𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆: 𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒔 𝒙 𝑶𝑪

Get Over It

The farther the situation unfolded, the more nuanced Benny and Emilie's interactions became.

They didn't acknowledge the sleeping situation. In fact, their interactions had become more hostile.

Emilie was trying to compensate. The feeling in her chest could best be described with a three-word phrase but her head could always vaporize it if she thought about it too hard. So she decided she would rather think too hard than have to face facts.

Benny was somehow still a mystery to her. She knew him well, but she couldn't quite be sure she understood him.

Before everyone else arrived they were in the middle of another one of their fights. It had gotten so heated that she stepped up to him as if to challenge him to a fight.

He didn't back down.

Emilie spat one more insult in his face, ending it with "I hate you," she was sure that if he said anything she would punch him. She was fuming.

He replied in a low voice "Say that one more time..."

She had been breathing heavily in anger before, now she wasn't sure she didn't have a conflicting reason. Her spatial kicked in now, realizing how close she had gotten to him. An overwhelming urge in her brought her sight down to his lips and up again.

Emilie decided to sit back down and work on her drawing some more. She tried to calm down and breathe but it was difficult when her subject was both in front of her, and the muse of her work.

-

Everyone arrived and they could tell something was off but they were a bit used to it at this point. Benny and Emilie always had an unspoken thing, but the thing is it was getting close to the end of the group's time together. Beth's life-changing tournament was in two days.

Emilie had two days left that she had to stay with Benny, there was once again that conflict between excitement and disappointment.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Harry asked Emilie.

"Nothing," she said simply despite every sign pointing to the opposite.

"I know we dance around it but what happened this time?"

"I still don't know what you're talking about,"

Harry gave her a look.

"He's annoying that's all," she shrugged but had a dark look in her eye.

"Can you two just get over whatever happened?" Harry questioned with a huff.

"There is nothing to get over,"

"Bullshit," Matt said quietly.

"Pure bullcrap," Mike chided in agreement.

"Well does everyone think that?" Emilie rebuked.

Everyone remarked something along the lines of yes, except for Benny who kept his head down.

"I thought that at least someone would agree with me,"

"There's obviously something going on but you need to get over it and work instead of drawing your twelfth portrait of this dude who you call annoying,"

"I am helping, I'm keeping my personal life out of this and trying to work," she said, closing her sketchbook aggressively and throwing it at the middle of the table. "I am an adult, stop treating me like you're my fucking fifth-grade teacher,"

"You need to get it together Emilie," Mike said as if it was some wise observation.

"We love you, Emilie, that's why we came out here. It's just-" Matt was cut off before he could finish.

"Well if I'm such a hindrance to you guys working I'll just work somewhere else," She dragged her bag and took the book Harry had been reading with her.

She walked into Benny's room throwing her stuff down on the floor. Matt tried to follow after her but Benny stopped them saying, "Just lay off of her for a while," but Emilie was out of earshot to hear.

She set everything down on the floor getting her sketchbook out again, angrily scribbling somewhat of a pattern on the paper. Emilie held the pencil so hard it broke so she rummaged through her bag for another, instead finding the letters once again.

She'd never read them, and she was just frustrated, confused, and conflicted enough to read them for the first time.