Omg sorry everyone. I haven't updated in legit forever. But please stay awhile and enjoy this chapter :)

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When I got home later that evening I threw myself on my bed. I was completely exhausted from volleyball practice and my shirt smelled like I went swimming in sweat. But somehow, I had no motivation to get up and hop in the shower. That is until I got a text from Ben - saying that he was coming over for some macaroni and cheese. I groaned and forced myself off my bed and into the shower - I think I spent a lot longer than what I originally do in there, because when I got out Ben was laying on my bed.

      "You've been in there exactly 37 minutes" He said. I rolled my eyes and started drying off my hair, my pajamas were already on which were some fluffy baby pink pants and a old volleyball t-shirt. 

     "It's not my fault I was completely exhausted from practice today" I said. I laughed and took a seat on my bed. Ben laughed.

    "You're exhausted? Please" Ben replied while laughing even more. Okay, he's got a point. Football did way more work than volleyball ever did, in fact, there were some nights when Ben went to bed as soon as he got home from pure exhaustion.

    "Okay, you've got a point. But still" I said while giving him a humorous glare.  "So, out of curiosity - Do you still have a crush on Chelsey?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows at his annoyed expression.

"First off, Girls have crushes, not guys. And no, I don't like her anymore" Ben said annoyingly. Okay great, that was helpful.

"Why?" I asked curiously. Ben looked at me and set his phone down, and for a moment I thought he was going to give me a heartfelt answer.

"I don't know" He simply said. I glared a direct glare because he had to at least know why. What was wrong with his lack of details?!

"That's bull crap." I said while letting out a fake chuckle.

"Maybe I don't like her anymore because her butt isn't as big as Kim Kardashian"

"Oh please, nobody has a butt bigger than hers" I coughed. Jeez, why is it that Butts and boobs are the only thing guys noticed? I don't understand.

"I don't know, Colton seems to think your butt is 'more beautiful than a sunset'" and bigger than Kim Kardashians" Ben exaggerated. I looked at him, confused and very very confused.

"What?" I asked. My eyebrow shot up in questionable manner.

"Yeah. Him and the guys were talking about it at practice today, quite frequently if you ask me" Ben said while continuing to look at his phone. Meanwhile, my brain was buzzing like crazy. Was this a good thing? A part of me wanted to believe that it was, but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder if Colton was just like all the other football players (besides Ben). Cheerleader crazy and a meathead.

"Okay.....well.. I" I started, but I couldn't find the words to say. I mean, what was I supposed to say? To find out that Colton was talking about my butt to all of the football players gave me mixed emotions. Very mixed emotions. But I soon decided to follow through with my original plan to get Layla and Ben together.

"So..... Layla likes you" I blurted out. I knew there was no use in beating around the bush here, because Ben was completely clueless about when a girl likes him. All he knew was he was considered hot to the female species, but anything beyond that was a mystery to him.

"Who's Layla?" He asked. I cringed.

Great.

"Um.. she's one of my friends that comes over. She has straight dirty blonde hair, she wears glasses sometimes" I said, trying my best to get him to remember her. Ben seemed clueless, until I was done talking. A hint of remembrance flashed.

        "Ohhhh! Isn't that the girl that reads a lot?" He asked with a curious look in his eyes. I cringed again, and again. 

    "Yeah. So anyways, she likes you." I said. Ben looked at me, still absolutely clueless and uninterested.

   "And?" He asked amused almost. I rolled my eyes.

"And, how do you feel about her?" I asked while clenching my teeth. I already predicted what his answer would be, I just hoped he would surprise me and say something else.

       "She doesn't even have a butt" Ben laughed. It took everything in my power to stop myself from laughing, because believe it or not, he was right.

         "Seriously Ben?" I glared.

"I'm kidding. I mean, Layla seems nice but I've never talked to her before. She not really my type, you know?" He said. I shrugged and decided to back off of him for a bit. I was kind of bombarding him with questions. "anyways I came over here for macaroni and cheese, not to live a episode of gossip girl" Ben said while standing up from my bed. His hair was messed up and his shirt was wrinkled, but I still watched as he made his way to the door. I got up and followed him to the kitchen.

I was trying to imagine every possible way that Ben and Layla could work out, but I came up with zero. It was near impossible to find a way for them to live happily ever after, especially since he didn't even know her name. But at the same time, while I was trying to seem sympathetic for my friend, I was happy at the same time. For some reason I liked it when Ben was single, it was just me and him, not some other jealous girl.

One time in 8th grade Ben had a girlfriend named Paula Mills, she was nice and everything but she was the most jealous girl I've ever seen. She ended the relationship a few days after it started, only because I was around him too much. I accepted it, and Ben hasn't had a girlfriend since then - of course that doesn't stop him from having one night stands and random kissing parties with the female species.

For me, it was different. I've never had a true boyfriend before. Well, not in high school anyways. I've never had to deal with male problems or anything of the sort, and I think that's one of the reasons why Ben was awkward about the whole "Colton and I" thing.

I sighed and stood in front of the kitchen stove, stirring the macaroni and cheese while Ben was sprawled out on the sofa, watching criminal minds, of course I watched it from the kitchen. 

My mom was hanging out in the dinning room, which was hardly visible from here. But I could still hear her working away on my senior scrapbook. Yep, she was one of those moms.

        "This is one of my favorite episodes" I screamed, as the hour started. It was when Derek Morgan jumped from the ambulance last minute, right before it burst into flames.    I squealed and dished out two bowls of macaroni and cheese, one of them was particularly larger than the other one.

      I hurled myself across the couch eagerly, ready to begin my favorite episode. 

"I'll be back" Ben said while hurdling up the stairs, my guess was probably to go to the bathroom. I shrugged and paused the episode while waiting for him to get back.

Then the door bell rang.

What the-

"Did you guys order a pizza or something?" My mom asked as she hurried to the door. I shook my head and watched as she opened the door right then and there. Here I was, thinking it was probably just the mailman.

But, I probably would've fainted in the instant I saw who it was, if I weren't happen to be sitting on the couch.

FUCK

Was the word I wanted to scream louder than a baby can cry.

Colton.

Any other day I would've been delighted to see him, but now? At 8? I was already dressed in my unmatched pajamas and my hair was a curly mess. I wanted to retreat to my room as fast as possible but unfortunately he had already seen me. It was too late.

"Hey, I'm Colton. I'm here to see Elizabeth" He said in a charming voice. I knew for sure that my mom would instantly be persuaded into believing he was a gentlemen. I smiled at how nice he was being towards my mom. He came inside and my mom closed the door, a bright smile on her lips.

"What a nice young man. And a cute one too" My mom said, while looking over in my direction and winking. I frowned and slapped my palm to my forehead, could this night get any more embarrassing?

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your GPA? What grade are you in? What-"

"Mom!" I yelled, trying to get her from going all crazy on him. My mom looked at me and scoffed, before winking and turning to go back into the dining room. I sighed.

"Sorry about that" I said while offering him a seat. I expected him to sit down next to me, but instead he sat down in the most uncomfortable chair in the room.

"You can sit-"

But it was too late to say anything more. Ben had done a summersault from the back of the couch to land in a sitting position next to me. His smile instantly dropped like a huge weight was tied to his smile. Coltons dropped soon after.

An awkward silence passed, where nobody knew what to say. I didn't even know how to begin...

"You should've came a little earlier. We could've watched the beautiful sunset" Ben said, humor behind his words. I cringed, double cringed. I tried my best to make it seem like I didn't know what he was talking about, but I knew it was a reference to what happened at football. Colton's facial expression was unreadable.

"I should probably go" Colton said while standing up. "It looks like you're busy anyways" He said politely.

Ben flipped the channel.

The Kardashians.

Great.

"Why don't you stay awhile. This shows pretty good if you ask me." Ben said with so much humor I'm surprised he hasn't exploded with laughter. On the screen was Kylie Jenner and Kim talking about just random stuff, ugh. I grabbed the remote from Ben's hands and turned off the TV.

"Ben. Stop it" I said, more harshly than I anticipated. He looked at me, kind of surprised and annoyed. His hair was messy, but still stylish either way.

"Fine. Let the guy watch what he wants to watch. I'm going home" Ben said, while standing up and walking towards the door. "Oh and thanks for the dinner" He said, while grabbing the pot of macaroni and cheese from the stove and taking it out the door with him. I smiled. I shouldn't be smiling. But I smiled.

He just took my pot!?

"I'm so sorry about him Colton. Please, sit down and stay awhile. And sorry that I look like a mess, I didn't realize that you were coming so I -"

"Elizabeth" Colton said. Interrupting me while sitting down where Ben once sat. "You look beautiful no matter what" He finished.

I blushed.

"Aww, thanks so much." I literally couldn't contain my smile, it was wild and uncontrollable. I took a moment to look at him, how he was dressed and how his hair looked. He had just taken a shower and he wore adidas sweatpants and a hoodie that hugged his torso. He looked hot. Hotter than Hell.

What if Ben was mad at me?

But Colton looked so hot.

Should I text Ben? Just to make sure?

            "What do you want to watch?" I asked. Trying my best to make sure he didn't get bored. Colton zoned out for a while before getting back into the groove of things and turning to face the TV.

         "Whatever you want to watch. I'm okay with anything" he said. I smirked.

   "So I guess that means you'd be okay with watching the Kardashians then?" I asked. I smiled a wide smile and waited for the humor.

        "He told you. Didn't he" Colton pointed out obviously. I nodded and pure redness spread across his cheeks.

    Butterflies were in my stomach. I could hardly breathe. It was like Colton was taking up all the air around me so I had none left. He makes me smile. He makes me laugh.

"Look I'm really sorry about that" He said.

I can't believe this is happening to me.

It feels almost like a dream.