what if → Benny Rodriguez

24 | birthday

September 15th, 2019

Sunlight peeks through my blinds and my eyes flutter open, realizing what day it was. I hop out of bed and make my way over to one of my windows and open it. I breathe in the cool morning air and glance towards Benny's house. Owen is mowing the lawn and when he catches sight of me he waves with a smile and i return the gesture.

"10am." I whisper clicking on my phone for the time. "Why don't i smell pancakes yet?" I leave my window open and start walking downstairs. When i enter the kitchen it's dead silent and there's no one in sight. I open the door to the garage and notice my mom's silver suv is gone. I run back upstairs and check Evelyn's room and sure enough there she is lying dead asleep, her small body twisted into a position I would never dream of attempting even awake. I sigh and close her door before going into Jordyn's room.

I'm relieved to see someone awake. Jordyn stands in front of her dresser with mascara in hand. "What?" She asks not looking at me, but at herself in the mirror.

"Uh..." I purse my lips. "Do you know what today is?"

"Presidents day." She says in a sarcastic tone before going back to her makeup. "No i don't know what today is, i'm not a mind reader."

I roll my eyes and go to get dressed. I throw on a pair of light blue mom jeans, a graphic slightly oversized t-shirt from brandy, and my air forces. I also quickly brush my teeth and leave my hair in the low messy ponytail it was already in. Needing to get out of my house, I walk over to the Rodriguez's.

I walk right in go into the kitchen where Benny sits at the counter pouring a bowl of cereal. He immediately jumps up and throws his arms around me when I walk in. "Happy birthday Brynn." He lifts me off the ground and spins in a circle.

I laugh. "At least someone remembered."

Benny scratched the back of his neck and gave me an adorable half smile. I look from his perfect lips to his perfect eyes over and over again. "You want to kiss me don't you." Benny cocks an eyebrow.

"Aren't you smart." Benny wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me into him, our lips lightly touching. It was a feeling of bliss. As if Benny and I's lips were made for each other and they're slipping into place like a puzzle each time we kiss.

"Get a room." Owen enters the kitchen through the back door all sweaty from mowing the lawn. Unlike Benny, Owen is purely white, and also not adopted. The strands of blonde hair cling to his forehead.

"Get in the shower." Benny replies.

Owen lets out a laugh. "Yeah, right. Not til i'm done with all the lawns I have to mow. There's 3 others on our street i gotta do yet." He grabs a glass from the cabinet and fills it up with water from the fridge. "I was up at 9am doing hard work, like a man." He looks at Benny.

"You see, I would've been volunteering to mow lawns for our wonderful neighbors today." Benny smiles, "But it's Brynn's birthday, so." I giggle before Benny swoops me off the ground and slings me over his shoulder effortlessly. "And 'like a man' please. I'm the one with the beautiful girlfriend." He teases Owen who rolls his eyes with a smile. Benny carries me up the stairs and tosses me onto his bed.

The air conditioning is cranked in Benny's house so I grab a blue blanket laying at the foot of his bed and wrap it around myself. "I have a couple gifts for you." Benny goes over to his closet and pulls out a box with santa claus wrapping paper covering it. "This is the only wrapping paper we had." Benny explains.

"You didn't have to get me anything." I purse my lips as my boyfriend sets the box in my lap. I always feel guilty for some reason when I get any sort of grift. Except if it's from my parents or something. I feel as though I'm not special enough to to be wasting someone else's money. I would even hate it when Benny and the sandlot boys would push me on the swings when we were little. I'm not sure why, I mean now I realize it wasn't a big deal, I just felt it was like a burden to them.