The Boy With the Bruise - benjey

9 - You're Pretty

Jorge frowned at Benji. "I'll keep the car doors locked, then."

With an unconvinced grin and nod, Benji began walking towards the gates, scaling the height of them with ease and disappearing in the overgrown brush behind it. Jorge's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to convince himself otherwise, but the abandoned parking lot did seem sketchy, and he was willing to risk his chances with Benji rather than by himself.

"Ugh..." Jorge groaned, opening the car door and hopping out, quickly scaling the gate in the direction that Benji had gone.

Behind the gate was nothing special: there were some overgrown green plants, large trees that practically shielded the morning light from the ground, and a slight musty smell that enveloped the spanish boy - but, no Benji, which worried him.

"Banjo?" Jorge called out, expecting Benji to walk out from the bushes with his charming smile and glimmering eyes. "Banjo? Benji?!" There was nothing, not even a whisper. The crickets were the only ones who seemed to answer Jorge. Sighing, he began to walk through the dirt of what seemed like a roughly-made path, one that had been overgrown with time and branches... but somehow, still visible.

"Benji?" Jorge's voice began to waver as he began to realize how scary this was. Damn, he shouldn't have gone on that horror movie marathon last week. "Benji, where are you?"

Suddenly, Jorge's shoulders were engulfed in a tight hug, his body jolting at the sudden sensation in a panic before he realized that it was only the boy he'd been looking for.

"Looking for something?"

"Pssh, you scared me, asshole."

Benji gave Jorge's shoulder a squeeze. "And what'd I just say about cursing?"

Jorge rolled his eyes. "Don't be a hypocrite. You curse."

"Yeah, I do. But you're too pretty to be cursing."

Jorge's eyes widened in shock as Benji began to pull him towards a large building that peeked out from behind the overgrown green, clearly not noticing what he had just said.

"B-Benji, did you just-" Jorge stuttered, but Benji interrupted him.

"Follow close behind me," Benji instructed, lightly kicking a door open and venturing inside. "I swear, these things are like a maze." As Jorge followed, he kept quiet, staring up at the walls that had peeling blue paint and the ground that no longer had tile or carpet. After a minute or so of adventuring, Benji pushed open an old door with a groan, to reveal a large indoor pool. The pool was drained of water, but everything looked like it had been abandoned there on the spot: there was even a lifeguard chair and a few old floaties to the side.

"Woah..." Jorge breathed, his eyes travelling over the beautiful room as his voice echoed against the tall walls. All Benji did was smile and hop down into the pool, waiting for Jorge to follow behind him.

"I use this place to practice skateboard tricks," Benji explained, pointing to a few scuffed spots on the pool's interior. "But lately, I've just been coming here to think. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Jorge's eyes hadn't left the room. He found something oddly serene about the entire thing, as if they had gone through a portal and entered a whole different world. Chuckling, he looked towards Benji.

"You know, we're technically underwater," he joked.

Benji smiled as he grew closer to Jorge. "But... that means we can't breathe. We technically already have drowned."

Jorge shrugged, his eyes wandering back around the room as he spoke lightly. "I wouldn't mind dying here. It seems like a good place to spend the rest of eternity in."

"In an abandoned pool room?" Benji said. "Really? I'd rather die somewhere busy and crowded, like Hollywood Boulevard. There'd be plenty of people to haunt there. Then, I'd never be bored."

Jorge scoffed. "How would you even die at Hollywood Boulevard?"

"I don't know, a car crash? A sudden and unpredictable heart-attack? A meteor?" Benji listed, waving his arms around as he span in circles in the middle of the pool.

"If you died by a meteor, there'd be no Hollywood Boulevard to haunt," Jorge pointed out.

"Ah, but you see, it could be an exceptionally small meteor," Benji reasoned, indicating how small with his fingers as he stopped spinning. "But... I see why you'd want to spend eternity here. It's relaxing." Jorge nodded, his back sliding against the edge of the pool as he sat down. Jorge came to sit in a criss-cross in front of him. They stayed there in silence, occasionally stealing glances at each other as they basked in the silence of the abandoned room. 

"Did you mean it?" Jorge suddenly asked, his hoarse voice barely above a whisper.

Benji waited a second to respond. "Mean what?"

"What you said about... me, uh, being pretty," Jorge breathed. There was a long moment of silence before Benji answers.

"Yeah, I meant it." 

...

the next chapter is I T
if y'all got my reference to SKAM Druck I love you
the music i post at the beginning of my chapters are reference to this one,
because they all are played underwater. idk it's an aesthetic ;-;
sorry for being gone so long. im still in recovery and im getting agitated
with how long it's taking to get better, and while im not trying to make up excuses
for being a sucky writer, well, i am.
i will be back very soon with another u p d a t e
love you xx