The Kissing Booth
It was a few minutes before eleven, and the platform was more crowded than Benedict had ever seen it.
“What a mob!” said Bell. “I don’t see any of our friends.”
“Let’s get on the train,” said Benedict. The twins had stashed their trunk already. Benedict stood on one of the train steps and gazed over the top of the crowd. “I see Ava and Kate.” Benedict waved, and the two girls made their way through the throng to the train steps. As the three girls exchanged hugs, the train whistle blew. “Let’s get a compartment,” he urged.
They found an empty compartment. Soon, it was full of girls, chatting away and giving hugs. Benedict waited nervously for Alyssa, Meriko and Freya to arrive. After their summer morning interlude, Alyssa wrote him a letter. She told him that she had spoken to the other girls about her plan, and that they were both skeptical of it. It was up to Benedict to make it work.
So, instead of going off to find Patrick Wren and the rest of his friends, Benedict waited with the girls. He sat next to his sister and greeted each girl with a smile and a wave as she entered the compartment.
The Little Coven entered together, Alyssa in the center, with Meriko and Freya on either side. Alyssa had reminded Benedict in her letter that he needed to mix things up, to not greet the girls in the same order every time. When he saw them enter, he stood and greeted them. “Hello! It’s great to see you three again.”
Meriko was closest to him, so he started with her. He put his arm around her and held her tightly for a moment, pressing his face into her hair. He heard her whisper, “We need to talk later.”
He moved on to Alyssa, holding her just as he had Meriko. Maybe it gave him a greater thrill to feel Alyssa’s blond curls against his cheek, but he tried not to show it. Freya watched him, tense and wary as a cat. When he reached out his arm, she slid into his embrace. He felt her hand dart into his coat to briefly clutch his shirt.
To sit down next to one of them, he figured, would place one of the three in a favored position. Not wanting to cause jealousy or division on his first attempt, he sat down where he had been sitting, by the window next to his sister. After engaging in a round of hugs and conversation with the other girls in the compartment, the Little Coven sat across from him. Meriko had moved to the center. Freya was pressed tight against the wall next to the window.
Alyssa seemed happiest in crowds of people, and in the past Benedict had used these busy moments to gaze at her. This time, his eyes went first to Meriko and then to Freya. Meriko was watching him, as if trying to catch him staring shamelessly at Alyssa. When Benedict met her gaze, she looked away.
Freya looked miserable. As the train pulled away from the station, she stared forlornly out the window, her face so close to the glass that her breath left behind a circle of fog.
After an hour of conversation, the food cart came along, and all the girls placed their orders. Benedict waited until everyone else had ordered before he bought a roast beef sandwich and four chocolate frogs. He thoroughly enjoyed the sandwich. There was yellow mustard on the meat, plus a leaf of romaine lettuce and a sliced pepperoncino. The bread was fresh and tangy.
When he was finished, he offered the chocolate frogs, first to Freya, then to Meriko and finally to Alyssa. Each girl took one and gave him back the collector card inside the package.
Meriko, after she finished her frog, whispered something to Alyssa. The three girls stood up in unison. Benedict followed suit, and the foursome went out into the hallway.
“I think the first stop should be the loo,” said Alyssa. Predictably, there was a line. Benedict patiently waited for the three girls to emerge again.
“I can’t believe how many people are on the train,” said Meriko. “Has it always been this crowded?”
“It is unusually crowded,” said Freya. “There are sixty First Years this term. It’s the biggest class Hogwarts has seen in decades. The post-war baby boom has finally reached campus.”
“Where did you learn all this?” asked Meriko.
“My sister is a Senior Prefect,” said Freya smugly. “She’s prefect coordinator this year, too. Wennie is definitely in the know.”
“So, you hate your sister,” said Alyssa, “but you brag about her.”
Freya, feigning shock, said, “I love my older sister! Especially when she’s not right here, bossing me around.” They all laughed.
“I love my older sister, too,” said Alyssa. “I just thought she’d have a boyfriend by now. She needs to take a break from studying every so often and flirt for a bit. She’ll end up an old maid, replacing Madam Pince as librarian no doubt.” The others laughed.
In their current car, all the compartments were occupied. They moved car by car until, in the last car, they found an empty compartment. They entered and sat down with the girls all on one side and Benedict alone on the other.
Meriko spoke to Benedict, her voice as stern as her dark eyes. “We heard from Alyssa about her little idea. I want to hear it from you. What is this game we are trying to play?”
Benedict kept his voice steady, though both Meriko and Freya’s eyes were boring into him. “I’m asking to be your boyfriend – the boyfriend of the Coven.”
“And how will that work, exactly?” pressed Freya.
“Like it has been working,” said Benedict. “Just like today, and at the station at the end of last term, and that night near Christmas when we walked around the castle together. Everybody gets a hug.”
“Boyfriends do more than give hugs,” said Meriko. “Are we kissing?”
Before Benedict could respond, Freya said, “I heard there was more than hugs between you and Alyssa this summer, when you were supposedly cooking all this up.”
Benedict chose to leave Freya’s statement unchallenged. Instead, he said, “Look, I don’t want to force someone into anything. I could date you one at a time, if you think it would be easier.”
“Who would you start with though?” asked Meriko. “And when would you break up? Would it be on a schedule?”
“Sounds like those unscrupulous men,” remarked Freya, “who dump their wives right before the prenup terms kick in.”
“Can’t you see why my idea is better?” interjected Alyssa. “Nobody has to wait. Nobody gets dumped. Everything is fair and even.”
“That will be my job,” said Benedict. “I’ve been trying to keep things even all day.”
Freya leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. Meriko said to Alyssa, “You had a private moment with Bennie. I want a private moment, too.”
Benedict looked to Alyssa, who nodded. She had anticipated something like this. For their plan to work, they were going to have to accept whatever conditions the other two put forth. Alyssa stood and said, “Alright, Freya and I will step out into the hallway. You and Bennie can have your private moment, and then it will be Freya’s turn. And then, we’ll be even.”
Alyssa and Freya left the room. Meriko and Benedict stared at one another, still sitting on opposite benches. “How long do I get?” asked Meriko. “I bet she had more than a minute with you.” When he nodded, she pressed. “How long was it?”
“Wasn’t keeping track of time. We talked for a while and then … we weren’t talking.”
“Your mouths were otherwise occupied.” His blush gave her the answer she needed. She stood and beckoned him with her finger. He stood up and she draped her hands around his neck. They swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the wheels on the rails.
“Look,” said Benedict, “I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Nobody’s forcing me to do anything,” said Meriko. “Are we forcing you?”
“No.”
“You want me and Freya as much as you want Alyssa?”
Her dark eyes bored into him. There was no way he could lie to her. “You know what I want. This is the only way it’s going to work. Believe me, it’s not a hardship.”
The train rolled through a slow curve, and she stumbled against him, nearly knocking him down into the seat. She laughed as he held her tightly. “Not a hardship,” she repeated, “but something feels hard.”
“I’m a boy. Can’t be helped.”
“You’re gonna have to do better than that.”
“You’re beautiful and I’m holding you and I like it.”
“That’s better.” Her eyes gazed deeply once more into his. “Show me one thing you did with Alyssa.” He considered his potential moves before deciding to bring his hand up to her breast.
She laughed. “So typical. Now,” her eyes boring so deeply he felt he could see everything he had ever done, “show me something you didn’t do.”
It was, he saw in retrospect, a classic Slytherin command, as it fulfilled more than one objective. It revealed to her imagination the limits of the play between Alyssa and Benedict, which the two had both been coy about. It also gave her an experience Alyssa didn’t yet have, to make up for the uneven amounts of private time with Benedict.
Again, Benedict took his time deciding what to do. At last, he stretched out his hand, slid it under the hem of her skirt, across her bottom and along her thick black tights.
“Alright,” she said. “I’m in. But if we’re doing this, that stuff with Lara Guishar has got to stop.”
“Lara and I are just friends.”
“She can’t be taking you to some social this year as her friend. Not if you are officially Ours.”
“Fine. If something comes up, I will politely decline.”
They broke their embrace. Meriko went out into the hallway and Freya took her place. This encounter Benedict had been much more anxious about. He was deeply fond of Freya and valued her friendship. Now that he knew her true feelings for him, he was afraid this game would do to her emotionally.
Freya moved past him and stood looking out the window, holding onto the sill to keep her balance. “I don’t know why I’m here,” she said. “I don’t know if you really want me here.”
Benedict stood behind her and set his hand on her shoulder. “You looked so sad during lunch today. I wanted to put my arms around you right then. I didn’t know how to make you feel better.”
She turned around, and the two embraced. They sat down together. Freya tucked up her knees and leaned fully into Benedict. “I hate those crowded compartments. I get so claustrophobic! I have to sit either by the door or the window. I need to be able to escape when I need to, even if it’s just an escape inside my head. Alyssa comes alive in crowds. The more the merrier. Probably why she cooked up this crazy scheme.”
“You did okay when it was just the four of us. You were the only one who knew about all the extra First Years.”
“Did Meriko say yes to this?”
“Yes.”
“So if I don’t do it, I’m going to wreck everything and it will be all my fault.”
“I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do,” said Benedict.
She lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. “But that makes it sound like you don’t want me at all!”
“Freya, I want you to be part of this. I’ve always enjoyed being with you. Remember hanging out with me at my house that one time? We had such a great time talking. I never know what to say around Meriko. I really don’t know her that well. I’m a lot more relaxed around you.”
“But when it’s just you and me, are we just going to talk?”
She held her head in front of his, her lips in a pout, and waited, daring him to make a move. He touched her cheek with his finger, and her expression softened. He leaned in closer, she closed her eyes, and he kissed her gently on the mouth.
“How was that?” he asked.
“That was good.” She sighed and tightly clutched him. Then she pressed her lips into his once more. “Okay, I’m in. We’ll do this.”
They stood, and Benedict opened the compartment door. Outside in the hallway, waiting with Alyssa and Meriko, was Patrick Wren, Matt Duffy and Tim Flannery.
“What do you got going on here, Took?” asked Patrick. “You running a kissing booth?”
“That’s it, Patrick!” said Alyssa, slyly. “Five sickles a peck, proceeds going to charity.”
Patrick dug into his pockets and drew out three silver coins. “Looks like I’m two short,” he said.
Alyssa laughed. “Maybe next time.”
Patrick stepped towards Benedict and said, “You good?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I’ll be staying with these three a while longer.”
“And don’t worry about Dennison,” said Alyssa. “We’ll handle him.”
“Alright then. I’ll see you later.” The two boys shook hands, and Patrick let the other two boys away.