Broken Glasses [Ongoing]

Chapter Ten: You Can't Be Serious

"So much to say but I don't speak. And I hate that I let you stop me. 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody."

[Song: "Hurt Somebody" - Noah Kahan, Julia Michaels]

RECAP:

Bennett and Naomi have a group project together for their independent research class about mental health is impacted in a work environment. Despite her workload in other classes, Naomi felt she had to prove herself to Bennett and took up the task to do the pre-research report. However, Bennett ended up writing and submitting the report himself without telling her which led to their teacher to dock points for their miscoordination. When Naomi confronted Bennett, telling him that she was planning on asking the teacher to write her a letter of recommendation for college and scholarships, Bennett offered her money to make up for it, offending Naomi. Much to Declan's and Jordan's discomfort, Naomi and Bennett weren't on speaking terms.

However, they still have a project and they need to talk to each other to complete it.

[No trigger warning, unless you count selfish people thinking they can talk~]

~

My hand was raised in front of the door but refused to move.

Should I knock or ring the doorbell?

Aside from my indecisiveness to notify my arrival at the door, I was unsure to do anything at all.

It was a quiet trip that led me to stand in front of the door. At his texted instructions, I waited to be picked up by a slick black Maserati SUV. The driver handed me a card that read Riposante Residences: Chauffeur Services. After taking a picture of the license plate and sending it to my dad who told me that he knew I was only showing off I was going to ride in a Maserati, I was chauffeured away. Although the car was too nice for me to actually relax in, I took the time to recollect my thoughts. I continued to be lost in my thoughts as I was escorted into the building, greeted kindly by the staff up until I arrived at the front of the door.

I took a deep breath and lifted my hand once again when the door suddenly opened.

"You were standing in front of the door for five minutes," Bennett informed me.

"Thank you for timing me," I told him before wincing at the reflexive retort.

Despite standing slightly behind the opened door, I could see Bennett that with dark jeans he wore a navy blue zip-neck sweater, zipped down to have the collar of a white shirt peek underneath. He didn't style his hair and had strands fall over his forehead. However, he still wore his earrings, black studs, that both suit and did not suit him.

Bennett was looking at me but glanced away at my response. "I didn't want you to keep standing there," he told me. "If you want to go back home, I can order a car for you and-"

"No," I began quickly, then paused, realizing my sudden interjection. "I mean, it's ok. We have a project to do."

"Right, of course," Bennett said as he widened the door to allow me to step inside.

Slinging my backpack off my shoulder to place it on the couch, I began, "So we can finish the project as fast as possible by finalizing some..." I faltered, then turned back to Bennett. "What is that?"

Bennett walked past me towards a small table with two chairs on opposite sides. "Before we work on our project, I wanted to play a game of chess with you," he told me as he pulled out a chair and motioned a hand to it for me.

I looked at the chess set then back at him then back at the chess set. "You want to play a game of chess?" I clarified slowly, confirming that I heard him right, confirming that he heard himself right.