All That Matters ❁ Benny Rodriguez

14

Monday, June 22, 2015

Luke shook me awake lightly. When I forced my eyes open, I saw that he was hovering over my bed.

"Get up," he said lightly. "We have church."

"Really?" I croaked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Get ready, we have to leave in an hour and a half."

"But it's Monday."

"We missed it yesterday, but they have service on Mondays too. Get up."

I groaned, letting my head drop back onto my pillow. "Leave me alone."

"Seriously, get up," he demanded.

"I will if you leave me alone," I replied, waving him away. "You get on my nerves."

"Yeah, well, you get on mine too," he murmured before exiting the room, finally leaving me alone.

After a few minutes of resting, I forced myself to get up, take a shower, and get ready. I dressed in a dressy white blouse, skinny jeans, and white Vans. I straightened my hair to perfection, letting it fall over my shoulders. I should have wore a dress, but I wasn't really about that life, and I knew that not all churches required you to dress nicely.

I walked downstairs and into the kitchen to see that my mom was cooking breakfast — pancakes. Luke was sitting at the table, scrolling through his phone. My dad was also sitting at the table, reading a newspaper.

"Since when do you read the newspaper?" I asked, chuckling and sitting down next to him.

"Since I wanted to seem more like a normal dad," he replied, his eyes not leaving the words on the paper. "Nothing interesting right now, though." He dropped the newspaper on the table.

I laughed. "You don't need to be a normal dad. You're good the way you are."

"Thanks, sweetheart." He kissed my temple. "Good morning."

"Good morning."

Luke, who was sitting across from me, finally glanced up, sending me a frown. I glared at him until he finally looked back down at his phone.

"Mom, when will the food be done?" I questioned.

"A few minutes," she answered.

I nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna go outside for a little bit."

With that, I stood up from my seat, and I made my way outside. I sat on my porch, pulling my phone out of my pocket. After checking my notifications to all of my social media, I went straight to the pictures Benny and I took before we went to the fair.

There were too many pictures to count. Most of them were funny, but some were normal. Some caused my heart to almost burst out of my chest, like the ones where I was kissing his cheek, he was kissing my cheek, he had his arm around me, his face was pressed against mine, and even the one where he showed off his beautiful smile.

I hadn't posted any of the pictures, so I decided to post the one where his arm was around my shoulders, his cheek wss pressed against mine, and we were both beaming at the camera. You could almost feel my happiness from the picture. I posted it on Facebook and Instagram, both with the caption, "Favorite guy in the world. My best friend."

I heard a door slam in the distance. I looked up to see Benny walking out of his house, and his eyes had already found mine. He sent me a wave and a smile, and I returned both the gestures.

Instead of going where he originally planned, he made his way toward me. I remained sitting on the top step of my porch.

"What're you dressed so nice for?" he questioned when he finally reached me, sitting down beside me.