#thiswasbad

Jenna stood outside the recital room in the cold air, tapping her foot and checking her phone for what had to have been the third time in the last minute. He said he would be here. He said he was only a minute away.

She would wait another minute, she decided. Another minute and then she would go back inside where it was warm. Just then, a car peeled into the lot, practically burning rubber as it spun into a parking spot in a glorious blur of dirt and gravel.

Jenna stood frozen in her place, shocked by how close the car came to nearly chopping her to bits. With wide eyes she watched as none other than the infamous Ben stepped out of the driver’s seat, flipping his tousled hair with a smirk. Jenna was floored by this uncharacteristic badass-ness. Where was the short, shy blonde boy with braces she had come to love? Certainly this Evil-Knievel emerging from the sports car was not the same boy?

“Hey. I’m not late am I?” He asked, as if the answer were not obvious.

Jenna endeavored to remain polite. “Not really. It just stared.” She refrained from telling him that by ‘just started’, she really meant ‘just started twenty minutes ago.’

The little white lie was worth it- the budding smile that emerged on his face will never fail to make her swoon. “Well then let’s go wifey!” He said, the grin plastered on his face as he grabbed her hand.

Jenna’s generally squeamish nature made it so that her instinctual response was to rip her hand away, and possibly run screaming. She had to remind herself that it was just Ben. He was just… affectionate. It meant nothing.

Right?

As they walked back into the warmth of the building she tried not to second guess herself. Thankfully, he began to chatter, filling up the silence with meaningless small-talk. “So are you excited for Cappies, oh date?” He asked teasingly, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Um… you realize Kaitlyn is going to be there, right?” She reminded him. He stiffened and released her hand, becoming rigid, as he always did when her name was mentioned.

“So?” He questioned rather harshly.

“So… isn’t she going to be your date?”

Ben rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to hide his obvious frown. “I guess…” He said reluctantly.

Not wanting to upset him, Jenna tried her best to take back her words. “But I could be your other date though!” She said, putting in extra effort to sound cheery.

He looked back at her, giving her a small smile. It was nothing near to the mega-watt grin he had gifted her with mere moments ago, but it was something. It was something better than a frown. She hates it when he frowns. “Yeah, definitely.” He whispered, reaching for her hand again.

This time, Jenna was expecting the hand-holding. She braced herself for it and tried to keep a nonchalant expression on her face as he gripped her hand in his. This was not a big deal.

She looked up from the ground and realized that maybe it was a bigger deal than she had first thought. Before her, in their seats, sat the family of Kaitlyn- cousins, parents, the whole shebang. And here she was, holding hands with Kaitlyn’s boyfriend.

For a moment, she wondered if it was at all possible for her to spontaneously combust out of embarrassment.

Ben seemed generally unconcerned.

He led Jenna past the family without even a glance in their direction. She breathed a sigh of relief when none of Kaitlyn’s over-protective Aunts jumped out in front of them, accusing Jenna of duplicity.

“So why aren’t you dancing?” He asked as they took their seats, ignoring the annoyed shushes from the other audience members around them.

“I’m not in this show.” Jenna tried to explain tersely, hoping it would encourage him to quiet down and enjoy the performance.

He did not pick up on her subtle hint. “I’m going to the next one, will you be in that?” He asked, making no effort to keep his voice down.

“Yes. But you aren’t allowed to watch me dance.”

Ben smirked, but sounded incredibly sincere when he spoke next. “Too bad. I’m going to anyway. And I’ll bring you flowers too.”

She kept her eyes focused on the stage in front of her, trying to hide her smile. “That’s not really necessary.”

“Yes it is.”

“Jenna!” The loud whisper-yell of her friend, Brenna, broke through the awkwardness. Jenna glanced behind her to see Brenna waving her hands in an animated fashion, trying to get her attention. “Come sit over here!” She exclaimed.

They moved back a few rows, resulting in Jenna squished between Brenna on one side and Ben on the other. Her wallet rested in her lap. Brenna made a grab for it.

“Ooh, look at this. A Learner’s Permit. How fancy.” Brenna said, dangling the card in front of her face in an effort to tease Jenna.

Jenna snatched it out of her hand and quickly hid it from sight. “Hey, I wanna see!” Ben said, feeling rather left out.

“No, I look horrible in that picture.”

“No you don’t. You look pretty.” Brenna said with only the slightest bit of sarcasm in her voice.

“She always looks pre-” Ben nearly reveals, catching himself at the last second and turning his face to the stage in embarrassment. There was a stunning silence.

“Well…” Brenna’s voice drawled out into the awkwardness, elongating the word in an effort to be humorous.

Suddenly, there was applause and people were beginning to stand on their feet. Jenna realized that the show had ended and parents were now making a mad rush to the stage in order to get pictures with their children.

“Ugh, let’s get out of here.” Brenna said as she began to walk in the opposite direction, eager to get out of the way of the bustling crowd of proud family members wielding outdated Kodak cameras.

“I’ll be there in a second.” Jenna called after her, turning back to Ben who now stood, hands shoved down his pockets and eyes staring at his shoes. Jenna glanced past him. “Kaitlyn’s probably looking for you.”

“Yeah.” He stated glumly.

There was a pause, and neither made a move to leave. “You should go find her.” Jenna suggested.

Ben heaved out a massive sigh of discontent. “I’m going out to dinner with her and her family after. I’ll text you?” He said, looking up at her with sad puppy-dog eyes.

Jenna smiled at him. “Sure.” She conceded.

He smiled and pulled her into a hug. It’s scientifically proven that the average hug lasts three seconds. Jenna counted. This one lasted six.

After she pulled away she offered him one last goodbye smile. “I’ll see you at Cappies.” She said over her shoulder as she was walking out. He gave her a half-hearted wave before turning away.

Just as she was about to leave through the double doors, Jenna glanced back to see Ben walk up to Kaitlyn and give her a congratulatory hug. Jenna counted.

Two seconds.