Innocence|Benny Rodriguez

The Bet

  ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Chapter Thirteen *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Darkness surrounded Jackie as she was sound asleep in her bed. It was in the middle of the night, her parents being asleep as well. She wore a long T-shirt with baggy shorts, her fan on the lowest setting as air circulated the room. Jackie used to use a night light but no didn't need it anymore, realizing it's easier to sleep with little light as possible. So, she gave it to Yeah-Yeah.

A tap on her window woke her up, but instead of checking out the noise, she assumed it was a part of her dream of some sort, and toss and turned for a few moments. Another sound was heard, this time Jackie knew it wasn't all in her head. Her mind not being fully awake yet, she fell off her bed when she rolled over, not realizing she was on the edge. She groaned in pain as she stood up, tip-toeing towards her window. No one was there, which was confusing.

A rock hit her window, which she realized was creating the thud sounds. She opened her window carefully, getting smacked in the head with a rock. She stumbled back, holding the side of her head as it was throbbing. The person apologized, recognizing it to be Benny's voice. She held her hand in front of her face as she poked her head out the window to see Benny standing on the grass, looking up at her with another rock in his head. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Do not throw that rock." She warned, flinching in case he threw it again.

"About time. I've been throwing rocks at your window for, like, three minutes." Benny complained, dropping the rock on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Jackie asked as Benny began to climb up to her window, "What if my parents heard you?" She pressed, grabbing his hands and pulling him into her room.

"Well, let's thank God they didn't," Benny said as Jackie locked her bedroom door in case.

"Why are you in my house this late at night?" Jackie confronted the boy, his face being hard to see because of the darkness. Because she couldn't see his face, she walked over to her lamp, turning it on.

"I had a helpful dream just now." Benny began, "Babe Ruth was giving me some good advice." He said, sitting on the edge of Jackie's bed.

"Babe Ruth? In your house? But, he's dead." Jackie stammered, watching Benny with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah, I know that, Dingbat. It's a dream. Pay attention." Benny snapped in her face as she sat down next to him. "He told me he didn't have much time, and he knew I was in a pickle. He knew exactly what our situation was, with the ball and stuff." He explained to Jackie.

"To be clear, he was in your room?" Jackie inquired.

"Yes. Come on, Jackie, keep up. He told me to just hop over the fence and get it, to which I replied that I can't." Benny continued.

"And why can't you?" Jackie asked.

"He asked the same question, and I said there was a beast back there. I even told him about how he ate a kid." Benny held his head as he was rethinking the conversation... or dream, he had with Babe Ruth.

"What did he say?" Jackie asked, interested.

"He told me to sit down, and I did, obviously. Wanna know what he told me?" Benny finally looked at Jackie, who was sitting right next to him, knees almost touching.

"Duh." She shrugged.

"He told me it was my big chance. My big chance, and I shouldn't let it go by. He then recalled the time I busted the guts out of that ball a few days ago. And for some weird reason, he asked me if he could keep one of my baseball cards of Henry Aaron. Without a doubt, I said yes." Benny smiled at the thought of Babe Ruth keeping something of his.

"Was that it?" Jackie questioned.

"No, he told me one last thing. 'Remember kid, there's heroes, and there's legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends-'"

"Never die." Jackie finished, Benny nodding with her.

"Yeah. He also said to follow my heart, and I'll never go wrong." He said, thinking deep at the last part. He wanted to follow his heart, but it was going in two directions. He had to pick between two paths, baseball, or her.

"Wow, that's... interesting," Jackie mumbled, still half asleep. She didn't even think about the fact that Benny chose her to talk to about the dream out of anyone else. Neither did she think about how he was in her room in the middle of the night, sitting on her bed, with their knees almost touching, or the fact that he was wearing nothing but a tank top and boxers.

"Yeah. So, you know what this means, right?" Benny faced her.

"That you have really weird dreams?"

"My God, no. It means that I have to risk my life tomorrow." Benny explained, dreading the moment. Jackie's eyes widened. She couldn't believe he was willing to risk his life just to grab a baseball, or it could have been because Babe Ruth told him to do it.

"You're actually gonna listen to imaginary Babe Ruth?" Jackie empathized with the guy's name, trying to prove her point that he was not even alive.

"My dream was telling me something, Jackie. I have to do this." He said to her, running a hand through his hair.

"I believe you're the only one who can, to be honest," Jackie admitted, knowing that no one else would be willing to do it. Not even her.

"Get to the sandlot earlier than usual, and bring Scotty with you. I'll already be there, along with everyone else." He patted her shoulder, standing up from her bed.

"You're not actually gonna do this." Jackie scoffed, thinking he was crazy. The Beast could easily overpower the poor kid.

"Yeah, I am." He said as he reached her window, beginning to climb out, but Jackie stopped him.

"You're nuts. You'll die doing that. It's not worth it." Jackie shook her head.

"Okay, how about this." Benny sat on her window ledge, looking up at her, "Let's make some type of bet. If I die-"

"If you what?" Jackie gasped.

"Well, I'll be dead. So, never mind that. If I manage to get the ball back and live to tell the tale, you owe me something." Benny stared into her eyes.

"What the hell do I owe you?" Jackie chuckled, having nothing valuable to give him. She wasn't poor, however, she didn't have anything that was worth much.

"You owe me a kiss." Benny grinned. Jackie's heart jumped to her throat.

"On the cheek, right?" Jackie queried. Last time, he kissed her. It shouldn't be that hard to do the same thing he did.

"No."

Oh.

"Wait-but... you want me-I-hold on-" Jackie stuttered, squeezing her eyes shut.

"See you tomorrow," Benny smirked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and climbing out her window. Jackie closed it, her cheeks burning.

"I must still be dreaming." She told herself, rubbing her eyes. She even pinched herself to make sure it was all real. To her dismay, it was. He had to be joking, she wasn't dumb. It was just a way to mess with her as he usually did. What if he was serious, and he actually wanted to kiss her? She felt the need to vomit, feeling suddenly nauseous at the thought of kissing Benny. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but she hated being played, like some type of toy. She didn't want to be treated like that, she was worth so much more than that. She was dreading the upcoming morning.