Learning to Fall

4: Old Faces

"What are you doing here?" Ben asked, setting his College Physics textbook on the table I was sitting at.

"I-I go here now," I replied.

"What?! Since when?!" Ben exclaimed.

"Shhhh!" a blonde at the table next to mine hissed. Ben apologized and then flashed a smile at me.

"Umm. Today is my first day," I told him. He looked at me, confused.

"Why would you start a new school in the middle of your senior year?" he questioned. I knew I couldn't answer that, not truthfully at least.

"Colleges like private schools?" I tried. He didn't seem to buy it, but I knew he wouldn't push the subject further. He knew when I didn't want to talk about something.

"Are you busy?" he asked, nodding at my homework.

"Umm, a little. I have a lot to catch up on. I was hoping to make a dent in it before exams week," I replied. He smiled at me.

"Take a break and come walk with me," he said, his blue-green eyes sparkling. I looked down, uncertain.

I hadn't seen Ben since the summer before my freshman year of high school. We had both known each other because my aunt and uncle were extremely good friends with his parents. Whenever I had visited my aunt and uncle over the summers, Ben and I had always hung out. We were actually really good friends. Although I would never tell him, he had been my first ever crush. And also--though he knew this already--he was my first kiss.

We didn't date. No. Because after that summer before high school began, Ben got accepted to go to Rosestone. I continued on with the public school district that I attended. So we began drifting. I got busy in my high school life and he got busy in his. He wanted to study aerodynamic physics in college. I wanted to be a writer and musician. Our interests changed and so did our personalities. And so we fell apart, becoming nothing more than just acquaintances.

"I'm not sure..." I muttered. He smiled down at me, picking his book up.

"Please?" he asked, tilting his head slightly. I sighed. I wasn't going to get anything done, anyway. I put my stuff away and got up. He grinned at me and turned, walking out of the study room. We walked out into the slightly chilly early October air.

"So how've you been, Renee?" he asked as we walked in step with one another. I shrugged.

"Good, I guess," I replied in a soft voice. He was silent for a moment.

"You seem different," he noted. I could feel him gazing at my face. I kept my eyes forward, willing myself not to look at him. I was afraid that he would be able to see that something was wrong. After all, he had known me so well all those years ago.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, lowering my head slightly.

"Well, you're a lot quieter, that's for sure. You used to be so happy and up-beat. Now, it seems like someone pulled the switch on you," he said.  I shook my head.

"I'm just tired today. It was a long first day," I lied. He stopped walking and grabbed onto my arm lightly.

"Ren, look at me," he said. I shook my head again and looked anywhere else but at him. I felt him take my face in his hands, his touch ever so gentle as he forced me to look into his eyes. I swallowed, wishing that my eyes wouldn't give me away.

I realized how much he'd grown. His hair was a little shorter and less curly, his face a little more mature. His eyes were the same pristine and mesmerizing blue-green. Our faces were close and I could smell his expensive cologne from where I was standing. "Hugo Boss", I remembered him saying the summer before our freshman year when we were hanging out.