Whatever Happens

Chapter 15

Dean and I were careful not to show much affection in front of Ben after that. Occasionally, we held hands and that was about it. Ben didn't seem much better though. I still caught plenty of those strange looks.

He and Hailey weren't obviously fighting, but every now and then, I noticed tension between them. And Ben was just acting a little off, in general. Maybe no one else noticed, but I could tell something was going on with him.

I wanted to talk to him about it, but I also didn't want to. All I could guess was that this was about me and Dean, and we'd already modified our behavior around him. What more could we do? I wasn't about to break up with Dean because our relationship made Ben uncomfortable.

I did feel bad that he was apparently having trouble with it though. I knew that feeling very well. Though, of course, with me it was a little bit different.

"Hey," Dean said when I met him before lunch. "Do you mind if we skip today?"

"You're not hungry?"

"No, I am," he said. "I just thought we could go off campus and get something."

"Okay, sure," I said, pulling my phone from my pocket. "Let me see if Ben and Hailey want to come."

"Becca." The tone in his voice stopped me and I looked up curiously.

"I was kind of thinking it could just be us," he said.

"Oh," I said, a little surprised. "Alright. I'll just tell Ben not to wait."

I sent a quick message and put my phone back in my pocket before we started walking.

"Any reason you feel like going alone?" I asked after a minute. It was strange that Dean didn't want Ben and Hailey around right now, not that I minded some alone time with him. But we'd done plenty of things together, and I didn't think he had anything romantic on his mind.

"It's nothing," he tried.

I raised my eyebrow, believing that about as much as he believed me when I said it.

He laughed at my expression and then sighed.

"Alright," he said. "Ben and I... need a little space."

"What?" I was so surprised, I stopped walking.

Dean turned to me. "We've just been spending a little too much time together."

"What are you talking about?" I wanted to laugh, but Dean seemed so serious. "You're not together that much." With Dean's schedule and the time he spent with me, he wasn't in his room very often. Other than that, he only saw Ben at lunch Tuesdays and Thursdays and a few other random times during the week, or if we all went out. I almost saw Ben more than Dean did.

"I think you were right before," he said. "And wrong. I think Ben is having trouble with us. But you were wrong when you said it wasn't me."

"What?" I said in disbelief. "Ben liked you before I did."

"I know. But lately, it's like he decided that he didn't any more. Now there's always this tension in the room. There's always something bothering him about me. He'll snap at me for nothing and it just seems like he wants to fight or something."

"Ben doesn't snap at people," I said. He was one of the most easy-going people in the world.

Dean huffed, looking frustrated and suddenly, I wasn't so sure. Ben had never been the kind of person to lose his temper easily before, but he had been acting weird for a while. And I certainly didn't think Dean was making it up.