Fifth year Given that the twins didn't have much of a permanent base, especially over summer, they just chose a token stop to board the wagon at. They were getting on Ben's route for company, though quite a few stops closer to school.
Raine boarded the wagon with red-rimmed eyes. A muttered 'knew he was no good,' from Kyte saw her stalking to the opposite end of the wagon and sitting down with her back to the boys.
"Now it's not convenient any more, he dumps her. The jerk," he mumbled to Ben. "I'm telling you, if I catch anyone so much as looking at her, I'll break his nose." Whilst this might at first have seemed like a fairly hollow threat, that was only because it went very much against Kyte's usual disposition of sunshine, peace and love. If he meant it, however, he was certainly more than capable - whilst, height-wise he wasn't the most imposing figure, his gymnastics training meant that he was both quick and well-muscled.
Raine tried her best to tune out their conversation, hoping Kyte wasn't talking about her. If he was, he at least had the good sense to be doing so quietly. It was his upbeat change of tone that caught Raine's attention as much as anything else when he cheerily asked
"So, same arrangement as last year?"
"Kyte!" she interjected, moving back to where he and Ben were. "You... You can't just assume Ben will want to do that. He... He has his own exams to worry about," she floundered, trying to find a feasible reason to object to Ben's presence in their training sessions. Their friend had been the subject of one of very few fights that she and Dallas had had over the summer.
"So sweet and selfless. My heart bleeds for the guy and the sacrifices he has made," Dallas smirked, after Raine described how helpful Ben had been to them over the term.
"Well, sure he gets tickets, but we arrange those for all our friends anyway. He really didn't have to help us out."
"That's not the perk I was referring to," he shook his head, eyes travelling over Raine's body. When she continued to stare at him blankly, he clarified. "I'm saying that watching you do your work outs, in your tight little leotards, doesn't exactly sound like a chore. More like most teenage boys' fantasies."
Raine turned bright red at this remark.
"Ben doesn't see me like that," she assured him.
"How would you know? Until I came along, you had no idea about the effect you could have on guys."
"Ben just... Isn't like that."
"Of course he is. He's a fifteen year old boy. Linoleum is probably capable of turning him on. Unless he's gay, I would bet my last knut that he's been checking you out."
"He's dating my friend, Tess," Raine countered, to both the suggestions about Ben's sexuality and his intentions towards her.
"That doesn't mean anything."
"Of course it does!" "Ok, yes, of course it means something. But it doesn't mean that he isn't checking you out. It's not like getting with someone casts a spell over you that stops all your other feelings and desires."
"Oh, so you're checking out other girls?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No," he replied honestly, though partially this was only true because he'd had plenty of time to do that before Raine arrived home for the summer and find that none of them interested him much. "I'm pretty much obsessed with you right now. But if a parade of super models in bikinis walked past, then yes, I would still notice. Life's not all neat and tidy like a fairytale."
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child," Raine glared.
"Ok... But, isn't it better that way? Would you want people to act like they're on amortensia? That stuff's considered dangerous for a reason. We have concepts like loyalty and trust because people are tempted, but do the right thing. Those concepts couldn't exist if people could just magic away their thoughts and emotions."
"Maybe," Raine shrugged huffily, not wanting to admit that there was a version of right that let Dallas check out other girls. "But it doesn't mean Ben was doing it to me."
"True," Dallas acknowledged, although he was one hundred percent sure that something dirty must have crossed Ben's mind at some point. However, short of actually flooing him to ask, there wasn't going to be a resolution to this, and him and Raine just yelling "I'm sure he did/I'm sure he didn't" back and forth at each other didn't seem very productive. "He's your friend - you know him best," he suggested, a peace offering that didn't actually involve changing his opinion.
Raine had not been planning on bringing this up with Ben ever. She hadn't mentioned it to Kyte because he'd been being such a jerk about Dallas that she wasn't inclined to mention much of anything to him, but much less anything that might make him fall out with Ben, and also because it didn't matter because it couldn't possibly be true anyway. Still, her plan to simply avoid the entire issue hadn't factored in Kyte inviting Ben back into their training sessions.
"So? It helps him too, right Ben? You said it all stuck in your head loads better."
"What about Tess?" Raine asked uncomfortably. "He probably wants some free time to spend with her."
"They could both come?"
"No!" Raine exclaimed. The only thing worse than the thought of Ben watching her was Tess watching Ben watching her, and knowing he had been all last year... "mean, they probably want some private time. And I don't suppose Tess wants Ben spending all his free time watching me...and you turning ourselves inside out, bending all over the place, doing circus tricks."
Kyte had always been rather oblivious to conversational subtlety. He tended to take things at face value. And it was a trait Raine was suddenly incredibly grateful for. She turned her attention to Ben instead, for any sign that the subtext there meant something to him.