RUSH

Ch. 16: In Your Eyes

-Bennett-

I walked in through the gym's main entrance after pacing along the sidewalk for the better part of an hour, cautiously surveying the lobby while pushing the glass door forward. Despite my desire to lay low, I immediately caught sight of the one person I'd been hoping to avoid. Because of course.

Mason was sitting on one of the benches near the front, idly waiting by the entrance like a guard dog. A massive, intimidating one that took up most of the bench space and could crush me on a whim. He was also intimidatingly glaring ahead, which led to me apprehensively halting in my tracks.

I considered turning right back around, job be damned. And I would've left too... if he hadn't chosen that precise moment to glance up in my direction.

Mason shot up to his feet the moment our eyes met, his eyes widening.

"Bennett," he breathed out, stalking over before halting dead in his tracks. Mason's expression suddenly darkened with ire, his gaze souring so abruptly that I recoiled from the shock. His eyes narrowed sternly as he searched my face... and it was just—it was already too much.

A strenuous weight settled deep in my chest, my crestfallen body feeling so much weaker as I stood still... being picked apart. All by a mere glance. "Mason," I forced his name out while tightening my grip on the straps of my backpack, hoping that'd be enough of an acknowledgment.

I couldn't deal with that kind of expression today. Not from him.

"What happened?" He demanded.

"Huh?"

Then, before I even received a response, Mason was stalking forward once more. There was such clear determination written all over his face, so intense in nature, that I found myself stumbling back in response. I gritted my teeth at the sharp jabs of ache that sparked as I limped towards the main desk, shakily raising my ID card for Marissa to scan.

I didn't even bother to look up at her; she was likely bearing a similar expression.

"You still work here?" She sounded displeased, yet entirely unsurprised.

"I wish I didn't, if that makes you feel any better," I retorted quietly before stumbling around the desk and heading straight for the staff's locker room, where I'd patiently wait until it was time for my class to start.

"Ooh! Are you finally checking in?" Marissa asked the next person in line, voice suddenly confusingly... playful? "You were sitting over there for a while."

"Hmm, I guess so."

"Y'know you could've just asked for my number, right? No need to be shy," she coaxed in response.

I frowned at the sudden sugary sweetness in her voice, glancing back just as she scanned Mason's ID card. I perplexedly darted my eyes between them, huffing under my breath before meeting Mason's gaze once more. And there it was again, that same display of agitated displeasure that I already knew so well. It was staggering how easily I could detect it in Mason's eyes as well, or how familiarly suffocating it felt for it to be directed at me.

I turned right back around, only to anxiously halt once more at the sound of Mason's deep, imposing voice as it filled the lobby.

"Hey, can we please talk?" Mason called out from across the room. And I could've been projecting, but he sounded... nervous?