Once I shook his hand I felt a connection. Not the sparks or fireworks I've read about in all those romance novels, but something that reassured me. And I knew from that moment that I really wanted us to be friends.
As we got a bit more comfortable with each other, we began to talk about the most random things. Like what our favorite music genre was (his was country, mine was classical), what our favorite meal was (his was steak, mine was Mac'n'cheese), and everything else meaningless and insignificant.
"Okay, favorite sport?" I asked.
"It would probably be, baseball." responded Benjamin.
"Okay, cool. So do you play with a team?"
"Yeah, it's kind of a team sport." he said, with a slight smirk on his face.
"Duh, I knew that. I just meant, are you on a team that plays together regularly and like, competitively?"
"Yeah, we play every Saturday. You should come watch some time. It's quite a show!" he said jokingly.
"I'd love to." I replied. "I don't get to watch baseball very much anymore. We used to go to games all the time, but now with all of us growing up its hard to do anything together."
"I know exactly what you mean. So do you play any sports?" Benny asked me.
"Well I play tennis, but it's not with a club. I bet you probably play too though."
"Why would you think that?" questioned Benjamin.
"Well, you're rich. Don't all rich people belong to country clubs and play tennis?" I asserted before I realized what it was I was saying. I immediately saw a hurt look come over his features and began to apologize.
"Ben, I'm so sorry. My words just left my mouth before I could comprehend what I was saying. I didn't mean to associate you with those people, I..." I stopped realizing that the hurt expression had fled from his face, and been replaced with a look that says 'you fell for it.'
"Agh!! You're terrible!!" I exclaimed, shoving him over.
"Haha. I got'cha!! You didn't offend me. We do belong to a country club, but sadly I've never played tennis before." confided Benjamin.
"Oh, I could totally change that! I should teach you how sometime." I offered.
Our conversation was cut short by the ringing of my phone.
"Sorry." I apologized, pulling out my phone and answering it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Shaliene, it's your mom. We have somethings to discuss tonight with you two. So we're all going to go have dinner at Tony's."
"Okay, I love Tony's. We'll head back now." I said.
"Okay honey, but we are going to go ahead and leave to get a table since we didn't make a reservation. So you can ride with Benny."
"Okay...see y'all there." I said and hung the phone up. Something is definitely going on, I thought. But I figured I would find out soon enough.
"Okay," I said turning to face Benjamin, "it sounds like we are all going out to dinner tonight. And parents have already left."
"So, you're asking for a ride." replied Benjamin with a smirk.
I exasperatedly replied, "Yes Benny, I'm requesting a ride. Do you think you could help a friend out?"
"Oh, so we're friends now are we?" he rebutted, with that childish grin still plastered across this face.
"Yes, we're friends. But don't make me regret that decision." I said, sticking my finger in his chest, playing along.
"Okay, okay." He said, with hands up in surrender. "So where are we going for dinner?" He asked.
"My most 'favoritest' place in the world." I replied as we headed back toward the house, flashing him a goofy smile. "Tony's."
YOU ARE READING
My Past, Your Past, Our Future (arranged marriage)
RomanceI knew the moment he walked through that door, and into my life, everything was about to change. For better or worse, I didn't know. But one thing I do know is that I'll never forget him and all we went through. This is our story. (Christian Romance)
