Prohibitive nights

6

"no not at all I thought he was hot and wendy wanted to have dinner with his brother so I agreed to it but then he said I shouldn't play ball because i'm a girl then I got upset and left."

" oh okay ?" benny seemed upset in a way

"you think he's hot ?"

"you know I think we should play?"

"Yeah sure ? Okay base up ."

As Benny ran to bat I wanted to crawl up in a ball and die. Why did I have to be so dumb now Benny hates me . Why would I say I thought some other dude was hot in front of Benny . Not that I like him or anything so it wouldn't matter .

"Did you really have dinner with Phillips ?"

"Yea squints , unfortunately I did ."

"Did he really say all that crap about have you shouldn't play ball!?"

"Again unfortunately yeah."

"Sorry Diane , about it all I shouldn't have pestered you about Benny . If you don't wanna talk about it I won't bring it up alright?"

My heart melted at his words . Squints really did care about me and I'm glad I had him as a friend .

"Thanks , it's fine tho I get why you thought it . Truth is I'm not sure myself and I don't want to admit to something just because I want to end a conversation."

"Yeah I get that . How about we go for some ice cream after the game . We can talk about how you feel?"

"That sounds nice thanks squints ! Let's play now okay."

"Wow it's about time !" Kenny sighed with a lazy eye roll .

"Yeah whatever Kenny  , let's play ball !"

We finished a long game of baseball . All the boys went to the dugout but squints and I . We decided to just take off so we didn't need to answer any questions .

The sound of door rang while we entered the shop . I took a look at all the flavours they had offered and my eyes landed on cookie dough .

"Hey which flavour do you want it's on me ?"

"No don't worry about it Diane I can pay for us ."

"Nah save your money which flavour ?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yup!"

"Alright we'll I'll have Mint chocolate chip !"

I cracked a smile at his request .

"Hi may I have one ming chocolate chip and one cookie dough please ?"

"Yup coming right up !"

I payed the cashier the money and stood to the side with squints .

"Thanks Diane next time it's on me though ."

"No problem and we'll see about that ."

I hit his torso with my ass and he did the same to me .

"Here's your ice cream have a nice day !"

"Thank you !" We both said at the same time while leaving the store .

We decided to take a small walk around the valley as we ate our cones . It was quiet but a nice quiet .

"Hey uh do you like Wendy or do you just think she's hot?" I decided to kill the silence with a question .

"Well I don't really know , at first I liked her bc she was good to look at but then I started to notice how she smiled at her friends and when I kissed her she still treated me with kindness and always waved back at me ."

As I turned to look at squints all I saw was a crimson red boy .

"How do I know if I like Benny for Benny or that I like the idea of him ."

Squints expression changed from flushed to confused .

"What do you mean by idea ?"

"Well you know , a cute baseball boy who takes time out of his day to play ball with me . Who watched me play ball because it was "fascinating" . How do I know if I like him or if I like the attention?" 

"Diane lemme ask you something , do you like the idea of being held in his arms not anyone's arms but Bennys ? Do you think about him before going to bed ? Do you picture yourself being happy and atomically think of Benny being by your side ?"

Squints words really did have me in a stump. Of course I thought about him before I slept . All the moments from the nights at the sandlot would keep me at peace. The idea of being wrapped in his arms does sound promising , and 100% Benny comes to mind when I think about what makes me happy .

"Yeah squints yeah to it all ."

Squints eyes crinkled and his teeth aligned in a perfect smile .

"Diane do you like Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez?" 

"Yeah I think that's exactly the case ."