Back to Square One - Benny Rodriguez - Book 2

Trial Run

"You're staying over at Benny's?" dad asks me as I check that I have everything before I leave.

"Yeah." I confirm. "That's not a problem is it?"

"No, no. I just wanted to make sure I had it right." he tells me.

I know full well why he was asking and what he told me was a bunch of bullshit but I'd rather he say that than the actual thing.

Benny walks through the door soon enough and hugs me from behind.

"You good to go?" he whispers in my ear.

"Mhm." I hum and he pulls away slightly to guide me out the door with his hand on the small of my back.

"Have fun!" dad calls out as I walk through the door.

"I'll do my best!" I shout back before Benny closes the door.

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We get to the carnival and I head to the ticket booths when Benny pulls me to the entrance.

"What're you doing?" I ask him.

"I already got the tickets." he explains.

I pull my eyebrows together look at him skeptically.

He sees my expression and pulls out the wrist bands as proof.

"I came here before I picked you up so you wouldn't have the opportunity to try and buy it yourself." he tells me.

"You motherfucker. It's $2." I point out.

"Yep." he agrees casually.

"You couldn't let me spend $2?" I ask.

"Not when I could've done it for you."

You'd think that after this much time that what he says wouldn't make me blush anymore but nope. It's good as ever.

He hides no effort in smiling at my reaction to my words and puts one hand on the side of my head while he kisses the opposite cheek.

"I hate you." I mumble.

"I know you do, mi vida." he responds with that shit-eating grin getting bigger.

He pulls away from my cheek to pull me into a kiss and I don't hesitate to kiss him back. Every ounce of stubborn in me just washing away like it was never there in the first place.

"I'm gonna buy you that popcorn too." he mumbles against my lips before darting towards the entrance.

And now it's back.

"Benjamin Rodriguez!" I call out, running after him.

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We had met up with everyone after a few minutes of looking. They were sitting at one of the picnic tables so I sat down on the end next to Ivy.

"Hey." I say somewhat loud so they could all hear me.

They all say things back. Most of which were "hey" or "hi" but there was some other stuff I couldn't make out.

"Can we go on a ride now?" Ham complains. "They're here."

"You guys good to go?" Bertram asks us.

"I'm down." I agree with Benny nodding.

"Yes!" Ham whisper-yells as he gets up from the table, jumping in anticipation.

"I take it you won't be joining us." I say to Ivy.

"Nah. I don't want to upset anyone." she says in reference to her uterus.

"You gonna be good here by yourself?" Kenny asks her.

"Mhm." she says before we all walk off.

"Can we go on the big one?!" Ham yells.

"Whatever you want, man." I tell him and half the guys, including Ham, start running towards the entrance making the rest of us have to run to catch up to them.

I don't wanna do the whole "excuse me" thing while shoving myself through tight spaces in between people's bodies.

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The ride wait was only about 30 minutes and we waisted the time playing stupid games in line. Kenny even pulled out Heads Up for a good bit.

We're walking back to the table Ivy's supposed to be at and I see her there but the only problem is the person sitting opposite her.

I stop walking making Timmy crash into me from behind and everyone ask me what's wrong.

I only keep my eyes on the guy talking to Ivy and they eventually looked where I was staring.

"Who's he?" Kenny asks.

"No one you're gonna like." I tell him.

"That's the baby daddy, isn't it?" Benny whispers in my ear so Kenny can't hear him.

"Oh, yeah." I whisper back. "Wait here."

I walk over to the pair, glancing back at the guys to make sure they don't immediately follow me.

"I want to be apart of the kid's life." I hear him say as I walk up behind him.

Ivy sees me standing behind me and my eye widen, wordlessly questioning his presence.

She subtly puts her hand up, telling me to wait.

"What the fuck?!" I mouth.

She gives me a hand gesture that tells me to walk over to her and in his line of sight.

"Oh, uh... hey." he says when he sees me.

"Tory, this is Lily. My best friend." she introduces me.

"Oh... so you, uh..." he trails off.

"Mhm." I hum quickly, answering the question he didn't finish.

"Anyway, continue." Ivy tells "Tory" and he snaps his attention to her.

Tory. What the fuck kind of a name is that?

"Point is... I regret saying I didn't want to be to be there. I was just scared of what my parents would think." he says as I sit down on Ivy's right side. "We don't need to get together but I want to know my kid please."

"Hold." she tells me and pulls me to turn to the other side of the bench. "What'd you think?"

"Let the pregnancy be the trail run. You don't think he's dependable, he doesn't sign the birth certificate." I answer.

"I don't think I have the right to do that. He is the father." she tells me.

"If he isn't dependable, I don't think he'll put up much of a fight." I point out.

"That's true." she agrees and we turn back around to face him.

His eyes switch between the two of us serval times with an eager look.

"So..."

"You can be apart of the baby's life if you show up during the pregnancy." she informs him. "You don't show up now, you don't show up when the baby's born."

"Thank you so much." he says, actually sounding grateful. "You have my number so just let me know when you need me. Or should I always be there? Should we schedule something?"

"I haven't thought that far yet but I'll yet you know." she tells him. "Once you give me your number."

"Didn't I give it to you?" he asks.

"I deleted it when I thought you were a douchebag." she explains.

"Right." he says guiltily, pulling out his phone.