Chapter 5

Hilly dragged her bags into the banquet room for breakfast with a satisfied smile on her face. Even being on couple of hours of sleep couldn't keep her spirits down. Madison was a little more subdued, but even she wasn't immune to Hilly's good mood.

"Thanks for helping me with my hair this morning," Hilly said as they put their bags down with the others. She had woken up late with horrible bed-head after going to sleep with wet hair. Madison had brushed it out and put it into a French braid right before they came down.

"Anytime." Madison put her own bags down with a sad smile and stretched out her back. "I'm gonna sleep all the way home."

"Me too," Hilly said as she yawned. Her back and leg muscles were hurting so much she'd taken a pain reliever. There was nothing she could do about the soreness she felt inside as she walked to the breakfast buffet line, but it did serve as a reminder. I'm not a virgin anymore.

Hilly didn't regret it at all, but it still felt like a milestone of sorts. Ben would always be her first, whatever else happened between them, and that made her happy. She was putting some bacon on her plate when one of the older altos, Sarah, came up to her.

"Hilly? I just wanted to say how cool it was that you saved Kaylee last night, especially after all the shit she talked about you."

The comment took her by surprise mostly because Sarah hadn't said more than a dozen words to her all year. "Thanks."

"None of us ever really listened to her anyway," Sarah said with a conspiratorial wink. "How'd you learn to do all that stuff anyway?"

"Three brothers and a decade of mixed martial arts training," she said with a laugh.

"If you ever want to teach a personal safety class, sign me up!" Sarah bumped Hilly's shoulder with her fist and walked away.

"That was wild," Madison whispered with wide eyes as she got some bacon for herself. "Oh Shit, here comes Ashley."

Only one third of the terrible trio had avoided her roofie because she secretly poured her drinks out in a nearby potted plant. She told the police she didn't like the taste of alcohol. Hilly had been there listening to the whole interview, but Ashley hadn't looked over at her once.

Standing there in the food line, Hilly felt her stomach tighten as Ashley stopped to examine her fingers and pinch her lips. The nearby conversations stilled as people became aware of them standing together.

"What's up?" Hilly asked, trying to hide how nervous she felt.

Ashley looked up with a brittle look on her face, like she was hanging on to her composure with her fingernails. "I knew." Her chin quivered for an instant then stopped. "I knew and I didn't stop her leaving with him."

Hilly felt her arms prickle at the implication, but she also knew enough from the safety classes she'd taken to realize what Ashley was struggling with. "It's not your fault. You weren't trained to know what to do and stress like that can make anyone do things they'd never usually do."

Ashley wiped her nose and nodded, but didn't look convinced. "Thanks for helping Kaylee when it counted. I'm sorry I was a bitch to you." She turned and walked out of the banquet room without another word to anyone then wiped her eyes as she got to the door.

Hilly and Madison looked at each other, silently communicating their surprise, then Hilly shook her head and added a bagel to her plate. "Let's go sit down before anything else happens."

Ben met them on their way to join the tenors table with a worried expression. "What did she want?" he asked as he searched Hilly's face.

"To apologize for being a bitch," Hilly explained with a shrug. "Got room for two more?"

"Sure do," he said and smiled at Madison. "Good morning. You guys sleep okay?"

When Madison didn't reply right away, Hilly looked over to see her nod at Ben with a pained smile. "Yeah." Hilly realized he was worried Madison would say something about her being out of her room for most of the night.

"The police finally let me go around eleven," Hilly added for the benefit of the others around the table. Nathan and Roj both had carefully neutral expressions at her comment which made her worry. "Mornin' guys," she said with a bright smile to warm them up.

"Hey," Roj said then looked down at his plate.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked as he maintained that oddly blank expression.

"Yeah." Hilly sat as she laughed, "No post-traumatic stress or anything."

Nathan glared at Ben for some reason then looked away.

"What's going on?" Hilly asked him as she caught Ben's face flush from the corner of her eye.

"Nothing," Nathan said and got up with his mostly full plate. "I'm stuffed. I'll see y'all around."

Roj shook his head and continued to chew. "Don't worry about him. He didn't get much sleep last night." When he gave Ben a significant look, Hilly remembered that Roj and Nathan had the room next door to Ben's.

"Oh shit," she whispered to herself as she realized she and Ben hadn't exactly been quiet. Who had the room on the other side? Just then two of the older basses came by smirking at her and Ben. She leaned close to Ben and whispered, "Everyone knows?"

Ben put his arm around her and put his lips next to her ear. "No one knows, but some guys heard something last night. I swear I'm never going to say a word. Keep in mind that most people are only just now finding out you saved Kaylee last night, so that's why they're looking at you."

Hilly took a deep breath and pushed away the fear she felt. She was dating Ben now and everyone would assume they did things together. Her lips twitched as she silently reviewed all things they'd done together the night before. "You're right," she whispered back then kissed his cheek.

Roj watched their exchange with a shrug. "Nathan's really jealous."

"I can't help that," Ben said before taking a bite of his sausage.

Hilly glanced at Madison staring at her plate like she was a thousand miles away. "You okay?"

She jumped and immediately smiled. "Just thinking."

"Well let's hurry and eat so we can get good seats on the bus."

After they finished breakfast and hauled their bags to the bus, Hilly and Ben found seats towards the back with Madison across the aisle. In an unexpected turn, Ashley stopped in the aisle and looked at Madison for a moment.

"Mind if I sit with you?" she asked quietly.

Madison's eyebrows narrowed as she studied Ashley's face. "Sure, if you want to."

After Madison pulled her legs into her seat, Ashley tossed her bag into the overhead shelf and slid into the window seat. Hilly caught something odd about their exchange but was too tired to think about it.

Ben leaned against the window and pulled Hilly into his chest while she covered them both with the blue blanket he'd brought on the trip. In moments she had snuggled up and drifted to sleep, sitting between Ben's legs and surrounded by his arms.

When Hilly woke a little later, the bus was quiet except for the rumble of the wheels and the movie playing. Across the aisle Madison and Ashley were talking quietly. She watched her best friend give Ashley a shy smile and nod, then the two of them bumped shoulders. It was odd seeing one of the terrible trio smile like that at her friend.

Ben sighed and stretched before pulling Hilly in tighter. She had the blanket up to her neck so no one could see when he cupped her breasts.

"Someone's awake," she whispered and turned to kiss his chin. His erection was firm against her side.