Guilty Pleasure

11. Scared

I kept myself busy on Monday during school by methodically avoiding Ben and any mention of him whatsoever.

It was harder than what I’d initially anticipated. I didn’t usually see him much in school, as pretty much all of our classes seemed to be on opposite sides of the building, but today it seemed as though he was everywhere. Every time I’d see him, I’d duck my head down or go into the nearest classroom to avoid coming face to face with him. I wasn’t ready for the inevitably awkward conversation.  

Every time I saw him, I’d get the urge to pull him to the side and talk to him, but I forced myself to stay away. I didn’t want to risk it.

While avoiding him wasn’t extremely complicated, avoiding the subject with my friends was. They were still insistent on getting details, and I knew that if I evaded their questions for too long and they noticed, they would get suspicious and try to figure out what was going on. The whole time I spent with any of them, my mouth was constantly spouting random topics as unrelated to Ben as possible that would hopefully keep them both entertained and distracted.

I managed to slowly push through most of the day undisturbed, right up until I entered last-period Physics. I moved to take my regular seat near the back of the class and saw a smiling Mark sitting on my desk. Remembering my promise to tell him about my date today at school, I looked around the class, hoping in vain that our teacher would walk in and make us be quiet until class was over and I could bolt.

To my dismay, the teacher didn’t walk in, and I knew that when he did, he’d just give us a couple of problems to work on and zone out for the rest of the period. Mark knew it as well, and I watched in dread as he made himself comfortable in the seat next to me, not even bothering to start the conversation immediately.

Once we were settled – we weren’t even doing problems today, just vocabulary – I looked around, hoping there was somebody else in the class who I was relatively close with so I could pretend to have to talk to them about something urgent. There was nobody, of course; my Physics classes were always spent goofing around with Mark.

I scribbled on my paper, getting my work done quickly in an attempt to distract myself before Mark interrupted me. “Elle? I need you to answer a couple of questions for me.”

“I don’t need to answer anything.”

“But you will. Come on, Elle, please. I need to know if I lost another bet with Mae.” He winked at me. “Please.”

Of course it’s because you want to win a bet. I rolled my eyes at him and motioned for him to start talking, knowing that he’d manage to get the information out of me anyways – one way or another.

“All right, answer me with yes or no: Did you go out on Saturday?”

“'But-“

“Yes or no. It’s not that hard. You can try to explain yourself after.”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“Did you have a nice time on the date?”

“Yes.”

“Did you kiss?”

I grimaced as I realized that despite the situation, my cheeks still reddened and my lips tingled at the memory. “Maybe?” He clearly wasn’t amused. “But-“

“Shh.”

“Mark!”

“Answer.”

“Fine. Yes.”

He grinned, making me regret ever saying anything. “I knew it. This isn’t a yes or no question – but it’s the most important question. When are you two going out again?”