The Racquet Accident

Chapter Nine: Adult-Napper.

Chapter Nine: "Adult-Napper."

"YOU OKAY?" YASMEEN asked as she came in from the kitchen to the living room, her bag over her shoulder telling me she was about to leave for class. Jaime sat next to me on the couch, her eyes skimming words in a textbook. We'd been seated here for almost two hours doing our work. 

But why were Yasmeen's eyes only on me when she asked that question?

"Yes," I said tentatively. "Why?"

"You've been a little bit..." Yasmeen shrugged once she came into my focus, extending the Tupperware filled with carrots in her hand. She gestured for me to take one. I took a carrot as she continued, "on edge. Since I saw you come into the house this morning."

"I had a tough practice," I said, chewing on the carrot as she offered the little tub to Jay. Jay took it without breaking her concentration from her book.  

"You sure?" Yasmeen asked again as she put the carrots into her bag. 

I nodded. She didn't press any further, meaning that she wasn't going to think about it anymore. If Yas thought something was wrong, she would have asked me about the situation until I said what was wrong. To be honest, she might have missed her class for me. 

Yet when Yasmeen bid us goodbye, Jaime twisted to me, closing her textbook shut. "What's wrong with you?"

Huh? "Nothing," I said, glancing down at my watch. I needed to meet Liya at the gym soon. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me," She narrowed her gaze. "But something is wrong with you. What is it?"

"Nothing is bothering me." 

How tense did I really look anyway? I glanced down at my laptop screen. My assignment had been forgotten about half an hour ago due to online shopping. But online shopping took a pause when I started browsing through Instagram and landed on a page I didn't think I'd ever touch again. 

Benny's. 

Ugh. No wonder Yasmeen and Jay thought something was bothering me. I didn't even get here intentionally. I was looking through my feed. Then looking at my feed led to me on the search bar...of my burner account. This led me to look through a specific Marvel fan's account that was public until I started looking through his tags. And as I looked through his tags, I found multiple images and suddenly I was scowling looking through Benny's pictures. 

While looking at his account, I realized three things. One: their hockey team didn't make it to the quarter-finals of playoffs last year (Karma.). Two: he still couldn't take pictures to save his life. Three: Ashley was nowhere to be found on his account. 

"Are you sure?" Jaime asked, pulling me back to attention on her. 

I closed my laptop. No Benny. No Ashley. Apparently, no public Benny and Ashley either. "I'm sure."

"You certain?"

I patted her on the head to which she feigned a scowl as she batted my hand away, "I'm certain."

The lack of Ashley on his account did not bother me. It confused me only because in that short conversation with her, she made it seem like they were really together. I knew that if they really were together, he would have posted her. But that wasn't something I genuinely cared about. It was the conversation from a few hours ago that bothered me. Slightly.

Not out of jealousy. Fuck Ashley. Fuck Benny or whatever the hell she called him.

Bens. The thought of that nickname made me want to vomit.