Chapter 14. Summer Break Begins

Jill

"She's your what?" I ask starting to panic. "My ex." Ben sighs again. "I thought you wouldn't run into her. Look, it's going to be fine. You told her that we were just friends right?"

"Yes, but that still could get her thinking that we're together! It's such a common thing to say, HAVE YOU SEEN ROM-COMS? They always end up like this." I place my hand on my forehead and take another sip of my Sprite(Not Sponsored).

As usual, my breathing increases as I almost enter a panic attack. I took some classes that helped control my breathing so I just remembered the steps that my instructor told me. Breathe for 4, hold for 4, and exhale for 4. Four times each. They told me that they use this in the military to help people cope with anxiety and it's called a 4x4 box breath.

"Are you okay Jill? Your breathing seems to be picking up." Noah says to me. No dur Noah, what's it look like?  I hold up my index finger at him signaling for him to wait. "I'm fine. I was just trying to calm myself down." I say to him. "Ha! You really had a panic attack over that? Dramatic much?" he chuckles to himself. My self-esteem lowers, as usual, I should've not said that! Why do I always seem to let words escape that end up with me getting made fun of?

"Shut the fuck up man, she can't control that," Ben says. I cringe at him swearing, it's just been a thing my parents raised me to be like. If someone says it in a movie or a youtube video, it just feels different when heard right in front of you in real life. I don't know if that makes sense its just what goes through my mind. I mean, we all think differently right?

Ben looks at my expression and immediately corrects himself. "Just don't say that, okay?" he says again to Noah. "Sorry, it was just funny to me," he says raising his hands in defeat. "Funny? Get out of here man." Ben says to him sternly. I just look at them in surprise. "Okay, whatever," Noah says getting out of his seat. I start to feel bad and say, "No, no it's okay. I get that a lot, you can stay if you want." I say. I don't like the thought of people leaving because of me. Sometimes I get so sad that I just blame everything on me.

"Nah, I'm gonna find some girls to dance with," he says before taking off. I sigh and find Dani dancing with a group of people. "Do you wanna head out? It's going to be done soon anyway for us." Ben says looking at me. "Yeah, let me go get Dani then we can leave." I go into the crowd and collect Dani. She looked a little bummed but then I told her the whole story which made her understand.

We walk through the empty hallways and it sort of creeps me out. Walking out and feeling the cool night air was great after being stuck in a big room full of teenagers. I twirl around in the parking lot taking a deep breath. "Feels nice right?" Ben says. I nod. "Nice and cool," I say. We get into the car and drive home.

♦••♦••♦

Ben //Tuesday//

It's now officially summer break. I started packing for the trip to Lake Tahoe which I think is going to be fun. Very nice of them to invite us. My parents have been there before but that was before I was born. They said it's a nice old house with a few rooms enough for all of us. 

I'm just sitting at my desk working on some homework that my English teacher gave us which I think is absolutely stupid. Like, come on, it's summer! My stomach grumbles so I go out into the kitchen to get myself a snack. I take out a bag of chips from the pantry and put them on the counter. Knock Knock. I hear some shuffling from the window but it doesn't startle me because I know exactly who it is. I look up and there are Will and Noah at the window. "Boo!" they say in an attempt to scare me. I look at them blandly and they frown. "Nice try but you've done this too many times every summer," I say. "Damn it! We'll get you one day Ben." Will says. I chuckle and let them in.

"Ugh, I hate that Mrs. Janet gave us homework for the summer," Noah says slapping the stack of papers onto my desk. "Yeah, but it's not like you still try hitting on her. Which is disgusting because she's like 25." I say laying on my bed. "You are too busy hitting on that 'friend' of yours," Will says pointing at me. "Who? Jill? No way, like you said, we're just friends. I know that sounds cliche but really, we're not close to being together." I say. "Oh really? What's she smell like?" he asks. "What? Why would you ask that, that's weird." I laugh. He looks at me sternly and finally fishes the answer out of me. "Flowers," I reply. "Ha! I knew it! My girlfriend taught me that." Will exclaims. I shake my head at him and close my eyes.

My mind drifts off to the night of the prom, I remember dancing with her and just staring at her eyes. Her dress was really nice. Looked brand new and it was her favorite color. I snap back to reality and Will and Noah are both on their phones. "Let's head to the field and play for a while, I'll bring my soccer ball," I say getting up from my bed. They nod and I text my parents that I'm heading out.

We walk to the park and the weather was pretty nice, a little hot but I've been to many games in the heat so I'm used to it. On the way, we picked up some more of our friends, and their girlfriends just stayed and watched. I remember when Alexis used to come and watch us. She used to cheer me on all the time. I should stop thinking about her, especially after she cheated on me. The person she cheated on me for didn't realize we were together so they broke up and now she's begging to get me back and that's definitely not happening.

After a couple of games, it's now 4 pm. My parents are coming home soon so I start walking home. Will walks with me to his house which is not too far from mine and I take my journey from there. "Hi, honey! How was playing with your friends?" My mom says as I open the garage door. "Hi, it was fun. We played some games, as usual, I see you beat me home." I say putting my ball away. "Yep. I didn't want to pick up food so I just wanted to cook at home," she says. I nod and tell her that I'm going to shower.

 •♦•♦•//Thursday//

"So, are you ready to go tomorrow?" Jill asks over the phone. She face-timed me because we haven't talked all week and we were just talking about how the junior year went by so fast. "Yep, are you?" I ask back. "Of course! I made sure that I had my toiletries and stuff. I didn't pack my hairbrush yet since I'm going to use it tomorrow and some other things." she says. "Same, I didn't pack my toothbrush yet either and I don't usually brush my hair so yeah." I chuckle. "Yeah, your hair is always messy. I mean l-like in a good way though," she says. I could tell she was panicking if she said something wrong which is normal for her. 

I laugh and tell her that everything is fine. She sighs in relief and she goes on about what we could do while we're there. "Oh, there's this ice cream sandwich place in Heavenly Village that's really good." She says. "I haven't been there for a while so yeah we should definitely go there since it's probably still going to be hot," I say. "Speaking of ice cream, I'm gonna get some from my fridge right now." She says. I see her walking and opening the fridge. "What flavor?" I ask. "Uhh, Malted Moo Shake. Tillamook Ice cream. Great company, I've been there, It in Oregon." she says scooping her ice cream. "You travel a lot, I presume," I say. "Yea, my family likes to when we can. Also very fancy word choice there," she says pointing her spoon at me. I chuckle at her and the conversation goes on. I honestly think the trip will be fun...hopefully.

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A/N: Hi! I had to update, even though not much happened in this chapter I just wanted things to take it slow during the transition from Prom, Last Day of School, and The Trip. I don't want this to go too fast even though it probably looks like it. Weekly rundown for me, Boyfriend Audios are taking over my brain and school sucks. I think there's going to be a few chapters on the trip. A lot can happen in just a weekend and, they leave Friday not Saturday morning so it's sort of longer. Take your guesses on what's going to happen and who knows, I might use them. Till next week!

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