came into the room.

“Ben, there’s something we need to talk about.”  He pulled up the chair from Ben’s desk, and sat leaning forward.  “Have you seen a tall, thin man with red hair?”

Ben wasn’t sure how to answer.  He didn’t want to say yes if it meant he would get in trouble with him mother.

“He drives a silver Jeep.  If you see him, you need to let one of us know right away.”

“Why?”  Ben felt almost belligerent asking.

“He’s the man who shot Vin.”

All of a sudden Ben’s stomach felt funny, like it had turned into a block of ice.

The previous was Suzie’s House 33 : Suzie and Drew Sitting in a Tree

This is Suzie’s House 34: Lost Boy

Next is Suzie’s House 35 : A Tale of Two Brothers