recognize / b.simmons

15

it now marks over a month since amari and ben have been acquainted, and in the last week, nothing between them has happened. he hasn't called her nor has she called him. she almost did the other day, but chickened out. amari has been working hard to keep her mind off of ben, but so far it's not working.

for living in LA, she has nothing today. los angeles isn't all what it's made up to be. it's not fun unless you're partying, and it's too hot, and everything is far. the people suck, too.

amari has been looking to move out east lately, not necessarily back to chicago, but somewhere far from LA. there's just too much. it's not good for her, if you couldn't tell. the only fun shes had since she's been here is being on her back, if you know what i mean.

she misses her family, the time zones are hard to manage. in chicago it was a one hour difference, but out here it's three, so everyone is doing something else when they call. it's hard.

amari isn't sure she's going to move, she feels as though she's being dramatic because of ben and how awful it was after they left the beach. it was completely silent on the drive back, he didn't play music. when he dropped her off, he barely even stopped the car.

amari thinks ben hates her.

ben is upset with amari, yes, but not with her directly, just the way she is. yes, she tried to be honest with him and he shut it down, but it's the principle. he thought she at least had some type of feelings for him, but clearly, he was wrong.

apart of him wishes he'd just let her explain, maybe they'd be talking and together, instead of him being out with kendall, right now. she was purely just a distraction, a distraction from his true feelings. he was thinking with his dick, not his head.

bens not sure how they ended up at dinner, though. he texted her out of frustration and jealousy after he dropped amari off last week. kendall responded quickly, and they got to talking and that somehow led to tonight.

kendall looked nice tonight, though. there was no doubt that ben thought she was beautiful, everyone did, but she wasn't amari. amari was beautiful in an indescribable way.

"you know what i mean?" kendall says, taking a sip of her wine and then a bite of her food. ben just laughs a small laugh and nods. he has no idea what she's referring to—he hopes he's playing it safe. "so, when does the season start?" she asks, clasping her hands and resting her chin on top of her knuckles.

"october 17th," he answers and she smiles.

"you gonna save me a seat?" she asks flirtatiously. it's now bens turn to take a drink of his wine and eat food.

"we'll see," he says, shoveling more food into his mouth. this was a woman who could afford almost every single seat in the arena. what would saving her a seat even do?

ben lets his mind wander to the season and the new team. they made some trades, getting rid of jimmy butler, so he wonders what the new team will look like. he starts workouts and practice in august, so this is his last month to really life.

his mind drifts to amari, and how he'd like for her to come see him play. now she's somebody he'd save a seat for. he imagined buying her a court-side seat across from his bench, so he could see her reaction to things when he was out.

ben is broken out of his thoughts by the sound of his name. he snaps his eyes to meet kendall, who looks a little confused. "hmm?"

"i lost you there for a second. i asked what you had planned for the rest of the summer," kendall says. right.