His Flower [DISCONTINUED]

19: Lunch

A few days later, Lily and I were in the cafeteria lineup. We'd been so caught up in our conversation that we hadn't realized we were holding up the line. That was, until someone called us out.

"Move up!" the voice snapped.

We abruptly stopped talking and turned around to face the culprit. Suddenly, a smile fell onto my face.

"Hey there, Benny."

My friendly greeting was met with a scowl.

"You two," he growled.

"Hey, what'd I do?" Lily said indignantly.

"You're friends with Rose. I dislike you by association," he unabashedly said.

"Hey," I frowned indignantly.

Benny dramatically rolled his eyes. "Would you move already? You're holding up the line."

I raised my arms at his tone and continued walking.

"Jeez! You're awfully rude today."

"What's new?" he blandly asked from behind me.

"Lighten up, Benny Bear," I sarcastically smiled, recalling the nickname I'd given him.

"Rose!" he yelped, looking around at the people behind us in the lunch line.

Lily and I glanced at each other in confusion. Just as we gathered our food, we were suddenly dragged towards a random table in the cafeteria.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked in confusion, while I wrenched my arm away from Benny.

"Just sit."

We listened and skeptically sat down, while Benny settled down across from us.

"You." He pointed a long finger oddly close to my face. "You've gotta stop it."

"Stop what?" I asked, laughing at how angry he looked.

"This," he looked around and drastically lowered his voice. "Stop with the teasing. Stop calling me Benny Bear. Stop bringing up that night. I wasn't crying. I'm telling you–I have allergies!"

"Allergies?" Lily quirked a brow.

"Whatever you say, Benny Bear," I sighed. Lily giggled.

Benny actually facepalmed. "You're never gonna listen to me, are you?"

It was a rhetorical question, one that I flashed a dazzling smile at.

"Alright, how about this," I finally proposed. "You let me call you Benny Bear, and I never bring up the night you cried in front of us, if it means that much to you."

Benny glanced at me thoughtfully. "Okay. But why do you wanna call me that?"

"It can be like our thing! After all, we're practically best friends," I grinned.

He coughed in repulsion. "No we're not!"

"Yet," I grinned.

Benny looked absolutely disgusted at the idea of us being friends.

"Okay," he finally said. "Point is, I've got a reputation around here. I don't want anyone finding out about... that night."

"What night?"

The three of us jumped, looking up to see Antonio standing behind Benny.

"Oh, hey," Benny outstretched his hand to give Antonio a bro-shake.

Surprisingly, Antonio only glared at Benny and ignored the hand, taking a seat beside him.

Lily and I shared looks. Weren't the two of them best friends? What was the problem?