Toothpaste Kisses

Chapter 3

~~ Edited 18/08/2013~~

CHAPTER 3  —  I want back my ignorance and bliss

I didn’t have any bother off Spawn on either Wednesday or Thursday and they both went in a blur of a routine. I got up early, leaving for the ‘crash room’ before Spawn even awoke, waited for Ben and had breakfast with him; he wasn’t letting me walk around on the streets so early in the morning on my own and insisted on walking me to the main school steps for seven even though it was out of his way. I would then stumble through my morning classes and have lunch in the library, drag myself through the last three hours of school and then wait at the steps for Ben who had spent the last couple of hours in the dance studio. We’d then go to the coffee shop and the remainder of my day was doing homework.

“Come on, Jodi, just one more time,” Ben pleaded as I lay on my back on the studio floor. It was seven o’clock, Thursday night and I was shattered. Ben loomed over me and from this angle I could see up the black holes that were his nose. Grim. “Come on Jodi, pleeeeease!” he whined like a two year old and not like the adult he is. “One more go and then we can go to Chico’s.” Pouting, I threw my hands at him and with a triumphant grin he took my hands. I yanked and he went tumbling down on top of me making me laugh hysterically. “That’s not funny, Jodi,” he whined trying to pull himself off of me.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled to his body. “But it’s so comfy, Benny,” I whispered into his grey cotton t-shirt. He laughed and it vibrated right through my body as he relaxed but balanced his weight onto his elbows.

“Yeah, it is, but we’re not leaving until we have this move mastered.” I whimpered into his top and with a nod let go of his waist. He got himself onto his knees and held his hands out to pull me up again. This time I let him pull me to my feet and we tried the move again.

I walked to the corner of the room and shaking out my limbs I got ready again. What I was about to do was standard; people who don’t even dance would laugh at how I couldn’t do this move. Ben had laughed his freaking arse off when he found out, but after the primary hysterics he had decided it was prime time I learnt. Darcy had agreed and told Ben to teach me today; Darcy wasn’t in today, he had work to do at the boys’ dorm.

“You ready, Babe?” Ben asked from just off the centre of the room. I nodded and he grinned. “Whenever suits you.” I smiled nervously as I stretched my fingers in front of me and rolled my shoulders back. One, two, three; GO! I whispered in my head and then went into a slow skip towards Ben who had squared out his body ready to take my impact. As I got two feet in front of him I pushed my body into the air only trusting Ben to catch me. He did, and pushed me higher into the air with my eyes closed I perfected my pose; the table top. A grin came to my face as I opened my eyes and found Ben looking up at me with a grin on his face.

He slowly lowered me to the floor and once my feet touched the ground I slumped against his body breathing in the homey smell that reminded me so much of Nick’s so much. “You okay?” he whispered brushing my hair behind my ear.

I grinned and pulled back. “Yeah, course I am, why do you ask? Can we go now?” he nodded and planting a kiss on his cheek I ran to the changing room and got changed into my uniform not bothering to put my tights on or my school jumper but keeping them in my bag. I had gotten hot today so the freezing air hitting my skin would feel nice. I did slip my blazer on though for a little protection. “You ready to go, Jodi?!” Ben called from outside the changing the room.

“YEAH!” I yelled and walked out to the main studio room. When he saw me he eyed my legs with disapproving eyes but didn’t say a thing. We made our way to Chico’s – the café we went to only two days ago and was quickly becoming a tradition to go there after every practice – chatting all the way. We chugged down the rather shady coffee and made our way back to my dorm building. Again, we stood outside for five minutes just chatting – again a tradition on the verge of sticking.