YOUTH ⇢ BENNY WEIR

eleven

"Benny, can we talk?" Sophia asked Benny the next day through the phone.
"Sure."
"I'll leave a little bit earlier than Ethan. Him and Sarah found a way to meet to walk to school with us so we'll have some time to talk." She told him.
"It sounds serious, are you okay?" He asked her.
Sophia paused for a moment before taking a breath and hanging up. The last thing she wanted was to lie to him and say yes right now.

"Ethan, I'm leaving just a little earlier but I'll be waiting with Benny for you and Sarah!" Sophia called to her brother before walking out and slamming the door, not waiting for an answer.

Sophia was sat at on the swings in the empty park, waiting for Benny. "Sophia!" She heard him call out, her head snapped towards him.

He began to quickly walk towards her and her heart began to pound. Sophia had gone through his many times this morning and was confident in doing it up until now. Now that Benny's here, she was worried again. She planned on telling herself that when she got worried, to remember that there's so many guys in school that want her, including Benny - so she hoped.
"You hung up on me, are you sure you're-"

Sophia stood up and cut Benny off by taking hold of his collar and kissing him. Benny's eyes shot open in surprise for a second before he smiled and shut them.

Sophia pulled away. Their faces were still so close and she could hear Benny's heart beat. "I-I don't understand, y-you-"
"I know." Sophia said, cutting him off once again. "I just got caught up in the moment and I didn't know what to do I panicked because I wasn't expecting it so I pushed you away and I'm sorry about that. But then I saw you kissing the girl at popcorn stand at it suddenly hit that in fact, I do love you and I was stupid not to tell you when you kissed me." Sophia said, all in one breath.
Benny chuckled as he watched her take in a lot of breaths after that. Even then, in such a state, she still looked beautiful.

"What?" She asked. "Why are you laughing and looking at me like that?"
Benny didn't respond, instead he kissed her. This time, Sophia didn't pull away, she smiled through the kiss and wrapped one of her arms around his neck and the other reached towards his hair, her fingers playing with it, as Benny wrapped his around her waist.
"I love you, too." He whispered for the small second he pulled away.

"Sophia? Benny?" Sarah asked as her and Ethan were walking down the road and saw the two kissing.
The two pulled away and Sophia stumbled backwards.
"Mhm?" Benny asked casually, sorting out his hair.
"This is an image I'll never be able to get out of my head: my best friend making out with my sister." Ethan gagged a little.
Sophia awkwardly smiled before looking at Benny and sorting out the stray strand of his hair before returning her look towards the two. "Well, this is awkward."

"Care to explain?" Sarah asked, folding her arms and trying to hold back a laugh, so instead, she grinned.
"It's a long story... perhaps when we're not already late for school?" Benny scratched the back of his neck.
"Okay fine, but you're telling me about it some time. I'm loving you two already." Sarah's grin still spread across her lips. "Oh, and you've got a bit of lipstick..." She awkwardly pointed at Benny, who used his finger to rub the lipstick on the side of his top lip.
Sophia looked over at him and chuckled. "Bottom lip, Benny."
He smiled and nodded, wiping it away.

***

"Faulty 3D glasses? Who's gullible enough to believe that?" Sarah scoffed.
Benny took hold Sophia's hand and smiled at her. He then realised that Sophia was watching everyone around them look at them with weird expressions, probably confused as to why the two were holding hands.
"You okay?" He asked her.
Sophia turned to Benny and smiled. "Yeah. If they're judging us, they can fuck themselves. I'm entitled to love who I want to and popularity is no longer going to get in the way of that."
Benny chuckled and kissed her forehead before returning his attention to the conversation Ethan and Sarah were having.
"These are Duskers we're talking about, remember?" Ethan asked.
"Besides, the town is safe, Jesse's rejoined his flock and I got the girl, it's all good, right?" Benny grinned.
"Yep, I certainly hope so." Sophia replied.
"You're not still dying, are you?" Ethan asked Sarah. "I mean, your mortal body seems to be doing just fine."
Sarah chuckled. "Thanks. Well, Benny's grandmother makes a mean human blood substitute."
"That and she found my spell book." Benny used his spare hand to make a perfect sign with his fingers, Sophia giggled.

"Hey, guys!" They heard Rory call.
He was wearing black and red with sunglasses and a chain necklace, with way too much hair gel. He was also stood next to Erica, who turned around and smiled at them.
Sophia gave her an awkward smile whilst Benny waved. "I'm guessing we're okay now?" She asked Sarah, who nodded. "I guess we are."

Rory waved back and leaned against Erica, smirking. Erica stepped away, keeping her distance.
The two looked amusing to Sophia since they were wearing almost match outfits.

"It's pretty much all over." Ethan smiled.
Benny nodded as the bell rang.
"Let's go to class." Ethan said.
"Let's go." Sophia smiled, softly squeezing Benny's hand before they followed him.

"The trouble with spells is you kind of phrase it like Klingon, but with kind of, like a, you know, Romulan twang and a splash of Cylon-"

"Benny, shut up!"