Valentine's Day was right around the corner.
Much to my dismay, Ben still hasn't planned a date. It's been what? Two and a half weeks? To be honest, I did sort of spring the idea up on him, and he doesn't seem like the type of person to organise dates.
So this was why I felt really excited for Valentine's Day.
I wasn't usually the type of person to plan something special for valentines. I've never had a valentine, believe it or not.
The high school me would buy roses and hand them out to girls in my year, like the chivalrous gentleman I am, however, things were different now, because I'm not the same person. Ben was my valentine, of course, so I could only think about him and nobody else.
I've been leaving sly hints to Ben about how I'd like to spend the day. Of course, it's his decision in the end, but I was just helping him along. I stuck brochures everywhere and tagged him in Facebook posts about outings in London, and I've also been eating much healthier because I know that if we do go out for a meal, I'd just pig out completely.
Part of me wondered if Ben was only delaying organising a date with me because he didn't like me in that way, or his feelings weren't very serious whereas I was starting to become crazy over him as time passed.
It was a possibility, probably not a very accurate one, but I had to consider everything. If it were true, then why did Ben kiss me? Why does he grab my hand whenever we're alone? Why does he open up so much to me?
I smiled at myself thinking about that last one. Ben was becoming more and more open with me, and it felt like such an honour. He was a closed book, a complete enigma.
Casey joined me at the breakfast bar and became just as lost in thought as I was. She ate her cereal with half of it falling back out of her mouth and she I could've sworn I saw her head nearly fall right into the bowl as she fought the idea of falling asleep again.
"What's wrong with you?" I laughed.
She turned to me, her expression unchanging. Her mouth was set in a frown and her eyes already half shut. "I had only three hours of sleep." She said monotonously.
"C'est la Vie." I murmured.
"Huh?" She murmured back, looking at me with an unamused expression. If she were wide awake, she would recognise the phrase.
"That's life."
"Oh."
I rolled my eyes and ate my last bite of toast before putting my plate in the sink. Dad walked in, looking just as dead as everyone else; he had bags under his eyes and his hair was a total mess.
"My, don't you look handsome?" I smirked.
"Of course I do, it's you who doesn't since you're adopted." He replied back. I continued on smirking, my dad and I were always like this, and it's so obvious that my sense of humour comes from him.
"I don't think we should be making those types of jokes now that I'm with Ben." I shrugged.
"You what?" Casey perked up, almost spitting out her cereal. Ahh, now she was wide awake.
"Yep, it's such a shame isn't it? Because now Harry is off limits."
"Shut up." She rolled her eyes, but I could see her cheeks being painted with a wonderful shade of red.
I really wondered to myself how Casey was so unaware of my relationship with Ben. I guess it's because I'm always at his, and when he comes over here, it's while Casey is at school or dance club. Or netball. Or–
"Morning, Mum." Casey greeted Karen and kissed her cheek.
I sunk back in my seat and scrolled through my phone. It was when I opened up my email that I stood up from the seat so frantically that the stool feel to the floor with a loud thud.
"UPDATE ON MY APPLICATION!" I shouted at the top of my lungs and grabbed the laptop that was sitting at the corner of the breakfast bar. I whacked the lid open, and I was surprised that it didn't break off.
Quickly logging into my account, I saw a banner that said something along the lines of a change in one or more of my choices. I didn't read it fully, because I had quickly changed pressed the 'offers' tab on the webpage.
Karen, Dad and Casey all gathered around the laptop and watched as I clicked on my firm university choice: Oxford.
Dear Mr Hopper,
In succession to the interview and the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT), we are pleased to offer you a place on the following undergraduate course:
BA (Hons) Biomedical Sciences
Please let us know within a 21 day period of your final declaration of this offer. This will enable us to offer any other places which are declined to other applicants.
Acceptant of this offer means you'll receive a letter from one or more of your chosen colleges as well as a student handbook, a course information sheet and a brochure of the university's code of conduct.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr Allen Marshall
Chairman
Grinning, I hovered my mouse over the 'accept this offer' button, I didn't even need to think about it, I mean, Oxford was my firm choice; it's ranked number one for pharmacology so I knew that this was definitely the offer I was going to go with. After the awkward interview I had to sit with, and the eighteen drafts of my personal statement I had to persevere through, I deserved this.
I was about to click the button when my finger all of a sudden hesitated...
Ben.
"Flynn, what are you waiting for?" Dad raised his brow at me.
"I need to visit Ben first."
Dad rolled his eyes at this, clearly, he didn't want anything or anyone to get in the way of my success. He was ecstatic upon hearing I wanted to start university again, so I figured as much. I shut the lid of the laptop and padded up the stairs and started getting ready. I felt in a pretty good mood, my hair was perfect, my body didn't stink of sweat despite the fact I haven't showered yet, and my face was glowing - that latter one might've just been because I sneakily used one of Karen's super expensive night creams.
Casey walked in just as I placed my hoodie over myself. She stood idly by the doorway for a few moments in complete silence before she welcomed herself in, shut the door behind her and jumped onto my unmade bed.
After a few more silent moments, I turned my whole body towards her and cocked a brow. "What do you want?"
She just shrugged, and her sharp eyes travelled around the room before focusing back on me, then she sighed and sat up on the bed and crossed her legs. "Could you just please make amends with my mum."
I frowned and shook my head to myself and then turned around again to fold my clothes up. Make amends? Why should I make amends? Not only did she guilt trip Ben into spending time with me, she whisked away my dad just as soon as my mother left us, and left no room for my father and I to breathe.
"Flynn, please." She pleaded, her voice threaded with sadness.
"Fine, I'll try. Just go away." I muttered. Moments passed in silence before I heard quiet footsteps and a door close. I rolled my eyes and felt my mood already dropping from my high this morning. Not because of my illness, but because Karen was all I could think about. Casey was not the type of person to have a voice dripping with sadness, so if I did make amends, it would be for her sake. I'd do anything for her, of course.
The walk to Ben's house and cold. Grey clouds were slowly heading our way, and it was almost as if those clouds represented my mood. Soon it would be raining, and my mood wouldn't be at it's peak.
Wendy greeted me when I knocked on the door. She looked incredibly stressed. A pencil was resting on her ear and her hair was pointing in all kinds of directions. It might've been the wedding stress, and it only made me put off the idea of marriage. If it caused this much stress, then I can't be bothered to go through it.
"Flynn!"she beamed, her lips turning upwards and for a moment, she looked entirely carefree. "It's good to see you."
"You too," I smiled. "Is Ben around?"
"Not at the moment, he's teaching the little ones football down at the club. He should be done soon."
"Oh right, thank you."
"No problem." She winked. With that, we said our goodbyes and I strolled down the street all the way to the football club. To be honest, it wasn't really that far, but it just felt far.
I shoved my hands in my pockets as I walked through the clubhouse and took in the entire wall of trophies, photo frames and medals. My eyes were glued to a particular photo frame and I leaned in and pressed my face against the cold glass. Within the photo frame, dates 2007, I saw a very young Ben, Zach, and Liam and a few of my other friends. Mainly from Torvux.
Ben's hair was shaggy, but not scruffy. The blonde stood out amongst all the other people's hair as it shone in the light. It was a sunny day, and all of the young football players looked liked they were being blinded by the sun as this photo was taken.
The photo made me smile. Ben looked so adorable, his face was dotted with freckles and his green eyes were as bright as ever.
I was smiling on my way out to the field, where small kids lined up. 5 on on side, and 5 a few metres opposite them. It looked like they were practicing their kicks because a ball was being kicked around from one side to the other and back in a zig zag fashion.
Ben stood idly, his arms were crossed as he observed the small kids closely. Sweat was laced down his back, it was evident because of the grey t-shirt he wore.
I stood outside the playing field, and poked my fingers through the gaps of the fence to steady myself. I was trying to be quiet, but even then, Ben must've heard me because he turned around and squinted.
He walked over and I smiled as he placed his hands on top of mine, from his side of the fence. "Hey." I voice lowly, as if I didn't want anyone to hear our moment. "And yes, I took my lithium this morning. Promise."
He snickered, and then replied back, his voice just as low as mine. "Hey. Come round this side." He nodded his head toward the gate.
I just obeyed, knowing fully well that he's probably try to initiate me in some sport. Football wasn't my strongest sport, but I did play sometimes. It's fair to say that basketball was definitely my strongest sport, and it's better because I'm just so freakishly lanky.
I stood beside Ben, and mimicked his previous stance with my arms crossed. He clapped his hands together and held his arms open until one of the kids threw him the football. He tucked it under his elbow and the kids all gathered round.
"This is Flynn, he's going to join us in a game of six-a-side."
"Isn't it usually five-" one of the kids piped up.
"Yes, but who cares." He shrugged, "we'll make it work."
"Jake, Cian, Aston, Maleek and Ryan," you'll be on a team with Flynn, so talk amongst yourself and decide your positions." He announced. "The rest of you are with me, so gather round in your groups."
"I don't even have football boots on me." I whined childishly to Ben.
He just shrugged. "You'll live."
My group and I huddled up and I awkwardly waited for someone to talk. Since they didn't even know me, it must've been awkward for them too.
"I'll play midfield." I finally spoke up. They just nodded and then started bickering about who'll be goalkeeper.
Rolling my eyes, I just told them both to shut up and decide by doing rock, paper, scissors. They both listened unwillingly and resolved their issues. They didn't seem so offended by my rudeness.
When we finally had the team sorted out, I tightened my shoelaces, Ben was playing midfield too and I couldn't help but turn my lips into a smirk.
If there was one thing I loved more than anything, it was a good competition.
"You won't even make it past the first half." Ben chuckled, but not in a nice way. It sounded pretty evil.
We decided on rock, paper, scissors to decide
who got the ball first, since we didn't have a referee. It was kick off in no time, and a sure of energy coursed through me and I glided swiftly across the field and gave a powerful kick towards the striker.
The striker kicked the ball towards the goal, but unfortunately it was caught by the goals keeper who threw his entire body in on direction to save the ball. He buckled over on every the ball was secured by his chest and stood up quickly before throwing the football across the field.
One guy from the opposite team bounced the ball on his chest and then started kicking it back and fourth between another player from his team, but then I decided to intervene and tackle the football off them. So maybe I was playing just a tiny bit unfairly, but it's not a big deal unless you make it into one, right?
Grinning, I ran across the field and kicked the ball to Cian. His wavy brown hair bounced around as he kicked it to the striker, who managed to kick it into the goal. The whole team cheered and tackled the striker to the floor, but I just stood on the outside with a grin on my face.
So even though things took a turn, I was still enjoying myself. I could just ask Ben about his UCAS application later on, even though I was dying to know.
We played on like normal, and I found myself really enjoying it. Why did I ever drop out of sport? I snorted to myself, since I knew that majority of the time, I can be incredibly lazy. I'm not the same Flynn I was in school, with bundles of energy and time to partake in sport.
Ben caught the ball and swerved past me. I was too awestruck to even process the idea of tackling it off him. His broad shoulders leaned left and right as he ran, his eyes filled with a much darker shade of green. The type of dark shade that meant he was ready for battle. He pushed past my teammates with ease, never losing his balance. He almost looked like a model who faked their initiation in a sport for a photoshoot. I could feel the ground beneath me vibrate every time his foot slammed on the ground as he ran, even though football was the kind of sport where you need to keep your footing light and agile. He was like a beast.
It was when he kicked the football towards his teammate that I was really caught up in his actions. It felt like tresses of branches and grass from the ground were spiralling up both my legs, not letting me move my feet in the slightest. Ben's chest really popped out as the ferocious beast within him used up all its energy to kill the football with this unimaginable capability of power. I swear, I almost saw my teammates squirm. Hell, I wanted nothing more than to hide.
The striker made it past our goalkeeper and managed to kick the football into the goal. Ben's team cheered as mimicked our movements from earlier by tackling each other down to the ground.
"Flynn!" Aston cried as he hit my shoulder. "You were useless. You didn't even move!"
"Sorry." I smiled sheepishly.
"Let's take a break!" Ben announced, and then started jogging to me. "Hey."
"Hey, I wanted to ask if you got the chance to look at your UCAS today." I smiled. "I got my acceptance letter from Oxford."
Ben grinned and pulled me into a tight hug, "Congrats! I knew you could do it." He whipped out his phone as soon as he pulled away and opened up his web browser. I eagerly peeked at his phone as he did so, but much to my surprise, there was no acceptance letter waiting for him to read.
"I'm sure it'll come through soon..." I trailed off and met his eyes. He didn't really looked sad about it, just hopeful. Ben had always been quite optimistic.
"Yeah." He shrugged, then pecked my lips. "Well done though, I'm really happy for you."
I smiled at him and pulled him into a hug, because I knew he needed it, even if he won't show it. it's like his manly pride stops him. I felt his arms tighten around me lower back and I pulled away reluctantly after a few moments because I knew right now was not the time and place.
Speaking of places, it seemed we had caught the eyes of a few of the kids. They were young, so I really didn't blame them. Seeing something like this was foreign to them.
"Alright," Ben clapped, "Play on."
And that's what we did, we played on, with our university applications right at the back of our minds. I know Ben was worried, but he's insanely clever and a huge activist, so there's no point even questioning whether or not he'd get in, because I know he will. In fact, everyone knows he will. Everyone but him.