TALES OF NORA WILLIAMS
Three girls walked toward her. They moved through the crowd with purpose. Their eyes were fixed on her. The one in front was Taylor Jackson. She was tall, blonde, with sharp features and an unfriendly expression. The two behind her were her friends. Nora recognized them from school. The Fantastic Three. They always stuck together.
Taylor stopped directly in front of Nora. Close enough that Nora could smell her perfume. The music continued around them, but Taylor's presence created a small bubble of tension.
"So you're the one," Taylor said.
Nora did not respond.
"I heard about Wednesday," Taylor continued. "Ben is asking you to be his date in front of everyone. Very dramatic."
The two friends behind Taylor smirked.
Taylor leaned in slightly. Her voice was calm but cutting. "I'm here to tell you not to feel too important about it. Ben only wants one thing from you. He wants you in his bed. After he gets that, he'll toss you in the bin as he does with everyone else."
Nora looked at Taylor's face. She felt a flash of anger but kept her expression neutral. She thought about running away. She thought about shrinking back against the wall. But something in her pushed forward instead.
"That's fine," Nora said. Her voice was steady. "I also want Ben in my bed."
Taylor's smirk faltered for just a second. Then she recovered. "You think you're clever. You're nobody. You're the girl who babysits her brothers while the rest of us are actually living. You think someone like Ben would actually want someone like you?"
Nora felt the words land. They stung. But she did not let it show.
"I'm not the one standing here trying to scare off a girl my ex invited," Nora said. "That seems like something a nobody would do."
Taylor's eyes narrowed. Her friends shifted uncomfortably. A few people nearby had stopped dancing and were watching. The tension was spreading.
"You have no idea what you're walking into. Ben doesn't care about you. He never will. You're just a new face. A fresh distraction. In a week, he won't even remember your name."
"And yet here you are, still caring about who he remembers. Still watching. Still showing up at his party to bother the girls he talks to."
Taylor's face tightened. The crowd around them had grown. People were openly staring, whispering to each other, and pulling out their phones.
"You're nothing," Taylor said. Her voice was louder now, less controlled. "You're a babysitter who got lucky for one day. Enjoy your fifteen minutes because when Ben is done with you, you'll go back to being exactly what you were before. Invisible."
Nora opened her mouth to respond, but Taylor kept going.
"Your mother works nights, right? Leaving you to raise her kids while she's gone. Must be nice to have a built-in excuse for never doing anything. Why do you never go anywhere? Why has no one ever noticed you until now?"
The words hit hard. Nora felt her face get hot. She thought about her brothers. About her mom working double shifts. About the years of missing parties and events because someone had to be home. She felt tears threaten but forced them back.
Before she could speak, Taylor leaned in closer. Her voice dropped to something cruel and quiet.
"Everyone knows your family is a joke. Your father cheated on your mom. And when your mom couldn't handle it, she divorced his sorry ass. You're a joke."
Nora's hand curled into a fist. She was about to say something, anything, when Taylor's hand drew back. It was a small movement but unmistakable. She was going to hit her.
Then another hand caught Taylor's wrist.
Ben stepped between them. He had moved fast, appearing from somewhere in the crowd. He held Taylor's arm firmly but not painfully. With his other hand, he reached back and pulled Nora behind him. She stumbled slightly, then found herself standing with Ben's back in front of her, blocking Taylor from view.
"Back off, Taylor," Ben said. His voice was calm but hard. "Not at my house. Not at my party."
Taylor tried to pull her arm free. "This doesn't concern you."
"It's my house. It concerns me." Ben released her wrist. "If you're here to cause trouble, you need to leave. Now."
Taylor stared at him. Her face was red. The crowd was completely silent now, every eye on them. Taylor looked at Ben, then at Nora standing behind him. She opened her mouth, then closed it. She turned and pushed through the crowd. Her friends followed. The front door opened and closed behind them.
The silence held for another second. Then the music swelled, and people returned to their conversations, though many kept glancing toward Ben and Nora.
Ben turned to face her. He looked at her for a moment, then nodded toward the stairs.
"Come on, let's go somewhere quieter." He said.
He started walking toward the staircase. Nora hesitated. She looked toward the front door where Taylor had disappeared. She looked at the crowd still watching her. Then she followed Ben up the stairs.
They walked down a hallway lined with closed doors. Ben opened the last door on the right and stepped inside. Nora followed.
It was his bedroom. It was clean. A bed against one wall, a desk against another, posters on the walls. Sports stuff—a laptop on the desk. The music from downstairs was muffled up here, just a low thumping in the background.
"You can sit if you want." He gestured at the bed and desk.
Nora sat down on the bed. She realized she was breathing hard. Her heart was still racing from what had just happened downstairs.
"You handled that well. Most people just let her walk all over them." Ben said.
Nora did not know what to say. She looked at her hands.
"I like that you stood your ground despite the things she said to you. That's rare. No one stands up to Taylor. Not even me, really. She's exhausting to deal with."
Nora swallowed, looking up to meet his gaze. "Someone has to put her in her place."
Ben nodded. "And you did." He walked to his desk, picked up a bottle of water, and held it out to her. She took it.
"Thanks," she said.
"For what?"
"For the water. And…for stopping her from hitting me. For bringing me up here."
Ben sat next to her on the bed. "You don't need to thank me. I'm the one who invited you. I should have been watching out for you from the start."
Nora opened the water and took a sip. The cold liquid helped calm her.
"So," Ben said. "You really told Taylor you want me in your bed?"
Nora almost choked on the water. She coughed, covering her mouth.
Ben laughed. "I heard about that part too."
Nora felt her face flush again. "I just said it because she was being awful."
"I know. It was still impressive." Ben was still smiling.
They sat in silence for a moment.
"I am sorry about her. Taylor, I mean, for the things she said to you. We dated a couple of months ago. It ended badly. She's been like this ever since. Shows up to everything I do, tries to ruin it."
Nora nodded. "She seems determined."
"She is." Ben nodded.
Nora looked at him. In the low light of his bedroom, with the party noise muffled in the background, he seemed different. Less like the basketball captain, less like the most popular guy in school. More like just a person.
"So…what happens now?" she asked.
Ben shrugged. "Now we hang out up here for a while. Let things cool down downstairs. Then, if you want, we can go back to the party. Or we can stay up here. Whatever you're comfortable with."
Nora thought about it. She thought about Taylor, about the crowd watching, about the whispers that would follow. She thought about the main reason she had started all of this. Her goal for texting Benjamin Damien was to have his cock fill up her core as she screams out his name.
"I think I want to stay up here," she said.
Ben nodded, standing up from the bed. "Okay. Let me grab us something to drink. And—"
"Let's do the things we discussed over the phone." Nora interrupted him.