July 12, 2021

I woke up the next morning and Benny wasn't there. I rolled over to his side of the bed where his phone was on the nightstand and checked the time. It was already 10. Why didn't he wake me up?

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. For some reason I was freezing, then I realized I was only in a sports bra and shorts. I didn't think much of it, it was probably just hot last night.

I was too tired to look for my shirt, so I just grabbed a sweatshirt from Bennys closet. It came down to the top of my knees and the sleeves were way too long for my arms but I didn't care because it was comfy and smelled like him. I brushed my hair and used the hair tie around my wrist to put it in a messy bun.

As I walked out of his room I heard Benny talking to someone, but it didn't sound like Lilly. As I got closer to the living room, the voice of the person became much clearer. Wendy Peffercorn.

I picked up my pace and walked into the room to see Benny talking to Wendy at the door.

"I already told you my mom isn't here." He said in an annoyed voice.

"Someone has to pay me. I watched Lilly two days ago and still haven't gotten my money." Wendy snapped.

I walked over to the two of them, gaining Wendy's attention.

"Maybe they would pay you if you weren't such a bitch." I snapped, making Benny turn and look at me.

He mouthed "help me" and had a look on his face that screamed he couldn't stand her.

"What did you just call me?" She said folding her arms.

"I said you're a bitch." I said slowly, acting like she was a two-year-old who didn't know what I was saying.

"You're really gonna let her talk to me like that Benny?" She said in a fake sad voice.

I walked up to the side of Benny and took his hand to wrap his arm around me then hugged him from the side.

"I think I can speak for us both when I say that they're not gonna pay you and will gladly be finding a new babysitter." I smiled.

Her face got red and her nostrils flared.

"Fine." She blurted, "I don't need your money anyway, but I'll be back."

"I don't think you will," I said pretending to be disappointed.

"We'll see." She raised an eyebrow and looked back at Benny. "See you soon hot stuff."

"Okay, that's it," I said letting go of Benny and walking towards her as she made her way down the sidewalk.

Benny grabbed both my arms and held me back before I could make it out the door. I struggled to get away from his grasp and go after her but he was too strong.

"Let me go, Benny," I said full of anger.

"Okay calm down Hulk, " he laughed.

"I'll calm down once that pig finds out what my fist tastes like," I said still trying to get away from him.

He quickly wrapped his arms around me and picked me up as he closed the door with his foot.

"Put me down." I kicked my feet as if it was gonna do anything.

"Not until I know you're not gonna run after her," he said.

I stopped fighting it and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Fine, " I spat, "I'm calm."

"Are you sure?" he said not believing me.

"Yes, just put me down." I lied.

He hesitated for a moment, then set me down once he believed I was fine. Right, when he let go of me and my feet were on the ground again I attempted to run towards the door, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back. He picked me up bride stile and started walking back to his room.

"What are you doing?" I said in an irritated voice.

"Making sure you don't murder someone today."

"Today?" I smiled, "so I can murder her tomorrow?"

"No, you can't murder her tomorrow?" he said now a little annoyed.

"The day after that?" I said full of hope.

"Ella!" he blurted, "you're not murdering anyone. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever."

He pushed his door open with his back and closed it with his foot once we were inside. He sat me down on the end of the bed then sat down next to me. I stood up immediately and started pacing back and forth across the room.

"Who does she think she is?" I said putting my hands on top of my head. "Did you see the way she was looking at you?"

"I wasn't really looking at her once you came in the room," he said plopping his back on the bed and looking at the ceiling.

"Well, she was looking at you. And I didn't like it."

"Really?" he said sarcastically, "I didn't notice."

"If she so much as lays a finger on you-"

"She won't," he said cutting off what I was saying.

"How do you know that? She's literally the devil."

He propped himself up on his elbows as he watched me pace back and forth.

"And does she even know that she has Squints wrapped around her finger?" I said now raising my voice. "He's obsessed with her and she's just playing him. Like who does that?"

"Wendy," he said acting like this wasn't a big deal.

"You're not even the slightest bit worried about her trying to take you from me?" I said stopping and looking at him, my arms now crossed.

"Not really." he shrugged his shoulders.

"Benny." I said sharply, "she was literally flirting with you in front of me."

"I'm aware."

I stared at him with an enraged expression on my face. Why wasn't he worried about this? Wendy popcorn was legit trying to take him from me and he wasn't even the slightest bit fazed by it.

"You know you're cute when you're mad," he said with his charming smile.

"Really?" I said in disbelief that he was trying to change the subject.

"Hell yeah, especially in my sweatshirt."

"Benny! That's not what I meant." I said looking up at the ceiling then back down in frustration.

"You didn't mean what?" he joked.

"Unbelievable." I scoffed then walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked loudly as I walked down the hallway.

When I didn't answer he ran out of his room and speed-walked next to me as I grabbed my bag from in the bathroom. I started packing my toothbrush and everything in my bag quickly as he watched me from the doorway.

"Come on, " he said tiredly, "talk to me."

"I just did and all you could do was make jokes," I said walking past him out of the bathroom and towards the front door.

"I wasn't making jokes!" he said still following me.

"Then what were you doing because it didn't look like you were listening to me?" I stopped and turned to look at him.

"I was listening to you!" he argued.

"Really?"

"Yes, I was!" he said stopping in front of me, "I just don't think you need to worry about Wendy."

I rolled my eyes and opened the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Home," I said as a single tear rolled down my cheek.

As I walked out the door and let it close by itself behind me, he ran and held it open with one hand and carefully grabbed my arm with the other. He spun me around to look at him but paused when he saw I was crying.

"Why are you crying?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Because you're not afraid of her taking you away from me," I said finally breaking.

"You're right, " he said looking into my eyes, "I'm not afraid of her taking me away from you. But only because I know that I love you. Not her."

He slid his hand from my wrist and took mine in his.

"You know I love you. I would never let anyone or anything change that," he said as he used his free hand to wipe my tears away like he always did when I was crying.

"I know, I'm sorry," I said looking into his eyes. "I love you too."

He pulled me into a hug, wrapping both his arms around me and holding me tight. I could hear his heart racing and I felt bad. I made a big deal over him not being worried, but he wasn't concerned about Wendy because he loved me.

I put both my hands on his chest and pushed him away from the hug. He looked confused again as another tear dropped from my eye.

"Are you still upset?" He said worried, "I promise she can't ever take me away from you I-"

I cut him off by pulling him down by his shirt into a passionate kiss. My hands ran from the collar of his shirt, to the back of his head while his were on my waist like always. He pulled my body in closer to his, and started walking back into the house, taking me with him without breaking our kiss.

Not sure how, it was all a blur, but we ended up in his room on his bed. He was sitting straight up with his back against the pillows, and I was on his lap with my legs wrapped around his waist.

I really did love him, and now I knew he loved me the same. I wasn't worried about Wendy as much anymore, I was just upset she would even try to take Benny from me, especially when she had Squints believing she was in love with him. If she was gonna play nasty, so was I. I'm not the type of girl to give up that easily, especially when it came to someone I loved like Benny.

After we finished making out, we just laid in bed in each other's arms.

"You know I meant it when I said you looked good in my sweatshirt." He laughed.

"Good," I smiled, "cause you're not getting it back any time soon."

"For some odd reason, I'm okay with that." He joked.

We stayed in bed until Lilly came and got us up for breakfast at around 12:30. We just ate cereal and watched Austin and Alley until there was another knock on the door.

As I started to push myself off the couch, Benny stopped me.

"I'll get it." He said with a hand on my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back into the couch.

When he opened the door, his expression went from happy to like someone had just died. He looked back at Lilly and I then went outside, closing the door behind him.

You have no idea how badly I wanted to go sneak a peek at who it was through the window, but I trusted Benny. Even if it was Wendy, I wasn't scared anymore.

He was out there for a while, probably about a good five minutes until he finally walked back inside, his mom walking in holding onto his arm.

She didn't look very good. The bags under her eyes were dark blue, her eyes were bloodshot, and she couldn't walk straight.

Lilly practically launched herself off the couch and into Ms. Rodriguez's arms almost knocking her over.

"Hey, sweetie." Ms. Rodriguez said letting go of Benny and crouching down to hug Lilly.

When she stood back up with Lilly in her arms, her eyes landed on me.

"Ella, nice to see you again." She said with slurred speaking.

"Nice to see you too ma'am." I smiled.

"Don't call me ma'am that makes me sound old," she paused, setting Lilly back down so she wouldn't fall or drop her, "call me Anne."

I smiled and nodded as she grabbed back onto Benny's arm.

"I think I need to lay down." She said patting Benny on the head.

He made an uncomfortable face, then turned down the hall and walked her to her room.

I occupied Lilly as Benny took care of his mom, but I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't tell me. I could've helped him.

When he came out, he didn't say anything. He just grabbed all our empty bowls and took them to the kitchen.

"I'll be right back," I said handing Lilly back the elephant from the fair that she let me hold.

"Is mommy okay?" She asked as I stood up.

I didn't know what to tell her, mostly because this is the first I knew about her drinking, but also because I didn't want to say anything without Bennys permission. I didn't want to say the wrong thing and make her have questions that Benny didn't want to answer.

"I think she just needs to sleep right now," I said putting a blanket over Lilly and the elephant.

I admired her as she snuggled up with her stuffed animal and focused her eyes back on the TV.

I walked to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame with my legs crossed and my arms in the pockets of the sweatshirt.

"You shouldn't have had to see that." He said scrubbing the dishes in the sink.

"How long has she been like this?" I said quietly so Lilly wouldn't hear but loud enough so Benny would.

"Ever since she got her job at the bar," he paused to put a fork in the dishwasher, "she flirts with the guys that go there and thinks that she's gonna fall in love with them but ends up getting wasted when they move onto a different girl the next night."

He started scrubbing the next bowl, but with more angrier this time.

"And I know you're probably upset I didn't tell you, but it's embarrassing." He said scrubbing a spot on the bowl that he couldn't get off.

"I'm not upset," I said in a comforting tone, pushing myself off the wall and walking over to stand next to him.

"You know, she wouldn't be like this if my dad never left her." He started scrubbing the spot harder, his frustration building from both not being able to get the spot off and from what he was talking about. "He doesn't even send us birthday cards. He's too caught up with his perfect new family that he completely forgot about us."

At this point, he was scrubbing the spot on the bowl so hard I thought it would shatter in his hands.

I put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, but was unsuccessful.

"Lilly doesn't even have any memories of him," he scrubbed it harder, "she shouldn't have to grow up without at least one good memory of him."

"Hey," I said softly trying to make him look at me so he wouldn't break the bowl.

"Mom wouldn't have to work at that bar if he didn't take off out of nowhere." The amount of anger I saw in his eyes as he tried to get the stain off the bowl scared me.

"Benny..."

When he kept scrubbing it, I saw a tear roll down his cheek. Finally, I gently put one hand on the bowl, and the other on the hand that was holding the sponge. He stopped scrubbing it and put both his elbows on the counter. I took the bowl and sponge from his hands and set them out of his sight.

He put his head in his hands so I wouldn't see him cry, but I didn't mind if he was crying or not. He was going through a hard time, if he needed a shoulder I'd be there any time, any day.

I rubbed his back with my hand as he tried to pull himself together.

"I'm sorry." He said still not looking at me.

"For what?" I said in a comforting voice, "there's nothing to be sorry about, you're going through a hard time and I'm always here for you."

"But you're going through stuff too."

"Don't worry about me, that's all you've been doing lately." I tried to keep my voice calm and soothing so he couldn't tell I was worried about him.

I know he loves his mom, but he couldn't raise Lilly and take care of Anne by himself. And the fact that he thinks I wouldn't want to help him makes me all the more worried.

"Come here," I said opening my arms for him to hug me.

He wiped his tears away as he stood up straight again, then wrapped his arms around me. He basically melted into my arms. Normally he was the one making me feel safe, but this time I wanted him to feel like I was shielding him from all the bad things in life. I've never seen him this vulnerable before, but I was glad he knew he could open up to me now.

The rest of the day went by like a blur. Benny, Lilly, and I stayed at their house all day watching movies and having pillow fights. Every now and then Benny would check on Anne and bring her a glass of water or something to eat. She only came out of her room once to get Advil for her headache, but other than that she stayed in her room and slept.

We watched beauty and the beast, Moana, the first Frozen movie, and more Austin and Alley because Lilly is obsessed with Austin. I thought it was funny how Benny knew all of the words to every Frozen song and most of Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast. He claimed it was from the "Disney Spectacular" show the choir performed in sixth grade, but I didn't believe that.

I was trying my best to keep the two of them occupied so they wouldn't be upset about Anne's drinking problem, but every time Benny went to check on her, he came back with an upset look or was quieter than before.

Benny tucked Lilly in at around 11 once we finished our last movie. I laid in his bed, not tired at all, thinking about how much has gone down in the past week. Gran is in the hospital, Wendy turned out to be a boyfriend stealing bitch, and I found out Bennys mom has a drinking problem. I also thought about how boring this summer would've been if I stayed in Texas and never met any of the sandlot boys. I would probably be at a sleepover with the softball team right now ranting about how annoying some of the other teams we play are. Especially the ones that bark at us, not quite sure what their coach feeds those types of players, but we always end up beating them anyway.

Benny fell asleep way before I did. I knew he had a lot on his mind so I wasn't bothered when he didn't stay up talking with me like we normally did. I on the other hand couldn't sleep.

I carefully lifted the covers off me and sat up, making sure I didn't wake Benny, then swung my legs off the bed one by one and tiptoed out of the room. I quietly made my way down the hall trying to not wake anyone else up.

When I got to the kitchen, I jumped at the sight of Anne getting a glass of water. I'm guessing she heard me because she turned around and smiled.

"Can't sleep?" She asked.

"Not really, you?" I asked grabbing a cup from the cabinet.

"I've been sleeping all day, I'm not super tired anymore." She took a sip of water. "What's up with you kiddo? Why are you still up?"

"Just can't make my thoughts be quiet I guess," I walked to the fridge and filled the cup with water.

"I heard about your Gran, I'm so sorry. If you guys ever need anything," she said putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks," I smiled.

She started to walk out of the kitchen, but paused before she passed through the doorway.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like this, " she had an embarrassed look on her face, "I'm still working on myself, but once Bennys father gets here he'll take care of the kids while I'm in rehab."

My heart stopped. Bennys dad was coming back? Is that why he was upset earlier?

"Does Benny know about that?" I asked concernedly.

"Yes, that's what we were talking about out front, " she paused then looked confused, "he didn't tell you?"

"No, but he was upset about his dad earlier. I just thought he was angry that he left, I had no idea he was coming back... Or that you were going to rehab."

I didn't understand why Benny didn't want to talk to me about these things. I mean, his dad coming back is kind of huge. I understand he's upset, but he knows he can talk to me about anything. Right?