Chapter five is seriously kicking my ass right now, but I'm hoping getting this one posted will give me some motivation.
Chapter one Chapter two Chapter three As they strolled down the street, Ray once again pointed out places of interest: a men’s clothing store, should Ben ever wish to spend a month’s salary on one suit, a wine bar which was apparently an ideal place to take a date, a homeopathic treatment centre where Detective Ray Vecchio had once arrested the assistant manager for soliciting.
They walked for almost fifteen minutes before Ray turned into a fashionable-looking coffee shop with a name in poorly conjugated Latin. Inside, Ben could detect the aroma of several different varieties of coffee, freshly baked bread and cheap scented candles. The combination was heady but not unpleasant.
He followed Ray to a low table flanked by overstuffed faux-leather armchairs, where they sat and inspected the laminated lunch menus. Ben wasn’t entirely certain why a cheese and onion sandwich had to be renamed as a mature cheddar and shallot panini, or why there was such a high mark-up on the sandwich, but Ray was raving over the menu, so he opted to trust the other man’s opinion.
Under Ray’s guidance he ordered a ciabatta with char grilled vegetables and hummus (politely refusing the sandwiches with processed meat) and selected an herbal tea, while Ray chose an expensive coffee to go with his prosciutto panini. While they waited for their food, he studied the décor; tasteful shades of beige and brown with the occasional brightly embroidered cushion on the mismatched chairs and couches. Bland abstract paintings were hung on the walls, and flyers for nightclubs and art galleries littered the tables. Ben assumed the combined effect was intended to be a mix of trendy Bohemia and comfort.
Over lunch they talked blithely about school business and Chicago city life. When Ben mentioned once more that there were still large areas of the city he had not yet visited, Ray offered to act as his unofficial tour guide. Ben smiled and accepted the offer with genuine gratitude.
After they’d eaten, Ray announced that following years of drinking bad coffee in greasy spoon places on rushed lunch breaks, it was great to be able to come to places like this and enjoy good food without worrying about being called back to work.
“There’s a lot to be said for regular hours,” he declared, lounging in his armchair with obvious delight. “God knows my family think so.”
“Your family?” Suddenly Ben was struck with an image of Ray driving home to be greeted by a wife and children; the thought of it left him cold and unsettlingly gloomy. “Are you married?”
Ray looked down at his hands, which were clasped over his stomach.
“Nah. Not that kind of family.” When he looked up at Ben, his face was set into a regretful smile. “I’m not married anymore. It’s my folks’ house; I got my mother, my sister and her family, and my younger sister.” He chuckled. “Yeah, full house, I know.”
Ben nodded in understanding. He sipped his tea, trying not to think too much about why it mattered to him that Ray wasn’t married.
“How ‘bout you, Benny? You got a big family back home?”
He settled his cup in its saucer carefully before answering.
“No. It’s, it’s just me.” He sensed Ray’s sudden stillness without having to look at him. “My mother died when I was very young. I grew up with my grandparents.”
“The librarians?”
“Yes. My paternal grandparents. My father died a few months ago.”
Ray swore softly, then gave a quiet “sorry”.
When Ben could not think of anything further to add, Ray set his cup on the table between them.
“I’m guessing there’s a story in there. But you don’t have to tell it right now.” His voice was thick with discomfort. “So I’m gonna take it as my cue to pay the cheque, then we’ll go.”
Outside, Ben expected to feel that tension still stretched taut between them. But as they walked, Ray resumed his tour guide role with ease. By the time they reached the bus an hour later, Ben understood, certain that eventually he would feel ready to tell Ray his story.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Tom and Tyler were already waiting by the bus, looking thoroughly fed up. Ben suspected that they hadn’t moved more than a hundred metres from the bus during the entire afternoon. They waited quietly for the rest of the class to join them. This time, Ray made no claims about all his students being punctual, and as Ben’s watch ticked quickly towards two-thirty he could sense the other man’s growing unease.
At two thirty-five, they were waiting for four students - Liam and the three girls. Ben listened to Ray’s impatient sighs and tried to think of an appropriately reassuring word or two.
Before he could find one, he saw Liam and Rosie crossing the street to join them. The other two girls were nowhere to be seen. Ray made no effort to conceal his feelings as he asked were Hayley and Stephanie were.
“They left with you, Liam,” Ray pointed out. “They been with you all afternoon?”
Liam cast a wary glance at Rosie, and Ben wondered what unspoken messages were communicated there.
“Not the whole time,” Liam eventually answered, uncomfortable in the face of Ray’s anger.
“So you don’t know where they are now?” Ray was beginning to pace alongside the bus. The driver had joined them outside now, grumbling to himself about deadlines.
“Where did you see them last, Liam?” Ben asked, keeping his voice calm but persistent. The boy was evidently distressed, and it was senseless to lay blame on him.
Liam glanced warily back along the street in the direction that he and Rosie had come from.
“They went…”
Ray stepped up in front of him, ready to explode, if Ben was any judge, so he spoke again before Ray could.
“We just want to find them and make sure they’re safe so we can get back to school on time. You won’t get into trouble if you tell us, Liam.”
“They went to a bar.” Liam’s voice was low and miserable, and instead of meeting Ben’s eye, he looked back and pointed along the street.
Ray threw his hands up in a gesture of hopeless anger, then loudly instructed his students to get on the bus and for the driver to close the door so that no one else could wander off. When he said nothing about Ben staying behind, Ben took it as an invitation to follow him. Ray weaved deftly between pedestrians and afternoon traffic, muttering under his breath as Ben caught up with him.
“It would be those two,” he grumbled, as though that made sense to Ben. “God, I almost hope it’s Hayley in trouble and not the other one.”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Ben told him as they fell into step on the sidewalk.
“Remember what I told you about Hayley?” Ray asked, not looking round, focused entirely on the building Liam had pointed to.
“About her reputation?”
“Yeah. She goes for older men, and I’m not talking nice doctors her mother’d be pleased to meet. I mean guys who think teenage girls are easy. Guys with bad reps who can get girls like her into serious trouble. If she’s in a bar, God only knows what could have happened to her.”
“And yet you find that preferable to Stephanie being the one in trouble?”
Ray stopped so suddenly that Ben had walked a few yards past him before he realised it. When he halted and moved back to where Ray stood, Ray caught his elbow and steered him to the wall of the nearest building, out of the way of people walking past.
“She’s got a history of drug use, Benny.” Ray had lowered his voice, and Ben had to lean in to hear the words clearly, even though Ray’s tone was unmistakably worried. “Her freshman year, she was suspended for smoking pot on campus. Social services got involved when it turned out she’d been kicked out of her parents’ house last year and was living with her boyfriend. He was a known dealer, she ended up hooked on heroin, went into hospital at one point.” Finally, Ray released his elbow. He looked back across at the bus, then down the street to the neon sign of the bar. “She’s been clean for nearly six months.”
“But you’re still worried about her.”
“Her behaviour’s…I dunno, off,” Ray confided. “Last couple of weeks she’s been late to school in the mornings, kinda spacey sometimes. But she’s back with her parents and the school’s in regular contact with them.”
Appreciating that Ray’s anger was born from worry, Ben nodded his understanding and set off down the street with Ray beside him.
The bar was not the dim, smoky den-of-vice he had at first imagined. There was bright neon and fluorescent lighting, polished glass table-tops and upbeat rock music playing through speakers set high in the walls. Several tables were occupied by loud gangs of young men and women; college students and young professionals, he guessed. The atmosphere was, on the whole, friendly and relaxed. Ray’s taut, barely constrained fury made him stand out painfully.
When they caught sight of the girls, Ben heard Ray’s sharply indrawn breath, felt his preparation to move towards them, and just managed to stop Ray with a careful grip on his arm. Together, they advanced slower than Ray had evidently intended, giving them a chance to hear the girls’ conversation with the two men also at their table.
“We can’t.” Hayley’s voice, and Ben guessed from her tone that it wasn’t the first time she’d said it. “We’re already late, we should be leaving.”
“Aw, come on.” The man directly opposite her, late-twenties, he thought, with artfully-messy bleached hair and stubble of the kind that men in adverts and movies seemed to favour. His friend, sitting between him and Stephanie, had red hair cut in the same style, but was clean-shaven. They were both leaning forward, forearms resting on the table. The one who had just spoken took hold of Hayley’s hand in both of his.
“I said we had to leave,” she repeated, trying to remove her hand from his grip, but he held on tight.
“Now that’s not fair,” he told her. “We bought you drinks, you can’t skip out before you finish them.”
Ben and Ray took that as their cue to step right up to the table.
“Sir, the young lady is indeed correct - she is late, and I ask that you let go of her hand.”
Turning his head, the man looked up at Ben, but made no move to let Hayley go. Beside him, Ray crossed his arms and moved a little closer into the man’s personal space.
“Like he said, pal, let her go.”
He snorted laughter, looking between Ben and Ray.
“What’re you, her boyfriend?”
“No, I’m her teacher.”
His momentary surprise allowed Hayley to yank her hand away; the two girls stood and hurried to move behind Ben. Ray flashed a satisfied, vaguely predatory smile at the two younger men before turning to escort the girls outside.
Ben watched the men a moment longer, unsurprised when the blonde made to stand, protesting, “They’re not in school, you can’t - ”
He hadn’t made it to his feet before Ben gripped his shoulder and pushed him back into his chair. When he moved to bat Ben’s hand away, Ben gripped tighter, giving the man an indication of his strength.
Finally satisfied that the blonde had got the message, Ben let go and smiled.
“Thank you.”
He followed Ray and the girls towards the door, but managed to catch the blonde’s hissed words to his friend - “Dude, you knew they were underage?” He looked back over his shoulder, concentrating on the face of the redhead who had never spoken.
When they all stood outside in the warm afternoon sun, Ray turned to face the girls, drawing a deep breath, ready to release the anger he’d barely controlled inside. Ben stopped him with a hand on his elbow.
“Given the situation these girls found themselves in, Mr Vecchio, I think any further reprimands are entirely unnecessary, don’t you?”
Ray turned to Ben, shifting the focus of his anger, then looked back at Hayley and Stephanie. Hayley was obviously close to tears and Stephanie had an arm around her shoulders, quietly consoling her. He could see Ray contemplating which of the three of them he was most angry with, but after a moment he shook his head and instructed the girls to get back on the bus and not speak to him at all for the rest of the day.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was ten past three when they finally arrived back at school. Before getting off the bus, Ray gratefully thanked the driver for his creative interpretation of the city’s traffic laws.
When the last of the students left and Vice Principal Young completely failed to appear, the two of them exhaled huge sighs of relief.
“That was a day and a half,” Ray announced as they strolled together across the parking lot. Ben nodded in agreement.
”It certainly was educational, Ray. Although I do appreciate the opportunity to accompany you and your students.”
Ray cast him a confused glance, then shook his head.
“Did you and I have the same day? Because that was definitely not my idea of a good time, yet here you are grinning like you spent the day at Disneyland or something.”
“Actually, Ray, with the exception of our, uh, unscheduled excursion to the bar, I thoroughly enjoyed the day,” he confided. “It was heartening to see your students working hard and learning outside of the school environment. I enjoyed our conversations too.”
This admission elicited a surprised smile from Ray, and Ben found he couldn’t help but smile back.
“Really?”
“Really. I’m glad that we’re friends.”
Ray’s eyebrows rose even higher, as though he had never expected Ben to say such a thing.
“Somebody who’s glad to have me for a friend,” Ray muttered.
“Is that surprising?”
“Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly Mr Popularity around here.”
The self-deprecating tone of Ray’s voice bothered Ben; if he honestly did not expect people to like him, then Ben determined that he should try and change Ray’s expectations.
”I’m sure that if your colleagues got to know you as I’ve done today, they wouldn’t hesitate to consider you a friend.”
They paused before entering the school building.
“Yeah, well, the stuff I told you today ain’t exactly the kind of thing you tell just anybody, Benny.”
Ray pulled open the door and went inside before Ben could respond. When he finally caught up, Ray was chattering again.
“So, you got plans for tonight, Benny?”
“Plans?” They walked in step towards the library, the hallway oddly quiet, strangely peaceful.
“You know. Friday night, a guy like you’s gotta have a great date lined up or something, right?” Ray looked at him with an expectant, knowing smile. Ben shook his head. “Going out with friends, then?”
“No.”
“What about Saturday night?”
“I’m not going out.”
“You’re not doing anything?”
“On the contrary - I’m in the middle of a fascinating book about Richard Huelsenbeck.”
Ray’s brow furrowed.
“Don’t tell me.”
Ben shrugged an ‘okay’ and continued walking down the hall; as Ray tried to catch up, his footsteps echoed sharply.
“You’re telling me you’re gonna spend Friday night at home, alone, reading?” Ben nodded again. “I don’t believe you, Benny. You got half the female staff mooning over you, quite possibly some of the guys too, and yet you’re going home to read. Benny, that is pathetic.” It was said with a smile, but unlike most of Ray’s friendly mockery, it stung a little.
“As I said earlier, Ray, I still don’t know the city well. I mean, I know the parks, and the streets around my apartment and some of the museums and galleries, but I haven’t really had much opportunity to work on my social life.”
Shaking his head, Ray clapped a hand on Ben’s shoulder. The contact surprised him a little, but he tried not to let it show.
“Benny, you’re in for a treat.”
“I am?” They continued walking, Ray’s arm still draped across his shoulder.
“I’m gonna teach you the nuances of Chicago nightlife, Benny.”
“Nuances?”
“You know, which restaurants serve the best steak, which bars to avoid, where to take a girl on the first date.” He cast a sideways glance at Ben. “Assuming you ever decide to put the books aside and actually, you know, go on a date.” He chuckled, presumably to suggest he was joking again. Somehow, Ben couldn’t find it in him to protest. “We’ll start tonight. You like Chinese food?”
After arranging for Ray to pick up Ben later that evening, they parted company. Ben realised he was still smiling as he left campus. He’d spent a full day in Ray’s company; normally after a day like that, he’d be eager to spend some time alone (or as alone as was possible with Dief around), yet he was looking forward to seeing Ray again. Conversation seemed easy with him, despite their obvious differences, and his offer of friendship had been made with genuine intent, so far as Ben could tell.
Outside the school gates, Ben passed a few clusters of students who evidently did not have plans of their own for Friday night. The younger ones offered polite ‘hello’s, the older ones either ignored him or called less respectful greetings which Ben ignored. A little further down the street he saw Stephanie walking towards him, away from a final group of senior students. They exchanged ‘hello’s as they passed, but Ben noted that she seemed a little distracted and made no attempt to stay and talk further. Assuming that she did not wish to be seen talking to staff outside of school, he didn’t worry about it.
The group she had just left made no comment as he passed, ignoring his polite smile. He did note that some of them were not students - some seemed quite a few years older. Out of courtesy he did not make any attempt to interrupt their conversation, simply passing on by. He was almost at the corner of the street before he stopped to turn and take another look. The group were beginning to disperse now, and Ben could not be entirely certain that he really had seen the man with the messy red hair from the bar that afternoon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter five