His One and Only

The Mate

"Here, have more, Isabelle," aunt Karen said when I had finished my first waffle and I reluctantly nodded. She smiled kindly at me and placed another waffle on my plate.

I smiled at her and started eating but I couldn't possibly eat fast enough.

After we were done with breakfast, we all sat down in the living room to watch movies and it was then that I learnt they had movie morning every Saturday.

We watched movies and ate popcorn which looked nothing like corn but I still found it delicious.

In the afternoon, at around 2:30, Bennett and me decided to take Leah to her job. More like Bennett ordered and I followed.

"Bye, Leah! Don't get eaten by a snake while you work!" Bennett said and Leah gave him a stink eye while I just waved as she disappeared into the hustle bustle of the restaurant.

"Hah, so, where should we go?" Bennett said as he started walking ahead of me and I looked around as we walked.

The street was narrow and the stalls that littered the side just made it harder to move. I could barely keep up as Bennett just kept walking like it was no big deal. It probably was.

As I gradually lost sight of Bennett in the sea of people, getting pushed around like a rag doll, I started hyperventilating.

I squeezed my slippery hands together and just kept walking. Beads of sweat gathered on my forehead but I ignored them. I needed to find Bennett.

I just started moving with the flow of people, my mind a hazy mess and finally, got pushed to the side, in front of a stall.

The man who was at the stall asked me something but I rudely ignored him and let my eyes dart everywhere.

Finally, after some searching, I spotted a head with dirty blond hair and I quickly started to follow that person. That surely was Bennett.

"B-Bennett!" I called out to him, when he finally turned around, his eyes moved from one side to the other until he saw me in the sea of people.

He pushed his way towards me and took my hand in his, much bigger one, and led us towards a diner on the left side of the street.

When we entered, he first led me to an empty booth and then let go of my hand. Surprisingly, I didn't have any flashbacks and I felt better.

Not to mention, the diner felt quiet and peaceful with everyone minding their own business. The waiters and waitresses walked around and the people talked among themselves.

It was just my type.

That was probably because I was having a panic attack and didn't really care about anything but getting out of that herd of people, alive.

He motioned for me to take a seat which I did while he sat opposite me and just as we did so, a waitress arrived at our table.

She handed us each a menu and told us she will be back to take our orders.

I stared down at my hands and looked around as Bennett gulped down the water a waitress just placed in front of us.

"Hey, um..." he started, fidgeting in his seat as he glanced at me every now and then.

"I, uh, Iamsorry," he got out, his ears gaining color and he looked down at the table like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"I-It's o-ok, Bennett," I replied, my eyes going towards my shaking hands.

"No, it's not ok. I should've stayed with you at all times and should've been the good cousin that I am. Oh, and don't call me Bennett. It's Ben," he said, all in one go before finally inhaling a large amount of air.