A Shade of Blood

He escorted me to my room and gave me time to get ready as he himself got dressed. I didn’t know what he had in mind for our date, so I really had no idea what to wear. I took a good five minutes staring at my closet, wondering what to put on. Why don’t you just go ask him, Sofia? For crying out loud, this is just Ben… your best friend… Still, I wanted it to feel like a real date – complete with all the hassles of assembling the right outfit.



Since it was a Saturday morning and I was sure Ben wouldn’t be the type to drag me into a formal gathering of sorts, I ended up putting on a baby doll blouse with a white lace tube top and a sheer old rose chiffon bottom. I paired it with dark skinny jeans and pink doll shoes. I considered lifting my hair up into a ponytail, but decided to wear it down and accent it with a crystal headband.



I just finished putting on some light makeup when Ben began knocking on my door. I stuffed my phone, makeup and wallet in my hand bag and grabbed it before Ben could make his way inside my bedroom. When I opened the door, his eyes lit up upon seeing me.



It was a strange feeling having known him for half my life and still finding myself mesmerized by a side of him that I’d never actually been introduced to before.



“So? I guess now you’d be willing to be seen with me?” I teased.



He looked at me from head to foot. “M-hm… You’ll do.”



I rolled my eyes and lightly slapped the uninjured side of his face.



“Ow.” He frowned as he held the assaulted area. “Fine.” He relented. “You look perfect, Sofia.”



We made our way to the driveway and got on his truck.



“So?” I asked as I made myself comfortable in the passenger’s seat. “What exactly do you have in mind for our first date, Mr. Hudson?”



“Well…” He started the vehicle. He looked genuinely excited to go on our date. “I figured that we’ve been having some pretty nasty memories lately, so it might be worth our while to revisit the good ones.”



I smiled. “Sounds interesting. Where to then?”



“Just wait and see.”



Ten minutes passed before we arrived at our first stop: a string of outlet stores that I didn’t remember visiting before. What kind of memories would I have in a place like this?



We stepped out of the truck. Ben held my hand and led me to a toy store. He passed the racks of toys, observing quietly as he strode with purpose toward the back of the shop.



I couldn’t bear my curiosity any longer. “Why are we at a toy store, Ben? I’ve never been here before.”



“Neither have I, actually,” he admitted, amusement wrinkling the corners of his eyes as he continued to scope out each rack he passed by, his fingers still intertwined with mine. “Ahhh… there it is!”



He stopped at a rack containing an impressively large assortment of water guns. He faced me and smiled. “Do you remember the first time we actually played together?”



“You call that playing together?” I burst into giggles. “You kept squirting me with a water gun… right in the face!”



“It was the first water gun I’d ever received. I was nine years old. I thought it was a pretty cool toy and then you showed up, and you couldn’t even sit in one place for even a second… What?! It’s true! You were all over the place and you kept bugging me with stupid questions.” He shrugged. “I was annoyed.”



“So your solution was to shoot water at me whenever I opened my mouth to speak.”



He leaned his face closer to mine and slit his eyes at me. “It shut you up, didn’t it?”



“For the record, the questions I was asking weren’t stupid. You just didn’t know the answers to them.”



“Doesn’t matter… It was annoying.”



I rolled my eyes again. Still, I had to admit that the memories connected to Ben’s water gun always did put a smile on my face. It was how we first began to bond. He was always chasing after me, because I never could quite stay still and pay attention to anything. I was always on the hunt for something and Ben was always curious what adventure I was headed off to. Whenever he caught up with me, I’d start blabbering about what I discovered or start asking questions that he apparently found annoying. Time came when just seeing the water gun made me seal my lips shut.



“What ever happened to that thing?” I wondered out loud.



“I always thought you hid it somewhere…”



“I did not!”



“Well, either way, it’s lost. That’s why we’re here. The water gun was actually a gift from my Uncle Bob, so I called him up and asked him where he got it and well… here we are.”



“You’re going to replace the gun? Why? So you can squirt me in the face with it?”



He chuckled, his hand on mine tightening as he spoke. “As tempting as that sounds, Sofia, no… I thought it would be fun for us to have a water gun fight by the pool or something in case… you know…”



“In case what?”



“In case we progress to a second date.”



Oh smooth, Ben. Very smooth.



We picked up our choice of hydro-powered weapons, paid for them and headed back for the truck. Before he began driving, he gave me a disclaimer. “Once you see where we’re going next, promise not to kill me, alright?”



“I’ll try not to resort to violence. Where on earth are you taking me now?”



“You’ll see…”



When he parked the car in front of our next destination, I was mortified. It was the venue of what could be considered the most embarrassing moment of my life. I cast him a murderous glare.



“You promised not to kill me.”



“I did no such thing…”



All I got was that grin of his that helped him charm his way through life.



“Come on, Ben…” I groaned. “How can this place hold any good memories?” We were parked in front of a clothing boutique – my favorite one when I was thirteen – where I was caught for shop-lifting.



“What? It’s the scene of your first crime!”



“How is that a good memory? And for the record, I was framed.”



“Yes. You told us that story many, many times. It was Jenna who put the dress in your bag.”



“It’s true.” I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted.



“I’m not refuting that.” Ben raised his hands in surrender. “But this place holds a good memory for me, because this is where I first realized that you had a crush on me.”



“And how exactly did you come upon that revelation?”



“Weren’t you there because you were stalking Jenna and me?”



I covered my face with both palms. “That’s so embarrassing. You knew?!”



“Of course I knew…”



“So all this time, you knew I had a thing for you? How would you even…”



“It doesn’t matter how. I just knew.” He leaned back on his car seat, his eyes set forward.



“But you were never interested in me… Not in that way at least…”



He gave me a wry laugh. “Never interested in you? Sofia, I had a crush on you from the first time I met you. Do you have any idea how cute you looked when I first shot you in the face with that water gun? I’ve had a thing for you since then…”



“Then why didn’t you ever say anything? I had to watch you have all those flings and date all those girls… I don’t understand.”



“I always thought of you as the girl I would eventually become serious with. The only explanation I can really give you is that I wasn’t ready to settle yet … I was being a jackass.”



Then Derek came along and you got a taste of your own medicine? Is that why you’re so interested in me all of a sudden? It’s definitely not because you want to settle down.



“Anyway,” Ben drummed his fingers over the steering wheel “we’re here because I thought this would be a great place for you to look for a prom dress.”



“Prom dress?”



“Yeah. Come on…”



I stared at him incredulously. “Do I have to?” I whined.



“You can’t go to the prom with me if you don’t have a prom dress, Sofia.” He took my hand and coaxed me out of the truck. “Besides, it’s about time this place gave you a good memory or two.”



As we walked toward the boutique’s front door, I quipped. “Who ever said I was going to prom with you?”



He was clearly amused considering the way chuckles began escaping his lips. “Of course you’re going. That’s going to be date number three.”



It was decidedly the best date I’d ever been on. After we picked out my prom dress and his suit, he brought me to our favorite ice cream shop. He knew what to order me without needing to ask: mint chocolate chip. He hated that flavor… kept telling me that it tasted like toothpaste. His favorite was actually strawberry, something he never admitted until high school, because as a boy, he always ordered rocky road. He thought strawberry was too girly because it was pink.



Every venue we visited contained a memory of the eight years we spent being best friends. It was a reminder of how well we knew each other, of how well-acquainted we were with each other’s quirks and idiosyncrasies. It was as if he was reminding me why he still mattered, why we mattered.



It was interesting to sneak into our middle school and fool around on the swings. We reminisced over the first fight he’d ever gotten into. We would’ve stayed longer, but the old security guard – Enrique – chased us out.



We then had lunch at the restaurant where we both worked one summer. The manager who looked over us was still working there. We got free dessert. Finally, we took a winding stroll through the park near the hospital where Ben stayed after he contracted appendicitis.



“You were with me every single day until I got out,” Ben recalled. We were seated on a park bench and he was holding my hands, playfully tugging at my fingers. “I just want you to know that I noticed all that, Sofia. I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me.”