Benji
"He got in a fight."
I glare at Jorge, who's looking at my mom. I roll my eyes, silently hoping she won't be too mad.
"Why?" She turns to me, disappointment growing on her face. Jorge huffs, but continues cleaning me up. It doesn't hurt like I expected it to. I've never been in a fight, but I imagine the adrenaline coursing through my veins is what's keeping the pain away.
"He pushed Jorge!" I feel myself getting angry again. How could anyone do that? He touched my precious Jorge. He doesn't even know Jorge. He doesn't know how sweet and caring he is. Or how he sings in the shower and dances whenever music comes on, even if it's just in the car.
"I was fine, Benji! I don't need you to protect me, I can handle myself," He yells back. "I was trying to have a good time with you! You're so lucky nobody saw it, you could have your scholarship taken away for something like that. Hell, you could go to jail for something like that!"
"Don't be dramatic," I roll my eyes. I glance over at my mom who's nodding with Jorge, agreeing with him. "It's high school. Nobody cares, there's a fight every other day."
"Benji, you can't just fight someone because you're mad," My mom gives me a stern look.
"He fucking put his hands on Jorge!"
"Don't. Don't talk to me like that," She glares. I sigh, knowing she's right. I always try to be respectful to my mom, I don't need to take my anger out on her. "Here, Jorge, honey, let me do it."
Jorge hands her the cloth and takes a few steps back, looking at me. "Benji, I get it, I do. But, like," His voice cracks and he looks at the ground. "You can't fight back. People like him, just don't understand us, and that's okay. They don't have to. But, when you fight back, it just gives him that much more of a reason to hate us."
"I know," I whisper. When Jorge looks back up at me, his eyes are red and brimmed with tears. "Baby," I remove my moms hand from my face and hop off the counter, walking towards him.
"I just wanted to have a good night with you. Especially because you might be leaving. I want to look back on nights like this and remember how much fun we had, not that you got in a fight with someone," I wrap my arms around his small frame and pull him into my chest.
"I'm sorry," I rub my hands up and down his back, trying to comfort him while he cries silently into my chest.
"Jorge, you're more than welcome to spend the night and stay tomorrow while Benji's meeting with the scouter," My mom rests her hands on his shoulder and smiles sweetly.
"Thank you," Jorge sniffles and pulls away from me to look back at her. "I probably should just go home."
"Please stay," I rest my hand on his arm, looking at him with begging eyes. I want to try and make it up to him. I want to make the rest of the night fun for him, so he would be able to look back on tonight with happy memories.
I know he's thinking about it by the way he looks back at me. "Okay."
"I'm going to go upstairs. Benji, we'll talk about this tomorrow," I nod my head and give my mom a small smile. "I'll see you guys in the morning."
"I feel so stupid," Jorge begins to cry again when my mom is out of the room.
"Baby, no," I wrap my arms around him again. "Why?"
"Well, for starters, I just cried in front of your mom," He tries to laugh, but it comes out as more of a sigh. "I don't know. I guess everything just came out at once. You might be leaving, my senior homecoming feels like it's been just taken away from me, you got in a fight-"
"I'm so sorry," I pull away just enough to look down at him.
"Honestly, Benji, it kind of scared me. I've never seen you like that before. You were just so angry."
I don't say anything. I don't know what to say. Instead, I pull him up the stairs to my bedroom. When we get there I pull my shirt off before my pants and lay down on the bed.
"Come lay with me," I look at Jorge, who's standing in the middle of room with his arms crossed over his stomach. He just looks at me, so I stand up and pull at his shirt, taking it off his beautiful body. "Please?"
He gives me a small smile and nods, taking off his pants. I lead him to my bed and lay him down on top of me.
"I'm sorry I scared you," I run my fingers through his hair. "I was just so mad. It's not like me, but the second he touched you, it just made, I don't know how to explain it."
It made me want to kill him. But, of course, I can't tell him that.
"I know," His words are muffled by my chest.
"I love you."
"I love you, too," Jorge breathes.
"I'm sorry I ruined tonight," I kiss his head. He pulls away, laying down next to me.
"You know," He grins at me. "There's still time to make it better."
I smile at him, leaning over to kiss his pink lips. He melts into the kiss and wraps his arms around my back, pulling me on top of him.
***
"Baby, you'll be fine," Jorge assures me for what feels like the hundredth time. I smirk at him through the bathroom mirror that I'm getting ready in.
"So, you're back to 'baby'?" He rolls his eyes and playfully shoves his shoulder into mine. He's still in his boxers from last night because it's so early. I'm guessing he's planning on going back to sleep when I leave for coffee.
"Are you sure it's not noticeable?" I stare at my face in the mirror. There's a little cut on my lip and slight bruising on my nose, but Jorge swears you can't see it.
"I promise. He'd have to stare directly at your nose," He rubs his hands up and down my arms.
"Okay," I turn around and kiss his cheek. I need to leave to meet the scouter for coffee. I'm so nervous, I feel like I could throw up. I'm not really sure why, though. Either way, I get something out of it. If I don't get the scholarship, I would get to stay here, with Jorge. If I get it, I'd get to move to America and travel the world doing something I love.
"I'm so proud of you," Jorge smiles at me.
"Thank you," I pull him in for a kiss. I'm glad things went back to normal between us last night.
"You have to leave, though," He says, pushing me out of the bathroom door.
"Wow," I laugh at him. "Kicking me out of my own house?"
"No," Jorge giggles. "But you don't want to be late. It looks bad."
"I love you," I turn around and kiss him quickly, before grabbing my keys and wallet, heading out the door.
I get jittery on the way to the coffee shop, nervous for what he'll say. Even him coming to watch me play was such an amazing opportunity.
"Benji, how are you?" The scouter, Bill, reaches a hand out when I enter the shop.
"I'm good, sir. How are you?" I take his hand and shake it. I pull a chair out and sit down in front of him.
"I'm great. I've never been to Spain. It's a beautiful place," He smiles. I wish he'd quit it with the small talk and get right to the point.
"It really is," I smile at him. "Did you enjoy the game?" I ask. I mentally slap myself for how stupid I sound. He watches football games for a living, for Christ sakes. He's seen the best of the best play.
"It was great," He takes a sip of his coffee. "It was pretty close there, until you made the final touch down."
"Oh, well, I've got a pretty good team," I don't want to sound like it was all me, because it wasn't.
"Benji, I'll just get right to it," He looks me directly in the eyes. "I want you to come play for us."
"Really?" I try not to sound too excited. Internally, I'm freaking out. One of the best colleges, all the way in America, wants me to come play for them. But, why do I feel a little disappointed?
"Yes," He smiles. We spend the rest of the time talking about the scholarship and the steps I need to take before going to play football for them.