Sheets | ✓

TWENTY-TWO

Benny and I sat at the dining table, Benny almost facepalming his pancakes as he dozed off despite having a good night's sleep. I was also tired, having fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning and waking up prematurely as the blinding sun invaded our room. Benny had begrudgingly pulled himself out of bed at the promise of pancakes courtesy of my mum, though at this rate he would fall asleep in them rather than eat them. 

I flicked Benny's forehead with my finger as his head began to dip downwards, his nose almost brushing the syrup that thoroughly soaked his pancakes. Benny yelped, head flying backwards as his chair skittered backwards in surprise. Benny shot me a glare, his bed head flapping as he glowered.

"The hell was that for?" Benny whined, rubbing his nose that had a lick of syrup on its tip. Frowning as he looked down, Benny realised that I had just saved him from a very sticky situation. Literally. "Oh, thanks, I guess. Could have been gentler though, man." Benny sighed as he rubbed his forehead, making me laugh.

"I should be the one dozing off right now," I said, leaning my head on my hand as I gave Benny a raised brow, pointing to the dark circles under my eyes. "Do you even know how bad your snoring is?"

"Nope," Benny said, snickering. 

"Lucky you then," I drawled, stuffing a triangular stack of pancake into my mouth, swallowing quickly. Benny just grinned, folding up a large stack of pancakes and shoving it into his mouth, his cheeks ballooning. 

"Where's Jamie?" Benny asked through his chews, looking towards Jamie's bedroom. The door was still shut and there were no sounds coming from inside the room. Looking at the time - just past 9am - Jamie was definitely still asleep. 

"Probably dead asleep," I said, Benny snorting. 

"Of course she is," Benny said, rolling his eyes. "I swear she sleeps like a fucking-" Benny snapped his mouth shut as he cast a careful glance towards my mum, who definitely heard his foul language but ignored it, though her mouth twitched. "Like a log," Benny finished, clearing his throat.

"That's what university does to you, apparently," I said, shrugging. 

"I can't wait," Benny sighed, looking into the distance wistfully.

"You actually have to graduate from highschool first, my friend," I said, grinning. "Set some achievable goals first, okay?"

"Fu- I mean, bugger off," Benny said, my mum chuckling under her breath as she flipped a pancake, a light sizzle heard in the background. I opened my mouth to tease Benny again, but was cut off as my phone vibrated loudly on the table. Its shakes made it skitter across the table towards Benny, who glanced at the calle ID. His eyes immediately lit up with a suggestive gleam, a mild smirk on his face as he whistled.

"What?" I asked, frowning at Benny's expression before picking up my phone. My stomach dropped and my frown deepened when I read the text on the screen. 

Sofia.

"Well that's not the face you should be making when your girlfriend calls you," Benny said, snickering. 

"She's not my girlfriend," I said quickly, the word sour in my mouth. Benny just hummed as he discarded my words. I swallowed as I continued to stare at the ongoing call, Benny leaning over to nudge my arm. 

"So... you going to answer that or not?" Benny asked, making me cough. 

"Y-yeah, of course," I said, sliding my finger across the call screen. The vibrations stopped and I cleared my throat again. "Hey, Sof."

"Wes! You finally picked up," Sofia said, her voice a light, airy chime in the receiver. 

"Yeah, sorry, I was, um, busy," I said, Benny giving me a raised brow. I kicked his shin under the table, my friend feigning immense pain as he keeled over, making me shoot him a short look.