71

VIOLA BENJAMIN

"AND ON THE SEVENTH day, God obviously didn't say 'let the people sleep in'." Genevieve cries out her morning round of complaints, shielding her eyes from the sun with one slim hand and texting away on her phone with the other. Viola rolls her eyes, giggling as she leans into Ben's side, a strong arm wrapped protectively around her petite body.

"She sure does complain a lot." Ben muffles his words into Viola's temple and Genevieve turns to glare at the boy, her mouth turning down into an unruly scowl. She scoffs and instead leans onto the table they sit at, cushioning her head into the crook of her arms.

Viola snickers, "oh please, you haven't seen the half of it." She bursts into a melodic laugh when her best friend gives her the finger, her head still buried in her arms.

"I'm right here, you know." Genevieve grumbles behind her bodily shield, her light brown hair sprawled atop her head, the ends of her strands floating onto the terracotta coloured lunch table.

Over the past few weeks, the trio had slowly but surely become tightly knit together. Where Ben was Viola was, where Viola was Ben followed and Genevieve didn't spend a mere second without her hip attached to her best friend's. So naturally, they spent more time together than not, it had been a simple routine that they all slipped into easily.

Genevieve looked up, squinting her eyes against the bright sunlight. "Can you guys stop being happy and all couple like for five seconds. It's disgusting and it makes me sad and if I'm miserable you guys have to be miserable too." She pouts and Viola and Ben change from looking at each other to the girl leaning her chin on her arms.

Viola rolls her eyes. "I'm terribly sorry Gen, how rude of us." She mocks sarcastically and Genevieve lets out a sharp 'hmph' when Viola pats her head.

"Apology accepted." She salutes Ben before placing her head back into the crook of her arms, grumbling profanities about how if she could grab the sun and kick it, she totally would.

"Oh crap! I promised Miss Williams I'd hand in a practice exam before homeroom." Viola bolts up as her mind registers the time on her phone, shoving the device into the pocket of her blazer. She hastily kisses Ben on the lips and flicks Genevieve's head, who only groans in response. "I'll see you guys at recess!"

Viola runs from the courtyard and shuffles into the busy school building, students gathering their books for their morning lesson and loitering around lockers, chatting animatedly amongst groups of friends. She reaches into her school bag and pulls out the stapled stack of papers that kept her up the night before, walking past her teacher's office.

After a few exchanged words, Viola breathes a sigh of relief and walks down the hallway, shouldering her way through the boisterous lot of students. She pulls her phone from her pocket, smiling girlishly at the texts from her boyfriend and the interesting series of emojis from her best friend. With her attention so preoccupied, Viola fails to notice the tall figure walking towards her and gasps when she crashes into a hard chest, her phone falling from her slim hands.

"Shit, I am so—" Viola's words are quickly cut off when she looks into the milky brown eyes of Eddie Caufield, his jaw set firmly as his fingers dig into the curves of her tiny waist.

"Oh, hey Eddie!" She pipes, her eyebrows furrowing at his intense gaze. Viola steps out of his hold, dropping her bag to the floor and reaching down for her fallen device. "Are you alright?"

His breathing is shallow and Viola clears her throat, catching his attention. "Uh, yeah. You know, we never went for that coffee." Eddie gives a half-smile, his eyes kind of dull as his fingers twitch at his sides.

"Yeah, sorry! Just with school and everything, I've been super busy." Viola nods slowly to herself, fumbling with the sleeves of her school blazer as Eddie shoves his hands into the front pockets of his pants, rocking back and forth on his feet.

Eddie nods, looking out into the slowly dispersing hallway. "I get that. Busy with Ben and everything." He looks back towards her with a tick in his jaw and he pulls his hands from his pockets to wipe his palms on his thighs.

"Um, I guess." Viola furrows her brows confusedly, moving to pick up her school bag. "You should sit with us more often, I don't know why you don't. Ben is your best friend."

"I don't know if that would be a good idea." He mumbles, stepping forward slightly and out of the way as another student comes barrelling past, inconsiderate of the people standing on the sidelines.

Viola tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, tilting her head. "What, why not?"

In an instant, Eddie steps barely an inch more forward, allowing the heat of their bodies to mingle and Viola panics, stepping back against the lockers. "Look Viola, I'm probably going to sound really fucking stupid for saying this and I'll probably regret it the second it leaves my mouth but, it sucks being around your best friend when he has the girl that you like."

Viola's mouth parts and her eyes widen, "Eddie—"

"No, just hear me out. Ben has talked about you every day for as long as I can remember. He would tell me all the things he liked about you and all the kinds of things you liked. He created this image of you that I thought was damn perfect and I didn't think it was true, Ben is very naïve when it comes to love and I just assumed he created what he hoped you would be." Eddie sighs, running his hands over his face.

He continues in a low voice, looking down at her with seemingly fiery eyes, a galaxy of emotions swirling beneath the milky brown. "But then we bumped into each other and you realised I was there too and I started to realise that everything he'd go on about was true. I watched him fall head over heels for you and any time he told me something new about you, I couldn't help but fall too."

Viola lets out a breath and stares up at him, every word that just came tumbling out of his mouth on a whirlwind of repeats in the back of her mind and she swallows, unsure how to talk or move or function properly as everyone around her just keeps going.

Her silence unnerves him, "you don't have to say anything, just know that I think you're worth the stars and the moon. It just sucks watching him be the one to make you happy." Eddie swallows, clearing his throat as he scratches the back of his neck, a deep crimson flush now covering his face.

"Look, Eddie—" She begins, placing a hand to his elbow.

"What the hell are you doing?" A deep voice sounds from beside them, the cracked sound mingling with the few students hurrying past. The two whip their heads to the side and stare at a frowning Ben, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He analyses the close proximity of Eddie and Viola, his best friend's face a mere inch from the girl of his dreams and her hand placed gently against his arms, her body leant snug against the lockers.

They part quickly, as though their touch burned the other and the simple nearness of their bodies hurt. "B-Ben." Viola stutters.

"I said," he repeats slowly, staring ahead towards Eddie with wide eyes, a sad sheen coating the once aliveness of the blue. "What the hell are you doing?" His words are choked and he clears his throat.

"Nothing," Eddie says. "We were just talking."

Ben nods. "That looked very intimate for," he pauses. "Talking." Ben takes a single step forward and Viola matches his movements, although the simple action didn't seem to ease the tornado of emotions behind his eyes.

"We were just talking." She whispers, her eyes cast down and she looks back towards Eddie, his stands with his mouth ajar and shakes his head, staring at his school shoes. "I promise." Viola reaches towards Ben but he flinches and she immediately retracts, a harsh pang in her heart at the rejection. She rolls her lips into her mouth and drops her arm, sighing as Ben takes a step further away.

"She's worth something to me too, you know." Eddie's soft voice is heard from behind and Viola turns with wide eyes, pleading for him to not continue whatever the hell he thought he was doing. She looks back at Ben who had a fallen expression on his face, his once confident demeanour slouched and oozing weakness as his shoulders fall forward and his chin hangs low.

"I've got to get to class." Viola barely missed the crack in Ben's usually strong voice, before he turns on his heel and beelines down the hallway.

Viola cries out, a single tear falling from her eye. She looks up at Eddie who had been gazing back at her, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he runs a hand through his unruly hair. He looked unaffected and that irked her, it irked her that his seemingly harmful actions caused no stir of sorrow in him. She wanted all but to walk up to him and yell in his face, yell at him that no harm would've been done if he had just shut up. If she was actually worth something to him, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to cause hurt to what is most important to her.

"I hope you're happy now." Viola speaks out softly, the sentence barely audible and that's when his face finally falls.

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yo, fuck eddie.