When we first met . . .

Chapter 28🥀

"Does Maya know?" I ask Ben directly finally having the courage to turn around.

"No. And please don't tell her," he says. How can he even ask me that?

"I won't" the words leave my mouth before I realize what I have done.

"Thank you," he says.

I need to change the subject and fast. "Ok, so the reason I came here was that I wanted to catch up with you guys..." I say even though I came here to see Jeremy and did not expect seeing Ben around. "I felt like we haven't talked in a while... but with that said I think I'm gonna go now," I say awkwardly and walk out of the door walking back to the room.

What the fuck was that about? I start laughing for no reason. On my way back, My phone vibrates and I hope it's not Maya. I have no idea how I am supposed to keep this from her. I probably won't be able to once I see her, or talk to her.

I look at my phone seeing the text was from Shawn. When I see his name on my screen I stop walking, just standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

-          "Hey, beautiful" -

My heart swells. It's the little things that get me.

-          "Yes...?" –

I text him back grinning at the screen waiting for his response.

-          "Can you come over?" –

I laugh at his text.

-          "I Literally just got back. Like 30 minutes ago." –

-          "So?" –

Oh, my little precious. He makes me happy. We haven't seen each other in a few weeks, so I get that he wants to spend this time with me. He is only here for a week.

On the other hand, I don't know why but I also feel a bit distant from my friends. And after I bailed them last night, I kind of feel bad. Maybe we should go out tonight. Even if it's just for coffee.

-          "I'll come tomorrow after school. Ok?"  -

-          "Ok, you can tomorrow too." –

His response makes me smile wide and slightly giggle.

How am I supposed to respond to that? I know I want to come over but I also feel like I need to just hang with my friends. We should have a girls' night. We haven't had a girls' night since Shawn came in my life... which is weird because we had so many opportunities to go out in the last couple of weeks. But we didn't. Not sure why.

-          "I can't tonight. I'll come over tomorrow. I promise."  -

-          "Fine. I'm coming over." –

Wait, what? My heart leaps in my chest. He can't just come over. No. After everything, he told me about can't doing stuff like go on dates and go to the mall because people recognize him and harass him he wants to come over? Is he serious or is he saying it as a joke?

-          "What? That's crazy. You can't." –

-          "Why not?" –

Is he being serious? I can't tell.

-          "Because... are you serious? After all the conversations we had about this? You are famous. I'm so confused right now. people will recognize you here... you know that. And my friends will see you they will freak out." –

-          "You didn't tell your friends?" –

Why is he surprised? We talked about this.

-          "No. I told him I have a boyfriend, not that it was you... I wanted to keep your privacy. I didn't want to hurt you or something by telling them. We talked about all this. Is everything ok?" –