This isn't weird.

America's Backbone

Entire minutes were wasted in a frozen stupor as Ben stood just outside her apartment door, crippled by indecision. He wanted to ring the bell, of course—the sooner he did, the sooner he would be next to her. But as antsy as he was to be on the other side of that door, he knew he couldn't ring the doorbell until he was ready to make what might be the single most important choice of his life—Hi, Hello, or Hey.

Hi sounded stupid.

Hello sounded stuffy.

Hey sounded like he was trying too hard not to sound stupid or stuffy.

Maybe he was thinking about it all wrong. Maybe he should greet her with some sort of bit. She loved bits! All he needed was a character. Policeman? Jehovah's Witness? Census? Milkman?

Damn it, every idea that came to him was worse than the last. He wanted her to laugh with him, not at him. "Stop fucking overthinking it, you fucking idiot," he muttered. "Just fucking say hi, like a normal fucking person. Don't make it fucking weird."

What a ridiculous situation to agonize over. It was just Mario Kart. Just two friends playing Mario Kart. It was literally impossible for a situation to be more casual than that. Did he even really know that it was just going to be the two of them? Maybe she had invited other people, too. He hadn't thought to ask.

He desperately hoped that she hadn't.

Ben took a deep breath, pressed the doorbell, and stuffed his hands into his pockets in a last minute bid to seem cool and relaxed.

The door swung open with a burst of unexpected glee. "Bennifer!" Millie cheered, throwing her arms around his neck in a quick greeting hug. He barely had time to process that it was happening; by the time he had pulled his hands out of his pockets to hug her back, she had already stepped away. The sweet, fleeting fragrance of lemongrass teased his senses in the split second his face brushed against her hair, and he had to fight back a powerful urge to pull her back to him and properly inhale her scent. That would be very, very weird, and he was not going to make it weird.

"Milliam," he replied with a grin as she stepped aside to welcome him in.

It was a cozy little apartment, made even smaller by the standing bookshelves that took up more than their fair share of space against every wall. The room was painted in a lush shade of pine green and filled with charmingly mismatched furniture, no two pieces quite the same color or style. Ben was pleased to see the yellow tweed sofa that faced the TV was a rather snug two-seater. They would have to sit so close to one another.

"Wow, you have a lot of books," he said as he surveyed the room.

"I work at a used book store, and they just keep following me home," Millie explained with a shrug. "You know what's embarrassing, though?"

"What?"

She walked over to a bookcase on the left wall and waved a hand across the top three shelves. "These are the only books in this room that I've actually read."

"You just squandered a really valuable opportunity to make me feel inferior," Ben said as he followed her over for a better look.

"I have a feeling you'll give me plenty of chances to make up for it," Millie replied with a grin.

"Ouch. Cold," he said warmly. He leaned over her shoulder to examine the books in question. "You really like your wizards, don't you?"

"I didn't ask for your judgment!" Millie huffed, crossing her arms.

"Hey, hey, no judgment here, sweetheart! Wizards are awesome." He gave her shoulder a reassuring pat. Distracted by the citrusy perfume of her hair, he let his hand linger there perhaps a bit longer than it should have, but she either didn't notice, or didn't mind. When he finally realized what he was doing, he quickly dropped his hand to his side and took a few steps back as she turned around to face him.