i could hangout forever

“ and why did you show up? because you want answers. ”  he starts, his eyes on the empty park ahead of him. “ you can ask one question. so make it a good one. ” it was a bit obvious that he’d ask her to come to see him. he missed her and by the looks of it, she wanted to see him too despite her last words to him. there was a connection there that they both couldn’t shake. and lately, with the fake marriage and faking that he didn’t feel some type of way for gemma, he just needed to be real for once. he owed that to himself. “ you call it negative, I call it realistic. it’s a cold world out there, gemma. it’s better to have low expectations. ” He pressed his lips together in a thin, stiff line for a moment. “ you think to see you will make me feel better? please. I was obviously talking about harlow. ” he nodded his head as a mischievous smirk of his own appeared on his lips. “ but to you give an escape route from princeton, I’m one call away. ”

“maybe i was just bored and didn’t want to spend the night sitting in my room.” gemma suggested, looking over at him but knowing it was no use because he had always been able to see right through her. “one question? come on, you know i have, like, a million.” she scoffed, but her mind was already racing at the thought as she tried to to think of just one. part of her didn’t want to ask, afraid of the answer. but she also knew she shouldn’t pass up the opportunity while she had it. bennett wasn’t a talker, she knew that. “i don’t know. i guess just — was it as real for you as it was for me? and do you regret it? all of it?” avoiding his eyes she bit her lip before letting out a soft laugh. “i know, i know. that’s two, but i don’t care.” she had so much more she wanted to ask him, and she feared she’d never have the time to ask him. or that he’d never open up enough. “is it really, though?” sometimes she was too much of an optimist, and she knew that. she’d gotten hurt a lot because it, but deep down she knew she’d rather try and get hurt than to not and be left wondering what would’ve happened. “i think you’re just scared.” it was harsh, maybe, but she was being honest. and hoping reverse psychology may work a bit on him. “okay fair. harlow is a lot more fun than i am.” she shook her head. “oh sure, get me to need you and not the other way around. i see how your mind works, bennett. guess i’m the crazy one for admitting i might actually take you up on that.”

“ oh. is that your plan here? ” bennett chuckles, throwing a rather innocent look at her. if he didn’t see anything with her anymore, he wouldn’t have asked her to hangout. and that was the scary part for him. since he met her, there was never a second he forgot about her. even after the trial and error. it seemed like there would be no easy or quick way to quit her. “ it’s ultimately up to you on how you want to live your life. yeah, it might suck for you and your family for a little but it’ll pass and you’ll be fine. ” he nods a little. “ plus, whatever you end up doing, I’m like ninety-nine percent sure you’ll be successful. and isn’t that like the key for your family? success? ” he quirked an eyebrow, chuckling to himself. oh how their families were different. but both their loyalty to them was the same. “ hm? about kissing my ass? yeah, you don’t have to do that anymore. I can pick up on when you lie now. ” He suppresses the expression he wishes to make, instead staring down at the sand again. he knew what he said, but of course, he’d never repeat his feelings more than once. “ I’ll end up meeting a bunch of hipsters. no thanks. ” he said with a prevalent sneer. bennett had already decided but him telling gemma before any of his friends felt right. it was honestly the only reassurance he needed to move forward with it. not saying his friends wouldn’t be supportive. she just saw and knew a side of him that his friends didn’t know. and right now, that’s the side he wanted to be. “ on the brightside, if I do go. I can at least come home whenever I want. I’d like to see familiar faces when I’m hating everyone in new york. ”

“plan? i have no plan. you’re the one who asked me here, i just showed up.” gemma reminded him. and why did he want her here? she still didn’t know, and she didn’t want to get her hopes up. it was hard for her to tell what was going to hurt more: trying again with the possibility of failing or not trying at all. “well, whatever happens, thanks for that. i guess you could say i kind of needed that.” because while she came off as extremely confident and self-assured, she wasn’t always like that. she struggled at making her own choices, because she was always too afraid of messing up. maybe that’s why she could never admit how much she really wanted him and had left in the past. “oh yeah, that.” she shook her head, obviously meaning the part where he had said he liked her. but she knew better than to push him to say anything twice. she’d just sit there trying to suppress the butterflies in her stomach at the thought. “will you stop? not everything in life has to be a negative.” that was the hard part about bennett, he wasn’t usually one to look on the bright side of things. but she wished he would just this once, because he had talent and he owed himself to purse that. she just wished he saw himself the way she saw him. “see! that’s the spirit. maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. maybe you’d actually like new york. and you know what’s even closer than home...” princeton. “i’d come visit you if you were ever, you know, homesick or extra-annoyed.”

“ alright, ” he looked at her momentarily, gathering his courage to be a dick and tell her more lies. “ it is for the best. you bailed once before — yup, didn’t forget about that. we tried it again, and to our utmost surprise, it didn’t work out. that sound more convincing? ” it was the harsh truth. but bennett was more irritated at the fact that they were good together and their timing just didn’t get the memo. despite this, bennnett would do it over and over again. because at least he got to be with her. “ gemma wallace doesn’t want to get into politics. ouch. ” he shook his head. “ I can see the tension between you and your family now. the disappointed looks, the awkward family get together. ” he teased her. when he first met gemma, she was always trying to please everyone around her but herself. the feeling he felt when she confessed she didn’t want to follow her family’s footsteps caused a small, proud smile. “ definitely not selfish. just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean that’s what you're supposed to do it for the rest of your life, you know? if you have other interests, I think you owe it to yourself to explore them. it’s your life, not your family’s. ” was it hitting home for him? yes. he was good at his business, and he could always go back to it if all fails but was he challenged and passionate about it? no. and it seemed to be the same for gemma. bennett put his index finger to his lips, playfully glaring at her. it wasn’t that he was ashamed of getting accepted into an art school. that was big for him, especially since he dropped out of school and earned a G.E.D. so going back to school was never imagined for him. hell, definitely not art school. photography was a hobby at first and it wasn’t long for him to completely fall in love with anything that involved capturing and creating moments. “ don’t get all mushy. I already like you so you don’t have to kiss my ass. ” he smirked. “ I probably won’t go. shit is competitive and I’m not good. my mom probably knows someone from the school, if we’re being honest. ” his mom did open many doors for him in the past, soccer in particular so it wouldn’t be a surprise if she did this for him (it was an assumption). but if he would drop the fear and indifference, he knew he could make it as some big photographer or filmmaker. he could do well in art school if he put the effort. 

“third times a charm?” gemma teased as she shot a sarcastic grin in his direction, if only to cover up the painful feeling in her chest his words had caused. she knew these facts and had told herself them over and over again, but what didn’t make sense to her was why it still hurt so bad. how could she still want him despite how much they’d crashed and burned in the past? “no, you’re right. it’s better this way, with us just being... whatever we are right now.” which she was sure wasn’t friends, they had never been friends. “i know, i know. you think it’s stupid, but you don’t know how they are with all this legacy this and legacy that...” she shook her head as she looked down. she didn’t want to let anyone down, and she felt ungrateful for having all the opportunities laid out for her and turning them down. but if being with bennett had taught her anything, it was that there was nothing wrong in go after what she wanted. but why, then, was it so difficult to lay her cards on the table and go after him? “oh so you’re admitting that now? ‘cause i have to admit i’d been kind of unsure of it, like, this whole time.” she was only kidding...kind of. “okay, but you already got in so i’m pretty sure that's exactly confirmation that you're good enough to go there.” she gave him a look, although she could understand what he said about his mom. it was hard not to feel like she had gotten everything handed her with who her family was. she knew what it felt to second guess herself over that. “i mean, do what you want. but if i were you, i’d take that opportunity and run with it. you never know where it might lead. where you might end up, who you might meet...”

“ With how controlling you can be, I’m shocked you weren’t crazy. To be honest, I kind of wish you were. We could’ve had some fun with it. ” he pouted slightly before smirking. bennett was too lowkey to have extremely crazy. hell, he was too lowkey to have anything. but at least gemma was a good balance for him. thanks to his influence, so he likes to think. “ I think so. ” he couldn’t help but sigh heavily. it was evident he wasn’t confident with his answer. how was supposed to know it was for the best if he never gave it a real shot? “ still getting treated like shit ? ” he eyed her for a moment, laughed. he remembered the stories she told him about her internship and the people she had to deal with. even if he acted like he didn’t pay attention, he listened. he’d always been a good listener. and he definitely missed when she would come to him about whatever she did for the day. “ yeah, it’s been cool. I sold an eight-grader some parsley and oregano earlier today. these kids are getting wild. ” bennett enjoyed being rosewoods dealer. who wouldn’t living in rosewood? he made more than enough money. it was easy for him at this point and familiar. it seemed dumb to stop. but bennett had other interests. an interest he wanted to explore more. “ I got accepted to art school. but punking these kids sounds a lot better than doing all of that school stuff. I’m good. ” he downplayed it, of course. 

“oh yeah? well, maybe the crazy’s still in there. maybe i was just good at hiding it.” gemma shrugged, looking over at him with a devious spark in her eye even though she was only kidding. she could be crazy about him, she supposed. if she let herself. if she didn’t think it would automatically push him away. “think so doesn’t sound too convincing.” she bit her lip, her stomach in knots. not sure what she’d regret more: speaking up or forever holding her peace. for now, she decided to stay silent, only because for once in her life she couldn’t think of something to say. “sometimes. i mean, it’s been better. i’ve proved myself a little, you know? but i don’t know...” she sighed with the shake of her head. “i’m kind of coming to terms with the fact that i don’t really want to be in politics. i mean, sure, i’m good at it and it runs in my family. but i don’t really think it’s me. i don’t think it’s what i’d choose if i wasn’t being pushed in that direction. is that totally selfish of me?” gemma was a perfectionist, and before that she was a go-getter, but before both of those things she was kind of a people pleaser. she didn’t want to let anyone down, least of all her family, but she felt like she kind of owed it to herself to do what she wanted to do for once. “you did not.” she shook her head as she laughed. “well, i’m proud of you for not selling a middle-schooler actual drugs.” nodding her head, her eyes got wide at what he mentioned next. “art school? bennett, that’s amazing. please tell me you’re thinking of going next semester. yeah, it’s a lot of work, but you're more than capable of doing it. i know i’m probably biased, but i think your work is really good. more than good. i always thought you were going to be some big photographer or famous filmmaker, and i’m not just saying that.”

“ Wow. I always thought smart people had the power to read minds. I’ll remember that for the next smart girl I try to hook up with. ” he poked his tongue out, playfully. bennett used the tip of his shoe to kick some sand on gemma’s side, “ you didn’t force me. maybe pressured me once…or twice. ”  he laughed. jokingly. “ but other than that, you were fine. you weren’t a stage five clinger, so at least you have that under your belt. ” bennett understood that she wasn’t trying to be pushy. it was normal to want a serious relationship with someone and he wished he could be a traditional person. but despite seeing all her efforts to understand him and being patient with him, he made excuses in order to save himself from getting hurt again. “ your mom sounds like my mom. ” he rolled his eyes. he may not have expressed much about his situation with gemma to his mom. but he knew she knew how deep his feelings for gemma were. “ well I guess now we’ll never know. ” he gently swayed on the swing, giving himself a distraction not to look over at her.  “ damn, do I have to do all the work here? ” he sighed heavily before he broke out into another smile. “ how’s school? your internship? ” 

“well that’s good to know,” gemma laughed before kicking a pile of sand right back at him. sometimes she felt like she’d been way too pushy towards him and hated herself for it, thinking if she was more lowkey about things they would’ve worked out. but when she tried that, it didn’t pan out how she wanted either. it was always just a tug-o-war between them, did they want each other or not? it seemed like when one of them did, they other didn’t and it was always a rare and beautiful moment when they matched up. but that moment was always fleeting. “i know i don’t have a lot of self-control when i want something, but hey i’m glad you don’t think i’m, like, certifiably crazy.” because sometimes she felt like she was. but love was supposed to do that, wasn’t it? make you crazy. “they can be incredibly annoying, but they’re usually right.” she shrugged, falling silent when he said he guessed they’d never know. the thought making her incredibly sad, but not necessarily wanting to speak up on it in fear of being shot down. “yeah, guess so. like you said, it’s for the best right?” a sigh left her lips as she tentatively looked over at him. “it’s kind of a nice change, isn’t it? let’s me relax a little for once.” she teased. “oh same old. lots of work, lots of stress. but it keeps me busy. how’s business over here? still killing it as usual?”

“ I like to call it an open marriage. pretty normal these days. ” he nodded, though his tone was completely playful. although he wouldn’t say it, he hoped she would eventually get the hint that his marriage wasn’t real. he’d played it off in front of everyone else, but he didn’t care to hold up the front anymore. especially in front of the girl he truly wanted to be with. “ maybe at first. ” he mumbled. with how hard their relationship was getting for him, he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. or so he thought. but it was honestly just him beating himself up for being happy for once. his subconscious telling him that he didn’t deserve to be happy or to be with her. “ you’re supposed to be the smart one, so yeah, it’s on you. ” he teased. bennett knew he couldn’ve spoken up. and for being a straightforward, blunt guy, it should’ve been easy. but that’s the thing. he was in love. a feeling he’d never truly experience until gemma, so with his fixed nature and new feelings, he was always at war with himself. what was right and wrong. or if there was ever really a wrong in this situation. “ call it stupid, but do you really think it was ever gonna work out?—nevermind. it’s better like this. you’ll see it one day. ” somehow it was so easy yet so hard for him to open up with gemma. the things he didn’t care about with other people, he cared about when it came to her. but of course, it wasn’t enough for him to push himself to be that guy consistently. “ we can talk. I’m not as annoyed with your voice tonight. Guess not talking helped with that. ” he chuckled. 

“you’re disgusting,” gemma joked with the roll of her eyes but she was smiling. she was definitely smiling. maybe what stella said was true after all, i mean shouldn’t he have been rubbing how happy he was in her face? and why would he have even asked her to come here anyway? he hadn’t asked her to hang out before he’d gotten married and they were still broken up, why now? now that she was thinking about it, maybe she didn’t want to know. “see. you’re hard to read, but i can pick up on things sometimes.” at first it felt good to be right, but then in realizing what it meant her stomach turned. he had wanted nothing to do with her. but now he was back to wanting her around? gemma hated feeling this confused. “i’m smart, but not a mind reader, ben. it’s not like i could’ve forced you to be in a relationship with me. believe me, i probably tried.” she couldn’t help but laugh. she didn’t want to take the blame for this, that was fair. but part of her didn’t even care about that, she honestly just wanted him to be real with her about what this whole thing was. she could only talk in code for so long, but she was scared to push him away again. “honestly? not at first. but my mom always says if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. you just have to go after it and do the work. so yeah, if we wanted to, i think we could have.” but maybe she was always too afraid to want him that badly. “you know, i had almost forgotten how sweet you could be.” she looked over at him with a teasing glare. “what do you want to talk about?”

“ I get married once and I guess I’m a changed guy. strike the iron while it’s hot. ” he shrugged nonchalantly, though not without a playful side smile. it wasn’t to be malicious, but if she was joking with him, he figured it was a green light to do the same. bennett intended to sweep the marriage under the rug when he met up with gemma. believe it or not, he didn’t want to rub anything in her face. it was obvious she wasn’t like other girls to him. normally, he would have a field day making them feel less. but he didn’t want to put gemma in that position purposely. he may have been hurt and wanted to hurt her back, but it would’ve been pointless because he still cared for her. and oddly for him, he didn’t want to throw those feelings away for her, whether they were together or not. “ set me free? am I fucking bird now? ” he said laughed as he looked over at her with a raised brow. “ we’re different, though. so I guess you did both of us a favor. ” it came out colder than intended, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise because bennett told her time after time that she needed someone that suited her life. “ or I can not just have a reason and we can just hang out. why the twenty-one questions. ” it was wrong for him to try to go back to easy so he could avoid conversation, but it was where he felt safe. 

“and somehow being married doesn’t mean being off the market to you. hm, interesting!” gemma smirked back at his smile. feeling lighter about the conversation, but hating herself for it because she knew how she was feeling about his marriage just a second ago. but he always got her to unravel somehow. “shut up, you know what i mean. i thought you were the one who wanted nothing to do with me. i mean, i hadn’t heard from you or seen you. i was just the one who said it first.” maybe she’d jumped the gun, but all of this was too much a mindfuck for her to even go there right now. she’d done the right thing, she’d told herself. and it made sense to her logically, she just didn’t understand why it didn’t feel completely—or at all—right. he couldn’t give her what she wanted, what more of a message could she have gotten? “oh so this is all on me now?” she scoffed quietly, shaking her head. “if you would’ve wanted differently, all you would’ve had to do was speak up. but you’re with mckinley now, right? so what does it even matter?” it didn’t. it shouldn’t have, but it did and she couldn’t help but add more. “and yeah, we are different. but we’re also not. i just think that’s kind of a stupid excuse.” she loved him, so that was all that should’ve mattered. she hated how life was never that simple. “because you know why. but fine, whatever. we can just hang out. no talking, no big deal...”

“ nah, it was storybook worthy. I just imagined myself having a shot gun wedding. ” He shrugged nonchalantly before the corners of his lip lifted slightly. bennett didn’t think he would ever get married. even if it was with his best friend and they were drunk, he assumed anything that dealt with commitment would sober him up quickly. however, at least it was with mckinley and not a stripper or some random girl on the vegas strip. bennett chuckled to himself at the mention of being exes or not. he didn’t have the label of what they were, but he knew they were complicated. he nodded quickly after at the competition aspect of exes. he never had an ex, the closest being gemma. but he saw his friends and how they’d secretly compete with one another. he didn’t think he and gemma were competing, but simply trying to forget and move on entirely. “ well are you happier? ” he asked, genuinely curious and hoped she was. he knew he probably hurt her more than made her happy, which is why he tended to keep a distance between them because he wouldn’t be able to give her his all. so in his eyes, as long as she wasn’t with him, she would always be happier. “ truth or not, you said what you said. And I mean I don’t blame you for saying what you said. ” after their last blow out, he wasn’t mad at her. he couldn’t be mad at her because she wanted more from him and he refused to do that. it was his own fault that she was upset and felt the way she did, said what she said to him. even if he felt like he was doing the right thing, it didn’t make it hurt any less. if anything it hurt even more. “ like I said before, I just want to get on the swings. ” bennett gently pushed one of the swings, gesturing her to get on one before he sat on the other. “ you’re free to go home, you know.”  

“oh yeah? i thought you’d never go near anything with the words wedding and marriage involved,” gemma admitted, a laugh falling loosely from her lips. bennett hated commitment, or so she thought. maybe it was just commitment to her. and she could understand that. she could be difficult, demanding, and overbearing. never easy. she knew that. and when it came down to it, she was the one who ran away first. she couldn’t forget that, even if she wished she could take it back now. “i mean, i don’t know how happy you are. you don’t exactly make it easy for me to tell, but if i’m being honest... probably not.” she was still sad about things, still stressing over unimportant details. she played it off like she was happy, but she knew it wasn’t that easy no matter how much she wished it was. “maybe i said that because i thought that’s what you wanted me to say. set you free or whatever.” or because she was too afraid to say otherwise. or was trying to convince herself of it. or had just hit her breaking point and wanted to give up, because at the end of the day she was always hitting a wall with him and a wall with herself. “you’re so confusing, you know that?” gemma rolled her eyes as she got on the swing next to him. “one minute you’re texting me to come meet you, and now you’re telling me i’m free to go home? i guess we’re just going to have to swing on these swings until you make up your mind.”

“ I won? ” he scoffed under his breath, his voice remained low as he went on. “ I didn’t know we were competing. but I’m sure you’ll out do me with your fairytale wedding one day so I’ll let you have the win. ” it wasn’t like bennett was trying to show off that he moved on. well not entirely. the marriage was mainly a drunken decision and a distraction for how bad things had turned out. he’d rather forget about his falling out with gemma than to deal with it or fix it. a defense mechanism he used quite often that it wasn’t a secret to anyone. however as for winning? he wouldn’t say that. he’d lost someone that meant more to him than he let on and it was all because he was too scared. “ I know you don’t but by calling you on out on it, which you hate, I got you to loosen up a bit. ” he laughed as he started towards the swing sets. “ I’m gonna be honest with you. I don’t know why I called you out here and I definitely don’t know why you even showed up. ” bennett shrugged and look down at sand under his shoes, his tone snarky to cover the embarrassment. bennett never called a girl first, especially after he hooked up with her. it went against everything he stood for yet here he was going against himself…again. at the park, about to swing on the fucking swing set like a little kid. “ last time we talked, you said you didn’t want anything from me anymore. ” 

“what, your vegas nuptials weren’t something out of a storybook?” she teased, not necessarily to be mean but more so just to lighten the mood which had turned intense quickly. but that was the thing with them, they were so intense. so much so that it felt like they spent the majority of their time playing that off, trying to push it down so it’d hurt less when things inevitably crashed and burned. but the thing was, it probably hurt more that there was so much there under the surface that still remained. “it’s stupid really. the whole competition between exes thing, i mean if you could even call us that. who moved on first with who, who’s happier than who...” neither of those were her, she could bet. and it was funny that as a person who tried to win at everything, it was crazy to her to think that this was a game she might actually want to lose. because deep down, she didn’t want to be happy with anyone else. she just wanted him. always him. “guess you still have that effect on me.” which she guessed was why they worked. she didn’t calm down ever, but she did with him. she was freer, looser, better. “we all say things we don’t mean, don’t we?” she bit her lip, afraid she’d already admitted too much. but at the end of the day, that was the truth and she wanted him to know that, even if he had the power to stomp on her heart right there in the middle of the park. “so you really don’t have any idea why you wanted to see me tonight? or you just don’t want to tell me?”

bennett shrugged jokingly, but with a hint of loneliness. “I’m a grown dude, I go wherever I please.” it was the truth, he was still going to do him regardless of being ‘married’. but what he wanted to say was the marriage was fake. she deserved to know that more than anyone. but if bennett revealed any truth to his decision with mckinley then it meant he had to admit he was hurt by her and his pride wouldn’t allow that. “I can be cute, petty and ask how your boyfriend is doing. but since you came to meet me, there isn’t anyone worth asking about, is there?” he glanced at her with his honey-brown hues before he faked a smile that eventually turned into a smirk.“can we just like chill?” his looked at her crossed arms and then back to her. “I’m just trying to go swing on the swing sets or something.” he knew she’d eventually ask him why he asked her to come meet him and he was still figuring it out. however, all he wanted right now was to just be with her again. 

gemma nodded, her eyes cast down in an effort not to reveal her uneasiness when talking about his marriage. which was something she’d been trying her best not to think about too much, but now that she was here face to face with him it was all rising to the surface. she knew she shouldn’t have cared, but she did. way too much. on the surface, yeah, it hurt that he seemed to move on before her. but deep down, all it did was make her wonder if it had been mckinley all along. that she was just some stupid distraction, a joke, a bet. mckinley was so much better suited to him, anyone could see that. still, what stella had alluded to had stayed in the back on her mind, a sliver of hope for something she knew she wasn’t supposed to want but wanted anyway, but she was skeptical. she wanted answers, but also felt like it might hurt less to run away and never know. “even if i did, you still beat me by getting married. you still won. so congratulations, i guess.” her lips pouted slightly, not having it in her to make up some ultra-together, adoring boyfriend on the spot. he’d probably see right through her, so what was the use? everyone paled in comparison to him, what could she do? feeling the urge to turn around and walk away, she stopped herself as a laugh left her lips at the mention of the word chill. “chill? me? i don’t know if i know how to do that.” her tone was teasing as she shook her head, looking to the swing set and then back at him. “i don’t know why you called me out here or why i even showed up but...” maybe this, whatever this was, was better than talking. words always seemed to get in their way. “fine. come on.”

bennett had no idea what he was doing, texting gemma and asking her if she wanted to go to the park with him. but all he knew was that he wanted to see her. with the whole marriage stunt and mckinley completely going against what she and bennett talked about, he felt…alone and somewhat betrayed. and it wasn’t that he was searching for gemma as his back up because he had plenty of those, but he realized he missed her. he’d never admitted it out loud but his actions were obviously showing that. “no flowers or chocolate, don’t look so surprised.” he joked. 

gemma felt a mixture of nausea, anger, and an ultra-annoying hint of excitement since bennett’s name had flashed over her home screen, wanting to kick herself for how quickly she’d replied that she would meet him and had dropped everything to make her way over to the park. was she really that desperate to not even make him wait a good ten minutes before accepting when in actuality she should have just said no? there was something about him needing her that she couldn’t say no to, she guessed. truthfully, he was always at the back of her mind whether she liked it or not. closure between them still nonexistent, and selfishly there was a part of her that didn’t want there to be. even after all that had happened, she had a feeling she’d always be wanting him. afraid that she’d never truly have him. “he jokes, funny.” her words were sarcastic but she was already fighting a smile. “i lost my expectations a long time ago.” she shrugged, still standing in front him with her arms crossed. “so the wife let you out for the night?”

“Well since we’re at a party, I figured we could get fucked up together. It’s more fun that way. Y’know if you didn’t know.” He shrugged, though not without a smirk. Bennett grabbed the bottle, holding it for a moment while he debated on drinking straight or pouring it into a cup. “It’s what all you Rosewood girls think — “the town dealer actually talking, he must want me”. And don’t you even try to deny it.” He rolled his eyes before he finally took a drink from the bottle. Bennett knew her type. He slept with too many girls that just needed him to get under their parent’s skin or their dumb jock boyfriend. And the girl standing in front of him was the poster child for that. The girl who needed something different in her life. “Plus you’re still in the kitchen with me. You need some entertainment because I bet you’re not getting it from who you came here with. Right?" 

“If I didn’t know..” She let out a biting laugh, eyebrows lifting as she looked down at the ground. Gemma may not have been the hardcore partying type, but she certainly wasn’t a social outcast either. Far from it. She hit every social “milestone” she needed to, but she never let herself get out of control for sake of appearances. “You really want to get fucked up with a girl you already seem to think is uptight? I mean, be my guest. I’m not saying I wouldn’t prove wrong or anything.” The rare hint of a spark flashed in her eyes. A challenge. She was a Wallace, after all. “Oh so you’re that guy. Nice to finally put a face to a name.” She’d be lying if she’d said she hadn’t heard about him. He was friends with Harlow, and it was kind of surprising they hadn’t met until now. If she wasn’t feeling a little bit curious, she probably would’ve ran at the mention of the words drug and dealer in the same sentence. “Don’t count on me to feed your ego. Sounds like you’ve got plenty of girls to do that for you.” And she couldn’t blame them. He was pretty much the epitome of a bad boy with the looks to match. “So he reads minds too? Interesting.” Nodding her head, she bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. “He’s decent arm candy, but he’s been calling me Jessica all night. So I think it’s safe to say he can find his own ride home.”

“You know, it’s considered rude to not offer someone a drink.” He mimicked her tone, taking one last hit of his joint before he dropped it into a red cup on his way towards the girl. Bennett enjoyed parties, he just didn’t enjoy how stuffy they got and how people couldn’t handle their liquor. So he always found himself in the kitchen. It was a busy room but never too busy or stuffy and it allowed him to sell easily while staying low through the night. “And before you think I’m trying to hit on you, I really just want a drink.” He nodded before he extends his hand out for the bottle, however, his eyes were locked on the blonde. Bennett didn’t know the girl other than that Harlow was friends with her. He normally didn’t bother to talk to girls like her because they were all the same. But he would blame it on boredom if anyone saw him.  

“Oh, so you couldn’t just get one yourself from the other ten bottles on the counter?” One eyebrow raised, her eyes drifted from him to the counter and then back to him. A smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. Normally, she probably would’ve just taken her drink and left, not wanting to bother with someone like him who looked like he had a penchant for trouble. But something kept her there, despite the subtle uneasiness that seemed to wash over her as he moved closer. Possibly the idea of having to return back to her date and more awkward conversation, probably the fact that now that she could get a good look at him he was actually pretty attractive. “Fine, if this bottle’s really such a hot commodity..” She handed it over to him, a laugh escaping her lips as he mentioned her thinking he was hitting on her. “Woah, woah, woah. Who said I would even entertain the idea of you hitting on me? You’re the one putting that out there..”

“You know, it’s considered rude to stare.” Arms crossed, she pursed her lips as she stared him down right back. Intent on figuring it out.