Ben watched as Samantha marched right past him with her head held high and waited in line to buy a cup of coffee. He knew she saw him and his skin prickled with annoyance at the fact she had been ignoring him for the past four days.

He'd never seen a guilty person act all high and mighty before. It was extremely out of character for her. "Maybe because she isn't guilty," a small voice echoed in his head.

But that just didn't make sense. It was definitely her writing, he was sure of it. However, the whole thing just seemed a little off. His grip on his cup of coffee tightened when he noticed her flirting shamelessly with the barista behind the counter.

He knew she was doing this on purpose, she'd never so much as glanced at that same barista before. As if on cue, she turned her head in his direction ever so slightly and smiled to herself as she collected her coffee before she walked away.

Things with Jessica haven't exactly been going on well either. After apologising profusely to her for the past few days she'd somehow come to the conclusion that they were back together. According to her, with Samantha out of their lives things were going to be better.

But Ben knew better than that. If these past few weeks had thought him anything, it would be that Samantha was a huge part of his life no matter what happened. Everything she did affected him, from her laugh to her smile to her ignoring him. And he knew no one could compare to that, not even Jessica.

No one could make him feel like the happiest person, or the saddest or the loneliest. Only her.

"Fuck," he cursed to himself. He was whipped the moment he let her into his life and as much as he hated her actions these past few months not to mention the fact that she had rejected him last year, there was no denying his feelings for her.

"This seat taken?" a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Since when do you care if it is," he smiled at Candice and gestured for her to sit.

"You're right I don't," she replied as she sat down. She was sporting a pixie cut now which really accentuated her angular face. It suited her.

"How've you been?" Ben asked not sure what to say. He was sure Samantha had confided in her roommate and that made him feel a tad bit awkward around her.

"Well to be honest things haven't been that great for me. You know dealing with a depressed roommate isn't exactly my idea of a peaceful life?" She took a sip of her iced tea and watched him expectantly.

Ben simply gulped and nodded his head. He didn't know what to reply to that. For a small sized girl, Candice could be pretty intimidating.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you trust her? I know for a fact that Samantha would never do anything like that," Candice said looking at him like he was stupid.

Ben couldn't help but agree, the nagging voice in his head grew louder reminding him yet again that he had made a mistake. "But it's her handwriting," he mumbled.

"So what? That can always be forged," Candice fired back.

"But who would do such a thing? Who would go through so much trouble? It can't be Jessica, she never knew about that night in Indigo," Ben tried to reason.

"I don't know who did this. But its definitely not Sam," Candice said stubbornly as she crossed her arms over each other. "Do you still have it?"

Ben pulled it out of his pocket immediately. He had been carrying it around in his pocket all day, unsure of what he should do with it. He kept it inside a small plastic sandwich bag, not wanting to damage it. As Candice was about to reach inside for it, he grabbed it back an idea forming in his head.

"What the hell!" Candice exclaimed angrily. "Let me see."

"Do you remember that guy you dated a few months ago, his name was Andrew I think."

"Uh-huh what about him," she asked impatiently.

"Isn't he studying forensics?"

"Yes," she smiled now as she realised where this was going. "I remember we were all out together and he was explaining to us about Graphology during which I completely zoned out."

"Well I didn't," Ben replied proudly and Candice merely rolled her eyes at him. "I remember he said he'd done about 50 case studies on handwriting and that fakes could sometimes easily be differentiated."

One hour later, we were walking through the long white corridors on the second floor of the Forensics building. The corridor was lit with extremely bright white lights making us squint at the tinted windows on either side of us. You could barely make out the contents inside.

"I don't even know where he is. How did I let you talk me into this?" Candice muttered while she shook her head.

"We'll find him somehow. He said so himself, he practically lives here," Ben reassured her. "By the way why did you stop dating him?"

"Because he was as boring as a the weather forecast," she replied drily.

"Candyyyy," a voice called from inside one of the rooms making Candice freeze in place. "Is that you?"

Ben turned to his right to see a tall blonde guy with think rimmed glasses make their way to them.

"Hey Andrew," Ben said shaking hands with him.

"Hey, its Ben isn't it? Sorry it's just that its been awhile," Andrew smiled as he ran a hand through his thick curly blonde hair. He quickly turned his attention to Candice and blushed slightly.

Ben could feel Candice shift awkwardly next to him.

"Hey Andrew, how have you been?" the normally vivacious Candice was now whispering like a mouse.

His green eyes flickered all over her shamelessly. "Been good, busy but good. What brings you guys here?"

"Actually we came to see you," Ben said taking out the envelope from his pocket and holding it up for Andrew to see. "It's kind of a long story but I need to know if this is a fake."

Andrew took the envelope from him and eyed it curiously. "Do you have another sample I can compare this to?"

"Yup," Ben took out a notebook Samantha had given him. It had her writing on almost every page.

"Okay, I'll check it out and let you know as soon as I have. Just give me your contact information," Andrew said.

"Thanks man, this means a lot. I dunno how we can ever repay you. Do you want us to pay or something?" Ben said happily as he typed in his phone number on Andrews phone.

"Nahh, I don't charge friends. Maybe Candice and I could go out for dinner one of these days. What do you say Candy?" he asked eyeing up Candice again.

Candice merely stared at him dumbfounded.

"She'd be happy to," Ben replied trying to keep a straight face as Candice shot him a death stare.

"Great I'll keep in touch," he said winking at Candice.

As we walked away, Candice elbowed Ben right in the ribs.

"Ow!, " he exclaimed and then he started laughing. "You know for someone who claimed he was boring, you turned into freaking jelly once he started talking to us."

"What! I can't help it that he looks like a nerdy version of a Greek God, can I?" she put her arms up defensively. "I hate you by the way, you're so coming on that date with me."

"Hah, tough luck. Do it for Samantha, will you?" Ben teased.

"You guys owe me big time."

A few hours later we found ourselves in Andrew's lab once again. He had called saying that it was urgent and that he wanted something with Jessica's and Samantha's fingerprints. So Ben brought a toy that Jessica had once give him. They bought it together so he knew no one else had touched it and Candice brought Samantha's coffee mug. Once we got there, he took both our fingerprints too.

Candice just looked plain annoyed. It was almost 1 am in the morning and Ben knew how much her beauty sleep meant to her.

"May I know what is this about?" she asked impatiently as she tapped the table with her fingers. "I thought you were supposed to be comparing handwriting? But here you are taking our fingerprints?"

"I did compare the handwriting and its almost identical," he said showing us a magnified version of the comparisons on his computer screen. "It's common to have slight variations because were not computers that can duplicate exactly."

We both just looked at him expecting him to explain more.

"Which means it is most probably not a fake unless the person who duplicated the handwriting is either a pro and had A LOT of practice. Watch the way the loop of the letter "Y" curves," he said pointing at the letter on the screen.

We both leaned in and squinted at the bright screen.

"It's the same for every letter "Y" in both the samples you've given me. If it was a fake at least one letter would've been different," he explained. "So that brings me to the fingerprints. In crime labs fingerprints always come in handy, I need all of your fingerprints to rule out possible suspects."

Candice laughed in response. "Suspects? Don't you think you're taking this a little too seriously?"

"I take everything seriously," was all he replied in a way too serious tone.

Candice just looked at Ben and smiled mouthing the words "weather forecast". Ben quickly looked away before he started laughing.

"This will take me while, maybe a day or too. If I find anything I will let you guys know, okay?" he said helpfully.

"Thanks again,' Ben replied amazed at how dedicated Andrew was.

"Doesn't he ever sleep?" Candice grumbled while they walked out of the building into the cold night air. "I'm surprised they allow him to work so late."

"You know in his case I really don't know but it's nice that he's going all out to help us. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, yeah we all know what he wants," she replied making Ben laugh.

Three days later right after class Ben received a call from Andrew. He answered it quickly curious as to what he found.

"Hey man, it took a while but I'm finally done examining the letter. I found Samantha's, Jessica's and your fingerprints on the pictures and the envelope and-" he paused making Ben hold his breath.

"There was another fingerprint, well more like half a fingerprint that didn't match any of yours," he said.

"What do you mean half? You mean it was deliberate?" Ben asked.

"Well yeah, looks like half of it was wiped off. Maybe there were others, but if they were they've all been wiped off. Look I dunno what's going on man but this person looks like they know what they're doing."

Ben didn't know why but his heartbeat quickened slightly at hearing that. Who was this person targeting them?

"Either that or somebody else touched the envelope that you don't know about. Just be careful okay?"

Ben ran his fingers through his hair as he replied. "Okay thanks a bunch man. I'll come by later and pick up the pictures."

"Okay see you then," Andrew replied and then ended the call.

Without wasting another minute Ben ran to the cafe hoping to meet Samantha. Luckily she was outside, walking away with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Sam wait!" he shouted as he ran towards her.

She looked at him surprised and then her expression turned dark. "What do you want?" she barked angrily.

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," Ben panted trying to catch his breath. "I should've known it wasn't you. We wen to the Forensics department and got it checked. Remember that guy Andrew--."

She cut off me suddenly and looked at me incredulously. "You went to the forensics lab? Are you serious?" Then she laughed bitterly. "That just proves how much you trust me."

She began walking away and Ben grabbed her arm to face him again.

"I made a mistake Sam, it's just things have been a bit crazy between the two of us. I didn't think, that's all."

"Yes, you didn't," she said staring daggers at me. "You know, I may have made a mistake telling you how I felt about you but I seriously don't deserve this Ben. It's like a never ending circle. We fight, we make up, we fight again and you say hurtful things to me. I just can't take it anymore, okay?" She was on the verge of tears now.

Shocked by her outburst Ben let go of her shoulder and simply looked at her.

"I tried to make things right with you but it's just too hard. The things you said that day, I couldn't believe you could say such hurtful things to my face, you of all people. Please just do us both a favour and leave me alone. I honestly think it would be better that way."

"We can still fix this Sam," Ben felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest.

"Maybe we can, but I don't want to anymore." And with that she walked away from him while he stared at her unable to say or do anything.

Heyyy, I swear the forensics part was necessary and will make more sense later on. Anyway if you like what you've read please vote/comment/share. :) :) :)

Btw which actor do you think suits Ben more? Grant Gustin or Chace Crawford? And I have to say I love writing Candice's character hope you guys enjoyed the little bit about her.