June 24, 2021

A week had gone by and Benny and I still hadn't said a word to each other. I went to the sandlot the day after we fought, but he wasn't there, so I didn't bother going the rest of the week.

Phillips and I, on the other hand, had gotten a lot closer. I told him about Jake and my friends back in Texas, and he told me all about him and his baseball team. I just wish he wasn't such an ass to the boys because I feel like they would actually get along if they all weren't so damn stubborn.

Although he finally told me his name was Logan, I still preferred Phillips, it was weird calling him by his first name. I never hung out with him outside of the bakery, because I felt bad enough that I didn't hate him with a burning passion like the sandlot boys did. He did walk me home some days though.

Sure, I had Phillips to keep me company, but I have to admit I really missed Benny. I miss his laugh, his smile, even just the way he looks when he's playing the sport he loves. Of course, I missed the rest of the boys too, but I wasn't as close to the rest of them as I was to Benny.

It was 1:00 in the morning and I was laying in bed throwing my softball up in the air at my ceiling then catching it again. My favorite Netflix series, The 100, was playing in the background. This was the most bored I've been all summer. I wanted to go to the sandlot and be with the guys, but for some reason, I felt guilty for actually being friends with Phillips and I didn't want them to hate me.

As I caught the ball and was about to throw it again there was a "ding" that came from my window. I sat up and looked at it confused, until it came again. I got up and set the ball down on my pillow and walked over to see what was making the noise. Right when I got to the window, a small rock hit it, so I looked to see where it was coming from. Of course, I saw Benny reaching down to pick up another small rock to throw.

I took a deep breath and opened my window before he threw another one.

"What the hell are you doing?" I said confusedly. "It's one in the morning dip shit."

He shot up from where he was crouched down and dropped the pebbles.

"I know, I had to get your attention." He looked nervous but confident at the same time. I don't know, I was still trying to figure him out.

"Why didn't you just text me then?" I looked at him like he was the dumbest person alive.

He paused for a moment thinking about what I had just said. "okay, I didn't think of that, but this was more poetic... sorta."

"You're an idiot." I said rolling my eyes, about to close the window.

"Wait! Just come down here!" He begged. "Please?"

I hated being mad at him.

"Fine." I sighed.

I closed the window, slipped on the first shirt I could find since I was just wearing a sports bra and grey sweatpants, then walked down the stairs. I watched my steps carefully to make sure I didn't step on a bad board and wake anyone up.

As I got to the front door, I took a deep breath then walked outside.

"Nice shirt." Benny said with a smirk.

I looked down to see I had put on the shirt he let me wear home that one day at the pool.

"What do you want?" I said in a tired voice. I stopped at the edge of the porch and crossed my arms because it was colder than I thought.

"Right." His face went serious. He walked up to me and stopped right at the bottom of the steps. "I'm sorry for what went down last week. I was being stupid and jealous and I had no right to yell at you." He paused and looked up at me with sad eyes.

"What are you jealous of?" I asked.

He looked down at his shoes, took a deep breath, then looked back up and met my eyes.

"Jealous of Phillips being with you. He's a player... and I think we both know that he likes you."

"He's just being nice. Plus he knows about Jake and why we broke up, so he knows I don't want a relationship right now." I said sitting down on the top step.

Benny walked over and sat down next to me. "You're right. I'm sorry." He said quietly.

I looked over at him. He looked tired, and I could tell this whole thing was bothering him.

"You don't need to be sorry. It's okay." I said reassuring him that I wasn't mad anymore.

He looked over at me with a soft smile.

We sat there for a couple more minutes, our shoulders touching. I was relieved to have him close to me again. I Just loved knowing he was there.

"Can I take you somewhere?" He said turning his body and looking at me again.

I looked up at him and hesitated before saying "sure."

He stood up and held out his hand when he got to the bottom of the steps. I put my hand in his and he helped me up, then down the stairs. When I got to the bottom of the steps, he assumed that he should let go of my hand, but when he tried to let go, I locked my fingers with his. He looked surprised, but I could tell he was relieved I didn't let him let go.

I assumed he was just going to take me to the sandlot, but as we walked past the entrance to it, I asked: "Where are we going?"

"That is a surprise." He said looking down at me and smiling.

Our hands were still locked together, and we were walking right next to each other.

After walking for another 15 minutes, he stopped in front of a sketchy-looking fence.

He let go of my hand "Close your eyes." He said turning and looking at me.

I did as he said and closed my eyes tightly.

I could hear a gate open, then he walked behind me and put his hands on my shoulders to lead me forward, making sure I didn't run into anything.

I could feel tall grass on my ankles, and listened as crickets chirped in the background. I was still cold, but I didn't say anything.

"Okay, open." He said, letting go of my shoulders.

He had brought me to a small mountain peak where you could see the whole town. It was lit up beautifully, and there were millions of stars in the sky. He walked over to a bench in front of us and sat down, I followed behind him.

"Wow." I said with a huge smile on my face. I was admiring how beautiful everything looked in the cities night lights.

Benny, who was admiring me, replied "yeah, wow."

I looked over and met his eyes. They sparkled in the moonlight, along with his perfect olive skin.

"How'd you find this place?" I asked, still shocked at how beautiful the scene was.

"My dad used to bring me here when I was little..." he said looking back at the city, "Well, before he left my mom to be with some stupid girl from Paris."

I kept my eyes on him, but my facial expression went from amazed to sorrowful.

"Benny I-"

"You're sorry?" He said looking back at me. "Don't be, I'm over it." A tear rolled down his cheek as he looked up at the stars.

I didn't say anything else. I just scooted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"I used to come here every day for a year after he left," He said putting his head on top of mine, "He was the one who taught me everything about baseball."

"Well, then he must've been one hell of a teacher." I said trying to lighten the mood.

Thankfully, it worked. Benny let out a soft laugh while another tear ran down his face. I lifted my head off his shoulder then put a hand on his soft cheek so he'd look at me. I used my thumb to wipe the tear away which made him smile a little more.

Once again, our eyes met. His were full of tears and memories of his father, while mine were full of worry and the memory of that night we kissed under the stars at the treehouse.

"I don't normally cry in front of people." He said not breaking eye contact.

"You don't have to worry about that with me Benny." I assured him, "I cry all the time, as you can tell."

Once again, he let out that soft laugh that made me become swarmed with butterflies. Normally I hated that feeling. It made me feel vulnerable, like I needed to run. But with Benny it was different. I liked it.

"I wish I brought my sketchbook," I leaned my head back on his shoulder. "This is so beautiful."

"We can always come back." He said putting his arm around me because I was shivering. "This can be our place now, if you want."

"Of course I want that." I said digging my head deeper into the crease of his shoulder. "Maybe next time let's not come at two in the morning though." I laughed.

"Good idea." He said with a smile that I couldn't see, but I could hear, and it sounded beautiful.

We sat like that for what felt like a lifetime, but I didn't mind. Honestly, I could've stayed there with him forever. We talked about our futures as if we had a clue on how hard being adults would actually be. Then, we talked about his dad a little more. He didn't cry this time, but I could tell he missed him and was angry that he left without a warning.

We were both tired but ignored it because we enjoyed being there, at that moment, with each other.

I guess sooner or later we had fallen asleep on the bench because I woke up to Benny shaking me like it was the end of the world.

"Ella!" He yelled, "wake up! We fell asleep!"

My eyes shot open as I picked up my phone and clicked the power button to check the time.

5 missed calls from Dad❤️

10 text messages from Dad❤️

1 missed call from Gran🌺

7 text messages from Gran🌺

"Shit!" I yelled. "It's already 7!"

"I know! My mom is freaking out." He said showing me the 45 missed texts and 7 missed calls on his Lock Screen.

"Same with my Dad and Gran." I said standing up and taking Bennys hand.

I pulled him up and kept my hand in his as we ran out the gate and down the sidewalk. We were dying laughing the whole way home. Benny had somehow, but not surprisingly, got in front of me and was basically dragging me behind him.

When we finally got down our street and between both of our houses after practically running a marathon, we saw my Dad, and Bennys mom sitting on Gran's porch steps.

We were still hand in hand until they came running towards us and attacked us with hugs.

Bennys mom started talking in Spanish so I couldn't understand, but at first, she sounded relieved, then when she smacked him on the back of his head she sounded pissed... then went back to being relieved and hugging him again.

My dad, on the other hand, just hugged me then let go and gave me the death stare as he put a hand on my back and led me inside the house.

When we got inside he slammed the front door.

"What the hell we're you doing out all night?" He yelled. "I was worried sick!"

"Relax, Dad. It's not that bad we just-"

"Relax? You left at one in the morning with a stupid boy!" He said.

This was the angriest I've seen him since that time my friend Delilah and I snuck a bottle of beer into my room because we thought it was cool. We barely even had two sips before we pretended to be drunk so we could feel cool and brag to our friends about it. Really, we were just being stupid kids who wanted to be popular so we made a bad decision even though we didn't even drink half the 12 ounces.

"How do you know when I left?" I said blowing my cover.

"Gran bought a ring doorbell yesterday and I installed it before I went to bed." He said opening the Ring Doorbell app on his phone and showing me the video of Benny and me leaving. "When I saw this video I went straight over to Mrs. Rodriguez's house and showed her. We were both seriously about to piss ourselves!"

"Dad! I'm fine! We just went to look at the stars!" I yelled back.

"On the other side of town?" He said raising his voice even more.

"How did you know where we were?"

"I checked the location of your phone." He said crossing his arms.

"So you're watching my every move now?" I said raising my voice to match his. "What happened to trusting me?"

"You snuck out! That's what happened!"

For a moment we didn't say anything. We just had a very angry and intense staring contest.

"My Ella doesn't sneak out." He said quietly, not breaking eye contact.

"And my dad doesn't act like a control freak..." I paused then fake gasped "oh wait! Apparently, he does!"

"That's it. You're grounded." He said holding out his hand. "And give me your phone."

"Why? So you can just put more tracking devices on it?" I snapped.

"Go to your room right now young lady." He said as I put my phone in his hand.

"Ugh!" I sighed and ran up to my room.

"My daughter doesn't sneak out..." I mimicked in a babyish voice. "Bull shit."

I plopped onto my bed and stared at my ceiling. I had no regrets about going to that place with Benny. I'd do it again, for sure.

Two hours passed by of me just laying in bed and reading my book. I thought my dad would've come in and apologized by now like he normally did, but he didn't. Maybe he was actually serious this time. Usually, he would ground me for like an hour, then feel bad and unground me.

I decided to take a shower since I smelled like the outdoors, which I was used to by now. When I got out, I didn't get dressed. Instead, I wrapped my hair in a towel, kept my other towel around me, and put a peel-off face mask on. I laid in bed again and closed my eyes as I waited for the mask to dry.

It was relaxing to just lay there for a while. Normally I was full of energy and being active 24/7, but now I could just lay there in the quiet. No boys having burping contests or calling you a fart sniffer every five seconds. It was nice.

As I laid there in the quiet, a thought popped into my mind and I shot up out of bed. My MacBook. I could text Benny from it and see if he was grounded too.

I opened it and logged in, then went to the text icon on the screen. I scrolled till I found his name then started typing.

You grounded too?

I quickly closed the laptop before anyone else came in and saw me on it so my dad wouldn't take it like he did my phone. I slid it under my pillow just in time, because my dad walked in without even knocking.

"Well that's an interesting look." He joked.

"Well, I have nothing better to do." I said annoyed at him.

"Look, I'm sorry okay. I might have overreacted but I was just worried about you." He said walking over and sitting next to me on the bed.

"Do you not trust me or something?" I snapped at him with my arms crossed.

"Of course I trust you, it's just," he paused and looked down at his feet.

"Just what?" I said, eager to hear what he had to say.

"I already lost your mother, I can't lose you too."

My heart dropped as the words left his lips. I had a bad feeling in my gut, as If had just got hit by a bus.

"You're growing up so fast." He sighed, "I mean, you're hanging out with boys, working up at the bakery... don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of the young lady you've become... but I still want to think of you as my little girl."

Tears filled in my eyes. "Dad," I said putting a hand on his shoulder, "I'll always be your little girl. Plus you can't loose me, I'm too stubborn for that."

"You get that from me," He said laughing.

"Right." I laughed, wiping a tear off my cheek.

He reached into his pocket to grab something, then held out my phone towards me.

"Yes!" I said excitedly then grabbed it.

He smiled, then stood up and walked to the door.

"Oh and by the way," he said, turning back to look at me, "Nice laptop." He winked then walked out the door, closing it behind him.

My headshot down to the pillow it was under. The corner was poking out from under it.

"Damn it." I whispered.

Once the face mask dried, I went into the bathroom to peel it off, then got dressed in a sweatshirt and shorts.

I went downstairs to get something to eat since it was 11 and I still hadn't eaten anything. I walked into the kitchen as someone knocked on the door.

"I'll get it!" My dad said standing up from the couch and pausing the TV.

I opened the pantry and reached for the box of Cheerios. Since it was at the very top shelf, I had to stand on my tip-toes, but even then I could barely reach it.

My dad opened the door but didn't say anything.

That's when I heard him.

"Hello, sir." Jake's voice said from the door.

When I heard his voice, my fingertips knocked the box of Cheerios down onto the floor and they spilled everywhere.

Dad didn't even take his eyes off of him, he just stared at him with a dangerous look In his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here." He said in a deep and angry voice.

"I wanted to make things right with Ella." He said, not intimidated by my dad.

"She's not here." He lied.

"Then what was that noise?"

"The cat." He lied again, still staring daggers at Jake.

"Ellas allergic to cats." Jake confronted.

I walked over to them and put a hand on my dad's shoulder to make him look at me, then nodded my head to the couch so he would go sit down. And so he did.

When I was sure he was sitting down far enough to not be tempted to try and kill Jake, I stepped into the door frame, with one hand on the doorknob and my other to my side.

We locked eyes. His right one was black and swollen, but I didn't acknowledge it. Jake didn't say anything, he just kept looking into my eyes, and I looked back into his.