Sunday, June 21, 2015

The day had been horrible. Benny must have really been mad at me, because while we were at the sandlot, he wouldn't look my way, or even speak to me when I asked him something.

Luke was still mad at me, but not to the point that he ignored me. I didn't get why everyone was so mad, though. Luke used to smoke weed all the time, and I honestly only did it for fun. It wasn't going to kill me or anything.

What really hurt was when Benny and I were the only ones left walking to our houses. He didn't say a word to me, but when I called out to him, he looked at me, and he just shook his head in disappointment.

After taking a shower, I dressed in gray sweatpants, a red long-sleeve Aeropostale shirt, and black Vans. I was going to make things right with Benny.

I walked over to his house nervously, and knocked on the door. Elizabeth opened it.

"Hi," she greeted me with a smile.

"Hey," I responded, sending her a small smile. "Uh, Benny's home, right?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs," she answered. "Come in."

I entered the house, and Elizabeth closed the door behind me.

"He's in his room, so you can just go ahead and find him up there," she informed me.

I sent Elizabeth one more smile, before nodding and saying, "Thank you." With that, I made my way upstairs.

I found Benny's room easily; his door was cracked open. I looked inside to see him lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. After a few moments of hesitance, I knocked on the door, pushing it open a bit. Benny turned his head, and when he realized it was me, he quickly sat up.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.

I walked inside his bedroom, closing the door behind me. "I wanted to talk to you. Why are you so mad at me?"

Benny shook his head at me. "Don't act like you don't know. You did drugs, Makayla."

I sighed, making my way over to him. As I stood in front of him, he looked up at me, his eyes locked on mine.

"I know it sounds bad, but all I did was get a little high," I muttered. "I know I shouldn't have done it, but it's so fun."

Benny looked down at his lap, shaking his head. "You're going to ruin your life," he murmured.

"Benny, that's the first time I've done it in months," I informed him. "I don't do it all the time, just on occasion. I'm not ruining my life."

Benny shook his head again lightly, but this time, he didn't respond. He sat in silence, and I continued to stand, just staring at him. Finally, I sat down on the bed beside him. When he didn't look up, I put my hands on his face, forcing him to look at me.

"I'm sorry, Benny. I am. I shouldn't have done that there, especially around all the kids. I was wrong."

Benny stared at me, as if contemplating whether to forgive me or not. I didn't even need to be forgiven, but I didn't want him to hate me, and I didn't want him to look at me as a bad person.

"Come on," I muttered. "I'm just a stupid teenager having a little bit of fun."

Benny kept his face still, but looked down with his eyes. He remained silent.

I sighed. "All right, then." I removed my hand from his face. "Guess I'll just have to deal with it."

I stood up and started walking away to leave. All of a sudden, I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist, and he pulled me back. I fell back on the bed, and his arms remained around my waist. When I looked up at him, he was leaning over me with a small smile.

"I couldn't stay mad at you," he finally spoke.

A big smile formed on my face. Before I even knew what I was doing, I wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug, and he lied down on top of me — not in a dirty way, of course.

The hug didn't last very long, because he pulled away, sitting back up. I sat up beside him, sending him a small smile.

"Am I still your best friend?" I asked in a low voice.

Benny nodded, smiling back at me. "Course you are." We sit in comfortable silence, and after a short while, he added, "Since you're already here, you should stay a while."

"Good idea," I replied. I stood up, looking around his room. "We should do something."

"Like what?"

A thought came to my mind, and I looked at him with a smirk growing on my lips. "We should wrestle."

Benny cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

I giggled, nodding. "Yeah." I approached him again, grabbing onto his wrists. I pulled him up onto his feet. "Let's see if playing baseball all these years toughened you up."

A small smile formed on Benny's face, and he stared down at me. "Oh, all right. But be prepared to get beat."

I chuckled. "Don't count on it. No hitting, though."

"Oh, come on, I wouldn't hit you even if it were allowed," he replied, ruffling my hair a bit.

My heart warmed just by looking at him, and I quickly fixed my hair. "Okay, we'll start in one . . . two . . . three!"

I jumped at Benny, and he immediately jumped back, dodging me. A smile was painted across my face as we wrestled around for a while.

Finally, as I went to try to push him back on the bed, he wrapped one arm around my waist, and the other around my left leg. Benny picked me up, and I squealed as he slammed me down on the bed. He leaned over my body on his knees. Like in a real wresting match, he grabbed my leg and pulled it back.

"One!" he exclaimed, but before he could go further than that, I wrapped my other leg around his waist, and twisted my body around as hard as I could so he flipped onto his back, and I was on top of him.

Benny tried to move me, but I took both of his hands and pinned them to the bed above his head. We were both laughing, but in that moment, the mood seemed to change. His laughing gradually subsided, until finally, he was left with nothing but a smile. He stared up at me, and I stared down at him in admiration.

All of a sudden, Benny somehow managed to flip me back onto my back. In attempt to keep him from beating me, I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist. He attempted to remove them, but he failed, and our laughing had returned.

"That's not fair!" Benny exclaimed in between laughs.

"Yes, it is," I replied, giggling. "It's completely fair. Get used to disappointment."

Benny cast me a fake glare, which was hard to take seriously considering he was still smiling. "Oh, you're dead meat, Sullivan. I'll get ya."

I sent him a playful wink. "You can try."

With that, Benny wrapped his arms around my waist and stood up. Now he was holding me, and my legs were still wrapped around him.

"I'm not letting go," I said nonchalantly.

"If you don't take your legs off of me, I'll walk downstairs like this right now."

I laughed loudly, trying to push the insecure thoughts out of my mind. "No! You'll fall because of my weight, and we'll both die."

"No, I won't. You're light as a feather," he stated, chuckling.

"All right, take me, then," I replied. "But your mom is just gonna think we're doing something bad."

"My mom is out right now, she won't be back until later tonight," he countered with a smirk.

"Okay, well, Elizabeth will."

Benny chuckled. "Oh, well." With that, he turned and walked to his bedroom door. After opening it, he walked downstairs. Fortunately, he didn't fall; he didn't seem to be struggling at all.

When he completely descended the staircase, I saw Elizabeth sitting on the couch in the living room. When she spotted us, she burst out laughing, covering her mouth with her hand.

My cheeks burned like crazy, and I finally unwrapped my legs from around him, although I liked the position we were in.

Elizabeth stared at us with wide eyes, giggling, finally letting go of her mouth. "What are guys doing?"

"We were wrestling," Benny replied, smirking as he finally put me down.

"Yeah, and I wrapped my legs around him so he couldn't make me lose," I added shyly. "I know that looked bad."

Elizabeth shook her head, smiling. "No, I think you guys would make the perfect couple. Together yet?"

"Liz!" Benny exclaimed, shaking his head. "Quit asking me that, it's never gonna happen."

I tried my hardest to keep the smile on my face, but now the smile was forced instead of genuine like it previously was. I should have been used to this feeling by now.

"I don't think so," Elizabeth replied, sending him a wink. "You put on this whole front about you not having time for relationships, but I know you're —"

"You're wrong," Benny broke in, rolling his eyes. "Come on, Kayla."

Elizabeth chuckled, turning back to the TV, and I followed Benny back upstairs. Great, now he's mad. I don't understand why he's getting so defensive about it. Maybe it's because he's so serious about carrying on his father's dream, and she isn't seeing that. I just wish she was right.

Benny opened his bedroom door, allowing me to walk in first. He entered after me, closing the door behind us.

All of a sudden, as I walked toward his bed, he scared me to death by picking me up bridal style in one swift motion. I held back my scream, but I couldn't help but squeal in surprise.

"Benny!" I exclaimed.

With a big smile playing on his lips, he threw me onto the bed. He immediately sat on top of me, not giving me a chance to get up.

"I'm getting you this time," he said, beaming down at me. "I'm not losing a wrestling match to a girl."

"Like I said, get used to disappointment," I replied, smirking.

Since he was sitting on my stomach, I threw my legs up as hard as I could. When my calves and feet were over his stomach, I pushed them back, causing him to fly back. His back slammed onto the bed, and I quickly switched the positions by sitting on him.

"And I'm not losing to a little boy," I teased. Then, before I could do anything, Benny started tickling my sides.

Considering I was very ticklish, I screamed, trying my hardest to get away from him. But even when I was off of him, he sat up, continuing to tickle me. I laughed loudly as he tickled me all over my stomach as well.

This continued until tears had fallen from my eyes from laughing so hard, and I was begging him to stop.

"Please, Benny, stop!" I exclaimed, trying to push him off of me, but I was too weak from laughing.

Thankfully, he stopped, but then he pulled my leg up. Instead of resisting, I just let my body rest, breathing hard, a smile stuck on my face.

"One! Two! Three!" Benny yelled, and then let go of my leg. "Yes, Benny 'The Jet' Rodriguez wins the wresting match!" With that, he dropped down on the bed by my side, breathing hard and smiling.

I slapped his arm, shaking my head while giggling. "I let you win. I just didn't want you to tickle me anymore."

Benny laughed, sending me a wink. "Yeah, I'll let you believe that, just to save some of your pride. But deep inside, you know I won fair and square."

I laughed. "Oh, yeah, I'll let you believe it. Tickling me to purposely get me weak isn't fair."

"Yes, it is," he responded, smirking at me. "It's completely fair. Get used to disappointment."

I immediately realized that he just quoted me perfectly, and I burst out laughing loudly. Benny joined in instantly.

"You think you're slick," I chuckled.

"I am slick."

"Yeah, I'll let you believe that, just to save some of your pride," I mocked him, using a ridiculous girly voice.

Benny's mouth dropped. "I don't even sound like that!"

"That's what you think," I replied, cracking up at my own words.

Benny smirked, shaking his head. He looked up at the ceiling. "You're really cool, you know."

"I know."

He chuckled. "Really, you're the coolest girl I've ever met. Most of the girls at my school are snobs. Only some are cool, and I don't talk to them, because I just thought all girls would have a snobby side. I'm pretty sure you don't."

I laughed, shaking my head. "No, I don't. I don't think I could be snobby if I tried. Those kinds of people piss me off anyway."

Benny nodded in agreement, but didn't respond. We laid in comfortable silence, just staring up at the ceiling.

Finally, Benny spoke up. "You remember that one time we were at the pool? After we played around, you started relaxing, and as soon as I got to you, you got up and pushed me under the water when I wasn't expecting it."

"Yeah," I responded, reminiscing on the time, though it wasn't long ago. "Why?"

He smirked. "I told you I'd get you back when you least expected it. Beating you in wrestling was only the beginning."

"You trying to start a war, boy?" I looked over at him, smirking, and he turned his head too so his eyes met mine. "Because trust me, you don't want to."

"No, just getting back at you."

"You started the whole thing at the pool," I replied, laughing. "You are something else."

"At least I'm unique."

"Something else," I corrected him, giggling. "I didn't say it was a good thing."

Benny gasped in mock hurt. "Okay, that stung a little bit, I have to admit."

He literally has no idea that pretty much everything he says stings me.

"Sucks to suck, doesn't it?"

"Oh, now you're really getting it." He started to sit up to do something, but before he could make another move, his door swung open, revealing Elizabeth.

"Makayla, your brother is here for you," she informed me, a small smirk forming on her lips at the position Benny and I were in. "He says you better be out there in the next two minutes."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but rolled my eyes. "All right, tell him I'll be right out."

Elizabeth nodded, and she walked out, leaving the door open. Benny gave me a questioning look, and I rolled my eyes again.

"He's probably still mad about me for smoking weed last night," I muttered. "That's why he made me leave so early."

Benny nodded in understanding. "I don't blame him. Well, I'll see you tomorrow?"

I stood up, pulling my shirt down over my pants. "Yeah, of course. Count on it. Bye, Benny."

"Bye, Kayla."

I sent him a playful wink, and he grinned adorably at me, waving at me. I then turned around, making my way out of his bedroom, downstairs, and out the front door. Elizabeth was standing on the porch with Luke. When I walked out, Luke averted his eyes from her to me, and she turned to face me.

"See you around, Makayla," Elizabeth said, sending me a friendly smile before walking past me, and into her house, closing the door behind her.

I looked over at Luke, my smile disappearing at his mad expression. "What?" I mumbled, walking past him. Before I could get far, though, he grabbed my arm, pulling me back around.

"Mom and Dad are on a date, and they told me to watch after you," he informed me. "Since I'm in charge, and I'm being forced to be with you instead of my girlfriend, I'm not letting you stay at your little boyfriend's house either."

I frowned at him, shaking my head in disbelief. "Yeah, because you'd much rather be with your girlfriend who you haven't even been with for a week than your sister of fourteen years. You're a real piece of shit, you know?" I jerked my arm away from his grasp, and when he tried to grab me again, I stepped back out of his reach. "And I'm not dating Benny. If I were, then I'd be a lot happier all the time, and I wouldn't let your asshole remarks get to me."

Luke said something else, but I ran off to our house, not feeling like dealing with an argument tonight. We fought enough last night. It was like he thought he controlled me or something, like he was my dad instead of my brother.

When I got inside, I immediately ran into my bedroom, locking the door behind me. If he's so mad about having to spend time with his only sister, then I'll take the job off his hands. I fell onto my bed, covering my body with my blanket and closing my eyes. I wasn't very tired, but I would have rather fallen asleep and got extra rest than to having to have listened to my brother running his mouth.

---

I feel like a lot of the words in this chapter could easily be twisted, and made to look a lot dirtier than intended. I cringed writing them, because I'll admit, I have a dirty mind. So I hope you guys don't mind that, lmao.

Stay gold.