“Stop staring at me,” Mina said matter-of-factly.
Ben snorted.
“Don’t flatter
yourself. You’re not naked.”
She laughed incredulously. She walked over to Ben and handed
him a mug of coffee. Ben took the mug from her and looked in… he could see that
the pieces of the instant coffee had not dissolved yet.
“Instant?”
Mina smiled and inhaled the coffee deeply, like she was
shooting a Folgers commercial. Ben shrugged and drank. Not bad.
“So, you came to gloat?”
Ben shook his head.
“I never gloat.”
That was true, she thought, he wasn’t a gloater. Despite the
riches he came from, it wasn’t his nature to look down upon people. Plus
gloating took a lot of energy.
“You came to comfort me? How sweet,” Mina said sarcastically,
“Don’t bother. I couldn’t care less about Luke and his new bride.”
Mina got up and turned back to the kitchen, pretending that
she had left something there so she didn’t have to face Ben when she said it.
“Cut the crap, Mina.
You hate this, you’re losing your keys, living in squalor, and refusing to comb
your hair. These are all signs of emotional depression.”
“I’m fine,” Mina said
“Well, I’m not! Luke is about to make the biggest mistake of
his life and we both know it.”
“That’s his mistake to
make, Ben. He’s not my problem anymore.”
“Your problem? Since when is a guy who is crazy about you a
problem? Or did you forget that he held your hair back when you threw up from
eating the cafeteria tuna salad in seventh grade? Or that he asked you to
Homecoming and prom with those ridiculous helicopter banners that I paid for? Did you forget that he went
to all of your debate competitions, even though they were painfully boring and
horribly lame? Or that he used to drive twelve hours once every three months,
regardless of the weather, to see you in Boston and not have sex 75% of the
time? No, he’s not your problem. You know what your problem is, Mina? You
didn’t have the balls three years ago to tell him that you loved him and that
he shouldn’t leave you for Ella, who treats him worse and deserves him less. Your
problem is that you’re too afraid to go after what you want,” Ben said harshly,
picking up a textbook and carelessly spinning it in the air. “At least in the
real, human world.”
“He left me…” Mina said, her voice trembling.
“No, he challenged you. He spent the better part of a decade
hoisting you on a pedestal and the one time it was your turn to prove to him
that you loved him just as much as he loved you, you let him walk away.”
“Well, that was a long time ago… I doubt that he still…”
“There’s a chance, Mina.”
A simple statement, but it shook Mina. Lifted her heart.
Terrified her.
“He doesn’t really love Ella, but he loved you. We can’t let
that happen to him. We have to go there. We have to stop this wedding.”
Mina’s eyes widened. This asshole has lost it.
“Hear me out—”
“You’re crazy…”
“I’m not arguing,” Ben motioned to the couch, waiting for her
to sit down. He frowned when she remained motionless.
“Sit and listen. If you don’t like what I have to say, I’ll
leave and we can have this conversation again at the baby shower.” He motioned
to the couch again. Mina walked over and took a seat.
“I know, although he won’t admit it, that he is not in love
with Ella. I think he’s marrying her because she’s pregnant or blackmailing
him. Maybe he feels obligated. I know he hasn’t forgotten about you because
when he talks about you, he looks sad, hurt even…”
“He broke up with me,” Mina interjected vehemently, “he hurt
me.”
“People make mistakes.”
“And stay with her for three years?” Mina shook her head,
“Luke made his choice.”
“Yeah, well he made a bad choice,” Ben snapped at her, “We
both know that he hasn’t been the same since he dropped out of Notre Dame. I
know he feels trapped like he doesn’t have a good enough reason to walk away…”
“Not being in love is a pretty good reason,” Mina stated.
Ben rolled his eyes.
“What a romantic,” he teased, “Grow up.”
“Excuse me? How
unevolved do you have to be to think you can actually break a couple apart at
their wedding? When are you going to grow up and realize that you can’t always
mess with people’s lives, especially Luke’s?” Mina asked.
“You’ve been doing a pretty good job of that all by yourself,
Mina,” Ben said sharply.
“Excuse me?”
Ben stood up, his height towering over her menacingly.
“I know. I know that you guys talk and I know that you’ve
seen each other,” Ben said, his statement like a current of wind in an empty
room.
“How do you know…?”
“He told me about that night. Josie’s mother’s funeral. How
you guys stayed up and ate pizza and probably sucked face. Come on, Mina. Look
me in the eye and tell me that you don’t have some love left in your heart for
Luke.”
Her eyes widened and she made an exasperated sound. Yep, she
would definitely be killed within the first four hours of joining the mafia.
“Our story is over,” Mina said forcefully as if chiding a
child.
Ben rolled his eyes.
“Your ‘story’… Jesus…”
“He made his choice. Anyway, I can’t just leave out of
nowhere. I teach three sections during the week. I have students that depend on
me.”
“Get a substitute. Cancel for a week. It’s not the
apocalypse.”
“I don’t have enough money for a ticket to Costa Rica either!
Even if I had money, I wouldn’t spend it on my ex-boyfriend’s…” Mina trailed
off as she watched Ben pull a slip of paper out of his jacket pocket and hand
it to her. It was a ticket to Costa Rica.
“I can see that you’ve done very well for yourself,” Ben said
dryly, “but I figured you may have some qualms about putting down the money for
this expedition, so I took the liberty of doing it for you.”
Mina stared at the ticket vacantly.
“Are you insane?!”
Ben mulled the question over in his head thoughtfully, “No.
I’m just filthy rich.” He flashed her a smile and reached into his back pocket
and pulled out his wallet. He counted bills out methodically and handed them to
Mina.
“You’ll probably need to go shopping. I want you to look
amazing, sexy… a fucking vixen.”
“You want me to seduce Luke?”
“Or your version of that.”
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