Not a Love Story

Sixteen // Drunk and Lost

Oliver Greene

Mom had brought down pizza just as Ben was finishing up his notes and I was prepping a practice test for him. Ben jumped at the chance to take a break, quickly piling pieces of pizza onto his plate before sitting back down, shoving his bio stuff out of the way.

"Your mom is awesome." Ben said, chewing his pizza.

"She only brought us food because you used your parent charming skills on her." I replied, rolling my eyes. Ben laughed and shook his head.

"I don't know what you're referring to." he said, feigning innocence. I shook my head and took another bite of my pizza.

We ate in comfortable silence until Ben's phone dinged. He grabbed it and sighed as he read the message, typing out a quick response.

"I have to head out in about an hour. Josh is making me go to some party or something." Ben said, sighing and putting his phone away.

"That should be enough time for you to get through this practice test." I said, gesturing towards the packet I had sitting next to me, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach. He nodded and reached for the paper, immediately getting to work. I grabbed his trash and threw it away with my own, getting a quiet thanks as he continued working.

I read as Ben worked, glancing over the top of the pages to see how he was doing, trying not to let my eyes linger. When he was done, he let out a breath and slid it across the table to me.

"Done." he sighed. I grabbed my pen and went through it, feeling his eyes on me as I corrected his work.

"80 percent." I said, smiling at him as I handed him his paper.

"Whoa, sweet." he said, smiling down at the paper in his hands.

"Just make sure you study the notes you took today and look over what you did wrong. If you have any questions just text me." I said, Ben nodding as he listened.

"Will do. Thanks, Ollie." he said, packing up his backpack and standing up.

"Yeah, no problem." I replied, standing up to take him back upstairs. My mom and Henry were watching TV in the living room when we emerged from the basement.

"Thank you for having me, Beth." Ben said, a charming smile on his face.

"You're welcome anytime. It was lovely to meet you, Ben." she said, offering him a smile back.

"Thank you, you as well. I'll see you at practice on Monday, Greene." Ben said. Henry nodded in acknowledgment before I led him to the door. "We're still on for Monday, right?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. I'll have practice tests ready so you can get ready for Tuesday." Ben nodded, seemingly nervous. "You're going to do just fine. Seriously, you don't need to worry." I tried to reaffirm. Ben met my eyes and nodded.

"Thanks, Ollie. See you Monday." he said, waving as he headed to his car.

"See you Monday." I responded, closing the door as he got into the car. I joined my brother and mom in the living room, flopping on the couch next to my mom.

"He's sweet. He's the captain of the team, right Henry?" my mom asked.

"Yeah. A bunch of scouts are coming out to watch him this season after coach sent them some of our game footage." Henry replied.

"Oh wow! That's impressive." mom replied, looking back at the TV. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around myself, feeling Henry's eyes on me. I glanced over at him.

"What?" I asked. He just shrugged.

"Nothing. You just seem happy." Henry said, smirking before looking back at the TV. My mom looked over at my confused face.