The Deal...

The Deal...Confessions

Benjamin

My head still pained. It has been four days but my mind still couldn’t process the information Izabella shared with me. I haven't been able to work. Hell, I haven't even been able to leave my room. That is, till now.

Kevin had been banging and yelling on my door for the last minute and he was just getting louder by the second. At this point, I was ready to answer him.

"Ok! I'm coming!" I caved and the banging and shouting finally stopped.

I groaned and got out of the bed and walked slowly to the door. I opened it even slower. Within ten seconds, I was faced to face with one of the twins who had caused me unintentional pain for the past few days.

"What?"

"Took you long enough," Kevin said, rolling his eyes. "You plan on coming to the meeting anytime soon?"

"The what?"

"The meeting," he repeated in 'duh' tone. "It's the fourth man. Come on. You out of all people should know by now."

"Right, um, just tell everyone I'll be there in a couple of minutes. Ten minutes, tops," I told him. “If he gets impatient than just start without me and I’ll catch up.”

"All right. I'll tell the boss." I closed the door as Kevin began to walk away. I took the quickest shower and put on a pair of black shorts with a navy shirt and a pair of Nikes. I wasn’t in the mood to look presentable left my hair in its natural state and headed downstairs to the basement for the meeting.

I opened the door and slipped in as quietly as I could but of course, I caught everyone's attention.

"Glad you can make it Benji," Kyle said with a smirk and I rolled my eyes.

"It is my favorite day; how can I miss it?" I grinned back and he rolled his eyes. Despite the previous incident, Kevin was still my favorite twin out of the pair. Ky pissed me off more than any of the members in this gang. I mentally sighed.

I’ve been part of this gang for over two years. We referred to ourselves as the PDs, especially in public. PD could easily stand for the police department, which was a miracle. What they don't know was that PD stood for The Phantom Devils. There were just a few hundred here, but there were thousands throughout the country. We were known all around the US.

I walked to the head of the table and sat right next to the boss. "How is going, Ben?" I turned to the leader, and my best friend, Cole Andrews.

"Same old, same old. What about you?"

"Same here," he grinned and turned back to the group. "Now, as all of you know-"

I started zoning out after that. I was too busy daydreaming about Izabella to listen to Cole's plans about robbing a bank or something. The way I saw it, the only way to gain her trust back was to tell her the truth. But could I? She would be the first outsider to know the truth about me and what I did outside of working at Starbucks as a barista. Would Cole allow me? He probably wouldn’t. But was it a risk I was willing to take? Was this girl really worth it?

"Ben!" Someone called my name and I blinked coming back into reality.

"I'm sorry what?"

"I said, how does that sound to you?"

"How does what sound?" I wondered. Cole sighed and shook his head. After about three seconds, he dismissed everyone. One by one, everyone got up and left the room.

"All right man, talk to me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I lied.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that," Cole scoffed. "You're not leaving until you spill."

"Fine," I gave in after a moment of silence. "It's about a girl."

"Woah back up. A girl? Benjamin Hill finally gets a girl, huh?"

"Says you, Cole Andrews. But no, she's not mine. Or, not anymore anyway."

"What did you do?" Cole frowned and I spilled everything to him. From the first eye contact to the other night.

"That's it. Tell me what to do here, Cole. Please. I just need my friend back," I said once I was done.

"Wow. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to fix it. Just, tell her the truth. You know we can't return the money. It's well gone by now."

"I know. I know what I have to do," I announced and got up from the chair and began to walk out.

"Don't forget to be back here before sundown. I have to explain the plan to you before we go out," Cole said as I closed the door, leaving him unattended in the meeting room. I passed by some of the members and headed out to my truck. I rarely used this car, but I needed it today.

After the drive, I arrived at a familiar apartment building. I didn't see Iz's car in sight, so I assumed it was in her garage. I parked on her driveway and shut off my engine. I walked up to her door and knocked loudly, but gently.

The door slowly opened and revealed the worse thing I had ever seen: Izabella.

Her hair was a total mess, it looked like she hasn't showered in days, and she was wearing messy clothes. This was literally me a few hours ago, so I really couldn’t say anything.

"Hi," I greeted. She snorted. Ok then. "Can I come in?"

After a few seconds of debating, she opened the door wider and walked away. I walked through and the first thing that caught my eye was, how dirty and unorganized her whole house was as a whole. There were things broken in the corner, dishes overflowing in the sink, and there was just garbage everywhere. I took my shoes off and follow Iz through the debris. I didn’t think she realized that I was following her until she plopped down on her bed.

Her bedroom was somehow worse than the whole place. There were hundreds of boxes scattered across the room. And there were empty tissue boxes too. Most of the millions of used tissues were surrounding her bed. The rest were somehow scattered around her dirty room.

This was the grossest thing I've ever witnessed. This room couldn’t even compare the number of dead bodies I saw each night. I managed to find a clean place by the door and sat against it.

"What do you want?" Izabella questioned.

"To ask you to prom, what do you think? I'm here because we need to talk."

"We don't need to do anything. I regret letting you in now."

"Iz, you can't look me in the eyes and tell me that you're not a mess."

"I can look you eye and tell you that I absolutely hate you."

"Then why did you let me in?"

"I-," she paused and I smiled at my victory.

"That's what I thought. Now, we're talking about this, right now. This isn't healthy for either of us. Just like me, I was forced to shower and get out of bed. It's your turn. You're going to shower while I clean this room or something," I said her as I stood up and walked to her. I made sure not to breathe.

"You can't tell me what to do. I'm a legal adult. I can do whatever I want when I want."

"Stop lying to yourself. You're still 17, not 18. On the other hand, I turned 19 a few months ago, therefore, I can tell you what to do. Now you're going to shower and make sure you don't smell like actual s**t!" I yelled in her face, making sure she got frightened.

"Whatever," she murmured and pushed past me. She walked to one of the doors in her room and I assumed it lead to the bathroom and she closed it. A few seconds later, I heard the shower start and I felt instant relief.

"Make sure you brush your teeth!" I shouted. I walked to her kitchen, making sure not to inhale and grabbed multiple garbage bags. Well, here goes nothing.

I don't know how I did it, but I did. This was spotless. If there was a competition for the cleanest house, Izabella would surely win first prize. It was all because of me. I put away the broom and swiffer and made my way back to Iz's bedroom. The shower had stopped about fifteen minutes so I had assumed she was dressed and was just in her bathroom brushing her teeth or fixing her hair.

I opened the door slightly wider than necessary and immediately regretted it. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped at what my eyes witnessed.

"Holy s**t," I said aloud and Iz gasped and whirled her head around. For a second, our eyes locked until I covered them and I heard shifting around.

"Um, you can open your eyes now," she announced.

"Are you sure? Because what I just saw-"

"You just saw me in my panties," she interrupted.

"In my defense, they were lacy," I said and moved my hand at a turtle's pace. She had her baby pink robe on and I sighed and looked down. Did I really have a b***r? Now? Well, I did just see something extremely attractive so, I had an excuse.

"You want to take care of that?" Iz said pointing at my pants.

"Well, I feel like I should, and it would be really nice too, however, I don't think I can."

"Well can you? It's making me really weird." This sparked my interest.

"Never seen a d**k before?" I smirked and she turned beet red.

"Just go to the bathroom Benji, then we can talk. I can actually get dressed by the time you're done."

"There's no way I can get rid of this without you," I said without realizing it. "That's uh, that's not what I meant." She had no idea what to say. Well, if this wasn’t awkward, then I don't know what was. "Sorry, I'll just go to the bathroom and attempt to handle this situation. We can talk when I'm flaccid and your covered with some real clothes. Like some jeans and a sweatshirt," I said and made my way around the bed and into the bathroom.

I closed the door and sat on top of the long sink counter and sighed. I almost groaned at my stupidity but slammed the counter instead. Hard. Either that left a bruise or that left a dent. Either way, something was damaged.

Why was this happening to me? It was just supposed to be a simple task. Why did God have to complicate things? Was it because I was in a gang? I would change if he would just once handed me an easy pass in life.

Tap. Tap.

"Benji? You ok in there?" Iz's soft voice asked through the door.

"I'm fine. Unless you have a magazine," I grinned, knowing she couldn't see it, but we both knew I was.

"I have multiple ones. I have People, Teen Magazine-"

"I meant with naked girls or those posing in their sexy underwear," I chuckled.

"Oh. Hold on," she said very quietly. My jaw dropped and I hopped off the sink in curiosity. I would have never expected a girl like her to have magazines. Ever. But then again, didn’t everyone? Those who have lives, I meant.

The next minute, had to be one of the things I will never forget.

Izzy walked in slowly. My back had been turned and when the door opened, I froze. It was like I was traumatized, for life.

There stood Izabella.

Not in her baby pink robe that hovered above her small knees.

Not in her black lace panties.

But naked. Full on, butt naked.