Will to Way, Wilt Away

Chapter 16

After waiting in the lobby for ten minutes, a car drove into the parking lot, its headlights flashing through the windows of the building and catching my attention.

"Ahhhh! Yay they're hereeee," Shiloh shouted, his voice rising at least three octaves.

And so the torture begins.

The headlights shone directly through the lobby door, so I couldn't see the car or the people in it until I walked outside and stepped out of the path of the light. The car was a vintage, candy apple colored Corvette. I didn't know anything about cars, and neither did Shiloh, but we apparently both knew about musical legends.

"Little Red Corvette!" We sang in unison, though mine was more of a subdued whisper while Shiloh belted out the lyrics like he was onstage at the Lovesexy tour.

Simultaneously, the car doors opened and two guys stepped out. On the driver's side stood a tall boy with broad shoulders and a body that was evidently muscular even underneath the navy blue suit he wore. The natural curls in his brunette hair swept over the top of his forehead, and his tan skin complimented his dark mocha eyes. He had the facial structure and physique of a male model, but his warm and genuine squinty-eyed grin made him much more approachable.

The boy on the passenger's side was a few inches shorter than his friend and had far fairer skin. He wore a slate gray sweater with a white collared shirt underneath, and his slightly cropped khaki slacks, as well as his lack of socks, left a few inches of his ankles exposed above his chocolate brown loafers. His short, black hair was slicked back, giving him a polished, preppy school boy aura. He was still very good looking, but I would describe him as a dorky kind of cute, while his friend was just plain hot. I was attracted to both of them, but still, I didn't know which one was my date.

I forced a smile and darted my eyes back and forth, trying to make eye contact with both boys so as not to seem initially more interested in one of them. I waited for one of the boys to make a first move toward either me or Shiloh, but they just remained still and smiled at us. It made sense for me to not know which one was Benjamin, but I swear to God if they couldn't tell which one of us was Shiloh and which one was Aspen, I was going to lose it.

Finally, the dorky prep school boy scampered to Shiloh and gave him a quick friendly hug. I probably could have guessed that he was Shiloh's date, considering that they both held a whole bottle of gel in their equally dark black hair, and Shiloh was rocking an egg shell colored sweater with the same cropped pants and sockless look as the boy. So Shiloh clearly had a type: himself.

But of course, the pairing of that couple meant that—oh god. The tan, brawny hotshot began walking over to me, still wearing his beaming smile. Even in this fancy scarlet dress, I still looked like Po the red Teletubby compared to this guy.

I started walking up to him, and immediately put my hand out to avoid the terrible hug-or-handshake dance. "Hey, so you must be Benjamin," I said while my clammy hand resting in his.

His original welcoming smile immediately turned into one of discomfort. Oh no, I already made a mistake. And all I did was say hi!

"It's, um, it's actually Benedict," he politely corrected me, still maintaining a smile on his face. "But I go by Benny."

"I'm so, so sorry about that!" I apologized nervously. "Shiloh told me that your name was Benjamin."

I turned to Shiloh and flashed him an exasperated look underneath my false smile. "What?" Shiloh said defensively. "Kota told me that was his name."

Shiloh gestured to his date, who was apparently named Kota. The boy lifted the corners of his lips into a mischievous smile.

"Hehe, what Benny. You always say you hate the name Benedict, so I gave you a little name change" Kota responded, seeming very pleased with himself.