Away

Part Two

Benji

I groan into my pillow as my alarm goes off, telling me to get up. I wouldn't change a thing, but waking up early everyday for school or football and staying up late to talk to Jorge means I only get a couple hours of sleep a night. I miss him terribly, though, and I'd give up sleeping anyway for the chance to talk to him.

I read through all the texts Jorge sent me throughout the day, smiling at the pictures of him and his dorm. He's so beautiful.

I instantly feel worried when the last text from him reads, "Can you call me when you wake up? I need to talk to you about something important."

I sit up, turning on my lamp. I need to be at practice in an hour, so I have enough time to talk to him for a few minutes.

The phone rings three times before Jorge picks up. "Hey. How'd you sleep?" I hear shuffling around the room and then a door closing.

"Good. What are you doing? I can hear you moving around," I laugh, trying to keep myself from getting too nervous about what he wants to talk about.

"Oh, my roommates trying to sleep, I just went out into the hall," He sounds distant.

"What's going on, baby?"

"I just-I need to tell you something, but I don't think you're going to like it," Jorge's voice shakes.

"Okay," I trail off.

"So, my roommate, Cameron, I know him already," I let out a sigh of relief, glad that what he wanted to tell me wasn't about me, or our relationship.

Leaving him was the hardest thing I've ever done. I know Jorge wouldn't ever do anything to ruin us, like cheating, but being so far away from him has created a constant fear that I'm going to loose him. Or, that maybe, someone else will get to love him and be close to him.

"How do you know him?"

"Well, do you remember that football game we went to out of town when we were broken up? The one where we stayed in the same hotel room and then we got back together the next day," I mumble a reply, telling him that I do. "Well, Cameron is the guy from the other team that asked for my phone number."

"Okay," I know Jorge didn't do anything wrong. Jorge didn't give that guy his phone number, and he's with me, but I still find myself getting angry. My skin gets hot at the thought of someone else, someone who is clearly interested in Jorge, get to be so close to him while I'm so far away.

"Are you mad?" I can hear the worry in Jorge's voice.

"No, baby," I try to calm myself down. Jorge didn't choose to be roommates with him, and I trust Jorge. He loves me. I try to remind myself that. "Thank you for telling me."

"Obviously, like, nothing's going to happen. I already told him I'm not interested and that I have a boyfriend, but I just thought that you should know," I smile at his words. "Plus, I don't want anyone but you, Benji."

"I don't want anyone but you, too, baby," I wish he was with me right now, so I could kiss his forehead and hold him in my arms. "I love you."

"I love you," He doesn't sound worried anymore, just happy.

"Baby, it's late there and you have your first day of classes tomorrow, so you should get some sleep," My stomach burns, my body trying to tell me to stay on the phone and talk to him forever.

"Okay," Jorge whispers. "I wish you were here to sleep with me."

"Soon, baby, just a couple more months and then you'll come visit me, right?" I thank god that I don't have a roommate. I have the whole room and a bathroom to myself. When Jorge comes to visit, he'll stay in my room with me.

"Yes, 64 days," Jorge giggles, maybe embarrassed that he's counting down. I just smile. I'm counting down, too.

"I can't wait," I stand up from my bed and walk into the bathroom, turning on the shower. "I love you, goodnight."

"I love you, too," Jorge whispers. "Goodnight, Benji."

I sigh when he hangs up the phone. It's always so hard saying goodbye to him.

When I finish with my shower, I text Jorge, telling him that I love him again and that I'll text him when I'm done with football practice.

Footballs been going really great. I've made a few friends on the team, and everyone was really welcoming when they found out I came all the way from Spain. The practices, though, are almost three hours longer than in high school, for a grand total of five hours a day. It's taken up every spare second of my day. If I'm not in class, I'm practicing or sleeping.

On the bright side, though, I've been gaining weight in muscle. My abs are more defined and every week I watch the muscles on my biceps grow. When Jorge comes to visit, I hope he likes the way I look.

Before I leave for practice, I look at the small Polaroid pictures of Jorge and I hanging up on my wall. I smile at them, remembering each day we took one.

One was at prom, when we were all dressed up and about to leave, my mom took a serious one, before snapping one of us without us knowing. Jorge's smile is wide as he looks up at me, laughing about something I had said. My arms are around his waist, with my head back, also laughing. It's a beautiful picture. I had to fight Jorge over it, he wanted to keep it, but I convinced him to let me take it so I could put it up in my room.

I miss him.

~~~

So, just a quick note, I am not going to tell you my plans for this book, but know that I have the plot set up already. I know exactly how I want it, and I want to write it. I got quite a bit of negative comments on my last part, and I just wanted to say that nobody is forcing you to read this. If you don't like it, that's okay! Not everybody will, but I love it and I love the amount of work and effort I put into each part.

But, please, no more hate. There's enough of it in the world already. Spread positivity and love into the universe, and it'll come back to you.