Text Message for Astor from Bennett

[Bennett Durnham]

Bennett had to contain his excitement as the last bell rang, indicating school was done for the day. He slipped his phone out of his pocket and sent a text message to Astor, hoping she hadn't changed her mind, made other plans or forgot about theirs.

Hey, we on for sushi?

Hitting the send button, he absent-mindedly twirled in his locker combination and popped open the metallic door. Dumping his books in and grabbing his homework folder [yes, he unsurprisingly has a homework folder] to cross out the assignments he had already finished and add in the ones he just got. Once that was done, he went to the entrance of the school to wait for Astor.

[Astor Young]

Astor headed out of her last period class and toward her locker. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, so loose that a good portion of her hair had come out of it and now fell around her face. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black lace v-neck T-shirt she'd designed, layered over a tank top. Since Astor's dad was a fashion designer, he would often get samples made of the things she designed. But like most things, she was always too nervous to wear them...too nervous that people would make fun of her. Even today she'd chickened out on the lace shirt and had completely concealed it by throwing on one of her dad's old navy blue Art Institute of Chicago hoodies, that completely drowned her small frame. So instead of looking cute or stylish in her self-designed top, all people could see was the frumpy hoodie...

She hadn't heard her phone but noticed the light blinking on it signaling she had a message, while she was at her locker. She smiled when she saw it was a message from Bennett. She was excited to hang out with him. Had she known about his crush on her, she probably would have been nervous about the whole thing but she was oblivious to it. Astor didn't consider herself one of those girl's that guys had crushes on. Maybe she was pretty but she usually hid it behind messy hair and over sized clothed, not to mention that she was completely awkward. What guy would want that?

But Bennett seemed as starved for friends as she was, so she figured it had been a good match. After all, no one wanted to hang out on their own all of the time. She tossed her school books into her locker and headed down the hall toward the entrance. With her phone still in her hand, she was about to text him back when she saw him standing in the front of school.

"Hey," she said as she walked up to him, "I just got your text...yeah, I'd still like to go...if you want to that is. I mean, if you don't its really okay...I was going to go anyway so you don't have to like feel obligated or anything," she said, rambling a bit. She wasn't sure why. He'd seemed eager to hang out with her, but as always it was her default to assume that she was wrong. Put herself down so no one else could tease her...assume no one wanted to hang out with her so she wouldn't be disappointed if they had to cancel...that's how she usually thought.

[Bennett Durnham]

He turned at Astor's voice, a smile already plastered on his face when he faced her fully. Her ramblings made Bennett chuckle as he patted her shoulder. "Don't be silly, of course I'd want to go. You're the first person to actually be nice to me. Besides Cammie but she doesn't go to this school so I'll settle with you." He joked before lightly circling his hand around her arm.

Walking down the steps, he looked at the bus stop and turned to Astor. "Do you mind taking the bus? I'm not old enough to drive." It was a little embarrassing but that was reality. He'd have to wait for one whole year to be able to get a learner's permit, which kind of sucked but what could he do, right?

[Astor Young]

Astor smiled weakly when he said she was the first person to be nice to him. People hadn't exactly been nice to her either...but they hadn't really been mean either...well not especially mean. There had been some teasing but it had been the sort of thing she was used to...the fact that she had paint on her or that she was really quiet...

"Oh yeah, sure," Astor said with a shrug. She wasn't old enough to drive either and while she'd been certain that he was older than her, she was sort of relieved that he wasn't so much older that he could drive. Astor was 2 years away from being able drive after all.

As they headed toward the bus stop, Astor absentmindedly played with her hair a little like she did sometimes when she was nervous. She inadvertently knocked out most of what was left of her ponytail and pulled out the hair band and placed it on her wrist. "Do you have like a place you like?" she asked, "I usually like this place by my dad's...if we go there we have to take that bus," she said pointing to the stop, "but I'm not opposed to trying anything something else...you are hungry, right? If not, we can eat later," she said. Astor hadn't eaten yet today so she was pretty hungry but at the same time, she didn't think of eating later as necessarily a bad thing. If she waited long enough the hunger would usually subside to the point where she hardly noticed it anymore.

[Bennett Durnham]

Bennett just nodded when Astor shrugged. He made his way to the direction Astor was pointing at and shrugged himself. "I'm not too fussed. Food is food." He assured her with a lopsided grin. As they waited for the bus, Bennett turned so he could face Astor. She looked exceptionally pretty today in his opinion. Then again, he was biased.

He had decided to dress in his usual form, including his dorky glasses which he pushed up his nose right then. "So, got up to anything exciting today?" Wow, he really needed to develop some major conversational skills. He was dying there.

[Astor Young]

His words sort of stuck with her in an odd way. To most people the statement clearly wouldn't mean much, but to Astor, such casual thoughts concerning food always seemed surprising, even if she'd learned quickly that most people didn't have the same food issues as she did. "Yeah...right," she said sort of quietly.

She was thankful when he asked about her day. It was a good distraction from thinking about food. But oh wait...she had nothing interesting to say. "I'm it was kind of boring...nothing exciting or anything like that," she informed him. "What about yours?" she asked. Astor tending to go back and forth between talking too much and not talking enough. She could never seem to get it just the right amount.

The bus came and Astor pulled out a dollar, offering one to Bennett in case he didn't have the right change on him. The bus was half full and there was only one set of two empty seats next to one another so Astor went for it, moving herself to the one next to the window, so Bennett, who'd stepped onto the bus after her could easily take the isle seat beside her. As they sat, Astor's hand accidentally brushed against Bennett's hand. "Sorry," she said simply, placing her hands neatly in her lap.

"So, are you still going to skip the game later? It seems like everyone in school is really excited about it," she commented vaguely, mostly trying to think of things to say to keep the conversation going. The last she she wanted was to end up sitting in awkward silence like she was on a bad date or something.

[Bennett Durnham]

When Astor suddenly became kind of quiet, Bennett wondered if she was already bored with him around. It wasn't too hard to feel that way since Bennett is pretty boring. He wasn't like Jesse who could befriend anyone within seconds or Tyler who was easy on the eyes so he doesn't really have to work to charm a girl and talk to a guy. And don't even get him started on his little sisters who don't even have to do anything to get people around them to stay around just to stare at them for hours.

The thought kind of bummed him out that when Astor asked him a question, he just shrugged. "Same." He looked at his hand a long while until the bus came. When Astor offered the dollar, he shook his head. "I've got change." He offered Astor a crooked smile. "Two tickets please." He informed the bus driver before dropping the coins into the small chute before taking the dispensed tickets and giving one to Astor. The bus wasn't too full and they got a seat near the door.

As their hands brushed and Astor apologised, Bennett didn't dare say anything. Obviously the girl didn't think of him as anything but 'that boy I spilled milkshake on'. He was cool with that. He'd had his fair share of disappointments when it came to girls so he wasn't really surprised. For all he knew, Astor just felt bad about the milkshake thing that she just wants a clear conscience, taking this hanging out to mean that she'd atone for her mistake. She would probably ignore him completely after this anyway.

At the mention of the game, Bennett just decided to keep the conversation flow going. If this was the last time he was going to see her, he might as well make it count. "I think so. I'm sure my absence wouldn't count for anything anyway. And besides, I don't know the game well enough to actually get into it." He gave an awkward chuckle. "So do you also work for your dad? I mean, I sometimes don't see you at the diner so I figured you would be."

[Astor Young]

Astor thanked Bennett for paying for the bus tickets. "I can get it on the way back if you want," she offered politely. She didn't want him to think that she was taking advantage of him or anything even though it was only a dollar.

If she had any idea that Bennett thought that she was bored with him, she would have felt really bad about it. She of course assumed the silence was all due to her own awkwardness. She thought that Bennett was really nice and he seemed to be interesting, she just wasn't always so good when she first was getting to know someone. She'd talk a lot at first...out of nerves, but then she'd revert to being quiet until she felt comfortable enough to really be herself. Not to mention that he wasn't exactly saying a lot either. Astor was much better at holding conversations when the other person started them.

"Oh yeah?" she said. "I sort of understand the rules. My Uncle is like a huge football fan and he always gets season tickets to the Chargers down in San Diego and he's a big UCLA fan too even though they're not that good, or so he says. He took me to a few games but only when there was no one else who could go with him. He tried to teach me about it and stuff and I guess I get the basic rules but there is way too many weird rules to completely follow. Not to mention that I don't really care," she added, "I mean, I don't mind watching it, but I don't go out of my way to watch games or anything like that," she explained, getting slightly more talkative mostly because she had something to say on the subject. In fact, she almost smiled after she said it realizing that she was having a real conversation like they were friends or something.

Astor really wanted to be his friend. She of course had no idea about his feelings for her so she wasn't even thinking along those lines. She did actually think he was cute, but it wasn't like she was about to tell him that or anything. That would be far too embarrassing. Right now she wasn't thinking about anything past friendship because as far as she was concerned she didn't need a boyfriend but she really needed friends. Maybe once she actually found some real friends and didn't feel completely alone all the time she'd look for more. Or maybe a crush would just happen...hit her hard and fast, but for now she wasn't even thinking about that. It wasn't on her radar.

She nodded and smiled when he asked if she worked for her dad. "Yeah, I do. I wish I only worked there," she explained, "I mean, I work there voluntarily. I guess if I quit I could probably quit the diner too because my mom only makes me work there cause she's jealous. But's its like my dad has a cool job, my mom doesn't. Although I guess it is true I like my dad better. He's much more awesome," she said with a nod, now talking rapidly as if they'd known one another a long time as if someone flipped a switch and she was okay now. She already was feeling pleased with herself, maybe she'd even let herself have some miso soup or tempura even though she considered those things to be too salty or fattening to actually eat.

"Do you have a job?" she asked as she glanced out the window for a moment, "Oh, next stop is ours," she told him, kind of touching his arm with her hand as she did so as if to get his attention even though she clearly already had it. It wasn't anything she planned or even thought about, it had been automatic as if her hand had a mind of its own. "Oh...um, sorry," she said, pulling her hand away once more and placing it in her lap, "I'm sure you can see that without me like hitting you," she said shaking her head and feeling a little dumb, even though it had been more of a light tap than anything else.

[Bennett Durnham]

Bennett refused her offer. "It's just a dollar, don't worry about it." He gave her a reassuring smile as they took their seat. It really wasn't that big a deal anyway. He didn't mind paying for anything. He had the money, why not use it? And besides, this was Astor. Plain and simple.

If Bennett knew how Astor was feeling, he was sure he would laugh at how silly she was being, feeling awkward around him. He was the most non-threatening person there ever was! He would understand for a person to feel awkward if they were say around Marcus, or the twins or even Jesse and God knows how many girls have been awkward around Tyler but Bennett had to be the weirdest person to be awkward around.

"Lucky you." He grinned sideways. "I feel pretty inadequate now thank you." He joked. "I mean I'm a guy and I don't know anything about football. That's gotta be weird right?" He chuckled.

By the way Astor talked about her parents, it sounded like they were divorced but Bennett knew well enough not to actually ask her about it. It wasn't important anyhow was it? "What does your dad do?" He asked. "Something to do with the arts I take it? Judging by the paint splattered overalls you don sometimes at the diner and the mural you're working on...I mean I'm just assuming." He smiled, hoping she didn't think he was odd, noticing those things about her.

"Not yet." He shook his head. "My dad's asking me to concentrate on my studies first and then maybe during the holidays I can think of getting a job but for now, I'm gonna do what he says." He almost lost his train of thought when Astor's hand once again brushed against his. And she apologised again. He looked up at her and grinned. "It's okay. It's not like I'm diseased or anything. I got my shots earlier this year so you can touch me if you want."

Bad, bad joke but he had to do something so she would stop apologising!

[Astor Young]

"Not really, I'm sure there are lots of guys who don't know about football. My dad doesn't follow it at all. The only reason my Uncle ever took me to games is because he didn't have any nephews and I think he hoped for a second that I'd turn out to be a tomboy, but nope," she said with a shrug. Of course Astor wasn't the girliest of girls but she certainly wasn't even close to being a tomboy.

Astor blushed when Bennett mentioned those things about her, surprised that he noticed. Astor was always surprised when people noticed things about her that she didn't outright tell them. It wasn't that she thought people were dumb or less perceptive than her, it was more that she couldn't fathom why anyone would really want to notice her. Especially considering she usually looked like such a mess.

"Yeah, the mural is the only part I like about working at the diner," she admitted, "if I could just sit there and paint the entire time I'd probably be way less unhappy, but I don't think there is much chance of that any time soon. My dad is a fashion designer - he's not huge or anything, he has a small company and mostly has stuff in boutiques and stuff so not stuff that people usually know right off the bat but its really cool," she went on, it always excited her to talk about it. "He sometimes lets me design things and gets them made for me which is super cool too," she went on as she glanced down as the oversized hoodie and jeans she was wearing, "I don't always wear them so much though cause I don't want to get paint on them," she said, quickly making up an excuse which sounded less neurotic than the truth that she was too embarrassed to wear anything that made her look pretty.

"That's cool though. I mean I guess its not cool if you want to work," she said when he explained to her about his own job situation. "The diner's usually hiring though if you ever feel the need to serve people on rollerskates, plus you get free food, although really I could get you free food if that's all you wanted you'd just have to sit int he back and not take up a table although that would probably ruin that view thing..." she said, still confused by his words. "We're you talking about Cammie?" she asked. Cammie was clearly older then them, in her early twenties, but Astor figured it was still possible that Bennett liked her. That would explain why he went to the diner so often after all.

They got up to get off the bus, Astor sort of feeling silly about the whole touching thing. "Really? I was worried about those cooties but if you say you're clean..." she said, trying to make a joke of it as well, "poke, poke, poke," she said as she poked him three times in the shoulder as they stepped off the bus. She then looked at her finger as if to inspect, "Yep, I think you're clean," she informed in, letting her hand fall to her side. "Sorry, that was totally lame, I'm like a huge nerd," she admitted, once again putting herself down, which was something she did often. "It's this way," she said, pointing.