.

The last thing Bentley expected was for his brother to show up and get him out of that situation. While he was sure that the kid he had crashed into wasn’t going to say anything to Remington, Benji approaching the situation had definitely helped a little. Smiling up at his brother, Bentley was ready to get on his skateboard again and ride off, but before he could even do that, his brother was grabbing him by the hood and pulling him with him, which was something he didn’t expect. Their relationship had been bumpy, to say the least, but it seemed like it was getting a little better. Of course Bentley wasn’t ready to share his darkest secrets with his brother or talk to him about his day, but it was definitely growing into a normal sibling relationship, even if a little awkward. At Benji’s question, Bentley shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll only get detention if I get caught, and since Remington is getting old, there’s no way that he’ll ever catch me on my skateboard. So I’ll be fine.” Bentley said, although that probably wasn’t true at all – plus, Bentley was one of the best students at the school, so that definitely had to get him some advantage, right? “Plus, that wasn’t my fault, that kid is a fucking idiot and he just stood there… Not my fault.” He said with a shrug, before turning his head to look up at his brother, frowning when the other suggested skipping classes – it wasn’t like he wanted to say no, but hanging out with his brother for a full period somehow didn’t fit in the definition of fun. But after all, the two had been hanging out a lot more recently, so how bad could it be. “I mean, sure, whatever… But can you even skip classes? Because of that repeating your senior year shit or whatever?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, he might never catch you, but he’ll absolutely know who the skateboarder is,” Benji explained with a slight laugh exhaling from his body. Glancing over at Bentley, he raised his eyebrows. “I think I would rather have detention for a week than have to deal with mom getting a call from the principal.” There was another pause while Benji weighed his options about his next statement. It was ridiculous, sure, but so was their mother sometimes. Benji lowered his voice as he paused his walking for a second. “Do you really think mom won’t kill you if she finds out that Zoe’s mom’s boyfriend is pissed off at you?” It was no surprise to the Lynn kids that their mom’s most treasured friend was Quinn Puckerman. Benji wasn’t even sure what caliber of friends they were, but it was enough for him to know that his statement was right. “I’ll cover if that happens though.” Once Benji got the go ahead from his brother that they were all good to skip school, Ben immediately made a bee line to an exit door so they could at least get outside. Skipping class was never something Ben did this year, but he could bend and practice some old bad habits. “I dunno but we’re gonna try. If someone says something, I’ll just tell them I was throwing up or something. No ones gonna question that.” While Benji wasn’t entirely sure what in the world they were going to get up to, he still made way to his car. “Want food or wanna just go home and play some video games?” Their parents worked day jobs, so they wouldn’t be home for at least a couple hours. It was almost too good to pass up. 

.

At Benji’s comment, Joey let out a small chuckle as he remembered how bad of a dancer Benji actually was – all he could remember was that time where Joey had tried to teach Benji how to dance when they were rehearsing for Grease and he really wasn’t great. “Well, you’re right… At least we can be the cutest… They can be the hottest.” Joey said with a smile, as he let out a sigh when Benji asked about Kaden – he wasn’t sure how that would even end up and he had to admit that Kaden would surprise him on Monday with a slushie, but that didn’t matter right now. “I just bumped into him when I was walking into the bathroom and he started being mean, so we yelled at each other for a little while until Candy told us to stop… I don’t get why he hates me.” Joey said with a small sigh, as he thought about that whole situation. He didn’t like fighting with anyone, but this was way too much already. As Benji twirled Joey around, he let out a small giggle as he kept swaying with the other, before nodding his head at him. “I’m really happy with him. And you and Ruby also work together, I’m glad that the two are dating. It’s honestly not a pairing that I expected to see from all of the people, but you guys are cute together.” He said with a chuckle, as Benji explained what the Mafia was – he had no idea what he was talking about, but he just nodded his head. “Do you think Candy works with the bad guys? Because I think she can be kind of mean sometimes, but I didn’t think she was that evil.” He said with a frown. “How do you feel about graduation soon? Because it’s kind of sad to think about that…”

“Right! See? You’re so smart,” Benji said with a laugh as he shifted closer to Joey while they started talking about the gossip side of things. The last thing that Benji wanted was for them to be talking too loudly and a small mishap ended up being a headline for JBI Jr.’s next issue of the Muck. “What the hell?” He questioned aloud before his eyes were scanning the establishment to try and find Kaden. Benji was absolutely trying to stay away from direct conflict ever since he punched JBI Jr. in the fall, but he still wanted to catch what kind of vibes he was throwing out. Probably not great ones since he had just been fighting with Joey. After coming up short on finding him, Benji shifted his attention completely back on his friend. “I’m sorry though. If you want me to beat him up, just ask.” He wouldn’t do that, but he also knew that Joey probably wouldn’t ask anyway. At the subject matter of love, Benji couldn’t stop himself from grinning. Relationships used to be the least of his worries, but ever since uniting with Ruby, he had absolutely become a softie. “Is this the part where you tell me Ru is outta my league?” Benji asked with a laugh before he was shrugging his shoulders. He had heard it a lot and truthfully, he couldn’t blame people. She really was a whole hell of a lot better than he was. “Have you and Xan like, said I love you or anything?” As the song came to an end, Benji didn’t move away from Joey. He was enjoying his time with him, especially since he hadn’t been spending a lot of time with him lately. “I’m not gonna lie, Joe, I’m really stoked for it.” He paused before he was shrugging his shoulders. “Like, I’m gonna miss you but I’m just gonna be in Columbus. Short drive back. I’ve just... I’m a year late. So I’m excited to finally graduate.”

🍒

Ruby had attended Candyland, formerly known as Sugar Shack, every year since she was a freshman…always with a different guy who wasn’t her boyfriend. As she stood by the hostess stand, dicking around with LJ and a few of her other friends, she occasionally shot a glance in Benji’s direction and felt her heart melt. On most days, he felt too good to be true. That feeling was only amplified by Valentine’s Day. She really was lucky. Distracted by a story LJ was telling, Ruby didn’t even see when he left the spot where he was standing and only got brought back down to life when she felt his arms around her. “Hey,” she said through a surprised chuckle, immediately crossing her arms over his and holding him as she glanced over her shoulder to catch his eye. She nodded and uttered a quick ‘gotta go’ to her friends before being whisked away. Once they were settled under the colorful lights of the dance floor, Ruby snaked her arms around Benji’s neck and laced her fingers together as they swayed to the rhythm of a slow song. Just as she was getting comfortable with her head on her boyfriend’s chest, he was pulling away from her. “What?” she asked with a wide, curious grin. At his revelation, her eyes widened as she gentle smacked his arm. “Ben,” she whined playfully, “but we said!” She stopped swaying when he pulled out the tiny velvet box and stared down at in awe. Ruby marveled at the box as he opened to reveal a necklace with a ‘B’ pendant inside. It was confusing at first, but once he clarified, she felt a warm feeling pooling in the pit of her stomach. “B for Benji?” she repeated, reaching into the box to pull out the silver necklace and stare at it lovingly, “can you help me put it on?” Ruby then turned around and placed the necklace around her neck and held the ends until Ben took them and latched them together. Once it was on, she turned to face him and stared down at it with a growing smile. “This is so sweet,” she cooed, looking up at Benji and quickly wrapping her arms around him and bringing him down for a kiss, “I love…” she briefly froze as she stared up at him, “I love it. I love it. Now everyone knows I’m accounted for.” She gave him another quick kiss before she wrapped her arms around his neck again to resume dancing. “Thank you for making tonight so…”  she shrugged, pulling back a bit to look at him, “perfect? I know it sounds cheesy, but I mean it. Thank you.” A pause. “And I got you a gift too, by the way,” she smirked and quirked a brow, “I just can’t give it to you here. Can’t risk another scandal.” 

There was a certain peace that washed over Benji whenever he was in the company of Ruby. It was weird how their relationship had upgraded as much as it had in such a short amount of time. Ruby Zizes was someone that always existed in Benji’s world, but as more of a outlier than anything. She was always there, just in the background, and overshadowed by the people that Benji had always held dear to his heart. It was wild to think that Benji trying to better himself and his grades had led him to obtaining tutoring services from Ruby herself, but maybe that was positive karma coming into his life - he was bettering himself and was able to find a girl that was absolutely worlds out of his league. It felt good. “I know, I know! But I couldn’t just... start our Valentine’s off with no gift,” Benji explained as he leaned closer to her after the playful hit. Things were so much more fun with his girlfriend, and anyone would be able to tell that from the dopey smile that was on his lips. Whenever Ruby started the chain of reactions to his gift, he could feel the butterflies disappearing from his stomach. He had gotten some intense reactions from his mom from his past gifts to her, so it was refreshing when Ruby seemed to genuinely like it. “Yeah, yeah,” he whispered with a smile before he was aiding her in snapping the necklace into place, marveling at the way it looked on her. He thought it was cute. There was always something cute about girls wearing his clothes, but seeing his literal initial on her? Perfect. However, it didn’t matter how many feelings Benji was feeling inside nor how distracting they were, he caught her pause after the word ‘love’. He wasn’t sure if it was his hormones raging into overdrive because of the romance in the air, but he definitely caught that. “And I love... it on you,” he said with a smile before he was wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in for another kiss. Things felt too right to question Ruby or what she might have been wanting to say. “Thank you too. Valentine’s Day sucks but you’re makin’ it pretty damn enjoyable.” It wasn’t long before Benji’s brain was practically short circuiting at the suggestiveness of Ruby’s words, his eyebrows raising before he was nodding in agreement with her statement. “If we’re on the same page right now, I think I’m really gonna like the gift,” he said with a laugh before he was pulling closer once more, resting his head against the side of hers. It wasn’t long before the song was changing into something more fast paced and Benji’s eyes trailed off to the side to see his mom schmoozing with whoever was bored enough to listen to her. It was weird, really, being here with his parents lingering around every corner. They barely knew about his relationship - or well, his mom barely knew about it. “Wanna stay for another dance before we make our rounds to leave?” He whispered before he was giving her a kiss to the cheek. He had fun at all these parties, but he couldn’t deny how fun the after party between the two of them sounded instead.

.

Valentine’s Day had been everything that Joey had hoped for and it was even better – despite yelling at Kaden earlier in the bathroom, he had tried his best to let that go and have some fun with his boyfriend and with all of his friends. He was getting himself another drink by the punch bowl when he noticed Benji approaching him, giving him a quick smile. “Oh, hey Benji!” He greeted him with a nod, before listening what the other had to say – and of course he had to accept the other’s invitation to a dance, why would he say no? “Of course!” Joey answered and before he knew it, Benji was dragging him out to the dance floor. He was hoping to spot Xan to tell him what he was doing, but he was sure that the other was probably busy with Ruby. It wasn’t every day that he would dance with his friends like this, but this was Benji – he didn’t mind dancing with him. “Okay, but we have to make sure that we’re better dancers than Ruby and Xan. I know we said that they’re hotter, but we can be the better dancers.” Joey said with a small chuckle, as he looked up at one of his best friends – he had no idea how he was going to survive next year with most of his closest friends being gone to college, but right now he just wanted to enjoy every moment he had left with them. “I’m having a lot of fun! Well, except when Kaden and I yelled at each other in the bathroom, but other than that… This is great. I really like Xan.” Joey said with a smile, nodding his head. “What about you? Are you having fun? And I don’t know what the Mafia is…” He said, before shrugging his shoulders as he kept swaying with Benji.

“Wait that’s not fair,” Benji began whenever Joey was saying they needed to be better dancers. If there was one thing he obtained from his father in the gene pool, it was the subpar and usually bad dancing. Apparently he hadn’t been that bad whenever he was younger, but as he got older, the dad moves came in full force. Benji had just been cursed with them from birth. “Hold up, why were you and Kaden yelling at each other in the bathroom? Did you like, walk in on him doing some shit or what?” While he didn’t know the whole history between the two, Benji could recall hearing some thing about a rough and rocky thing going on between Joey and Kaden. He was still trying to catch up to Ruby on the whole gossip train she was always the conductor of. It was hard enough trying not to coin her signature ‘tea’ phrase as his own whenever he learned a new bit of spicy gossip. “I’m glad though,” he began, giving Joey a dramatic twirl before he was back to swaying like nothing happened. “I can really tell that you guys work together, ya know? It’s nothin’ weird.” Benji glanced around, trying to clock who was at the event and who wasn’t. And more importantly, trying to see if his own parents were in attendance yet. “I’m having a lot of fun actually. Ruby is just... well you know, she’s amazing. So she makes everything fun.” Another pause. “The mafia is just like... bad guys. You know, like the Sopranos or Godfather?” To be honest, Benji wasn’t even sure if he knew who the mafia was, but that sounded correct enough.

tagging: benji + @dumbofassjoey​ when: sunday, february 14th where: candyland

Benji loved his freakin’ life as the atmosphere of love in Breadstix (of all places) took over his entire body. The night was going smoother than he ever could have imagined. He was clocking a lot of time with Ruby, getting to have conversations with all sorts of peers that he never gave the time of day, drank from what he assumed with a spiked punch bowl, and danced the night away. However, once his eyes glanced over the crowd of people before him, he couldn’t help but recognize Joey - and the overwhelming realization of just how little time he had spent with him that night. It just simply wouldn’t do. Without much else of a warning to Ruby, Benji weaved through the crowd before he was approaching one of his closest friends and smiling widely at him. “I think it’s time for a Wife Swap dance,” he said with a soft laugh before he was holding his hand out for Joey to take. “That means Xan gets Ruby and I get you for a dance, you in?” He asked before he was shrugging his shoulders and tugging Joey out onto the dance floor regardless of his answer. Maybe it was his over confidence of the night (or cockiness about their friendship) but he didn’t really mind. Once he was getting situated with the height differences between the two of them, he sighed happily. “Are you having fun tonight? This is kind of dope. Mafia rumors aside, the Motta’s are kinda dope party throwers.”

tagging: benji + @rubyzizes​ when: sunday, february 14th where: candyland

Even though Benji Lynn was a very sociable person, on the night of Candyland, all he found himself wanting to do was spend time at the side of his girlfriend. It had been just over a month since their relationship had fully blossomed into something beautiful, and he was having the time of his life. Currently, he was posted up in one of the booths, eyes trained on Ruby as she worked the party. God, she was practically a work of art at this point to him. There was nothing that Benji could fault her for, and while he was certain that was the workings of them still being very much in the comfortable and fun ‘honeymoon phase’ of their relationship, something about them still just felt so right. “Sorry, be right back,” Benji said off handedly to whatever sophomore JV Cheerio that had just slid their way into the booth for some sort of conversation. However, he didn’t have any intention on returning for some half hearted talk with a random wannabe master cheerleader - it was time he stole Ruby away. “Wanna dance?” Benji asked as he approached Ruby from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist before he was walking them backwards towards the dance floor. A slower song had changed over the sound system, which was better for Benji and his... dangerously out of rhythm dance moves. Once they were nestled underneath the lights and the atmosphere was taking over both of them, Benji pulled back from slow dancing with her before he was smiling. “I know we said no gifts, but I couldn’t help myself,” he began, reaching into his pocket before he was bringing out a small velvet box. Benji was famously known for being quite possibly the worst gift giver, but he had an inkling that the silver plated necklace with a ‘B’ pendant was going to be quite the hit. “You know,” a pause. “It’s like a ‘B’ for Benji.”

.

“Why the fuck do you call her Bean Girl?” Bentley asked, but he couldn’t hold back his laughter as he thought about that nickname – he was sure that if he started calling Sterling that, that he would end up going to Candyland by himself. Bentley wasn’t used to talking to anyone about his feelings, especially not to his brother, but he really had no idea who else to talk about this. He definitely wasn’t about to talk to his mom about it, let alone his dad, especially since he would probably too busy with video games to pay attention to him. Plus, if he told the hockey team, he probably would be made fun of and Bentley couldn’t handle that. “I don’t fucking know… I mean, we still text each other and we… usually make out, but I don’t know. It feels like he wants something more and I don’t think… that I’m ready for that.” Bentley said, before clearing his throat, clearly uncomfortable to be talking about that sort of stuff – he just wasn’t used to it. “It’s not important, forget it.” Bentley said, before shaking his head, as he looked over at Benji as he suggested that they would carpool – he had no way to get to Breadstix, so of course he couldn’t say no to something like that. “I have to talk to Sterling about it, but I think that could work… Thanks.” He said, before giving his brother a small smile. “Do you think mom and dad will end up going to Breadstix after? Because I heard that a lot of parents end up going to that thing, but I’m not ready to see them being sweet to each other… If that even happens anymore.” Bentley said, shaking his head with a chuckle.

“Oh you know, like, coffee humor?” Benji said with a slight laugh before he was shrugging his shoulders. “Lima Bean... coffee bean... Bean Girl, Bean Boy, and Lesbean.” While Benji had always had some resemblance of a positive (ish) relationship with Sterling, before this year, Eli had not so lovingly been coined as ‘Bean Bitch’ in Benji’s head. However, now that their differences were aside and they actually were getting along? Things had changed. As Bentley started opening up more and more about everything that was going on with Malcolm, he couldn’t help but nod his head as he tried to follow along. “Like,” A pause. He didn’t want to make Bentley uncomfortable or offended. “You don’t know if you’re ready for something more period or like... with Malcolm?” Benji never claimed to be a smart person, but especially not whenever it came to his feelings. He had suppressed them for so many years, but now that he was getting a handle on his own emotions, he was trying to do the same for everyone else. Even when Bentley tried to shush away the conversation, he wasn’t interested in following and just ignored his words. “I’ll talk to Ruby too, but she loves everyone so I know she won’t care that much.” Benji began driving once more, pulling into the parking lot of the mall before he was parking. “Like two weeks I woke up and wanted a snack at like, I dunno, 2AM or something wild, and I found mom and dad making cookies in the kitchen together. It was kind of sweet, so I think they’ll probably swing by. Just ignore them, that’s what I try to do.”

.

Bentley wasn’t sure when things had gotten ‘normal’ between Benji and him, but even if Bentley liked to complain whenever his brother would barge in his room, he couldn’t complain about their new relationship. It was definitely better than what they had before and even if it was taking Bentley some time to adjust, he was happy that he could have a normal relationship with Benji before he went off to college. At Benji’s comment about their mom getting to the bad part of Grey’s Anatomy, Bentley couldn’t help but to chuckle at him, before he was shaking his head – the last thing he wanted was to be home to hear about how unfair Derek’s death had been and have his mom yell at him, so going to the mall with Benji definitely was the best idea. As he saw his brother leave his room, Bentley quickly grabbed some clothes out of his closet and went downstairs, not even daring to go into the living room where his mom was – he was sure that she wouldn’t notice that they were gone either way. Once they were both in the car, Bentley wasn’t sure what to say, so he just spent most of the time looking down at his phone, until his brother decided to break the silence. Raising an eyebrow at the other’s question, Bentley shrugged his shoulders. “If you’re trying to ask if I’m going to Candyland with Malcolm, then the answer is no. I’m going with Sterling, I kind of asked her out and she said yes which was… kind of unexpected.” Bentley said with a sigh, knowing that he definitely wanted to go with Malcolm, but it wasn’t like Sterling was a bad date either – after all, they had kissed before and even if it was only once, Bentley had to admit she was a good kisser, which honestly just made everything more confusing. “And I don’t know how things are with Malcolm.” He admitted shortly, before shrugging his shoulders.

“No shit, you’re going with Bean Girl?” Benji asked with a slight laugh in his voice as he thought about the pairing of his brother and one of his favorite co-workers. Sterling was cool, so it made sense that she was going with Bentley... who Benji was starting to realize was also a couple shades of cool. While he had his questions about why he wasn’t going with Malcolm, Benji kept his mouth shut. He didn’t know a single thing about what Bentley was going through whenever it came to his feelings for his friend, and the last thing Benji wanted to do was act like he did. “Well, what do you mean by that?” He asked as he pulled up to a stoplight, turning in his seat to give his brother his full attention. He had to admit, this was really, really nice. It felt good having the privilege and honor to get to talk to Bentley in such a way that they hadn’t before. Benji knew that their relationship had a long way to go, but talking about boys and dates and Valentines Day on the way to hang out together? It sounded like things were going incredibly well for them. “I’m goin’ with Ruby obviously, but if you need a ride or anything, I’m sure we could carpool? Or not, its just... a suggestion.” A lot of the time, Benji feared that his attempts at being a good brother to Bentley could just be seen as him trying to over compensate for a lot, which wouldn’t be a lie. He was trying his damnedest to cure a broken relationship, and he just hoped that his brother was on board too.

Being in the living room during the Grey’s Anatomy reruns was something that Bentley and everyone in that house had learned to avoid over the years. His dad was probably in some other room playing video games and Bentley had no idea what Benji was up to. As Bentley lied down in his bed, looking at his phone as he pondered if he should text Malcolm or not, he let out a sigh as he opened iMessage and got ready to text him. However, when he heard Benji barge in his room, Bentley was quick to sit up and look at him “What the fuck?” Bentley asked as he thought of a reason Benji would do something like that – based on his experience, he knew that something probably had happened with their mom and Bentley was about to have to hear all of it. But when he saw Benji fling himself to his bed, Bentley rolled his eyes at his brother as he told him to get dressed because they were going out. He wasn’t sure where this was coming from, especially since something like this would have never happened before – the relationship between the two weren’t the best, but it seemed like Benji was trying to change that, even if Bentley wasn’t sure if he should fall for it. “Why are we going to the mall?” Bentley simply asked, as he got up from his bed and started to get dressed – even if going out with his brother wasn’t his ideal Sunday, it was better than just staying in his room. Plus, he wasn’t about to say no to free food. “And next time, make sure you knock… I don’t have a lot of good memories of you barging into my room.” Bentley spit out, as he started changing his clothes.

Benji had to bite his tongue so that he didn’t mimick Bentley’s tone yet again whenever he had quite the reaction to him barging into his room. It was funny, really, how this had been Benji’s new normal for greeting his brother. They weren’t anywhere near close, but Benji had a good feeling about their most recent developments. “I dunno, I’m bored. We can like, hit up the arcade? If you’re down for that. I don’t care, I just need outta here. It’s getting to the bad part of Grey’s Anatomy,” Benji said with a shrug of his shoulders, knowing damn well that Bentley knew what the bad part of that show meant for their mom’s mentality. In the past, it always landed with both of them getting in trouble for absolutely nothing because of her level of emotional distraught. “I’m probably not going to start knocking, but I promise to start trying,” Benji said with a laugh before he started walking out of Bentley’s room before calling out, “I’ll be waiting for you in my car!” It was only a matter of minutes before Benji informed their dad on their future whereabouts, promising to probably be home by dinner (wasn’t going to happen), and bounding his way down the stairs to get to the garage. Once Bentley was in the car with him, they were on their way to the mall. The drive was quiet... except for when Benji decided to break through the silent void. “So how are things going? Ya know with like,” his voice faded away as he glanced over at Bentley, not really knowing if he was supposed to be flat out asking about Malcolm. Instead, he decided on a different approach. “Are you going to Candyland?” If he was, at least that could prompt the question on who he was going with.

jaz felt bittersweet tonight. like…yes, the new directions won and yes she had a solo…but a couple things were leaving a bad taste in her mouth. The main thing was seeing how excited her parents were to see her perform. Her mother brought her flowers and they were screaming for practically the entire closing number. She wished they were that passionate about her soccer games is all. But when Benji pulled her in for a hug, all of the negativity floated away. “Benji!” She yelled before he put her down. “Okay first of all, thank you! Second of all…I have been waiting for you to say that to me for four years!” She teased before laughing. She looked up at the stage and smiled. “There’s really nothing like performing. You should let us smuggle you to nationals.”

“If you get enough alcohol in me tonight, I promise to perform whatever songs you want,” Benji said with a smile, knowing that he was going to regret ever giving Jaz that kind of power. He had gotten more and more confident in performing, especially in such a lowkey setting, ever since he had been in Grease, but it still wasn’t something he was dying to do by any means. “Smuggle me? If you think I have any capability of dancing like that?” He couldn’t help but laugh before he was bringing Jaz into another embrace. She truly was one of the most important people in his life. Sure, it might have been a friendship that could look a little strange to outsiders, especially considering they had dated once before, but Benji didn’t care. Jaz was one of his best friends. “No but seriously, you’re going to the party tonight, right?” As soon as he was speaking about parties, he couldn’t stop his lips from speaking once more, “and Candyland! Are you going to that?” Benji wasn’t the best texter so most of the time, he was bombarding his friends with 20 questions whenever he saw them in the flesh.

tagging: benji + @jazziejazxo​ where: elsie janis theater 

Benji had never been a dude that felt inspired to join the glee club, but after watching the New Directions perform at Regionals? He couldn’t help but finally see the appeal that his dad was always gushing about. It was exciting how everything was an entire production, filled to the brim with audience reactions and enough attitude to make him feel like he could rock it on stage. It was never going to happen, but it was still something he could appreciate. While he enjoyed the entire performance, it was evident that Benji was really only focused on his two favorite girls - Ruby and Jazmine. It’s also what prompted the big exclamation of ‘I know them!’ to the random person sitting next to him that absolutely did not care. As soon as the event was coming to a close, Benji was using a lot of speed to find the members of his school’s glee club as fast as possible and it was nothing but sheer luck whenever his eyes landed on Jaz first. “Jazzy!” Benji shouted over the bustle of everyone filtering out of the auditorium, a wide smile on his lips as he raced up to her and embraced her in a warm hug. He couldn’t help it as he picked her up slightly, twirling their bodies around, before he was placing her back on her feet. “You were fuckin’ great, are you kidding me? Makin’ me want to perform an entire karaoke set with you at the party tonight,” Benji said with a wide grin as he kept close to her.

tagging: benji + @bentleylynn​ where: benji’s car when: sunday, february 7th

"Yo mom, do you need Ben for anything today?” Benji asked as he poked his head into the living room, already clocking the mistake that he had made. His mom had been watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy again and from the glare she shot him, he was certain that he had interrupted a crucial part. Benji took her answer as a ‘no’ whenever she rewinded the show a good 30 seconds (which was dramatic considering he had only interrupted all of 5 seconds) and glued her attention back to it. He couldn’t help but smirk in her general direction before he was barreling up the stairs and barging into his brother’s room. He wasn’t sure when he had forgotten the whole ‘brotherly boundaries’ thing, but it was practically a thing of Benji’s past with how he was always coming in hot to his little brother’s room. “Get dressed, we’re gonna go to the mall and do some shit,” Benji said as he flung himself on Bentley’s bed, trying to make it obvious that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. While Benji wanted nothing more than to spend some quality time with Bentley before he was off to college, he was also incredibly keen on some sort of update from the news that his brother had shared with him a little while ago. “I’ll buy you food or some shit, c’mon.”

🍒

It didn’t take a genius to pick up on the fact that Benji was still angry about whatever the hell had just happened with Miles. From his tone to his body language, his rage was radiating off of him like rays of light off the sun. Ruby was the sure the alcohol coursing through him did nothing to aid his growing anger. “Hey,” she said again, this time sternly, “look at me.” This was her attempt to ground him a little. Bring him back down to earth. She could tell as he spoke, eyes squeezed shut and breathing heavily, that her efforts weren’t exactly working. She’d never dealt with this before. If Benji wasn’t her boyfriend, she probably would’ve rolled her eyes and walked away while muttering something about masculinity being a disease. But he was her boyfriend and she cared. “Yeah, of course he was being a dickhead, babe. Have you seen him? He has like million dollar veneers and hair implants. He’s insecure,” there were rumors, of course, but hopefully they’d make Benji smile or something. The longer they faced each other on the steps for though, the clearer it became that this was really affecting him. “What did he say to you?” Ruby asked, and ask Benji began to unload everything that Miles had said, Ruby felt her own cheeks redden as her blood began to boil. Ruby knew Miles was some hot shot rich kid, but who gave him the right? “Hey,” she said gently, her voice a near whisper, as she reached her hands up to cup either side of Benji’s face, “You know nothing he said is true, right? You’re smart, funny, shockingly handsome…like, truly, it’s alarming…you’re sweet.” She let out a sigh as she gently strummed her thumbs along his cheeks. “Screw Miles Pearce. He’s a spoiled little baby whose been given everything he’s ever wanted on a silver platter so no one ever taught him what a filter is. Life will knock him down a peg. It always does.” Ruby moved her hands to Benji’s shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “Is your hand okay?” she asked, looking down at his red knuckles, “what do you need right now?”

Benji racked his brain for every single outdated and over hyped phrase that his anger management had taught him to get himself to a more calm position, but nothing was working. There wasn’t enough I breathe in the calm, and exhale the toxic in the world to deter Benji’s one track mind away from finding Miles Pearce and punching him in the stupid face again - until Ruby’s hands were cupping his face and a newfound sense of calmness fell over his body. His eyes connected with Ruby’s before he even felt himself cracking a smile. He was a lucky piece of shit and he was well aware of that. Ruby was the perfect fuckin’ catch with her looks and brains and the addictive need everyone felt to spend some time in her presence. She was good and he was just angry and aggressive. It wasn’t fair to her, and Benji wasn’t going to let this become something that was an issue. “Shockingly handsome?” He questioned through gritted teeth before he was laughing lightly at the entire situation. So what if he punched someone? It happened and he wasn’t able to go back in time (not that he wanted to) so he needed to move forward. Tomorrow was a new day and all that bullshit. “I just... it’s been a little bit since someone has said some shit.” Benji wasn’t an idiot and he was well aware of how many people thought that he was just that, an idiot. It was hurtful but it was life. At the mentioning of his hand, Benji glanced down and immediately realized the slightly swelling pain and bruising happening. “I’m okay,” he said with a smile before he was grabbing one of Ruby’s hands and bringing her palm to his lips for a kiss. “I’m okay now, I promise.” It never crossed his mind for a second that he might be too soft or too sensitive or too anything with Ruby. Just because she was his girlfriend didn’t mean he had to be this big bad masculine piece of meat. He was more than that, and Ruby had done nothing more than boost his confidence in a lot of different ways tonight. “I think I just need... wanna come over? I can sneak you in my room and we can watch movies or some shit. I just don’t...” Benji glanced around at the rowdy party going on around him, severely feeling his party mood plummeting. It was time to leave. “I promise to not steal you away next time.” With another soft laugh, he could barely remembering getting in a fight. That was the power of his happiness and maybe that’s all he needed to remember the next time a Miles of the world was being a prick to him. Regardless, it was time to go home with his girl and try to end the note on a positive.