"Can I ask you a question?" I slightly turn to my side on the seat and I eye Bennett with curiosity.

"Sure." He quickly glances at me before his eyes are back to the road, his hands firm on the steering wheel.

"Who were you sitting with at lunch today?"

"What?" He frowns and I shrug, but I'm curious, so when he came to my locker after lunch to ask if I needed a ride back home after school, I couldn't say no.

Call me nosy, but what can I do? Well, I could mind my own business, that's what I should do.

"I saw you sitting with some people today and I was just wondering—"

"I've sat with them basically every day for the past three years, Alex." He cuts me off, his voice bitter and I see him tightening his grip. "You just never noticed."

"Sorry, I guess I just..." What should I say? That he's right? That I never noticed he even had any friends? I mean, it's not like I don't know who they are, I recognized most of them from other classes, but I never knew they were friends with Bennett.

"Yeah, yeah, you were too busy to care about anything else other than Dylan, I get it."

"That's not it." I quickly say in a low voice, almost feeling offended.

"It's ok, you might not admit that this is the reason you never notice anyone, but I know better. Don't worry, I don't care though." I can't help but feel a bit hurt with his harsh tone.

The car comes to a halt and he pulls the hand brake, still not looking at me.

"You can go now."

"You're kicking me out of your car?" I turn once again to face him, shocked that this is enough for him to make me leave like this, but he just raises an eyebrow and looks at me like I'm stupid.

I think he's overreacting and I'm so ready to argue with him.

"Uhn, we are at your house." I look out the window to see that we are indeed parked in front of my house.

I didn't even notice, because I was too focused on how he got annoyed with a simple question.

Way to embarrass myself. Good job Alex.

I take the seat belt off and get out of his car without saying another word.

I hear the car speeding up before I even have the chance to get to my front door and when I look back, Bennett is already gone.

I don't understand why he's so mad at me. Because I don't know who he's friends with? It's not like he talks to a lot of people, so how would I know?

Ok, maybe I have been too oblivious, but still, I was just asking an innocent question, right?

Forgetting about Bennett, I spent the rest of my day in my room, doing homework. Lilly was right, it's only the first day and we already have assignments to do.

Senior year is supposed to be fun, but yeah, not really.

I went to bed late and I was so exhausted that I almost forgot to take my medicine. Luckly, I remembered before I was knocked out.

I even had a nightmare, where zombies were chasing me, one of them being Mr. Perkins.

Creepy.

If this is a sign of how the year is going to be like, I'm so screwed.

I woke up even more tired than I went to bed and after I got ready for school, I went down the stairs feeling much like a deja vu from yesterday, as I found my mom in the kitchen again.

The only difference is that this time she isn't on the phone. She's frying bacon, instantly making my mood much better.

Food makes me happy!

"Good morning, honey. Are you ready to go to school?"

I can't help how my mood is back to being sour at the mention of school.

No, I'm not ready, but what choice do I have? Can I just sleep all day? Or watch a TV show? I definitely need to know what happens in the next episode of The Walking Dead.

I take a bite of a cookie I got from a jar on the counter, dreaming about my unrealistic plans of doing nothing for the day.

"Uhn, so, is Bennett giving me a ride to school again?" I ask with my mouth full and I get a pointed look from her, probably because there are crumbs falling on the floor. I take another bite, ignoring her look.

I'm not sure what's the answer I'm expecting to my question.

I thought a lot about it last night and I feel like I need to apologize to him. It wasn't my intention to say that he doesn't have friends or to offend him somehow.

''He can't today, he said he has to arrive early at school to prepare some experiment for the science club.''

Weird, I thought clubs would only start in two weeks from now. Classes started just yesterday and he already has things to do.

Well, I guess science can't wait...

I'll talk to him at the cafeteria later today, then.

After we have breakfast, I grab my things, follow my mom to her car and we go to school listening to music and having a good time as she asks for updates on my life. I keep it to a minimum, because even though I'm close to her, it's not like I'll tell her details of my exciting life.

Noted the sarcasm? There's nothing exciting about my life, so nothing to tell her.

"How have you been feeling lately? You know, we changed your medicine." She gives me a worried look.

"Yeah, it's ok, I don't feel any side effects with this one, so it's good, I guess." I say, wanting to cut the topic short. 

"You're not having any episodes, so it's definitely good." She smiles.

"Yep." That's all I say.

I don't really like talking about it and I avoid it as much as possible, but the thing is, I have chronic migraine.

I'm not talking about bad headaches, I mean debilitating, excruciating pain kind of migraine.

It's really, really bad when I have an episode. I had to go to the hospital a few times until it was diagnosed when I was thirteen and I've been taking daily medicine to avoid it from happening since then.

I recently changed the medicine, as the previous one made me feel too sleepy and nauseous, so I hope this new one is better.

I'd really rather focus back on school - that's how much I don't like the migraine topic.

When I'm crossing the parking lot, after saying goodbye to my mom, I see Bennett getting out of his recently parked car, not seeming in a rush at all.

He's playing with his car keys and he has his headphones on, as he calmly makes his way to the building.

I frown realizing that he lied to my mom.

He didn't need to be here early, he just didn't want to give me a ride.

.........................

"Can I talk to you?" The conversation suddenly stops and everyone looks at me.

One of the girls analyzes me from head to toe with an unreadable face, making me feel uncomfortable to even be at their table at the cafeteria.

"About what?" Bennett says looking uninterested.

The same girl from yesterday, who is now sitting on her boyfriend's lap, narrows her eyes at Bennett and he looks at her.

It's like they are silently talking. I can't really tell, but by the way she's pointing at me with her head, I think she actually wants him to talk to me.

Ok, that's not subtle at all.

"It won't take long. Please?" I try again, my discomfort increasing.

"Fine." He finally sighs, stands up and leads the way to a more reserved area, where no one can hear us.

"I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I didn't mean to upset you." I put my hair behind my ear as I fit the floor, embarrassed by my nosy behavior.

"Like I said, I don't care."

"Then why are you mad at me?" The question is out of my mouth before he barely finishes the sentence.

"I'm not mad, Alex. I just find it incredible how you've always been such a ridiculously obsessed fangirl that you never notice anything around you." Ok, where is this coming from? "You don't have to talk to me, you never did, so don't bother starting now because Dylan is not here anymore."

I take a step back, feeling shocked with his accusation. I can feel the frustration as he gives me an angry look.

"There's nothing to do with Dylan."

"Really?'' He narrows his eyes. ''You know what I think? Sadly, your high school life has always been about Dylan, whether you admit it or not. I know your agenda was based on his schedule, so now you are lost. Take this advice from someone who truly knows you since you were born, you should get a life. A real one."

I feel hurt with his words. 

"That's a bit cruel, Bennett." I say, making sure he doesn't see how much he's affecting me. "I just came here to apologize, but you know what? Never mind."

He sighs again, but it's too late. I already feel like crying.

"Alex, it's not—"

I turn around to go back to my table, not wanting to hear what else he has to say.

I focus on Lilly, who is looking at me with curiosity. I quickly glance back to see if Bennett is back to his friends, but he's just standing there with a dreary look on his face and his eyes on me.

No, he doesn't get to be sad or whatever he's feeling.

I recognize that I might, you know... just maybe, have been too focused on Dylan, but that's not enough reason for him to flip and treat me like this. Plus, it's not true what he said, I have a life.

I sit across from Lilly and fit the table, not saying a word.

"So? What did he say?"

I look up to face her and she raises her eyebrow as I don't answer. She knows me too well, so I don't even need to say how upset I am.

"Did he say shit to you? Tell me Alex, because if he did, I'll go talk to him. You might know him since diapers but that won't fucking stop me from kicking his ass."

Sometimes I wonder if Lilly has anger issues. Not that I think she'd ever hurt anyone for real, but she explodes with minimum input and she curses a lot when she's pissed.

"He basically said that my life is non-existent now that Dylan is not here and that I should get a real life."

She blinks a couple times, before she says anything.

"Ok, I don't mean to upset you even more, but I think he kind of has a point. I mean, not about the part of you not having a life, I'll kick him in the balls for saying that, but actually you did focus a lot on Dylan."

I narrow my eyes on her. I guess that explains why she's clearly a lot calmer now. It's because she agrees with him. Lilly always thought that Bennett was the reasonable one, so of course she'd agree with him.

I remember a summer she spent with us at his parent's cabin. Surprisingly, they bonded a lot and she became Bennett's fan after that.

I asked her at the time if she had a crush on him, but she said that he's not her type and made sure to tell me that even if she did, he was totally into someone else, which I never believed.

Like I said, I've never seen him show interest in anyone. The guy is a heartless robot.

Or maybe he's right, I just wasn't paying enough attention. Maybe he even has a girlfriend. Nah, if he did I'd probably have seen her at the West's house, but he's always alone.

"Earth to Alex.''

''Sorry, you were saying?'' I focus my attention back on her.

"I'm your best friend and true friends tell things like they are. I don't think you don't have a life, I really don't, but you should really move on now that Dylan is gone."

I nod, considering what she said.

''Dylan is not gone, he just went to college. I'll still see him.''

''That's the problem, Alex. You're happy with just seeing him.'' She seems frustrated.

"No, I'm not. I'm making it my life's mission to tell him how I feel. It's in the bucket list after all.''

''Oh, now you care about my list.'' She rolls her eyes and I smile innocently. "I just want you to be happy."

"I know you do, Lil." I smile. "You know what? Enough with my crap, I don't care about what Bennett said, so let's not talk about him anymore."

I'm not convinced by my own words though. I don't care about Bennett, but I do care about what he said, more than I'm willing to admit. I don't want him or anyone for that matter to think that I don't have a life.

As we change topics, Lilly tells me about how pissed she got at her volleyball team for being lazy at their first practice and I glance again at Bennett's table.

He's now quiet. He doesn't look happy, but well, that's not my problem.

I'm not exactly mad at him for saying what he said. Well, he could have said it in a nicer way, but truth is, if this is what he thinks of me, then I've just decided that I want nothing to do with him.

.........................

The rest of the week went by quite ok, just getting used to classes and everything else.

I haven't given a second thought about what happened with Bennett after that day in the cafeteria, but I think he tried talking to me at English class on Thursday.

I ignored him.

I haven't seen Dylan all week and I'm actually looking forward to the weekend.

I do miss him a lot.

Maybe our parents made plans and I'll finally see him. They usually have dinner together every weekend and Dylan, myself and Bennett join them when we're not busy with our own stuff.

I guess one of the reasons why our families are so close is because they don't have any relatives living close by. My grandparents and aunt from my dad's side live in Florida and my mom's family live somewhere in Texas, but we're not that close. As for the West's, their families live in Seattle.

My parents met at NYU, where they both attended and the Wests ended up here because of their jobs. Denise and Peter are both lawyers and what better place than New York to work for a big firm?

Dylan is going to Rutgers University, which makes our town's proximity to the big apple even better.

Well, it's Friday night already and I'm in my room thinking about asking my mom if they have plans with the West's, when I hear a knock on the door.

''Come on in.'' I grab my books from my bed to put them on my desk, but I stop as soon as I see who is standing at my door. ''What are you doing here?''

Bennett is leaning on the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression a serious one.

"I'm here to talk to you.''

''About what?'' I turn my back to him and continue to organize my stuff, because I don't really want to talk to him.

''I wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened earlier this week.'' Oh, how the tables have turned, haven't they? I look at him, but I remain quiet. ''I didn't mean to be rude.''

''You didn't have to come to my house just to apologize." I say a bit bitter.

"Actually, we're having dinner here, so I didn't come here just for that.'' Oh. Of course he wouldn't come here specifically to talk to me.

How stupid of me think he would care enough for that.

As usual, here I am, embarrassing myself in front of him. It has always been like this, I'm too bubbly, clumsy and especially distracted, while he's collected, serious and responsible.

Complete opposites.

He has always looked at me with curiosity when I trip over myself or say some nonsense shit without even thinking, which happens more often than not.

Probably that's why I feel like he's analyzing me all the damn time and it annoys me.

I hate how he looks at me like I'm a science experiment.

''It's Friday night, don't you have anything better to do?'' Like work on his nerd stuff? I won't say that part out-loud though.

''Do you?'' Touché.

The answer is no. I don't have anything better to do as Lilly is busy and I don't feel like going out. I was planning on watching Netflix and eating a whole bucket of ice-cream, but I guess that's not happening now.

At least I have the answer to my question. We are having dinner with the Wests today.

I sigh, wanting him to leave, but he's just standing there, not moving a muscle.

''Ok, I guess we're even. I upset you and you upset me. It's fine.'' He opens his mouth, but before he says anything, my mom calls us to go downstairs and help with dinner.

I was getting in a better mood because I thought that I'd finally see Dylan, but then Denise said he's not coming.

I guess it's just me and Bennett then.

Great, just great.

.........................

Hello Lovely Readers,

Another chapter for you!! I hope you're enjoying the story! Any thought on why Bennett was so triggered by a simple question? 

Share your thoughts with me! I'm loving your comments!!

Love, Me