"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."
I cracked a small smile at the thought. "Okay," I told him, "I can do that." He kissed my head and said, "Good. Come on, we have a curfew." Our parents decided to band together and form one large punishment for the both of us. We were to be home by three-thirty everyday until next Thursday when our punishment was up.
There was no T.V., no video games, no hanging out with friends, and no hanging out with each other outside of school. Honestly, it seemed excessive. I think we just freaked out our parents so much that they had a harsh reaction.
Ben dropped me off at home and left me with a long kiss goodbye since we wouldn't be seeing each other until Monday. At least our parents left our phones alone so we could still text.
"Hey, troublemaker," dad greeted when I walked in. "Hardy har," I said as I started going upstairs. "Hey, kiddo," he called. I stopped with a huff and turned around as he was walking to the stairs. "You know why we're doing this right?" He asked. "You've never been like this, we've never had to ground you. That's why were doing it so you don't think it's okay."
I rolled my eyes and asked, "You actually think that I thought it was perfectly okay to scare the hell out of you guys? We ditched school, went for a hike and ended up falling asleep when we decided to take a rest. It was an honest mistake and I know it was wrong. I'm sorry, dad, okay? This punishment is way too much, even for you."
With that, I continued upstairs. I knew I'd hear about that later, but for now I just wanted to relax. I threw my backpack down and flopped on to my bed. I then picked up my phone and texted Ben about what I had said. You're crazy, he texted back, but that's why I sodding love you.
A few hours later, I could hear my mom just getting home. I could also hear her and my dad talking lowly to each other, as if I don't know what they're talking about. As suspected, there were some knocks on my door a few minutes later. "Come in," I sighed.
Mom opened the door and walked in with dad right behind. "Hey, honey," mom said as she sat down on my bed. "Look, you're dad told me what you said earlier and...you have to understand how worried we were. It wasn't the fact that you ditched class—hell, I did that all the time my senior year, but it was because you're still sick. The cancer isn't gone, babe, and you're still going to have some problems until it is. We didn't know if you ditched on your own and something happened, or if Ben was with you but couldn't get help somehow."
I pulled my knees up to my chest and squeezed them tightly. She continued, "Had you not been sick, then...yeah, maybe we'd be a little upset you didn't call, but we wouldn't have punished you. We were horrified, Cass. As a parent...that's not something you ever want to feel."
"Yeah, okay," I said to her, "but I didn't mean to! You guys know me better than anyone, I would never dream about doing that to you and I'm sorry it happened. Do you ever think I would do that again?" I could see them both stopping to think. They both looked at each other, then dad looked to me.
He took in a deep breath and said, "You can be off the hook after this weekend. Deal?" Well, it sure as hell beat next week! "Deal," I told him. He came over and kissed my head and mom gave me a hug. "We're so glad you're feeling better," she said. "I don't want you to think we're punishing you for living."
Out of all the people that would try and stop me from living and doing every stupid teenager thing I could think of, my parents would not be one of them. "I know," I told her. After that, they left me to be alone. I wasn't feeling hungry, so I didn't go down for dinner, but just rather stayed in bed.
"My parents told me it was because they didn't know anyone in this place yet, so they weren't sure who to call," Ben told me over the phone. "The only people they could think of were your parents and when they said you weren't home either...well, that heightened their worry. My jail sentence is still the same, though. Can't get out of this one."
"Sounds like you used to do this often," I teased. He chuckled, then told me, "I was quite the troublemaker back home. I was at an all boys boarding school, so sneaking off the girls school and getting caught was my reputation. I would also sneak out during summers to go drinking or smoke pot with my friends. Got caught for those times, as well."
I lightly bit my bottom lip, then said, "Guess I chose a bad boy to go out with." He sighed and said, "Yeah, none of those things were true. Although, I would sneak into the cafeteria to steal a few biscuits, but I never got caught."
I let out a loud laugh, but immediately stopped myself and listened for my parents. It was two in the morning and I was supposed to be in bed by ten as a part of my punishment. Luckily, I didn't hear anything. "You are such a liar," I lightly laughed.
He sucked in a sharp breath and told me, "It's called being an actor." I playfully rolled my eyes at that. "Well, I'm getting exhausted over here. Call me tomorrow?" He made me smile when he said, "I'll do you one better...we can FaceTime so I can see you. Sound alright?"
"Sounds, perfect," I told him. "I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."
"I know."