There weren’t many things that people could do to make Ben Bailey angry. He liked to think of himself as calm, relaxed and generally the Switzerland of the town. Rory, twice in less than a month, had crossed that line. Fiona and he were easily the closest among the Bailey kids. Easily. He didn’t like to pick favorites, because he loved all his siblings equally, but Fiona, more so that Calvin and Jacen even, was his best friend. That Rory had seen fit to manipulate her, regardless of the reason, wasn’t okay with Ben. So, after dropping off Penny’s homework and reassuring her that he was on his way, right then, to find out what was going on and get Rory to back off, he made his way to the Spinelli house.
He’d been here before, quite a few times. Gio was one of his closest friends, and Rory had been for quite some time. Ben had actually been one of the biggest supporters of Fiona ending up with him, because he’d always thought that Rory was a good person and would treat her right. It disappointed him to think that he was wrong, and he hoped Rory would prove him wrong about being wrong. They’d played chess and talked numerous times before. Unfortunately, he assumed this visit would be far, far less pleasant. Rory had seemed quite indecisive in his text messages. Like he either didn’t know or didn’t want Ben to know the truth. Ben, though, had always had something of a talent for getting the truth out of people.
Before Ben even raised his hand to knock on Rory’s door, Rory spoke up. Turning the knob and opening it, he pushed it closed and braced himself for what was to come. He was becoming increasingly aware that this would be far less than pleasant. “Hello,” he started calmly, staying close to the door at first.