Nykara Read online

  A couple of hours later Shay stood up, “I’d better get going, the Millers will be there to pick me up soon.”

  “Grab some cookies, I’ll walk home with you. It’s a nice day and I spent it all inside, I could use some fresh air.” Alix got out two sandwich bags, gave one to Shay for cookies and she put some in the other.

  “Who are those cookies for?” Shay asked her.

  “Um … well, there are so many here I thought I’d see if Ben was home and give him a few to say thank you for yesterday.” Alix was trying her best to sound casual and hoped she didn’t blush.

  “Good idea. Besides these are the best cookies and I think everyone should have the chance to try them. We’d better get going.”

  They got to Shay’s house a short time later.

  “Let me know if you talk to Ben.” Shay told her.

  “Okay. And if you get bored later text me, I’ll be home. Bye have fun.”

  Alix walked toward Ben’s place, cookies in hand and nervous. What if he wasn’t there? And what if he was? She wasn’t good at this kind of thing. The closer she got the more nervous she became. She was almost there, she could see the gate, it was closed. She looked for some way to open the gate. Then she saw a small box to the left of the driveway like you see rich people have on TV. She started walking to the intercom box when the gate opened, she stopped in her tracks. Maybe someone was coming out. She waited to see. No one drove out and she didn’t see anyone. She wasn’t sure what to do. She thought for a minute and decided that maybe the gate was malfunctioning and should let someone know.

  Alix cautiously headed down the driveway. She kept looking side to side to see if anything was there. She made it to the house with no further incidents. She was just about to ring the doorbell when the door opened. Startled, she jumped and may have squealed a little. Embarrassed, she looked up to see Ben’s mom standing there.

  “Oh, Alix dear, I’m sorry I scared you. Are you okay?”

  “Uh, yeah, I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting the door to open. I was coming by to bring Ben some cookies, but your gate opened all by itself, so I thought I’d better let someone know. Sorry if I came by unannounced,” Alix apologized, but Natalie didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see her standing there.

  “Alix you’re always welcome here. And don’t worry about the gate, it does that from time to time. Come on in. I think Ben is in the kitchen, do you remember the way there?”

  “I think so, but if I get lost I’ll just call him to come to find me,” Alix smiled at that, imagine getting lost in a house.

  Alix went left, and Natalie went right. Hmm, I thought she was going outside Alix thought, why else would she have been at the door?

  After only one wrong turn Alix found the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen and saw that Ben’s back was to her. It looked like he was making a snack. She realized that Ben didn’t know she was there and she didn’t want to sneak up on him, she hated when people did that to her, so she decided to knock. But since there wasn’t really a door, she had to knock on the wall. When she did Ben turned around. At first, he looked confused but that quickly turned to a smile.

  “Hey Alix, I didn’t know you were here.”

  “Well Shay and I made some cookies and there were lots left and I walked her home and I thought would see if you were home and give you some cookies to say thank you and I was going to use your gate intercom thing, but I think your gate is malfunctioning because it opened all by itself so I thought I’d better let someone know and then before I could ring the doorbell or knock, your mom opened the door and scared me and I told her about the gate and then she told me you were in the kitchen and I only got lost once finding it,” Alix said in a rush. She realized she was rambling, she did that sometimes when she was nervous. She was probably bushing too.

  Ben processed that for a minute and grinned at her. “Okay, cookies, gate, mom, kitchen, got it. Good timing, I was just making something to eat and the cookies will be perfect. Can you stay for a while or do you have to get going?”

  “I can stay for a while; my parents are both working right now.” She was very thankful that he didn’t mention her rambling speech as she sat down at the breakfast bar.

  “Are you hungry? Would you like something?” he asked her.

  “No, I kind of filled up on cookies with Shay. But could I get some water?”

  Ben went to the fridge and got her a bottle of water and he finished making his snack as Alix watched him move around the kitchen. Cheese, crackers, sausage, and pickles. He took it over and joined her at the breakfast bar. He started eating his snack and they talked in between bites.

  Having lived in Sunset Creek her whole life she wanted to know about some of the places he lived so she started asking him questions.

  “How many places have you lived?”

  “Sunset Creek will make ten since I was born.”

  “Wow, why do you guys move so much?”

  “For my parents work. Mom is a botanist and dad is a biologist so they take contracts with different universities to study and research.”

  “Where all have you lived?”

  “Florida and southern California, but I was too young to remember those places. Michigan and Texas, I only have vague memories of living there, I wasn’t very old. Oregon, Mississippi, northern California, New York and finally Colorado.”

  Alix was amazed. She couldn’t even imagine living in so many different places. “How many schools have to been to?”

  “Sunset Creek High makes school number seven. I was never at a school longer than two years. But lucky for me, I never had to start part way through a year. My parent’s contracts always started with a new school year so even with all the moving it could have been worse.”

  “Did you hate any of the places you lived?”

  “Yep, New York City. Too crowded and busy. And not enough nature. Mom and dad took teaching contracts that year instead of research, but none of us liked it there, so we only stayed there for a year.”

  “Favorite place?”

  “It’s a toss-up between Redding, that’s in California and Fort Collins, Colorado. They were both good places. Close to mountains and forests, and the towns weren’t too big. The people were very friendly.”

  “So, does that mean your parents are working for the University of Montana right now? Bozeman is only about forty-five minutes from here.”

  “Yep, they are, but they can do most of their work from home. We found out a couple of months ago that they were inheriting this house and they were able to get the university to hire them on under contract.”

  “Worked out pretty well for them then. But poor you gets stuck in a small town with a population smaller than your New York school I bet.”

  “From what I can tell so far Sunset Creek is a good place to live. Small towns aren’t so bad, and we’re surrounded by nature. And, there is this great girl I met that lives here. She’s nice, smart and kind,” Ben said looking at her.

  “Well isn’t that fortunate for you.” Alix knew she was blushing, but was going to try and pretend she wasn’t.

  Ben knew not to push it any further, so he decided to change to topic. “So, you mentioned cookies earlier. Am I going to get to try one?”

  Alix had been so interested in listening to Ben she had completely forgotten about the cookies.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry, I kinda forgot about them, here,” she handed him the bag. “These are all for you. And again, thank you for yesterday. I was pretty scared.”

  “I told you Alix, anytime and I meant it.” Ben said as he took a cookie from the bag and ate it quickly. “These are great,” he told her. “What are they called?”

  “Shay and I call it The Alix Cookie. It’s my own recipe.”

  “Your own recipe? Really? That’s pretty cool. So, you really like baking huh?”

  “Yeah, I like cooking too, but I love baking. I’m always trying new things in the kitchen. You have a great kitchen, I’d die to have a d
ouble oven like that one,” she said, pointing to the ones in Ben’s kitchen.

  “Well, after tasting these cookies you can come over here anytime and bake for me,” Ben said with a wink. “So, I need to know, are you okay after yesterday? I see that you were brave enough to still come here on your own.”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. I just can’t figure out what it could have been. I must have got my hair caught on a branch or something.”

  Alix noticed a look on Ben’s face that she couldn’t identify but it was gone almost instantly and was replaced with his signature smile.

  “So now that you grilled me about, well about me, I think it’s my turn.” he told her.

  “Uh … okay.” Alix wasn’t sure what she was going to tell him. There was nothing remarkable about her.

  Since you look a little nervous,” he started, “I’ll go easy on you. What is your favorite color? Wait, let me guess … yellow?

  “No, it’s not my favorite but I do like it. If I had to only choose one I guess I’d pick green as my favorite color, but I actually like every color.”

  “Okay, next question,” he said, “How long have you and Shay known each other?”

  “Practically since we were born. It’s been forever. We’ve both lived in the same houses our entire lives, same streets, same town.”

  “Wow, I can’t even imagine what that would be like. Knowing the same people, staying in the same place.”

  “I can tell you what it’s like-- boring.”

  “I don’t know. A stable environment sounds pretty good to me,” Ben said.

  “Seeing all those places sounds pretty good to me,” Alix told him.

  They had to laugh at each other.

  “We sure did grow up differently,” Ben said.

  “Almost completely opposite lives,” Alix said to him.

  “Well, opposites attract right?” Ben grinned at her.

  Alix blushed, she had walked right into that one. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard.”

  “Did you know that sometimes it looks like your eyes change color? They are mostly blue, but sometimes they look almost green.”

  “Um, my eyes do not change color. They have been the same blue since I was born. Same brown hair and same blue eyes, same everything,” Alix retorted.

  “I didn’t mean to make you upset. I think it’s cool if they did change. But maybe it’s just a trick of the light,” Ben told her.

  “Do you like science fiction or fantasy or paranormal stuff?” Alix said suddenly.

  “It’s still my turn to ask you questions,” Ben said with a smile.

  “I know … but I just thought of something that I read once. So, do you?”

  “You mean like ghosts and elves and vampires and stuff?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, sure I like movies like those. Why are you asking?”

  “Well, after you said you thought my eyes changed color it got me thinking about a book I read where this girls eyes changed all sorts of colors depending on her mood, that would be kind of cool. And that got me thinking about the book I’m reading now, and I just wondered if you read at all and what kinds of things you like to read.”

  “I don’t read that much. To be honest I’d rather watch a movie than read. But I like most kinds of movies.”

  “Do you have a favorite movie?” she asked him.

  “No, I like too many. Do you have a favorite book?” he asked her back.

  “Okay, fair enough. I get your point, but you never know. There’s no way I could pick a favorite book. Not even a favorite author or series, I just like too many books that I read.”

  “Have you always loved reading?”

  “Yes, mom and dad used to read to me all the time when I was little, and I could get lost in other places and times. Then when I got old enough to read on my own I never stopped. I was a shy kid, well I still am, but books let me travel to other places and be other people. A book can take you anywhere.”

  “I get what you mean. Even though I don’t read, drawing does that for me. Speaking of drawing, and as per our deal, since you brought me those fantastic cookies would you like to see some of my work?”

  “Of course, I would. Your pictures from Biology were sooo good.”

  “Cool, my sketchbooks are in my room. Come with me.”

  Ben got up from the stool and Alix followed him up to his room. She was still amazed by the size of their house. If she walked from her kitchen to her bedroom it took all of about ten seconds. From Ben’s kitchen to his room it was well over a minute, that’s saying something just walking from one room of a house to another.

  As they reached the top of the stairs they walked past the door that wouldn’t open last time she was here.

  “Did your dad ever look at that door?” she asked him.

  “Yeah, he did, but he couldn’t get it to open either. It’s really strange. It can’t be locked because there is no place for a key. I’m sure he’ll look at it again.”

  They walked down the long hallway to Ben’s room.

  “Did you get to pick this as your room?”

  “Yeah, why do you ask?”

  “Well, I was just wondering why you picked the room as far from the stairs as possible?”

  “I liked the color of the walls and it had the most windows. Looking at this view gives me the inspiration to draw,” he said to her, and started looking for a particular sketchbook.

  Alix could totally see what he was talking about. She could stare out his windows forever. She could tell that it would even be pretty in the winter. Ben’s room was on the back side of the house facing the enormous backyard. As she was taking in the scenery she noticed a little building off in the distance. For some reason, she wanted to go see what that building was in a very bad way.

  “What’s that building back there?” she asked him.

  Ben paused his search and came over to look at what Alix was talking about. “I’m not one- hundred-percent positive, but I think it was the grounds keeper’s cabin. We don’t have a groundskeeper now, but mom said there used to be one here when my grandparents were alive.”

  “Huh,” was all Alix could say about that. She couldn’t understand why but she felt drawn to that little house. It was a feeling that she couldn’t remember having before. She was just about to ask Ben if they could go look at it, but before she could say anything, he found the book he was looking for.

  “Aha, found it! Come over here Alix and you’ll be one of the first people ever to see the first works of a young Benjamin Travers.”

  His enthusiasm was contagious. Alix couldn’t help but smile as she went over to join him on the couch, yes, his room was big enough that it had a couch in it. She sat down next to him and he passed her a very worn looking sketchbook.

  “This is from when I was ten,” he started, “I had a great art teacher in fifth grade that got me interested in drawing. Now, you have to remember that I was only ten when I drew these. I have improved over the years.”

  Alix started flipping through the pages. She was impressed. Even more impressed that they were done by a ten-year-old boy.

  “These are really good. I can see that you have a natural talent. I’ve always been jealous of people who can draw.”

  Ben just shrugged.

  Alix kept looking through the sketchbook. Superheroes were a prominent theme but there were lots of nature scenes, trees, and water, and many boats. “Where were you living when you were ten?” she asked him.

  “Um … Gulfport, Mississippi,” he answered her.

  “I’m guessing that was on the ocean since there are some big boats in your drawings.”

  “Yep, ocean, lakes, parks, and forests were all very close. When I wasn’t in school I would go with mom and dad while they worked in the field. Before I got into drawing I had my face stuck in a video game and hated going with them, but once I started drawing I liked to go because there was always something new for me to try and draw. I still go with them sometimes.�
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  “I noticed a lot of superhero pictures,” she smiled, “Was that just a phase or are you still into them?”

  “Come on, what teenage guy wouldn’t like to be a superhero? Saving damsels in distress, fighting the bad guys, having a cool sidekick,” he said grinning.

  “Okay, fair enough. I still don’t get it though, but I think it’s a guy thing. I’d rather be a wizard or something like that, rather than a superhero.”

  “Why? What’s the difference?” he asked her.

  Alix looked at Ben because the way he said it made it sound important. “Well,” she said, “A superhero is limited to what they can do. They are fast or strong or can fly or be invisible or can heal fast or move things with their mind or throw fireballs, but no superhero can do it all. Now magic can do it all, at least in my books it does. That would be cool.”

  “Yes, I have to agree, that would be totally cool,” Ben said with a slight smirk on his face.

  Even with all of the pictures she looked at and the talk of superheroes, she still couldn’t get that little cabin out of her head. She was going to ask more about it when she happened to notice the time.

  “Holy crap, I should get home. My mom worked a full shift today and I try to help out as much as I can, so I’d better get home and cook dinner.”

  “Okay. I’ll walk you to the gate.”