June 15, 2021

We all sat around telling funny stories and laughing until we cried for about an hour. I had completely forgotten about Jake. Benny stayed extra close to me though. I didn't mind it, It made me feel safe.

"So you guys did all of that when you could've just knocked on his door?" I said laughing.

"Yeah, I almost died because Squints said Mr. Mertle would kill us if we knocked on his door." Benny said leaning against a box behind him.

"And I almost got blown up because of it." Timmy said, leaning over and smacking Squints on the arm. "I had sawdust in my ear for a month."

"For a month!" Tommy copied, also leaning over to smack Squints.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know he wasn't like people said in the stories?" Squints said smacking Timmy and Tommy back on their arms.

I laughed so hard I almost peed myself, but I held it in because I didn't want to pee in a bush like the guys did.

After the guys all finished giving Squints crap for not letting them just go and knock on the door when they had hit that baseball into Mr. Mertles backyard, we sat in silence.

"Hey!" I said with a mischievous smirk on my face. "You know what we should do?"

"What?" they all said at the same time. It was almost creepy.

"Back in Texas, at parties and stuff, we would all play truth or dare. That would be fun right?"

"Yeah yeah, that sounds fun!" Yeah Yeah said.

The rest of the guys agreed by nodding their heads.

"I'll go first..." I said looking around to choose who to pick first. "Smalls, you seem like a goodie two shoes, truth or dare."

Smalls's eyes went wide. "Oh, um, truth." he said nervously.

"Alright, what's the worst thing you've done, besides hitting your dad's ball signed by Babe Ruth into the backyard with 'the beast'" I said 'the beast' as dramatically as possible.

"Oh... I don't know. I mean, one time I helped a kid shoot a spitball at the teacher, but I didn't actually shoot it, he did." he said, obviously scared as if he was going to get in trouble.

I gasped dramatically and said "oh my gosh! You devil!" which made everyone including him laugh.

"Alright Smalls, now your turn." Benny said.

"Um, Squints, truth or dare." he said looking over to squint's who was stuffing his face with a S'more.

"Dare." he said, his mouth full of marshmallow.

"I dare you... to... Lick the bottom of Ham's foot."

Squint's swallowed the food in his mouth and looked at Smalls as if he was crazy.

"What?" he yelled.

Ham started taking his shoe off, leaving just the sock, while smiling at Squints.

"No, I'm not doing that. I don't know where that foot has been!"

"Oh come on, my feet aren't that bad." Ham said taking off the sock.

His foot reeked. I could smell it from the other side of the treehouse. We all, except for Ham who was probably used to the smell, put our shirts over our noses to block the smell.

"Get your foot fungus away from the s'more stuff you idiot!" Bertram yelled.

Ham pushed his foot closer to Squints face, who was sitting right next to him, making Squints gag.

"Do I have to?" he said plugging his nose.

"A dares a dare man!" Benny yelled.

Yeah Yeah started chanting "do it! Do it! Do it!" Which made the rest of us join in.

Squints closed his eyes and leaned in, still holding his nose so he wouldn't smell it, until...

"Oh my gosh, he actually did it!" Smalls yelled with his eyes wide open.

Squints had the most disgusted look on his face. "Hurry up and put your sock back on before I throw up on you, you disgusting child." he yelled at Ham.

Ham finally put his sock and shoe back on and we all could breathe without crying from the stench again.

The game went on for a while. No one called on me for a while. I was enjoying not being tortured by any dares.

When it got to be Bertram's turn to ask someone after attempting to do a handstand as his dare, he asked Benny.

"Dare." Benny said confidently, crossing his arms.

He and I were right next to each other, our shoulders touching. We were not expecting what Bertram was about to say at all.

Bertram sat there, stroking his chin, trying to think of a dare, until his face lit up and he sent Benny a mischievous look.

"I dare you..." he paused, gaining suspense. "...to kiss Ella."

Everyone's jaws dropped. Ham choked on his third s'more of the night.

My face turned bright red, and so did Benny's. He looked over at me, his eyes wider than I've ever seen him before.

"Just on the cheek right?" Benny asked nervously laughing.

"Nope. On the lips." Bertram said, making everyone's jaw drop even more.

"But she has a boyfriend." Smalls said in shock.

"We broke up." I said, a slight frown forming on my face.

All the boy's heads shot towards me, their mouths still wide open.

"Perfect!" Bertram said smiling. "Hope you brought some mints Benny man."

"Can you guys just look away then?" Benny said putting his forehead in the palm of his hand.

"Then it wouldn't count if no one saw it." Squints said. "A dare is a dare man." He said in a babyish voice, mocking what Benny told him earlier when he had to lick Ham's foot.

He looked at me, so I looked at him. Our faces were inches apart so we both scooted away from each other at the same time.

"Come on! I had to make out with Hams's foot! Ella is a MAJOR upgrade." Squints said.

"Hey! Don't say that about Sallie!" Ham said putting his hand on the foot that Squints licked.

"You named your foot?" DeNunez said judgingly while slowly turning his head towards ham.

"You didn't?" Ham said, shaking his head with a disgusted look on his face.

"Are you gonna do it or what?" Bertram said still eyeing Benny.

"Well... I-"

"It's okay Benny." I said putting my hand on his shoulder, making him look into my eyes. "It's just a dare right?" I laughed nervously.

"Right." He said with the same nervous laugh like me.

"How bad could it be?" I said shrugging my shoulders even though my face was almost as red as my hair.

"Yeah..." he said, his eyes still wide and staring into mine. "Except I don't know how."

"It's okay." I whispered, not breaking eye contact. "Just put your hand on my cheek, and I'll lead." I made sure to say it quiet enough so no one else would hear but Benny.

He slowly put his hand on my bruised cheek, like I told him to do he was covering my face from the boys, and I put my hand on his chest. His heart was racing, I Don't blame him. Mine was too.

Our faces were now inches away from each other again. His eyes were still staring into my soul.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready." he said.

He leaned in, his lips crashing onto mine. I slowly moved my hand from his chest to the back of his neck. His lips were soft and gentle. Our lips moved perfectly in sync with each other until he slowly pulled away, although it felt like he didn't want to. To be honest, I didn't want him to either.

He took his hand off my cheek and put it back on the ground by his side, so I took mine off his neck and put it beside me.

No one said anything, We just sat there looking into each other's eyes.

"Woah." Benny said finally breaking the silence.

"Benny kissed a girl!" Ham yelled, making Benny and I turn and look at the rest of the boys.

Their mouths were still dropped and all their eyes were wide, except for Tommy because Timmy covered his eyes so he wouldn't see.

Benny and I turned back to look at each other and started dying laughing.

All the boys ran over and attacked Benny with punches on the arm and high fives which made me laugh even more.

"Alright Benny!" Squints said putting a hand on his shoulder. "Welcome to the club."

"The club?" Benny said, still overwhelmed from just being swarmed by all the boys.

"Yeah. You and I are the only ones who've had their first kiss." Squints said proudly.

I facepalmed and laughed. My heart was still racing and my face was as red as a tomato. That kiss was actually really good for his first time.

I thought about how I had come to the treehouse just to take my mind off of Jake, and now I had kissed Benny Rodriguez. Wow. I started laughing which made all the guys look at me confused.

After our kiss, we decided to stop playing truth or dare and go to bed since it was already 12:30 am.

My sleeping bag was next to Benny's and DeNunez's. When everyone but Benny and I were asleep, I took the wrap of my wrists and shoved them into my bag, then put on one of my dad's sweatshirts that I took from him because they were big and warm. Benny, DeNunez, and I were closest to the entryway to the inside of the treehouse, so I was freezing.

"Night." Benny said with a smile.

"Night." I said blushing.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep. I already had so much on my mind and now, Benny and I's kiss was apart of that mess.

After I made sure everyone else was asleep, I quietly got out of my sleeping bag and walked out onto the balcony of the treehouse. I leaned my elbows on the railing and looked up to see the sky clear and full of stars.

My mom used to tell me when I was little that when a family member died, their spirit flew up into the sky to become a star, that's why some are brighter than others. If they were a happy soul, their star would be brighter. I looked for the brightest star I could find until my eyes landed on the perfect one. At that moment, I could feel her with me. A warmth came over my body and I smiled. This was the closest I've felt to my mom in a long time. A tear fell from my eye.

"Hey, you okay?" Someone whispered from behind me.

I turned my head to see Benny leaning against the door frame.

"Oh yeah, I just couldn't sleep. Sorry if I woke you." I said smiling.

"I was already awake. I couldn't sleep either." He walked over and leaned his back against the railing next to me and looked up. "I love the stars." He said smiling.

"Me too."

"I have a question." he said looking back down at me with his arms crossed.

"I have an answer." I said still looking at the stars.

He waited a moment before asking, "Was I good?"

"What?" I said, my head shooting over back towards him.

"You know, the kiss..." He said looking down at his feet. "Was it good?"

The stars were shining perfectly on him. His olive skin was glowing and his hair was a little messy but it was still perfect somehow. I had just realized how beautiful he was.

I didn't exactly know how to respond to that, so I did the only thing that came to mind... and the only thing I really wanted to do. I grabbed his face with both my hands and forced him to look at me. I hesitated for a moment before pulling him down into a kiss.

He pulled away for a seacond, but then looked into both my eyes and kissed back. This time it was more passionate. Our mouths moved perfectly together as he put his arms around my waist and moved me to where my back was against the railing instead of his. He had to lean down a little because he was taller than me but it didn't seem like a problem for him. It felt like fireworks were going off behind us like in those cheesy romantic movies, but in this case, it was just the stars and the full moon lighting up the sky tonight.

After kissing for what felt like a lifetime, he pulled away again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said with a goofy smile.

I just laughed and shook my head.

He put his forehead against mine, his breathing was heavy.

"We should do that again sometime." He laughed.

Although I liked what was happening, I pushed him away and looked into his eyes. He was confused.

"I'm sorry." I said a tear falling from my eye.

"Wait, why are you crying? Was it not good?" He said in a scared voice.

"No Benny, it's not that. It's just-"

"You just broke up with Jake. I get it." He said letting go of my waist.

"I'm sorry, I really am." I said as more tears fell from my eyes.

"Hey, it's okay." He said wiping them off my cheeks. "It really is I promise. Come here."

He put his hand on my back and pulled me into a hug with ease, as if I was as light as a feather. I wrapped my arms around him. He was warm, and I felt safe in his arms like always, but I still wasn't over Jake. I know that's messed up, but all the years I spent knowing him can't just be erased overnight. I needed time, and I was glad Benny was so understanding.

After hugging for a few minutes we both jumped at the sound of something stepping on a twig and breaking it.

"What was that?" I said alarmed.

"I don't know, it was probably just a squirrel or something. We should go to bed." Benny said putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah you're right." I said looking at him then walking back into the treehouse and quietly wrapping myself up in my sleeping bag, Benny doing the same.

"Goodnight for real this time." I whispered smiling at Benny.

"Goodnight Ella." He said as he shut his eyes but had a warm smile on his face.

I slept well that night. I always did after crying, but knowing that Benny was there for me made me feel even better. I was thankful I met him and the boys this summer instead of staying home in Texas and living the same day over and over again.

Now my days were better, because I had good friends like the sandlot boys.