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Silent Nightmare part 3

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Ben waited all night to hear back from Amber. When he didn't hear from her that night, he knew he should have texted himself from her phone to make sure he would have her number. He had the day off and tried to keep himself busy so that he wouldn't have to think about her. What a joke. No matter what he did, his mind kept going back to her. What was she doing? Was she working or home, still recovering? He wished he knew.

By three that afternoon, he was going crazy. Ben had never known a woman, well a girl really, that drove him crazy. His youngest sister didn't count. He dated a handful of women before. Work always got in the way. When Josh came by later that day, he found Ben pacing the kitchen in his apartment.

"What's up with you dude? Haven't heard from your girl?" he asked, while grabbing a beer from the fridge.

"She isn't my anything. Just nervous about my latest case," he lied, while he still paced.

"You are such a liar. You will have it solved in hours and still have time to take your girl out on a date," he said, as he kept referring to Amber as Ben's girl. "Why don't you pull your FBI tricks and look her up?"

"One, because, I can't do that outside of work and two, because, it would be wrong of me. How would you feel if I looked you up?"

"I would think you are gay and should find a different guy," Josh laughed.

Ben threw an apple at him and Josh caught it with one hand. "Nice catch. Practicing for the baseball game next week?"

"Yeah I have, glad you have noticed. But she will never know if you looked her up," Josh said, getting back onto topic.

"How would I explain how I got her number then? Besides, I would feel bad for doing so. She just seems so innocent and deserves someone better than that," Ben said, letting out a heavy sigh and went back to pacing.

"Have you tried Facebook? That is like the first place people look now a day," Josh said as he pulled out his phone. "Her name was Amber, right?" he asked, as he typed her name in the search box.

Ben walked over to look over his shoulder. After ten minutes, they found her. "That's her," Ben said pointing to her picture. In the picture, she had longer hair and glasses on.

"Are you sure?" Josh asked, tilting his head to try to see her in the girl's face.

"Yeah, she has her eyes and nose. She also had a scar on her chin and so does she," he pointed to it.

"You really did check her out," Josh laughed when he clicked on her picture. Her account was private but they did see that she owned a business making frames. They went to the business Facebook page. They saw that she ran a shop with her friend Jess, making frames for pictures and mirrors. They looked at some of their work. How good they really were surprised Ben and Josh.

"Damn, they are good," said Josh, as he continued to look at the pictures. Ben left the kitchen and was back in a few seconds with a piece of paper and a pen. Taking the phone from Josh, Ben went back to the top, wrote down the name of the store and went to Google maps to find the address.

"Got any plans for tonight? Good, you're coming with me," Ben said without an answer from Josh. He grabbed his keys, the piece of paper and headed for the door.

"Yeah, good thing I don't have anything planned for tonight. Getting a new frame for that butt ugly picture in the hallway?" Josh asked, as he waited for Ben to lock his place up.

"The picture of Sarah and me?"

"The only picture you have up in the hallway," Josh pointed out.

"It does need a new frame. Sure, we can get one for it." Ben unlocked the door again, went in to get the picture and came back out with it under his arm. After locking up the place, he rushed down the stairs with Josh trying to keep up.

"You really want to see this chick, don't you?" he called out as they ran out the front door of the building.

"No, I just want to get a new picture frame," he said, as he shot Josh the bird over his shoulder.

"What are you going to say when you get there? 'Hey, couldn't stop thinking about you and wanted to come by to see if you would go out and marry me at some point down the road.' Was that your plan?" Josh joked, as Ben pulled out onto the street.

"Who said I was going to marry her? I barely even know her," he said while he looked at his phone for directions. "Here, read this to me. Don't want to get us killed," said Ben handing Josh the phone.

"Go left at the second light. It has been three years and no girl has gotten your attention like this. Sa -"

"Don't you dare say her name!" Ben snapped without thinking. He tried to act as if what she did didn't matter to him but he would be lying to those around him. Trying to loosen his grip on the steering wheel, he took the left at the second light and kept his eyes on the road.

"She didn't get you acting like this, when you first met her. There is something about this girl, I can tell. Call it the inner woman in me coming out. You want to keep going straight until you get to Knighting Street. Please tell me you found out how old she is. Is she at least over 18?"

Letting out a laugh, Ben looked from the corner of his eye. "Yeah, she's over 18 and you really need to keep your inner woman under control."

"What do you know about this girl?"

"Not much, she didn't talk much. She lives with her roommate and her roommate's boyfriend. She is just getting over being sick so she can't talk right now. I hoped that I could either talk her into going out tonight or get her friend to talk her into going out with me. I thought about taking her to the Red Lobster that just opened. Which way do I go on Knighting Street?"

"Take a right, should be on your left. Is this what you spent most of your day doing? Planning on how to get her into your bed?"

"I was not planning to get her into my bed, she's barely 21. I don't really think she is ready to get involved with a guy who is almost 28," he said as he parked the car. He looked up at the building that read Wall of Mirror. Turning around, he reached for the picture and got out with Josh following behind him.

"Come on, why don't you just text him? Don't leave the dude hanging," a tall girl with long dark hair said, as she looked down at her feet.

"Don't you dare pull that shit on me. I saw the look on your face and how quiet you were last night," she said and looked up, as the bell over the door ringed .

Her face went from surprised to excited in a heartbeat. "Yes! This was perfect timing. I tried to get Amber here to text you all day," she smiled, as a loud bang came from behind the counter. Slowly, Amber poked her head up from behind the counter, while rubbing a spot on top of her head.

"Good thing, I needed a new picture frame," he smiled and elbowed Josh in the ribs, when he started to laugh. "Saw some of your work online and loved them. Which one of you made them?" he asked curiously.

Amber raised her hand, while she hid behind the counter. At the look on Ben's face, she dropped back down and looked up at Jess. Take the picture frame and get rid of them, please, she sighed to Jess as she crawled to the back door.

Ben saw the door to the back open and then close. He felt his heart deflate. Jess followed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry, Amber just doesn't do well with new people. Never has," explained Jess, as she glanced over at Josh. She watched Josh as he touched one too many frames. "If you break one, you have to pay double. It takes Amber a long time to make these," Jess said crossing her arms.

"Speaking of which, I need a frame for a picture," Ben said laying the picture on the counter. Jess looked away from Josh, who was trying to fix his hair in a mirror, and turned to Ben.

"What type of frame were you thinking about? Want to look around?" she asked, while looking at the door behind her out of the corner of her eye. As she walked out from behind the counter, Jess whispered, "Give her some time. She needs to learn to trust you."

"I have heard that a lot lately. I'll just go looking around," he said, as he walked toward the back door.

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Written by Ladybug
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