Fall ❈ Benny Rodriguez

xv. this bright flash

CHAPTER FIFTEEN!
THIS BRIGHT FLASH　M83

　

　

SEVERAL TEXT DINGS snapped me out of a light sleep. Even caught in the groggy state of minimum consciousness, some part of my mind screamed, Jordan!

　Five agonizing days had passed, and still no word from him. It seemed that he had dropped off the face of the earth, when in reality he had probably just turned off his phone. Even still, when I would walk or ride by his house, his car would be gone. I tried not to jump to conclusions, but it was nearly impossible not to be plagued with thoughts that his genuine reasoning for the breakup was not that I loved someone else but because he had grown tired of me and found someone else.

　I'd never gotten used to his asshole parents, so asking them would be the final resort. The desperate measure. Until then, I decided to just give Jordan a while. Sooner or later, some bit of news would have to surface. He couldn't just ghost me.

　The heartbreak was still there, but the tears had resolved to exhaustion, and even a touch of anger. To whom this anger was directed, I could not rightly tell. Jordan? He'd broken my heart, all because I couldn't lie to him. Benny? It wasn't quite his fault that I still loved after all this time and decided to come back when he had finally moved on. Myself? I couldn't truly control the fact that I loved Benny and still had feelings for Jordan, but somewhere along the road, my complex feelings had broken a heart.

　Anyway, nothing was more mystifying than the fact that Benny had been the source of the several text notifications on my phone. Above these messages read the time: 8:01 AM.

　Hey

　Good morning! :)

　I'm texting you a lot because

　I know you're asleep

　And you'll have to hear this a lot

　To have even a small chance

　Of being woken up.

　Anyway!

　Get up. Go unlock your front door.

　I don't wanna wake your family but

　We're going somewhere!

　"Jesus," I grumbled, pushing the small switch on the side of my phone back, silencing notifications. In the odd, irrational fear that he could somehow hack my phone and see me through my camera, I angled the phone away and try to act unaffected.

　Internally, of course, my heart was racing and screaming with the effort.

　Hastily, before he could fry my phone with his constant texts, I texted Benny back:

　calm down, psycho, i'm coming !!

　As quickly as humanly possible, I slipped on a pair of shorts, leaving my t-shirt alone, and hurried downstairs. Meanwhile, I struggled to pull my messy curls up into a suitable ponytail; lacking a mirror, this was difficult, and I would only know whether I looked horrifying or not when I opened the door.