Chapter 26: True love

*Saphira's POV*

I raised one eyebrow. "You don't like fairy tales?" he guessed. "No, It's not that I don't like them. Their just so unrealistic."

"I don't believe in true love and all that nonsense," I admitted. He smirked at me. "May I?" he asked and without waiting for me to answer, he pulled my hair down and put my hair-ribbon in the pocket of his grey shorts. I blushed fiercely, I hoped he didn't notice. Get a grip. Get a grip I chanted to myself.

"I love your hair when its loose," he said. I flushed again.

"Am I messing with your brain again?" he asked while wiggling his eyebrows. Shoot, he did notice.

I tried to change the subject. "Lynn has revealed some other secrets, and I'm curious about those too…" I said while trying to find the right words. "Tell me, what are you curious about," Benjamin prompted impatiently.

"Lynn told me… You had this theory… about love and dating. I've thought about it for a while but I don't know how that can be accomplished," I said.

Ben looked at me with both eyebrows raised. It was clear he didn't understand where I was going with this.

"I mean; 'true love is not found. Its build.'" I said quoting Lynn. "Ah," he said.

He looked at me understandingly now, so I proceeded. "She also told me that you tried to explain it to her. By saying that it wasn't so much about FALLING in love, but that it should be more about making the CHOICE to LOVE someone. Something about being friends first," I went on.

"She also told me that you don't date." He started snickering. "You've talked about me. A lot," he accused me teasingly. I flushed again and looked down to my hands.

"Ma belle Evangeline, Lynn is right. Normally I don't date. But my little theory here is getting more complicated by the minute." He said with a warm voice. I stared at him. Probably gawked even.

"Can you explain your theory to me though? I want to understand," I asked.

Benjamin was looking at the waves now. "I'll try," He promised. "When I was a kid, I was playing in the attic. Randomly flipping through books and there fell some photograph out of one of the books."

"In the pictures there was my dad and a beautiful young woman in his arms. I was young, but even then I realized the woman in the pictures was not my mom, and not my birth mom either," he shook his head back and forth.

"Who was she?" I asked intrigued by his story. Benjamin placed his hand on my mouth, as a gesture I should let him finish and then continued talking.

"Where was I? Uh… When I was a bit older, I asked him about that. At first he denied, but then he told me the truth. I was right. The woman in the pictures indeed wasn't my mom at all."

"He told me that he had asked her to marry him when she was only eighteen. She refused. When she was nineteen he tried again. She was so stubborn and wouldn't change her mind."

"Isn't that a little young too get married in the first place?" I asked shocked considering her age.

I saw a flash of emotion playing across Benjamins face, and I wondered if I said something wrong.

"Yes well, but my dad had loved her and he couldn't see himself married to another woman at that time. He had already lost my mother and raised me on his own."

"He went to her father and asked for her hand in marriage, behind her back. It was foolish of him of course," Ben said shaking his head.

"He should of known that would only make matters worse and it did. Without even realizing it, he had pushed her away. She refused to marry the man her father choose for her. Little did she know it was her own boyfriend," he said playing with the lit of his soda.

"Then she said she had fallen in love with someone else and dad found out she was pregnant."

"My mom!" I exclaimed. "I thought my dad was her first boyfriend…" I said shocked again.

"You didn't know," he realized. I shook my head. "Your theory." I said, trying to get us back on the right track. I would have to talk to mom about this later.

"Yes, well, unlike you…" He gestured his hand towards me. "I do believe, in true love. At least I think I do. One of my closest friends made me think there could be something like that out there, and I promised that friend to pursue it.

"But I never believed much in falling in love." He frowned at me, narrowing his eyes. "Until now," he said so quiet I wasn't sure if it was meant for me to hear. "To me true love is deciding to love someone, becoming the closets of friends and then sticking by it," he said.

"So that's what you mean by making the choice to love?" I asked. "Absolutely, anyone can fall in love. But you can also fall out of love. What do you do then? Marry the next person?" he said looking at me wryly.

"But then what do you mean by 'true love is not found. Its build." I said the last word with extra care. "I believe friendship is the key." he said meaningfully. I think… I understood.

I tried to order my thoughts before speaking. "So, the reason you don't date. Is because you only want to love one woman and then marry her? Probably, because you've seen how it hurt your mom… I mean because your dad had fallen in love with someone else before."

"Mhh… Well, something like that," he mused. "I heard you never dated," Benjamin smirked. "You have talked about me," I accused him. "Guilty," he admitted without shame.

"There is one thing I just don't understand, though," I said trying to organize my thoughts again. "How come you're still here, talking to me? Clearly my mom has hurt your family, unintended of course, but still." He looked at me, I think shocked.

"I'm not mad at you… or your mom," he said. I stared at him trying to read his face and he seemed to mean it.

"But isn't this yet another example, that there is no such thing as a happily ever after?" I said trying to make a point.

He looked at me with a wistful expression. "What makes you think that? If your mom and my dad would of gotten married right away. You and I wouldn't be here… together in this way," he said while waving his hand at the space between us. "Looks like a happy ending to me," he said smiling at me with a very seductive smile.

"So, you see yourself as some kind of prince charming," I blurted out.

"Let me guess, you don't believe in prince charming either," Benjamin stated. "No," I said almost inaudible.

"You don't find me charming?" he asked while tilting his head to the side. His smile was shockingly tempting. I bit my lip in a bit of a flirty manner.

"You don't have a white horse, now do you," I pointed out. "Well, just say the word… That's something that can be arranged," he said and winked at me.

He took his guitar out of its case. "Can I ask you something?" he said, while starting to play a tune I didn't recognize. "Sure," I said unconditionally. "Why did you change your hair? Don't' get me wrong. Your beautiful either way. But, I really loved it when I saw you the first time. It was still natural," I looked at him stunned.

"Err… What?!" He never saw me before I changed my hair, now did he?