The Project

Chapter 22

Benny's Point of View

"Hey."

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

Kate looks between Isabella and I with a frown, looking so shocked that I was with a girl that wasn't her.

"Uh, Isabella wanted someone to study with before the test tomorrow," I explain. Isabella nods.

"Oh," Kate mumbles, glancing at the other girl. "That's cool."

I noticed Johnny standing behind Kate, looking between her, Isabella, and me.

"Yeah," I reply. "How long have you guys been here?"

"Like 45 minutes," Kate informs. "We're just leaving right now."

"Oh, cool," I say. Kate nods, and it's one of the few times that things seem awkward between us. "Well, we'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yep," I confirm, forcing a smile.

They walk out of the diner doors, leaving Isabella and I alone in the booth we sat at.

"That was weird," she commented, laughing under her breath.

"Weird? How?" I wonder.

"I dunno, I've never seen you guys act like that around each other," she explains. "Is it because of Johnny?"

My heart pounds against my chest and I didn't even know why. I had never been nervous talking about my Kate, not until she started going out with Johnny. I needed to get over whatever feelings I had for her because I can't have her now. There's no point continuing to crush over her when I'll never have her.

"No," I answer bluntly. "I don't think it was weird."

Sensing my mood change, Isabella backs off. She says, "Sorry. Let's just keep studying."

-

"So you and Isabella..." Kate starts, voice trailing off.

"What about us?" I ask, looking up from her living room television.

We hadn't hung out alone in a while, mostly because I felt too guilty about what happened to Johnny to be around her and because she was with Johnny most of the time now.

"You guys are friendly," she notices and I laugh awkwardly.

"I don't like her if that's what you're hinting at," I inform.

"Why not?" Kate asks, turning the TV off so my attention was forced to be directly on her. "She's pretty and she seems like she might like you. There's no other girls you're interested in, right?"

"Right," I lie. The girl I was interested in was sitting right in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it. "I just haven't thought about her like that."

"I'm not gonna force you," she starts, "but it might be a good idea to start paying her more attention."

I stare at the blank TV. The thing was, I didn't want to pay attention to any other girls that weren't Kate. She's been the only girl important to me my whole life. I just didn't care about anyone else. She's all I'd ever known.

"I'll think about it," I say, though I wasn't sure I would.

-

Later that night as I lay in bed, I found myself thinking about Isabella.

Maybe Kate was right. She has a boyfriend, it would be completely stupid of me to continue being head over heels for her when she'll never see me that way because she only sees Johnny like that.

I stood up from bed and my feet dragged me over to the window, where I looked out into the night, more so into Kate's window. Her lights were still on, yet I couldn't see her in there.

I stared for a few more moments, about to close my curtains and walk back to bed until I saw her enter her bedroom. Johnny was with her.

They were laughing about something but I couldn't read lips so I had no idea what words were being exchanged. I wished I knew. I wished it was me with her instead of Johnny. I wish I made a move a long time ago.

I watched them sit on her bed across from each other. Her record player was spinning. They were probably listening to a soft rock band and they'd probably start kissing and I knew I didn't need to see that.

I closed my curtains and sat down at my bed, staring at what was once the image of Kate and Johnny together this late at night, but was now a gray curtain. It was 9:30. She must've snuck him in or something because there was no way her mom would allow a boy in her room that late at night, not if that boy wasn't me.

My room was dark, only the slightest bit illuminated by the bit of light shining through the crack under the door. Someone in my family must've still been awake. In fact, everyone might've been. It was early, especially for a Friday night.

I don't know what I was doing laying in bed like I was going to sleep for the night.

My next move surprised myself, but I found that I was typing Isabella's number into my phone, waiting for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" A voice that definitely wasn't Isabella says, answering the phone.

"Hi, is Isabella there?" I asked, rubbing one of my eyes in attempt to wake myself up more.

"She is, one moment please," the woman on the other end, presumably her mom says.

I wait patiently and 30 seconds later, another voice was on. A much younger, more familiar voice.

"Hello?" Isabella says.

"Hey, it's Benny," I reply, biting my nail out of nerves. "I know it's kinda late, but I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie?"

The other line is quiet for a few seconds and I worry she had hung up until she started talking.

"Like, tonight?" She wonders.

"Yeah," I confirm.

"Uh, s-sure," she sputters. "Yeah. That'd be cool. What time?"

"I could pick you up right now and we could catch the next movie at 10?" I suggest.

"Yeah, that sounds perfect," she gushes. I could sense her smiling without having to see her.

"Cool, see you in a few," I say before setting the phone down to hang up.

It took me a second to process what I just did and why but next thing I knew, I was walking out the front door of my house and