Chapter 2
Lunch came and went and Benny felt significantly more shitty about the whole situation. He should want to ask Erica, he should be excited. He thought, hoped even, that maybe this awful feeling in his chest could be chalked up to nerves. Typically, the worst thing that could happen in the case of rejection from a girl would be the rejection, but Erica could easily kick his ass.
He spotted her over at her locker, trying her best to fix her lipstick without the ability to actually see herself in the tiny mirror she had fixed onto the inside of her locker door.
He could probably count on one hand how many times he’s actually interacted with Erica one on one without one of their other friends present, so to say he’s unsure of how to approach her would be a fantastic understatement. Still, against his better judgment, he rolls his shoulders a few times, taking a deep breath before making his way over to her.
Just as he’s opening his mouth to say hello, she whips her head around, her signature scowl practically piercing straight through him.
“Hey?” He choked out, raising his hand in an innocent wave. “Did I interrupt something?”
“No,” she responded with a shrug, her features softening into an expression more smug than sinister. “Just not used to seeing you without the other village idiot attached to your hip.”
“Yeah, he uh, he’s kind of preoccupied lately,” Benny explained, nervously scratching the back of his neck.
“Ugh, tell me about it. Sarah’s been more of a ghost this past week than a vampire. She completely ditched our movie Monday date last week and saw it with Ethan instead,” Erica said, annoyance clear in her voice. Benny actually found himself overflowing with relief that at least he wasn’t alone in how he felt about the situation.
“We could go,” He spit out quickly. “To see the movie I mean. I mean I guess we can, if you’re not busy. I am obviously not.”
She rolled her eyes at him, but there wasn't really any heat behind it. “Only if you’re buying.”
“‘Course. I’ll even get us garlic butter popcorn,” He jokes, trying to remain light hearted even though his weird mood hadn't had much improvement even despite the lack of rejection.
She just shoved him in the shoulder, her scowl returning to her face. He figures it could be worse.
“Kidding, I’m kidding,” He assured her, backing away before she can continue her assault on his shoulder.
“Whatever,” She dismissed him, closing her locker and tucking her books into her side. “It’s a date then.”
“Oh,” Benny said, startled by her choice of words. Of course, he’d intended it as a date because those were Ethan’s terms, but somehow the finality of Erica herself referring to it at a date made his stomach churn unpleasantly. “Right, yeah, a date. Just the two of us. Alone...on a date.” The word even tastes funny coming out of his own mouth.
“Don’t make it weird,” She demanded, pushing past him towards her next class. “Just pick me up at seven.”
Benny just nodded before heading off to class himself. He’d pictured this before, in like freshman year, when he supposed he could say he was infatuated at least with the idea of Erica, and he’d always thought it’d be a little more romantic, or at the very least satisfying. Maybe being friends with her just kind of ruined the chase, but regardless he didn’t feel anything like what he thought he was supposed to feel leading up to a date with someone he supposedly admired.
“So?” Ethan asked suddenly, seeming to come out of nowhere behind him, startling Benny. “Did you ask her?”
“Yeah, I did. We’re seeing a movie tonight,” he answered, turning around to face him but not meeting Ethan’s eyes.
“That’s great, it’ll be great for you, I think,” Ethan said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Benny.
He had a theory that the only reason Ethan had told him to ask Erica out was so he’d feel less guilty about all the time he was spending with Sarah instead of with him, but thinking about that, like most things did recently, only made him feel shittier.
“Yeah, I guess we’ll see.”
“Let me know how it goes, okay?” Ethan says, patting his friend on the back.
Benny nods and responds, “Yeah, you got it.”
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Benny had been to Erica’s house a few times before, but every time he’s more surprised at how much it does not match her personality. There was a white picket fence out front and a garden full of little delicate white flowers circling the front porch. Erica walked down the front steps dressed in her usual red and black attire, undeniably pretty, but not doing much for Benny’s heart strings other than inciting the usual fear that she might drain him.
“You look nice,” he attempted, opening up her door for her. He may not have been very enthusiastic but he was still going to at least try to be a gentleman. It wasn’t Erica’s fault he was having some confusing feelings about himself.
“I know,” she smirked, folding one leg over the other as he walked back around to the drivers side. Then, almost as if to begrudgingly correct herself, she added, “Thanks.”
Benny hadn’t even bothered to change clothes after school.
“What movie is it that you wanted to see?” He asked as he started driving. She reached over to grab the aux cable so she could play some music to fill the inevitable awkward silence.
“It’s called ‘Temporary Permanence’ it’s just a stupid rom-com,” She answered, scrolling around on her phone until she seemed to finally settle on a song. “Sarah and I started going to them kind of as a joke to make fun of them but sometimes they’re not so bad.”
“Oh, cool,” Benny responded, keeping his focus on the road. He couldn’t really be more disinterested, but he was really trying not to be rude. “Maybe this one won’t suck.”
“Yeah,” she says, looking out the window. “Maybe.”
Neither of them say much else for the rest of the ride. Benny had known it was going to be awkward, he just hadn’t prepared for it to be this bad. As he had realized when he’d asked her out earlier, they’d never really spent much time together without at least one of their other friends present, and the added pressure of an actual date with a girl he was sure he had virtually nothing in common with was weighing on him pretty heavily.
Frankly, he also just kind of wished he was hanging out with Ethan instead, but that was a given, and it was besides the point. And it went without saying that he would rather not think about that fact too much if he could avoid it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
About twenty minutes into the movie, it was decided between the both of them that the movie wasn't all that good, and was therefore worth making fun of.
Benny had kind of made a game out of trying to get Erica to laugh in an attempt to make things at least a little less awkward between them for the rest of the night. His attempts could have easily been making things even worse, but it was better than nothing, he supposed.
“I think the more self aware these movies get, the worse they are,” He pointed out “It’s like-- they’re trying so hard not to be the thing that they are that it comes off inauthentic. If you’re going to be a bad movie, at least be genuine.”
It wasn’t so much a joke as it was an observation, and perhaps it was sort of an ironic thing to say considering the circumstance he was in, but he stood by it, for the movie’s sake at least.
“Yeah,” Erica said in a delayed reply, almost a full minute later. “I guess.”
He could sense that she wasn’t really into whatever it was that he was doing, so he figured he’d just ride out the rest of the movie in a painful silence.
Not long after he’d decided to take a vow of silence, though, he began to hear a faint sniffling to the left of him.
Benny glanced over at Erica carefully as not to alert her that he was looking at her, and took note of the way the reflection of the screen was distorted across her face by the tears that were slowly trailing their way down her cheeks.
He wouldn’t be so concerned about it if the movie they were watching had any emotional depth at all, but that wasn’t the case, and Erica wasn’t the type of person who made a habit out of crying in front of other people, either.
“Hey,” He signaled to herquietly, nudging his shoulder against hers gently. “You okay?”
Benny watched as her expression quickly changed from vulnerably somber to pointedly annoyed and borderline furious. She was quick to put distance between them by leaning away from where their shoulders were touching, before abruptly standing up from her seat and turning to leave.
“Woah, Erica, seriously, what’s wrong?” He asked again, standing up after her, trying his best to keep up with her pace as she made her way out of their row and down the stairs.
“Stop asking me that!” she sternly whispered over her shoulder, speeding up, making it fully out of the dark theater and leaving him behind.
He couldn't find it in himself to let her go cry it out by herself like that, even if they weren’t very close and this date was kind of all for show, he still considered her a friend and he didn’t want to make her feel worse by not at least offering to listen to what was wrong.
Eventually, he cought up with her outside, where she was sitting very un-Erica like on the curb in front of the ticket booth, hugging her knees and looking down at her shoes. Reluctantly, he made his way over and sat down next to her, leaving enough room to escape if he really needed to, but not so much as to seem impersonal.
She didn't aknowledge his presence, but didn't seem to reject it either, so he just sat there quietly, giving her room to calm down.
“This was my first date,” he confessed after a moment, looking out across the parking lot instead of at her. He can feel her glaring back at the side of his head.
“No shit,” She laughed wetly, gently wiping her tears on the corner of her sleeve.
“Cut me some slack. I didn’t think I was doing so bad,” he jokes. “What gives?”
“This is so stupid,” she sighes, picking at loose string on the hem of her shirt. “I know you didn’t really want to do this with me today.”
He starts to object, but quickly decides against it, knowing Erica is too smart to fall for whatever excuse he could come up with.
“Just... thanks for coming, even if you had better shit to do. I just really miss my best friend, and hanging out with her. I know it’s fucking pathetic, and it’s only been a week, but it just really hit me in there. I was just supposed to do this with her. And I know you were trying your best to not make it awful, and I do appreciate it, but I’ve known you long enough to realize that you’re not really into whatever this is.”
“The movie? Nah, not really my genre,” he responds, knowing full well that’s not what she meant.
“Not what I meant.”
They’re both quiet for a while, just marinating in the uncomfortable new reality they’ve found themselves in.
After a while, Benny speaks up again.
“Look, I know how you feel. I’ve felt like I’m going completely nuts without Ethan. And yeah, it is kind of stupid. He’s actually the reason I asked you, he told me to, even.” He doesn’t mention the bet, he doesn’t want to make her feel even worse. “It’s like I practically don’t know who I’m supposed to be anymore without him beside me all the time. But I don’t want to just sit around letting myself be completely miserable and alone, feeling sorry for myself all the time, either. And I’d rather not give Ethan a reason to realize just how bummed out and pathetic I am without him around. He thinks you’d make me happy, so, here we are.”
The last thing Benny wants is to take advantage of Erica’s vulnerable emotional state, but it would be awfully convenient to fill all the new gaps in his free time spending time with Erica, who is great, instead of being jealous of Sarah.
Erica nodded in agreement, her face expressionless as she zoned out. Benny could tell she was still paying attention, though.
“I didn’t really want to come today, either,” she confessed in return, finally turning to face him. “I sort of just agreed to come hoping it’d piss Sarah off; me hanging out with someone that wasn’t her, to get her back. But I don’t think she really cares that much. She’s never been as territorial of our friendship as I have. Maybe I’m just selfish, I don’t know,” she adds, her tone dejected. “But I didn’t hate hanging out with you. You’re pretty alright for a dork.”
“Maybe we should do this more often, then,” Benny suggested, wringing his fingers nervously. Maybe he wasn’t really romantically attracted to her anymore, but he was still allowed to be afraid of rejection. “I mean, it would just kind of make sense. Since our best friends are dating.”
“I’m so out of your league, Weir,” She quipped, chuckling lightheartedly.
“Trust me, Jones, I’m aware. We aren’t even playing the same sport,” He assured her, with a laugh at his own expense. “I just don’t want to be alone. And I don’t think you do either.”
And of course Benny knows the goal should not be to make Ethan and Sarah jealous in return, but it was definitely a potential bonus of the proposal.
“I guess it doesn’t necessarily have to be entirely romantic,” She ponders, tilting her head. “We don’t have to label it, we can just hang out and play it up for Ethan and Sarah’s sake.”
“Then here’s to more not-dates in our future,” Benny said, raising an invisible glass in a toast. Erica rolled her eyes before begrudgingly mirroring the gesture.
“A toast to not-boyfriends, not-girlfriends, and to potentially making our friends jealous,” she added, clinking their invisible glasses together.
Maybe the bet had worked a little in his favor after all.