Picky Eater

Ch 19: Do you trust me?

"Tim! Oh, shit! My bad."

Jumping alongside Tim, Ben's brows popped up his forehead. It was a beautiful dark-skinned girl with her black hair picked into an afro. Her go-go boots were shiny and if Ben could pull it off, he'd want to wear her outfit.

"Hey," Tim said, gathering himself and clearing his throat. "Uh, Lilly, what's up? "Um, this is Ben," he said awkwardly, unsure of what to do with his hands now that they weren't on Ben.

"Hi." Ben waved, and he wished he hadn't.

The woman, Lilly, smiled awkwardly like an angel and showed them both mercy. "Hi." She looked at Tim with so much subtext, Ben debated never showing his face in public ever again. "I'm so sorry to bother you, you're obviously busy, but I need you real fast and then, I'll never ever bother you for the rest of your life."

"Okay," Tim said and watched her, waiting for her to leave. "Sounds good."

"Right," she realized. "Sorry."

Dropping his head, Tim sighed, and Ben cupped Tim's face, lifting his pouty face back up. Ben kissed him quickly and smiled. "I need to go, but..." Tim grabbed Ben's wrists, cheating with big puppy dog eyes. "I'll meet back up with you?"

"Yeah. I'll see you later."

Tim kissed him again and again until Ben laughed. Ben had to push Tim finally to get him going. "Go help your friend."

Tim pried himself away and Ben rested against the wall. He pressed his hand over his heart to keep it from punching through his chest and running away. Ben didn't know what to do or where to go. It had become more apparent than ever that Ben was in a strange place, and he wasn't sure if his friends were still dancing or not. His stomach twisted. Forcing himself to move, Ben started down the stairs, and he slowed, noticing Nino waiting for him at the bottom. All of Ben's stress melted away. Ben's worry cleared, and he knew where to go.

"Hey," Ben called out and when Nino turned around, he had that lopsided smile that made the butterflies in Ben's stomach go nuts.

"Hey," Nino echoed. "Do you wanna get some air?"

Ben glanced behind Nino, catching Lincoln with the group. His gaze flickered to Nino and the door. Somewhere inside, Tim was waiting for him too. Lincoln nodded and then motioned him to go. Ben nodded and took another step down, taking Nino's hand. "You lead the way."

Nino pushed through the exit first and Ben took a huge gulp of air as if he had just emerged from underwater. Pulling him along, Nino led Ben onto the sidewalk to let his hand go, but that didn't keep Ben from walking by his side. He crossed his arms, enjoying even the faintest whisper of a breeze. "This is nice. I'm always weird about going out, but when I'm there, I'm always happy about it."

"The life of an introvert sounds hard."

"What about you? Are you having fun?" Ben purposely bumped Nino's arm.

"I like watching you have fun."

Ben hummed, unsatisfied with that answer. He stopped and so did Nino, turning to him and waiting. It was that tether again, tugging at Ben's heart and making sure they didn't stray too far apart. Nino's company was the best part of tonight. Ben asked, "Are you ready to go home?"

Pursing his lips, Nino shook his head.

"Should we go back in?"

A wicked little smile appeared, and Nino leaned in towards Ben. "Do you trust me?"

***

Nino sat a full pepperoni pizza at the table with extra pepperonis, glistening from the grease. "Alright, here we go."