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Ben stood frozen in his spot. Mouth agape, staring at Devi and Paxton as Eleanor's words kept running through his head. She couldn't be telling the truth, right? Because that was Paxton Hall-Yoshida. Of course, it was always going to be him.
What if Eleanor was right though? What if Devi had wanted to pick him after Malibu? What if she still wanted to be with him all that time?
Ben shut his eyes for a moment, pinching his forehead. He didn't want to see her dancing with him. The sight of it made him feel like there was an icicle being stabbed into his chest. Repeatedly. He had no reason to be feeling this way. Not when he was with Aneesa. Aneesa, who had picked him first. Who wasn’t dramatic. Or problematic. Who hadn’t cheated on him. She was perfect for him. Devi was a friend now and surely Ben should be happy to see her happy, but he’d told her only a few days ago that Paxton didn’t deserve her. Yet here the two of them were slow dancing together in front of everyone. Ben couldn’t wrap his head around everything that was going on.
“Ben, hello? Ben? Are you okay?”
Ben snapped out of his daze, seeing Eleanor’s hand waving in front of his face. “Huh? What?”
“Are you okay? You’ve kind of had this constipated look on your face…”
“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m good. Everything… Did she really want to be with me? After Malibu?”
Eleanor nodded, “She was pretty set on picking you, even argued with me and Fab over it. Sorry about that again.”
Ben hadn’t even paid attention to Eleanor’s second apology. His eyes had begun to train Devi’s figure, which was walking away from the dancefloor and more importantly, walking away from Paxton. Quickly, he moved to follow her, leaving Eleanor wondering what was going on.
Thankfully, Devi had moved to a table on the edge of the room, away from the DJ and the large throng of students. Away from the speakers and the yelling of the student body, Ben felt the constant chatter in his mind slowly begin to quiet but it only made him hone into the pounding of his heart.
Devi’s back was turned to him, rummaging through her clutch bag for something. Slowly, Ben reached out his hand to tap her on the shoulder when she suddenly turned around. Jumping and bumping back into the table, Devi yelped. “Ben! What the heck, man!?”
“I-uh..” Realising that his arm was still outstretched, Ben quickly snatched it back, stuffing his hand into his pocket.
Noticing that he wasn’t saying anything, Devi shocked expression morphed into one of more concern. “Hey, is everything okay?”
“You and Paxton!” It was the first thing that came to his mind that blurted out. Ben scrambled to get his thoughts together. “I saw you two dancing together.” With both hands in his pockets, he began to swing back on the heels of his shows, trying to act like he didn’t care but internally praying that he had gotten it all wrong and it was just a friendly dance to say thanks for the tutoring.
Now it was Devi’s time to feel awkward. She looked down at her hands which were playing with a layer of tulle from her dress. “Yeah, he kind of ran me over and-“
“He did what!?” Ben quickly cut her off. “Are you okay?” Ben had held her arms, glancing over her to make sure she wasn’t injured.
“Ben, I’m fine! It was an accident and he made sure I was okay.” She carefully released herself from his hold.
“So, the guy runs over you and then you dance with him?”
Getting slightly defensive about the situation, Devi shot Ben a steely gaze. “Like I said, it was an accident. He only came to the dance because he wanted to ask me to be his girlfriend.”
The entire concept of being Paxton's girlfriend still felt a little foreign to her. Sure, she had technically dated him before, but she had also been dating Ben. Whilst the latter had always referred to her as his girlfriend, Paxton hadn’t ever called Devi that. Looking back at it now, Devi wasn’t sure what label their relationship really had at the time. Now, both her and Paxton had made a public statement by coming to the dance together and holding hands, this time Paxton had said that he wanted her to be his girlfriend. It all felt so much more real… and strange…
“His girlfriend!” Ben sputtered out. “Devi, you have to be kidding me! You were crying in the bathroom about this guy a couple of days ago!”
“Could you please not yell about that?” Devi furiously whispered at him, hoping that no one had heard.
A look of disbelief crossed Ben’s face “Do you see how ridiculous this is though?”
“No, what I see is you trying to muscle into my relationship which has nothing to do with you!” She snapped, wanting to shut this conversation down quickly.
“I didn’t even come over here to talk to you about this,” Ben could see Devi trying to move away and began to panic. “I need to ask you something.”
Heaving a sigh, Devi placed a hand on her hip, waiting for him to continue. She didn’t know why though; it would make more sense to walk away. She could go and find Eleanor and Fabiola. Devi was pretty sure they would have seen her walk in and dance with Paxton and were going to want answers. Instead, she found herself rooted to the spot, waiting for Ben Gross to talk.
“Is what Eleanor said true?”
“Ben, I have many talents but one of them is not mind reading so you might have to be a little clearer on what you’re going on about.”
Why was he going to ask her about this? Why did he care so much if it was true or not? He shouldn’t care but there was a deep need to know. Ben was the kind of guy that needed answers for everything, needed to know how and why things worked. His curiosity about the world around him is what helped him to do so well academically. He was just worried that it might be his downfall socially and romantically.
“She said that you wanted to pick me. After Malibu. That her and Fabiola were the reasons that you didn’t. And that everything that happened with Aneesa was only because you were jealous of me and her…”
As he spoke the words out loud, Ben started to feel embarrassed. Why would Devi ever want to pick him first? Why would she be jealous? Guys like him had no chance against a guy like Paxton. Guys like him weren't anyone’s first choice. He was ready to talk it all back when he saw the look on Devi’s face. She looked panicked and upset, stumbling trying to find words. Surely if it was a lie, Devi would just laugh it off, but she wasn’t. She was hesitating and for some strange reason that Ben couldn’t quite fathom, it gave him hope.
“Devi look, I –“
“Devi, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Aneesa suddenly pooped up behind Ben’s shoulder making him crash back to reality. Remembering all the reasons that it was wrong of him to even be entertaining these thoughts.
“Oh, hey, Aneesa. Sorry, I just needed a break from dancing.”
“I’m not surprised, I saw you and Paxton dancing, and you have to tell me everything!” She grabbed Devi’s arm and began to drag her over to a table where Fabiola, Eve and Eleanor were set up.
Which just left Ben watching them walk away, sending a longing look to the completely wrong girl.