Lost in Translation

Chapter 24: Sunflowers

———Ben———

Wednesday, May 29th, 2019

I arrived at Val's house before her alarm went off, which she was not happy about, but I couldn't help it. I woke up at 4 am and was so amped about seeing Anthony that I couldn't fall back asleep. I made Val's coffee and some toast so she'd actually eat something before training while she got ready.

We were the first people at the training field, which made Val grumble even more. It wasn't long, though, before people started trickling in, stretching, and making small talk as they waited.

Anthony's smell hit me before I saw him, and I scrambled up from the ground, frantically scanning the horizon for sight of him. Val snorted at my reaction and nodded toward the path behind me. I blushed as I wheeled around to see Anthony and James coming down the path on the hill.

James gave an enthusiastic wave, while Anthony gave a much more subdued one. I waved back and let out a shallow breath. Val teased me until they got within earshot, but I was so excited I didn't even care. Anthony had said he missed me, and now I was getting to see him again.

"Hey," I said eagerly once they made it down the hill. James snorted, and Anthony smacked his arm.

"Hey," Anthony replied softly. I felt the immediate, intense urge to pull him into a hug, but I forced myself to stay where I was. I didn't want to touch him without talking to him about last weekend first. James and Val immediately launched into conversation about some show they had both been watching as we all did our warm-up stretches, so I tried to talk myself into being content with just standing near him for now.

I avoided touching him for the rest of training. James seemed to be on the same page and volunteered to be Anthony's partner for anything that required touching. I made eye contact with James at one point, and he gave me a nod of approval, although I wasn't sure for what exactly.

Kat left immediately after practice, saying she had something planned with Darius. Val also left on her own, citing a commission with an immediately approaching deadline that needed her attention.

"Uh, I might skip lunch too, if that's ok?" James said, directing the question at Anthony. "Marcus invited me to come hang out."

"You know my brother is straight, right?" Anthony replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I can have straight friends," James protested indignantly. They stared at each other for a moment, and I had a feeling something unspoken was communicated that I didn't understand.

"Have fun, I guess," Anthony said eventually as he broke eye contact. James gave him a concerned glance before shouldering his bag and heading towards the administrative building.

"Do you still want to go get lunch?" I asked hopefully.

"Uh, sure," Anthony replied awkwardly, adjusting his bookbag. We made our way to the cafeteria as I attempted to make small talk, but Anthony was pretty quiet.

When we got there, the cafeteria was pretty empty. It was still too early for the lunch rush, so I grabbed the first thing I saw from the grab-and-go line, eager to get back to our table.

It was a little easier to get Anthony to talk over lunch. I think having the food to fixate on and serve as a small distraction was helpful. I felt electrified with how much the bond was pushing me to do more, but I forced myself to wait.

"Would you like to come hang out at my place?" I asked once we were done eating. "My family is on a trip to visit my grandparents, so no one's home. Not that— I mean, I'm not implying anything, I— I just meant— you won't have to talk to anybody..."