ARDENT: BENNY RODRIGUEZ

☙ chapter two.

Benny and DeNunez sauntered towards the field, from their perspective view they could see the others perched down on the bench, gnawing down on gum as they engaged in conversation. Smalls was the first one to notice their return. He rose to his feet and twisted the loose fitted baseball cap around his head as he wiped away the drenched droplets of sweat that dotted along his forehead. "Did'ja guys get it?"

Small's inquiry caused everyone's attention to divert. They each stood up and waited as the two boys slowly approached. "The store ran out, Tommy Delgado said that they wouldn't have anymore 'til Friday." DeNunez sighed, spitting out the remnants of the sunflower seeds he held in his mouth.

"Great, can we go to the pool now? We're dying here, Benny!" Ham ripostes with a hopeful plea of desperation. His round, freckled face was a warm crimson color that flushed from the tip of his ears down to his neck, his forehead was sheen with his salty, glistening sweat and his shirt was sticky against his body.

"Yeah, man. It feels like I'm melting over here." Squints adds, to which Benny rolls his eyes.

"You just want to go there so you can see Wendy." Benny argues in rebuttal but if he were being truthful he too had grown weary of the summer's scorching heat. He would never admit it but he was glad that the guys had insisted on going to the pool today, he had hopes that since it was hot, that the girl would be at the pool and he could run into her again.

"What—so! You know, you guys are just jealous because I'm the only one that has kissed her. Meanwhile you guys are still puckering it up with your pillows at home!" Squints argued, sneering an impish grin.

"Whatever." Benny says, deciding not to further argue with Squints even though everyone already knew that he and Wendy's shared kiss was a planned coax that didn't really count. "I'm going home to change into my trunks, we can meet there in ten minutes." With that everyone dispersed from the sandlot and went their separate routes to return home. Smalls and Benny walked side by side, talking amongst themselves.

While Smalls was expressing his nervousness about returning back to school, Benny's mind had absentmindedly wandered off. He wasn't even aware that he had lulled into his inward musings until he heard the repeated sounds of Smalls calling out his name. "Benny? What's going on, man?" He asks, upon noticing the aloof behavior of his best friend. All day he had been quieter than usual and he seemed distracted by something.

"What do you mean?" He questions, acting oblivious to his friends concern.

Smalls scoffed as he shoves his hands inside of the front pockets of his shorts, "Well, for one you agreed to go to the pool, you never do that without arguing with us about it first and two you and DeNunez have been sharing this weird look with each other all day like there's a secret between you two that you don't want any of us to know about."

             Benny sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck as he contemplated whether or not he should inform Smalls about the girl he had run into earlier. Eventually, he gives in and tells him about their inadvertent introduction with the new girl. Smalls smiled mirthfully while he watched Benny blush in chagrin as he talked about the mysterious girl that moved into the neighborhood. Upon the three years that he's known him, Small has never seen his friend blush or even fawn over a girl.

           It wasn't unusual for girls to coquettishly fawn over Benny, sometimes they would catch girls from the neighborhood sneakily watching from their perched position behind the bushes, giggling while they watched a sweaty Benny play baseball. But to see the situation be reciprocated made Smalls chuckle with jubilance, much to Benny's chagrin. "Did you at least get her name?" He ponders.