This is short again, and kinda dumb, and slow, and not where I was going to go with this chapter, but I feel so horrible right now and I wanted to get something out. So here you go.

Comments would be lovely, since I feel so bad.

xoxo,

Lacey

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I open my eyes, everything is a little blurry. I look around and realize I'm in my room. Trying to remember what happened the day before, I sit up; my running shoes are still on. That's when it all comes back to me. I was out running, I knocked a tree down, and I passed out. How did I get home? Was I actually crazy? I was starting to think I was. Maybe it was all a dream. I was going to go running and feel asleep?

I look over at my clock and realize it's already 9am, Ben is supposed to be coming to get me at 10. I jump up and go to take a quick shower. After cleaning myself I try to figure out what to wear; finally settling on a green and blue maxi dress and some sandals. I sit on the couch to wait, rubbing my temples. Thinking back over what I thought happened yesterday. There is no way that happened right? I'm losing it and having weird dreams. That's got to be it. I shake my head and stand up right as there is a knock on my door.

"Ben," I open it and smile. "Let me grab my bag." He nods and stands in the doorway.

When I walk back over to him, he wraps me into a tight hug. I wind my arms around his middle and rest my head on his chest, for a moment my head clears and I feel normal.

"Alright, so are you ready to join the crazy? My family is loud."

"Sounds better than silence, believe me I like noise."

We make idle chit chat on the way down to his truck. Once we get in I start getting nervous, between whatever is going on with me and meeting Ben's dad, I can't seem to calm down.

"Dad is going to love the cookies you made for him, by the way. Mom is the best cook, but she can't bake for some reason." He laughs softly, like he can tell there is something going on in my head and he's trying to help me out of it.

"Well, maybe I can give her the recipe. Maybe even bake some with her." He's already smiling and nodding. I'm sure he's thinking about double the cookies he gets to eat with that plan.

The truck gets silent and I go back to thinking about the park. That had to not be real... then again I was dirty this morning, how could I explain that? But if it did happen how did I get home? I passed out on the street. I look out the window sighing loudly.

"Hal, they are all going to love you being there. I promise. Don't be so nervous." I turn my head towards him and try to give him a happy smile.

He pulls up to the cutest house ever. It's a cozy little two story house. It's white with blue shutters and there seems to be lots of land behind it, it has a wraparound porch and a white picket fence. His mom comes out as he parks and waves to us. I take a deep breath as I open my door and walk around to the front of the truck.

"Hallie, it's so nice to see you again." his mother says as she pulls me in for a hug before turning to her husband. "Tony, this is Hallie, Hallie this is my husband Tony." I look up on the porch at Ben's father; he's almost identical to Ben. They stand the same way, and have the same face shape. Tony's dark brown hair is going grey, and that's one of the only differences.

"Hello Mr. Bellini." I smile up at him. His face is in a wide smile like Ben's, his dimples deep, he walks towards me with his hand out in a hand shake. The closer he gets the farther his smile falls, until he drops his hand and looks over my head at Ben.

"Dentro Ora." He says in his deep tone. I assume it's Italian. I look back at Ben as his smile falls as well. He follows his dad into the house, his back straight.

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" I ask Deborah.

"Oh, sweetie, no. Don't worry about them, ok?" I look down at the ground trying not to take offence to what just happen and slowly follow her inside to the dining room.

We pass a closed door and I hear Ben's voice, you can tell he's trying to speak lowly, but is a little mad. "No dad, I didn't, why would I even guess that?" he opens the door and almost walks into me.

"Ben..." his father comes out behind him and stops when he sees me.

I nod at him before I make my way to the table and sit down at the spot Ben has showed me is mine. Emily and her boyfriend sit across from us and she smiles brightly at me.

"Hello Hallie, it's nice to see you again." I smile softly back at her.

"You too Emily." Ben's father sits at the head of the table, beside Ben and looks over at Emily. Since I already have my eyes on her I can see her shake her head at him.

I'm feeling completely out of place and more nervous than I was before, and of course, my hands start to shake. I put them under the table trying to hide it from them. Deborah walks in at that moment with the rest of the food that she sits on the table and tells us to dig in. I can feel eyes on me the whole time we are getting our food and I can't get my hands to stop shaking. Finally Deborah breaks the silence.

"So, Hallie, Ben tells us you just graduated from college. What is your degree in?" I smile at her taking a drink of my water before answering.

"Child psychology, I would love to help children that have had bad experiences." She nods.

"Oh, that's wonderful. Children are the future after all." She looks towards her husband and so I do as well, it seems his hands are shaking as well. Do I really make him that angry? I shut my mouth and try not to saying anything else for the rest of the meal.

Suddenly Tony looks straight at me. "Hallie, I'm sorry for how I acted. Please don't think badly of me." Mr. Bellini says to me. "I didn't mean to be rude to you, just family issues." I nod, feeling only slightly better.

The rest of the meal they talk about summer plans and if Emily is excited to start college. This makes my chest tighten and my hands shake harder than before. Tony pushes back from the table roughly and stands. "Excuse me." he walks from the room quickly and I hear a door slam somewhere. Ben and Emily follow him slowly Ben patting me on the shoulder before he leaves the room.

I stand and help Deborah clean up, she tries to stop me but I won't have hear of it. She cooked a huge meal and I want to help her clean it.

"Look, I know that you are thinking that you did something wrong, something to upset Tony. But you didn't, he is just having a rough day and doesn't know where to put his anger." Deborah hands me a dish to dry as I nod. I don't really believe her but I'll humor her, knowing I'll never let Ben talk me into coming back over here.

Jason stands up from the table and walks over to us. "Really Hallie, he's a nice guy, he means nothing against you." I look up at him, he has to be close to 6 foot and his dark complexion makes his teeth and eyes look like the whitest color I've ever seen. "He was excited to meet you before you got here."

The three of us clean up in silence when we hear muffled voices coming from the other side of the house before a loud crash. We all stop and Deborah rushes off without a word. Ben comes back into the kitchen and grabs my hand. "We need to go ahead and get going... I have some work at the shop to do." I can tell he's lying but I follow him out to the truck. Emily is out on the porch and stands to hug me before tell us both bye.

On the way back to our apartments I don't say a word. His dad hated me so much that he yelled at Ben and broke something. And all I can think is what could I have possibly done to make him so mad. I didn't even say anything to him before he lost it. Maybe Ben hadn't told him who I was before hand and he knew about my wreck and didn't want my influence on his son. I sighed loudly as we pulled into a parking spot.

"Look, I'm sorry Hallie. I've told you it wasn't about you, and I know you don't believe me. But it really wasn't. He told me to tell you sorry and also called you a nice girl. Please don't think you did something to offend him."

"Sure Benji, its fine." I smile as brightly as I can and open the door and jump down. Ben follows me with his truck still running and hugs me to him.

"Hal, why don't we hang out later? I'm going to run to the shop and then bring a movie over?" this time my smile is real.

"That sounds great. I'll have some treats?" His smile breaks out and he agrees before pulling me into him again before jumping back into his truck.

I slowly walk into my apartment and drop my bag to the ground. Falling onto the couch, I go over everything that happened in the last 24 hours. I feel too overwhelmed and let my emotions come out through tears. I curl up in on myself cry myself to sleep.