candles and cotton | b.h

eighteen.

ben turned around, donned in a grey crew-neck sweatshirt and his typical black jeans, he smiled, a little confused at me.

he held some other girl's hand, who had an eyebrow raised at me, "hi y/n, fancy seeing you here."

"feeling's mutual."

"oh,"he said, once the girl elbowed his ribs, "this is crystal-"

"cheryl!"

he raised his brows and gulped, "oh that's right, my mistake."

i chuckled, "this is my girlfriend, caitlin."

ben seemed to have choked on his saliva, and he squeezed cheryl's hand tighter, she pulled her hand from his and went to go sit down.

"g-girlfriend?"

"yeah, caitlin, ben. ben, caitlin."

caitlin let go of my hand and shook ben's, who did it sort of half-heartedly, they smiled awkwardly at each other.

"well, sorry to disrupt your date, i'll see you at home, you coming over?"

ben bit his lip, cheryl glared at him, staring him down, in a way that meant he shouldn't, "um, i'll try,"

"great! bye."

"uh, bye.."

i pulled caitlin toward an empty table, on a platform, i grabbed a menu with a small smile, "who was that?"

"oh him? that's ben, he's a good friend of.. joe's,"

caitlin nodded and we both read the menu, a waitress came over in a blue dress and a white apron, "are you ready to order?"

i nodded and looked at caitlin, who nodded simultaneously, "um, could i have a cherry soda and a turner burger and fries with a chocolate sundae."

"ooh that sounds nice i'll have the same!"

the waitress smiled and nodded, "alright, two turner burgers and fries, two cherry sodas and two chocolate sundaes, coming up."

we both smiled at her once she left, and we began talking, about stupid things we would say at three am on snapchat.

i smiled as she continued her rant about how we need to be more aware of how people are allergic to broccoli.

my eyes wandered to ben and cheryl, who were talking, eating fries, cheryl had a small smile on her face while ben remained sullen.

was he not enjoying his date?

he glanced in my direction and we shared eye contact, i smiled softly and turned away, just as caitlin finished.

".. and that's why we shouldn't put broccoli in the vegetarian pizza menu! i'm an allergic bitch! thanks for coming to my ted talk."

i smiled widely at her, "you should be on oprah."

"yES I FUCKING SHOULD!"

".. two turner burger meals....?"