head over heels | benny rodriguez, the sandlot

| chapter thirty five |

"Baby? Giselle?" I heard a gentle voice call to me through the cracks of my room, flooding my brain as I slightly awoke.

Grandma had interrupted my dream - a very enjoyable dream might I add - where Johnny Depp and I explored the mountains together. Of course, though, my mind isn't set on any other guy besides Benny.

I spent the rest of the night at his house as he recapped the several days I missed and vice versa. They ended up postponing the ball retrieval initially to wait for my return, but after I skipped practice for a few days, they went through with the plans, and we all know how that turns out. The team is pretty shit at explaining things, so Benny - or should I say Benny the Jet - cleared it up the timeline, and I now understand why there's been a huge dog lurking by the dugout for the past few days!

Anywho, I had the most perfect night with him last night, meaning I can finally go to practice in peace.

"I made your favorite, pancakes!"

Pancakes!

I immediately rolled over, lugging my partially limp body towards the door as I felt my muscles stretch with every footstep.

Eagerly swinging the door open, I was greeted by my short-haired, petite grandmother, wearing a pastel pink robe and hot rollers. "You know me so well."

-

"So dear..." Grandma muttered as she stared apprehensively at me while I delicately ingested every morsel of syrup.

"Mhm?" I mumbled back, struggling to speak with the slight food in my mouth.

She tapped her foot before replying. "What have you been up to? You know, your Grandpa and I are awfully busy, I feel like I'm missin' out on your whereabouts." The woman seemed, nervous almost, as she quickly avoided my eye contact.

She could be talking about a lot of things, I don't even wanna know.

I narrowly choked at the question, gulping down my bite as I sat there in silence. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I dunno. What have you been doin' this summer?"

"Not much, just playing baseball with my friends at the lot down the street. That's about it." I fibbed.

"Really?" My obvious lies clearly couldn't deceive her, though her old age made me believe I could convince her otherwise.

"Met this really nice girl too. She's awesome." I smiled, staring at my plate.

Grandma leaned back in her chair, "You still dating that boy?"

Fuck. What's his name?

I remember lying about dating some imaginary boy after she found Benny's pants in the wash, but I never expected this to bite me in the ass as hard as it just did.

"Um."

"What was his name again?"

"..." We sat there in silence for an eternity until she answered her own question. "Bobby Renolds! Thats it! You still seein' that boy?"

Wiping the sweat off my forehead as the breath returned to my body, I responded plainly. "Oh yeah, Bobby! Actually, I broke up with him a while ago."

A frown adorned the woman's face. "Oh really, what a shame. Now, why is that?"

Licking my lips, I answered as honestly as possible. "I dunno, the distance thing just didn't work out... a-and I met another boy."

"Aw honey, I'm glad you've found your people here. What's his name?"

"Benny. Benny Rodriguez."

"How about you set up a time for this nice boy to swing by for dinner? I'd love to meet him."