Chapter 2

When Hilly used the cardkey on her hotel room door, it flew open by itself as she pushed causing her to fall on the floor. "Fuck."

"There you are!" Madison helped Hilly up, then grabbed her garment bag and shook it out flat. "I was worried when I didn't see you get off the bus."

"I'm too short," Hilly said as she tossed her duffel bag on the far bed and yawned. "I could barely see the movie over the headrest."

Hilly didn't have many girl friends after growing up with three brothers. She found the catty games most girls played hard to deal with, but Madison was so easy going they'd hit it off and never looked back. Their only real difference of opinion involved sex. Madison claimed she had no interest at all, but always wanted to know every detail of Hilly's tame adventures.

"So you sat with Ben?" she sang. "I heard interesting things back there."

Hilly schooled her face, but could feel the heat rising. "Yeah. He's nice."

"That blush says he's a little better than nice."

Turning to dump out her duffel on the bed, she began to fold and put her clothes away without commenting. Madison chuckled as she opened the garment bag to hang Hilly's formal dress in the closet. "I wonder if we can get a steamer to get these wrinkles out."

"Mom hangs her clothes in the bathroom and runs hot water in the shower," Hilly suggested. She gathered up her toiletries and went into the bathroom, then arranged her things on the free side of the sink.

"Good idea," Madison said as she leaned against the bathroom doorway. "So are you gonna keep me in suspense forever?"

Hilly sighed. What happened on the bus felt more personal than the playful kisses and light petting she'd shared with Madison before. She and Ben slept right up to the hotel. When they woke up things felt a little awkward as they scrambled to get off the bus and checked into the hotel.

She hadn't known what to expect after they arrived. He hadn't tried to take her hand or talk to her much at all, and his hesitance threw her off. He had smiled at her, but after his tenderness on the bus it felt more like a brush off. Her last view of him was heading to the elevator with his roommate for the trip, Edward. He had checked them both in earlier so Ben didn't have to stand in line.

"Hey, are you okay?" Madison asked with a wrinkled brow. She stepped into the bathroom and touched Hilly's shoulder.

"Just a little tired," Hilly said as she forced a smile. "I want to shower before dinner if you don't mind."

"Sure, I'll just hang out and watch TV." Madison didn't look like she bought it, but Hilly didn't care as long as she could shut the door.

Alone in the bathroom, she pushed down her sweats and panties to pee. Looking at the white crust on her panty's gusset made her frown, but the crusty bits still clinging to her pubic hair made her mutter to herself, "I wonder if having a dick is this much trouble?"

After she wiped off, she put her own finger where Ben's finger had been. It wasn't the same anymore. She was a little sore but the tightness she'd always felt at the entrance was gone. Glancing around the bathroom, she spied Madison's hand mirror and scooted to the edge of the toilet.

Her furry friend looked the same as always. Its pink, uneven lips stuck out like it was blowing a raspberry at her. Hilly held herself open for a quick inspection, noting the strong scent she'd always associated with her arousal. Ben must have stretched her out or something, because it didn't hurt to tuck her finger inside anymore. She put the mirror down with a sigh and stood up.

After taking off her t-shirt and bra, she folded her dirty clothes so Madison wouldn't catch a glimpse of the evidence in her panties. Starting the hot water first, Hilly got in to stand in the steam for a while. She washed her hair, then scrubbed her body with a soapy wash cloth to remove all the evidence of her adventures with Ben. After she got out, she put her hair up in one towel, wrapped up in a second one, then picked up her dirty clothes.

"All yours," Hilly said as she came out into the room.

"Thanks," Madison said as she hopped up off the bed. She paused at the bathroom doorway to look back. "You'd tell me if he'd hurt you or something, right?"

"Of course," Hilly said, touched that her friend cared so much. "Everything's fine, really." Madison nodded and went into the bathroom.

After drying her hair some more, Hilly put it up in loose tail again. Then she got clean panties and slipped them on under the towel. They caught on her leg stubble, reminding her she needed to shave in the morning. She sniffed her bra to see if she could get another day out of it, then slipped off the towel to put it on.

Her favorite pair of skinny jeans went on next under a white babydoll top with lace sleeves. She was just putting on her white leather sandals when Madison came out vigorously drying her hair with a towel.

"I have some gold hoop earrings that would look great with that outfit," Madison said as she plopped on her bed.

"Thanks," Hilly said as she stood to look at herself in the mirror. "Mind if I borrow them?"

"Here," she said as she tossed over a small velvet jewelry bag from the dresser.

"Thanks." Hilly found them and put them on, turning her head to see how they looked in the mirror. "Good suggestion."

"Don't wait for me," Madison said as she dug through her drawer. "I may skip dinner to read, but I'll call your cell if I decide to come down later."

"Why don't you hang the do not disturb sign if you go to sleep? Then I won't make noise and wake you when I come in."

Hilly went down to the lobby without much of an appetite. There were three places to eat inside the hotel a ton of restaurants within walking distance. When she paused to consider her options, she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey," Ben said. His hair was still damp and he'd changed into a polo shirt in an effort to dress for dinner. The shirt was faded and a little small on him, but that just highlighted his broad shoulders and chest. She swallowed hard at the sweet smile he gave her.

"Hey," she said, stepping close to encourage a more personal greeting.

He blushed as he took her in from top to bottom, his gaze lingering a bit on the lace collar of her babydoll top. "You look great."

"For a kid sister?" she joked, but his smile came a beat late and it made her heart skip a beat. Something was definitely off between them.

"You wanna get something to eat?" he asked.

"Sure." She wished he would take her hand or touch her, anything to show what happened on the bus hadn't changed things between them. They'd been friends first, despite the occasional flirty kiss, and she didn't want to lose that.

She followed him to the atrium in the middle of the hotel where some of their group were already eating. She noted the terrible trio of Kaylee, Ashley, and Bailey giving her and Ben an odd look. Ben spoke to the hostess for them and they followed her to a table near a decorative water fountain.

Hilly glanced at the menu, picking the grilled chicken salad in an instant, then she put the menu down to examine Ben. Maybe he could tell how inexperienced she was. Or maybe the kid sister comment from earlier in the week meant he wasn't really attracted to her the way she saw him. But if he didn't like her then why did he get a boner when they held hands? Everything was simpler when she just teased him a little, she decided, then looked away.

Kaylee was staring daggers at her while Ben was focused on the menu. The terrible trio were all older than Hilly and seemed to view her as some kind of freak. Hilly assumed they were just jealous that the guys in the choir liked hanging out with her, but her evil stare made Hilly wonder if there was something else going on she hadn't considered before.

"Have you decided?" Ben asked.

"Yeah," she whispered while she mentally reviewed the last couple of weeks. She had seen Kaylee around Ben, but hadn't given it much thought at the time. "Why did you ask me to sit next to you on the bus?"

The guilty look on Ben's face took her by surprise. She had assumed that he just wanted to be with her, but as the pieces fell into place she realized what an idiot she had been.

"I just wanted to hang out with you," he mumbled.

"No," Hilly said as her temper rose. "You were avoiding someone, weren't you? That's why you picked the back of the bus. It didn't have anything to do with me at all." She looked up at the skylight far above them and let out a sad laugh. "God, I'm so stupid sometimes."

"It's not what you think." Ben's eyes shifted around while he struggled to speak.

"What I think is that I don't want to hang out with you anymore." She stood up and headed out of the restaurant before she made an even bigger fool of herself. She barely made it out before she heard quick high-heeled footsteps behind her.

"Going somewhere?" Kaylee hissed as she grabbed Hilly's arm to pull her behind a large potted bush. "You stay the fuck away from Ben."

"Oh, you have nothing to worry about there," Hilly laughed. "You two are made for each other. I can see that now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaylee pulled back with a suspicious look.

"I'm not interested in playing games with either of you. Now let go of me before I break your arm." Hilly had just passed her black belt exam and hoped Kaylee wouldn't let go. Then she could kick Kaylee's ass without violating the Sensei's rules about striking first.

Kaylee dropped her hand, but drew herself up to tower over Hilly. "Everyone knows what a tease you are. No guy would ever really want to date you anyway."

She couldn't stop the ironic laugh from escaping when Ben came around the bush in time to hear her comment. Finding the two of them together brought Ben to a sudden stop. Hilly saw the panic in his eyes as he glanced back and forth between them. "Like I said, you two deserve each other."

"But I don't even like her," Ben insisted, gesturing to Kaylee. "Just because I was avoiding her on the bus doesn't mean I don't like you, Hilly."

Hilly felt like she'd been punched in the gut when her breath fled.

"What?" Kaylee spat at him.

"And for the record I'd be happy to date you," he said as he flushed a deep red. "If you wanted to, I mean."

"What could you possibly see in her?" Kaylee sputtered, like Hilly's faults were so self-evident that she didn't have to even name them.

Ben turned with a scowl. "She's cute and fun to be around. She takes me seriously and cares about what I say. And I doubt I'll ever have to worry about her going around behind my back." The last statement was said with enough heat to imply something had happened between them.