Training Wheels ♥︎ Book 1

Chapter 2

Ben woke up to the smell of eggs. He sat up in bed and stretched out his body, flexing his arms. He ran his fingers through his wavy black shoulder-length hair (which was one of his favorite physical qualities, he'd grown it out to his desired length over the summer, much to his mother's disapproval) and stood up. Ben threw on a Panic! at the Disco t-shirt (which Rey had made him wear after she got it at their concert, Ben had hardly heard any of their songs), yesterday's jeans (which Rey had very kindly washed and ironed for him, God bless her soul) and combed his hair in the mirror.

He went into the kitchen to see Rey with her back to the stove, a spatula in her hand. She didn't even turn around, but she said, "Morning, Benny!" She looked around to smile at him and she carried over a plate with an omelette on it to the table, setting it down. "I made yours with bacon on it, I remember you said you liked it."

Damn, Ben hadn't eaten omelettes (or bacon, for that matter) since he early summer and he was thankful that Rey remembered he liked it. He'd even forgotten he'd liked it. Ben went over to Rey and hugged her. "What would I do without you?"

"Crash and burn, probably. Now eat up. We both need to be in class by 8:30... we have half an hour."

Rey went back into the kitchen to get her omelette, and Ben started eating his. So damn good. He was lucky that Rey would cook for him and herself, he pitied the other college freshmen that would be living off Instant Noodle for breakfast, lunch and dinner by the end of the trimester. Almost like she read his mind, Rey called to Ben from the kitchen, "But it's your turn to cook tonight, don't forget!"
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Around 5 minutes later, Ben and Rey said goodbye and departed from each other, Rey going to the science building and Ben to the math one.

Ben had no first-day jitters, surprisingly to him, and the day passed on quickly and smoothly. The teachers basically introduced themselves and read through the syllabus, just like in high school. Ben, being the attentive student he wanted to be, paid attention to all of his teachers (even the ones who were boring as hell). He walked to Chipotle a couple blocks away from campus for lunch, after 5th period.

Ben came back to school campus and made his way to the English building. Freshman literature; English was always a class Ben enjoyed. He went into the building and found the room number, stepping inside. A woman with a tight bun in her hair looked up at him from the desk, smiled (forceful-looking, Ben thought) and welcomed him. Ben nodded and took at look at the assigned seating chart on her desk (even in college, they still had assigned seating charts?!). He walked over to a desk in the middle of the back row, right next to a dude looking down at his phone. Ben sat down and looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

The dude had dark brown skin and darker brown hair, but his eyes were a light-ish chocolate-y color. Ben wanted to introduce himself, but the bell for class rang. Ben watched the rest of the students. The guy powered off his phone and shifted his body to put it in his back pocket, glancing at Ben for a second before looking to the front of the classroom.

The professor began to talk for a minute, and then the guy turned around in his seat and faced Ben. "Is that a Panic! at the Disco shirt?" He asked, whispering so the professor wouldn't hear.

Ben looked down at his shirt; he'd forgotten what he was wearing. "Yeah, I believe." He whispered back. "My cousin got it for me."

"Oh, cool! You listen to them?"

"No, I've heard, like, 2 of their songs on the radio or something. My cousin's a huge fan. She went to their concert in the summer."

"Same! And dude, you gotta listen to their music. They're freaking amazing! Like their new album... I literally can't-" The guy laughed softly and looked down at the ground for a second, then back up at Ben. He outstretched his hand for Ben to shake. "I'm Finn, by the way."