head over heels | benny rodriguez

| chapter forty three |

I wound up spending the next three hours at both Smalls and Diane's house to get a multiple-angle approach, as explaining to Benny how his least favorite dude took me for a little drive last would probably end up with my body in a casket.

I had never seen Mila get so, I dunno, bitchy? I mean sure, we're both bitchy to each other, but that full-blown cunt behavior isn't sitting right with me. There's gotta be a reason.

To my shock, based on the fact that Smalls and D are literally completely opposites, their remarks were the exact same:

"Elle, m-maybe just let her talk to you about herself? Seems like the reason she acted up was probably based on something that's been bothering her."

"Well, she's clearly just jealous, which is understandable. But don't you have a civil conversation with the girl and let her talk about her own problems to you, rather than vice versa?"

And to be honest, I kinda agree. My whole thing this summer is I keep wasting my time fussing over things when I could just face them head-on. 

So, I marched my way back home.

-

Only about two hours had passed between my departure and return, yet the house was completely silent, except for a slight hum in my left ear.

"Hello?" I called through the empty halls as the music grew louder.

Following the sound, I eventually tracked it down to my room, little gleams of light bouncing off the cracks of my door.

Upon my arrival, I found Mila sitting on my floor, casually reading a magazine and listening to Bruce Springsteen on my stereo, along with a bag of popcorn on her right, like it was her own home.

"Whatcha doin'?" I spoke softly, as she stared at me, not saying a word. "Earth to Mila, I'd like a response,"

She rolled her eyes, flipping on her back and tossing the paper to her feet, "You left me here for five hours, what was I supposed to do,"

"Okay, okay, I just had to cool down, but for your information, it was only two," I sighed, sitting on my plush cushions. Yet as I tried to speak once more, she turned up the volume to the max, nearly bursting the speakers. "The hell? Turn it down!" I attempted to shout but to no avail. "TURN IT DOWN?"

Eventually, I got so pissed, I lept off the bed and kicked the radio, causing it to fall over and go quiet.

"Hey! I was listening to that," She muttered, flipping her hair.

"Mila, what's your problem? Can't we just talk?" She hesitated, yet grunted and nodded her head.

"So what's the deal? I get that something is obviously bothering you, so just tell me straight up, I promise to not blow up." I said aloud.

Looking up at me, she eventually responded, "You wouldn't get it."

"Wouldn't get what?"

"You don't get it," She whispered, turning away from me,

I leaned toward her, "Cmon now, please just tell me,"

Standing up, she threw her arms down in pure frustration, beginning to pace against the wooden floors, "Clearly you're too caught up in your own world to even notice what you're doing,"