oblivious | benny. r

56.

T H A L I A

It was now 2 weeks later. Mom had given me a date to which we'd be leaving on. And that day had arrived.

My heart felt so heavy. Though I couldn't find any will to cry. Especially seeing how the boys were I did not want to make it worse and start crying in front of them.

My hand was tightly clutched onto Benny's who sat next to me. We sat in the living room with the rest of the boys that sat around on the couches.

It was quiet. No one said a word. And everyone was seemingly in their own thoughts. I knew I was, I was staring down at floor blankly. Extremely wishing now that this was just a dream.

Though I was staring at the floor I could tell who walked into the room, just by the sound of their familiar footsteps. "Thalia.. come on, baby"

I looked over to see Mom who was stood, her hands filled with a cardboard box and she sent me a warm smile.

I looked towards Benny who continued to stare down at the hardwood floor. I lightly tugged at his hand and slowly stood up from the couch.

Breathing in deeply I walked over towards Mom and she led me outside with the rest all slowly following behind.

Mom handed Andrew who was waiting by the car the box. Andrew sent me a small smile of comfort before climbing into the car.

I bit onto my lip, slowly turning around to face the group that stood together and stared back at me.

We all stared at each other for a moment before one broke out.

"Oh please don't go!" Squints suddenly bursted amongst the group.

My lips slightly curled up into a smile once he ran over and tackled me into a hug. Instantly I brought my arms around him and held him tightly.

We continued to embrace when impatient groans erupted from the group.

"Man, hurry up!" Kenny called out.

I attempted to pull from the hug when Squints tightened his grip. "Shut up and wait your turn!" He called back.

I smiled and lightly rubbed his back. "Oh Squints.. it's ok, you'll see Wendy Peffercorn at the pool again and forget all about me alright?" I playfully stated with a laugh.

He let out a scoff and I could feel him shake his head against my shoulder. "Oh who cares. Forget about Wendy, you're leaving me!"

I lightly chuckled and continued to rub his back before he slowly pulled away. Once we separated I sent him a smile, and pecked a kiss onto his cheek.

Immediately his mouth dropped, and his lips slowly curled up into a big smile. "Yes!"

I smiled at his cheering and slowly turned towards the next boy. Kenny, he stood and stared at me with his usual familiar smirk that he had when about to pitch a ball to me.

I shook my head at him, opening my arms to which he quickly walked into and embraced me back.

"Tootsie, let me just say.. in Arizona you should practice learning my curveballs" he playfully stated.