As fate (or karma) would have it, he’s turning around.
“Les? Wow. Hey. It’s so good to see you. I’ll come up there.” He gathers his things and steps up the stairs.
“Oh, uh, it’s okay. You don’t have to…” I stutter because seeing him after all this time has me flustered. Too many emotions are involved.
Candy mumbles, “This should be good.”
Please don’t sit next to me. Please, please, please.
His butt hits the seat beside me, and I bite my knuckle. A scream is building up, but I cough instead.
“Ben. What a surprise seeing you here.” My cheeks burn as I strain to give him a smile. It’s probably more like a Joker grimace, but can he expect anything else? We had two years of high school bliss and planned every aspect of our life together. And then, bam! It was all over. I hate that my stomach is getting all flippy-floppy looking at him.
He hands me my pen, and our fingers brush. “Really? I mean, we both planned to take this class. Since there’s only three different ones offered, we had a pretty good chance of both being here.”
My butterflies that were making their way out of their stomach chrysalises slowly board themselves back up. Ben’s mansplaining has a way of doing that to them.
Candy snorts. I give her a frantic, little shake of my head, and she huffs out a laugh before staring at the blank whiteboard as if it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.
“Thank you so much for explaining that for me.” I brush through my hair. “Can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
He pats my shoulder, so I angle away from him. And because he’s as predictable as they come, he leans in closer. “You’re welcome. So,” his voice lowers to a whisper, and he looks around the room as if he’s going to tell me the secret recipe for Oreos, “I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, and—”
“And I’m going to stop you right there.” I nudge his hand off of the little desk that’s attached to my seat.
He throws his head back and then exhales with too much force. “I’m serious, Les. I just want to get some froyo or something. Catch up. I promise, nothing more. You’re free after class, right?”
Ah, so he’s going for the soft close of a salesman. I cringe like I just ate trash. “Oh, I can’t. Sorry!” I smile and look toward the whiteboard. Where is everyone else? Class is starting any second now.
He groans. “Stop being difficult. I’m sorry, okay? I know I screwed up. I just want to talk to you.”
Talk to me? Yeah, right. We both know how that will end. Spoiler alert: my bed won’t comfortably fit both of us and his ego.
I sigh. Five minutes and he’s already exhausting me. “Listen, I really am busy after class. Otherwise, I’d have no problem getting froyo. You know I’m the froyo queen.”
Ben crosses his arms like the petulant child he is. “Oh, really? Then what’re you doing?”
A sound like a snort mixed with a scoff comes out. Without a second thought, I place a hand awkwardly on Candy’s arm. “I’m hanging out with Candy. Yeah, we’ve got big plans. Huge plans.”
“You’re overselling it, chica,” Candy whisper-sings. I kick her shin, and she claps her hands, laughing like a high-pitched hyena.
“You’re friends with her?”
The cackle cuts off. Candy moves her head to the side of mine. “¡Un momento! You have a problem with that, Bruce?”
“It’s Ben.” His brows furrow.
She shrugs. “Either way, it’s a dumb name.”
He looks at me, and the flirty smirk is gone from his face. “Great friends you’ve got.”
I wink and give him a kissy pout. “Tell me about it, Stud.”
He grips his pencil tighter, and I can see him clenching his teeth. “You’re doing that thing again.”
I draw circles with my finger on the desk. “What thing?”
“You know, your ‘studio audience’ thing. Where you react completely inappropriately to the situation at hand.”
He wants to accuse me of that? Fine. Here’s where the crowd would gasp. You know, if my life were a reality TV show. Oh, Ben. The problem with being with someone for two years? They know a thing or two about you. He always accused me of “talking” to myself. Which is ridiculous. Because who doesn’t talk to themselves? He’s the weird one. You guys agree with me, right?
I cluck my tongue. “Thanks for pointing that out. You’re right, I totally was. I need to work on that, so I really appreciate you bringing it up.” I don’t have to mumble the name I’m thinking of calling him because my glare gets it across.
“I’m sure you do,” he mutters.
The professor walks in, and Ben doesn’t say anything else. He succumbs to looking at his shoes, a dejected frown gracing those full lips.
When the syllabi get passed out, he scribbles little dots and lines on the paper. I can’t stop looking at him out of my peripherals.
Ugh, he’s so tan. And he looks like he put on a few pounds of muscle. Gone is the roundness of the boy I knew. I don’t even catch myself drawing the same shape of his birthmark on my paper over and over again. A little heart that’s just bigger on the right than the left. But when Candy raps her pen against the paper and then motions towards Ben’s hand, I crumple it up faster than I should.
The commotion causes Ben to barely glance my way. Maybe his pout and silence is all a play. He’s trying the opposite approach to what he would normally do, which is be as annoying as possible until I give into him.
Fine, I’ll admit it. Whatever he’s doing, it’s working. By the time class ends, I feel a little bad I was so mean to him. As I gather my things, I put my hand on his knee. His gaze meets mine, warm brown eyes full of sadness.
“If you seriously want to get together, text me. We can set up a time.”
He nods and bites his lip. “Yeah, okay. I’ve got a team thing I’m supposed to be going to anyway. Have fun with Candy, Les.”
I give him a wonky thumbs up and follow Candy and her pink hair up the steps, knowing I just made a massive mistake.
As soon as we step outside and the fresh air forces its way down my lungs, obliterating the spicy scent of Ben, I double over panting.
Candy leans down with me. “The only thing you’ve been running is your mouth, so why are you panting like a dog?”
I glare at her, but the nonchalant face she wears makes one laugh come out. Then it’s followed by another, and another. “I’m just—forget it.” I wave her off. “Thanks for having my back in there. We’re the best.”
She takes a step back and pops another bubble, the gum sticking behind to her lips. “Who, me and you?”
“Well, I meant more like women in general, but yes. The way you supported me in there deserves some kind of reward. Preferably a chocolate one.” I unzip my backpack and see the contents of lined notebook paper, a few pencils, and an apple that’s probably as bruised as a UFC fighter since it’s smushed behind a textbook. Yeah, that reward’s gonna have to wait.
Candy glances at her phone and bites her bottom lip as she taps on the screen like she’s sending the world’s greatest text. “Alright, let’s go.” She walks away from the business building, almost like she expects me to follow. “You coming or what?”