It Was You

Chapter 20

"Wow...so you're both grounded?" Lee asked. Ben and I both nodded. "Well, what were you guys doing that made you lose track of time?" Aaron asked. Ben and I glanced over to each other. "We..." "Um..." "It was..." "We were..."

We eyed each other. "We went swimming," Ben said, "then found a spot to relax and ended up falling asleep." When we looked back to them, Aaron said, "You had sex." I choked on my water and Ben cleared his throat. "No," Ben told him, "we didn't. Truly, we didn't."

Aaron continued, "Fine. Oral sex." Again, I choked on my water. "Uh..." Ben, the goddamn actor of this relationship, couldn't find himself to continue lying. "New it!" Aaron shouted for the entire cafeteria to hear. "No need to be ashamed, we've all done it."

I looked to Lee and she shrugged, making me give her a double take. "It was last summer," she defensively said, "when I went to Cabo..." Even Aaron was shocked. "You bitch," he said, "you didn't tell us that!" She shrugged once again and continued eating her lunch.

"Anyways," Aaron said, "good for you guys! This is a big step!" I really didn't want to talk about this. "Can we please just drop it?" I asked. "It happened...let's forget it." I glanced over to Ben, who looked a tad upset...at me. What, did he want me to talk about it?

Before lunch ended, I needed to go to my locker to pick up a book for my next class and he came with me. "So...what was that about?" He asked as I opened my locker. I gave him an odd look and asked, "What was what about?" He leaned against the locker next to mine and said, "It happened...let's forget about it. That's what you said."

Oh. "That's not what I meant," I told him. "I just wanted them to stop talking about it. I'm not comfortable discussing that stuff with anyone else but you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like it's pointless because it wasn't. It isn't."

Sighing, he nodded, then told me, "Right. Sorry. Letting my temper get the best of me again." I shook my head and told him, "It's fine. I should have worded it better. I really am thankful for what you did." I leaned up and gave him a kiss.

That got him to smile. The bell rang to say lunch was over, so he kissed me on the cheek and said, "See you after school."

After school came very slowly. It was Friday. I wanted to go home. When that final bell finally rang, I couldn't be out faster. I was outside in a flash and, for the first time, was actually the one waiting for the others. Lee and Aaron were the first to come out, and then Ben a few minutes later.

"You realize this is going to be the first time since middle school that we're not going to have a movie night?" Aaron asked. "All because you couldn't resist the teenage angst." I sighed and rolled my eyes. Ben stepped in and said, "Alright, enough. We'll make up for it next week."

"Next week is Cass's birthday, though," Lee pointed out. "Since you guys will be ungrounded by then, we should throw a party." My eyes widened. "No," I told her, "don't even think about it." She smirked and said, "Oh, I'm thinking about it. Cassie's big eighteenth birthday bash!"

"We can have it on my house," Ben offered and I immediately slapped his arm. "Do not start giving her ideas," I scolded. He chuckled, "What? I think it's a good idea! We can make it a pool party." Grunting, I stomped my foot and started walking ahead of them.

I was seriously not okay with a birthday party. What, did they expect me to invite the assholes that have been teasing me for years? The assholes that suddenly want to be my friend because I don't need help breathing anymore? Nope. Screw that.

"Hey, baby, stop," Ben said as he caught up to me. "What's wrong?" I stopped walking and crossed my arms. "I don't want a birthday party, Ben. Please, don't make me do this." He huffed out a laugh and said, "Alright, no party. How about a pool party with two of your best friends and your boyfriend? I'll host it."