Double Trouble (discontinued)

Softly

"Hey, Jude?" Benji holds the phone tightly to his ear, sitting on the end of his porch. Beau watches him suspiciously through the front window, hiding behind the curtain whenever Benji turns around.

"Benji! Hi! How are you?" Jude's voice comes somersaulting down the line, all sunlight and soil scented smiles. Benji breathes it in through his nose, blows out through his mouth. A calm surges through his lungs. "I was just about to call you. Wanna grab takeout and just chill? We can watch Netflix or something. I've been meaning to binge Dear White People."

Benji leans against the pillar to his home, a tiny smile creeping onto his lips regardless of his efforts to remain neutral. Snoopy Beau mirrors his brother's dopey expression. "I-I mean. Do you think you should watch it with me? I am, you know, white."

Jude snorts, and Benji can almost hear his hair moving with the shaking of his head. "Of course I want to watch it with you, silly. In fact, I need to watch it with you. I want to see what you think as a white person, and I want you to see what I think as a mixed person, and I want us to be aware of one another's thoughts. Something tells me that you must have an interesting brain in there, Carter. Though, you like to hide it."

"What is that supposed to mean? You think I'm dumb?"

"I'm just saying you might wanna come through and prove otherwise." Benji scoffs, rolls his eyes, tries his hardest to be offended.

After a moment, he gives up, settling into a coy flirtation. "Maybe... Come get me?"

"Yeah." Car keys jangle in the background, and Benji smiles wider. "On my way. Well, almost. But, yeah. See you in a bit."

"Okay. Bye, papi."

There's a tense silence, followed by a bit of grumbling aside. Benji is willing to bet that Jude is talking to Rudy. Then, the phone clicks off, abruptly. Benji snickers, folds himself tighter into his sweatshirt. He's daydreaming about the millions of ways that Jude might make a move today when the porch door bangs open, startling him into a sitting position.

"What are you smiling about, dork?" Beau stands with his fingers carefully wrapped around his tea mug, pinky aligned just so with the bottom of the cup.

"Jude," Benji has blurted before he can help himself. The name comes floated upon clouds with ugly cherubs playing small harps, and Benji wants to take it back.

It's too late. "Jude, hm?" Beau assumes a mischievous smirk, reserved solely for teasing Benji. "A new boy? Can I meet him?"

"N-"

"Splendid." Beau roots himself in the center of the welcome mat, robe bundled about his torso, looking every bit the proud mother. "I'll wait here for him. Is he good looking?"

Benji rolls his eyes, hiding his pouting grin in the palm of his hand. "He's alright, I guess."

Beau squeals, tightening his grip on his tea. He sips it carefully, then speaks in a rapid fire way. "Ooh, you really like this one. Normally you would have made a joke about his penis size. Is he intelligent? Will I like him? Oh, I do hope I'll like him."

"Um, first off, I- He's- Shut up." Benji avoids his blush, but it sticks to him regardless. "And how caffeinated are you? You're real perceptive today."

"This is my fifth tea today. I'm trying to drink an even number of mugs, for therapy, but I just keep making more tea. I'm very caffeinated." Beau takes another sip before his eyes flick to the street. "Hark, here comes dat boi."

"Ew, stop making meme references. You're, like, my parent; it's disturbing." Benji, hoping to distract his brother, hope to his feet, dusting off the butt of his jeans quickly. "Well, I'm gonna go; bye, now."