We followed the man into his house. It was a nice comfy little house, about like mine. I led Benny to the navy blue couch in the living room. I helped him sit but the old man had other thoughts.

"Can you lift your arms kid?" He asked making me turn to him.

Benny lifted both his arms high above his head and let out another small grunt.

"Good, you girl, help him get his shirt off." Said the man. I felt my eyes grow wide and he narrowed his gaze at me annoyed.

"I know you guys are good friends from the way you stuck up for each other. Just do it." Said the old man winking at me as he returned to the kitchen.

Benny sat up a little more and held his arms above his head with a smirk on his face. I just stared at him and walked over to right in front of him.

I grabbed the hem of his shirt, and slowly began lifting it up his chest. I didn't have to lift it very far before the first bruise emerged. At one point while lifting it up I touched his chest, making us both blush. By the time I had the shirt at his shoulders there was five big bruises.

"Jesus Benny." I whispered to him examine the bruises.

"Would you stop checking out my abs and get this shirt off." He said making me tear my eyes off the bruises to meet his gaze.

"You wish you had abs." I chuckled, pulling the shirt completely off him and throwing it on the couch next to him. He did have a little bit of abs, but I would never tell him or admit that I was looking for that.

"Okay kid, wow they really got you good didn't they." Said the man walking back in with a bunch of little ice packs.

"Yeah I guess they did." Benny said looking down at himself.

The man passed two packs to me so I could tell Benny where to put them.

I slipped one in his hand then lifted his hand to his eye, then did the same to the bruise on his cheek with his other hand.

"The ice won't help much with those, but they'll keep the swelling down on your eye." Said the old man handing me a wash cloth. I hadn't even noticed he'd gone anywhere.

I cleaned the blood from his nose and all around his lips, making him smile.

"So, what're your kids names?" He asked sitting in a rocking chair across from us.

"I'm Benjamin Rodriguez." Benny said after I took the cloth away from his lips and sat next to him.

"I'm Nancy Sawyer." I said trying not to think of how close Benny and I were especially because he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"I'm Jonathan Stevenson, and I don't think your mother would be very happy with you for getting into a fist fight with a bunch of boys." He said rocking slightly.

I felt a pang in my stomach and felt my face heat up. My mom would kill me.

"She'll never even know though." He said winking at me, causing my body to flood with relief.

"Ben, I don't know how you'll get away with that." He said looking at his eye and cheek.

"I've come home like this before, it was from baseball. I'll just tell my parents that." Benny said with a little shrug.

"Well you guys are going to get a ride home from me. I don't know that you can make it, and I don't want to be rude and make you ride bike home." Mr. Stevenson said smiling at me.

"I can ride home if you want me to." I said shrugging.

"Nah, I got a truck I can throw your bikes in the back and we can be off." He said standing with a groan.

"You've got about 20 minutes, I'm going to go do the dishes." He said with another smile.

"Is it okay if I use your bathroom?" I asked after him.

"Yep, it's the door on the very right." He said disappearing into the kitchen.

"I'll be back." I said to Benny getting to my feet and crossing the room to the front door.

"Where are you going?" He asked nervously.

"Do you expect me to stay in this?" I asked motioning to the skirt and blouse.

He chuckled and looked me up and down.

"I think you look nice." He blushed. I felt my face get extremely hot and I smiled at him, well more at the ground then at him.

I opened the door and quickly and stepped outside. I took a deep breath realizing that I was holding it.

Nice? I looked nice. Benny thought I looked nice in this. Benny mig-

My thinking halted when I my clothes strewn on the grown around my bike. I jogged over and examined it.

"No." I whispered, my heart pounding harder with every second that went by.

My hat was gone. Phillips had taken it.

I picked up the rest of my clothes as fast as I could and shoved them inside the basket. I pulled on my shoes and didn't even bother lacing them.

The sun was starting to go down and the sky was getting darker. I ran back into the house.

"Mr. Stevenson I need to leave like right now!" I said bursting into the kitchen, ignoring Benny's questions.

"Well if you can wait about 5 minutes I can take you-" he started, drying his hands on the towel next to his sink.

"No, it can't wait I have to go now. Thank you for everything." I said smiling and running back out to Benny.

"What are you doing?" He asked putting on his shirt.

"Nothing, you can't come. Just go with Mr. Stevenson." I said placing a hand on his chest trying to make him sit down.

"Just tell me what you're doing." He said looking down at me.

"I need to find Phillips." I said looking at my hand and how close we were together.

"Come on, it can wai-" I shook my head and he stopped talking.

"It can't. I'll be careful." I said standing on my tiptoes and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before running from the house, feeling my face burn.

I got on my bike and sped off down the street towards Phillips house.