Benefits

Chapter One: Sneak

"Look, it's not you, it's me. I'm just not ready for a relationship right now."

I rolled my eyes as I sat in my car, waiting for Justin to finish breaking it off with the latest girl he was dating. Justin was my neighbor, my parents were best friends with his parents, and I hated him. However, my parents were making us drive together to school and back to save on gas. I had argued vehemently against it at first, however, my dad said, "discussion over," which meant I had to shut up.

Once Justin had left the girl crying on the school sidewalk, he casually walked over to the car and slid in. "Hey, Annie," he said in an obnoxiously nice voice.

"Hi," I said shortly. I wasn't going to say anything to him about it because I didn't want to bother with an argument. We constantly argued and I, for once, was just going to let it go.

"Oh, Annie, what are you pissed about now?"

"I'm not pissed," I snapped back.

"You clearly are. I thought you'd be happy. Me being single just means that you have a chance of finally living out your wildest fantasies of ravaging me."

"You're a pig. Don't you feel anything for these girls whose hearts you're constantly breaking?"

"Hey, it's not my fault. They should know who I am by now."

"Oh, yeah, how dare they ever think you would turn into a semi-decent guy?"

He laughed. "Oh, Annie, I'm more than decent. I'm amazing!"

"Could you be any more of an arrogant dickhead?"

"I mean, I bet I could, if I really tried."

"Cute."

"Yeah, that's what they all say."

That was how most of my mornings and afternoons went. We were complete opposites and never missed out on an opportunity to make snarky comments towards each other. I was always ready to fight him and he was always ready to fight back. Our parents thought it was funny, so they never did anything about it.

The fifteen-minute drive to our houses was way too long for my liking. After our little spat we sat in silence for about five minutes, the only sound being the radio playing through the speakers.

"Oh, hey, I've been meaning to ask you now that I'm single again... How're Jaida and Gabriela doing?"

"Oh, go fuck yourself!" I exclaimed immediately.

"What? They're both incredibly hot and there's no reason I shouldn't date them now."

"You're a dick. Jaida would destroy your soul. She is a complete badass that you wouldn't be able to handle..."

"Oh, I'd be able to handle something alright..."

"And Gabriela is the sweetest person on the planet. If you did anything to her, I would rip your nutsack off. Just... Rip it right off."

"Wow, lovely. It really just seems like you want me all for yourself... I mean, I suppose I could make room in my bed for all three of you."

"You're disgusting," I said just as I was pulling into my driveway. "Please leave now."

He grinned. "See you tomorrow morning, Annie!"

I rolled my eyes, quickly leaving and then going up to my house. I went upstairs, sitting on my bed and starting on homework. A few hours later, I got a text from Jaida.

Band is playing at the Hideout tonight... KC will be there...

I grinned to myself, thinking of KC and how cool it would be to hang out with him. Then I realized, there would be no way my parents would let me out on a school night. I told Jaida this, and she replied by telling me to sneak out. I rolled my eyes and told her that there was no way I could do that. I got up, pacing my room and thinking if there was any possible way I could sneak out to go see the band play. Just then, I heard a knock at my window, making me almost jump out of my skin. I looked over and saw Justin leaning out of his window with a big grin on his face. I huffed, opening my window.

"What?" I questioned him.

"I see you pacing. What's on your mind?"

"Why do you care?"

"Well. I could maybe help you with your problem. Depending on what it is, of course."

"And why would you do that?"

"Maybe so you'll see how much of a decent guy I can be to one of your hot friends." I rolled my eyes, going to shut my window. "Wait, wait, wait! I'm kidding! Why are you pacing?"

"You're definitely not kidding..." I paused for a minute, looking at my asshole of a neighbor and wondering if there was a possibility that he could help me. "Okay, fine. My friend, Jaida's band is playing tonight at the Hideout and I want to go but I know that my parents will never let me..." I decided to leave out the reason that I wanted to go. Justin didn't need to know my personal life.

"So, sneak out."

"I've never sneaked out before! I don't know what to do!"

At this, Justin burst into laughter. I rolled my eyes. "Okay," Justin finally said. "I can help you. If you let me come with you."

I wanted to say no, but I knew that Justin was the only way I'd be able to get out and go. "Alright, fine."

***

Hey guys! Thank you for reading chapter one of Benefits! It's a pretty short first chapter but the rest are going to be longer. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did I would be so happy if you could leave a vote and comment!

Question of the Day: What do you think of the first chapter?