Waiting It Out - Benny Rodriguez - Book 1

The Tension

"Stop clenching your face."

I'm at the Rodriguez house, currently struggling to apply petrolleum jel to what's left of Benny's cuts.

"I'm not clenching."

"Really?" I question unbelievingly. "I've been staring at your face for the past 2 minutes. You are to."

"Staring at me, huh?" he asks with a smirk.

I'm done.

I grab his face and apply the jel to the cut on his jaw before shoving in his school bag.

"The love is real." Jen states sarcasticly from the counter.

I walk over to the kitchen sink and start wash my hands before grabbing my phone.

Ivy: You almost ready for school?

Me: Yeah. Just finished breakfast. See you there.

Ivy: Yep.

"What'd you put the stuff in my bag for?" Benny asks me.

"Chances are the cuts will dry up over the course of the day. Plus I thought you'd bring it anyway." I respond.

"What made you think that?" he asks.

"Thought you'd use it as an excuse for me to touch your face." I respond with no specific tone.

I look back up at Benny to see a light blush across his cheeks and I smile to myself.

He can be annoying as hell but I can't help but like that I'm the one he chooses to annoy. At least with flirty remarks. I could do without the other stuff.

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We just sat down in homeroom and I completely forgot Phillips was in this class with us. 

He's never really made himself known or an issue so I guess I haven't really noticed him.

"You've got to be kidding." I hear Benny mumble from behind me.

I look back at him to see what he's looking at and sure enough... Jordan Phillips just walked through the door.

I give Benny a 'relax' look before turning back to the front of the class as the teacher closes the door.

"Right." she starts. "Welcome back. I hope your winter break was delightful." she says with tired expression and dull tone.

"Oh, I think she means that." Benny says, whispering in my ear subtly while I try to surpress a laugh.

Not like she would care if he wasn't subtle. Teaching doesn't exactly seem to be her passion.

"Excuse me. The blonde." she says pointing to a kid.

I look where she's pointing to see Phillips shifiting in his seat. 

The hell did he do now?

"You mind paying attention and not staring at the girl over here." she tells him, refrencing to... me?

I furrow my brows and turn to look back at Phillips again. Who now has quite a noticable blush.

I look at Benny with widened eyes and he's clenching his jaw.

Let's just say the rest of homeroom wasn't relaxing.

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The four of us got out of class as soon as we could.

Me and Benny are at my locker now and I can see Phillips walking up to us in the corner of my eye. 

Benny was right though. He did kick his ass last night and it shows now.

"Hey, Yn." Phillips greets, ignoring Benny. "I know the tension in homeroom was pretty noticable and I'd like to apologize for Benny's behavior last night."

Benny is burrying his nails in his palms and his about to go after Phillips again before I'm able to stand in front of him.

"Not here." I whisper in his ear before turning around to face Phillips. "I think it'd be best if you just left."

"As you wish, babe." he says and starts walking backwards. "I'll see you in math."

"How do you let him talk to you like that?" Benny asks me, stepping in front of me.

"You'd think he'd quit after what you did to him yesterday. At least for today." I tell him returning my attention to my locker.

Benny leaves to go to his own locker.

I pull out my biology textbook and close the door as Benny comes back to me.

"You know..." he starts, trailing off, "I think my cuts are a little dry." he tells me while holding up the jel.

"Do you?" I ask him sceptically and he nods. "I think they can wait til lunch." he pouts dramatically at that. "Or you can just do it yourself."

"What?!" he questions as if I should already know that's not an option. "I have unpracticed hands. I could sevearly mess it up and make my ingeries worse. I can't take that risk. You can't take that risk."

"Yeah, yeah. But you put it on my cut a few months back." I point out.

"Oh. Uh... we-well... that's different. It was... uh... on someone else. I can't do it on me." I stutters.

"Then you can suffer til lunch." I tell him and start walking to bio, leaving him near my locker.

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Benny's pov:

Me and Lil are in math class now and I'm not enjoying it. And not because I'm not good at math. 

I'm not but it's cause Phillips hasn't stopped staring at her.

What the hell, man. You think I just beat you up yesterday cause I felt like it?!

I did but it wasn't some in the moment feeling.