You're the One That I Want(31)

‘Nice try.’

‘You don’t have to get mine,’ I argued, putting my hand over the ten-pound note he was holding out to the cashier.

‘Er, yeah I do,’ he said, gently pushing my hand away. ‘That’s what boyfriends do. Get used to it.’

I looked up at Ben and gave him a meek smile, which he winked back at before pulling out a fiver to pay for his own ticket.

The wink took me by surprise, it was confident and reassuring. After that he seemed to relax a little, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. Despite his initial outburst to his mum, it seemed as though Ben was feeling calmer about the whole situation. He even managed to joke around with us when we were eventually sat in our seats, saying things like, ‘I can hear you,’ when we were kissing, and, ‘You promised it wasn’t a date,’ which obviously killed the moment as it made us laugh, but I was thankful for the humour.

It was gorgeous being there with Robert, holding hands and kissing (when we could). I felt ridiculously comfortable and happy sat next to him, loving the new feelings passing between us and the warmth radiating from his body.

There was one awkward moment, though, which happened during the film – annoyingly, it could have easily been avoided if it wasn’t for our teenage lust. Needless to say, things heated up between us in that darkened cinema room, which resulted in Robert and me getting a little carried away. We’d completely given up watching the film – exploring each other’s mouths was far more interesting, as was Robert stroking my skin and his hand working its way up my top.

I’d wrongly assumed that Ben was preoccupied with the action onscreen.

He wasn’t.

Our groping did not go unnoticed. Instead, rather embarrassingly, Ben leaned over and asked for the popcorn just as Robert’s hand had finally cupped hold of my boob. Rob flapped around for a few seconds trying to free his hand (which had become trapped under my bra), before handing over the snack with a shameful look on his face.

I almost died on the spot. It was like being caught by my mum.

We were all sitting in my lounge the following day, watching Friends on repeat. The weather had turned bitterly cold, and none of us could be bothered to walk to the High Street. Instead, we set up camp in our comfies and splayed our homework around us, languidly making our way through it. Both boys were on the sofa, while I was on the floor cutting out pictures of different types of bread for my food tech coursework, with little effort or thought put into it.

‘I think I’m going to ask Kelly if she wants to go out with us all,’ said Ben coyly, as he wrote in his notepad.

‘Really?’ I squealed.

‘Yeah.’

‘You mean on like a double date?’ smirked Robert.

‘Why not,’ Ben shrugged, still not looking at either of us.

‘I knew you liked her,’ I said, pointing the tips of my scissors in his direction. ‘I can sense these things.’

‘You’re just like Cilla Black,’ mocked Robert, grinning at me.

‘Maybe we could go ice-skating or something?’ I said, ignoring him. ‘We could go tomorrow?’

‘Let’s not rush things!’ he said worriedly, looking up at me. ‘I’ll have a chat with her on Monday and see if she wants to plan something for next weekend, yeah?’

‘Spoilsport,’ I jokily pouted.

‘She might not even want to!’

Bless him, I thought, he’d clearly not pursued things with her because he was worried about being rejected. I’d assumed that was what had stopped him from asking her to the cinema with us, and possibly part of his meltdown – Ben wasn’t the most confident person when it came to the opposite sex.

‘Oh … she’ll want to,’ I said, grinning at him.

Kelly might have boldly told me on our last night away that she thought Robert was fit, but, as a result of Ben pouncing on her, she’d quickly switched the target of her affections. As soon as we got back to school on the Monday she was asking questions about him; what he was like, whether he’d mentioned their kiss, or whether I thought he liked her, etc. I knew he’d have no trouble getting her to go out with him, although the thought of them together petrified me – Ben was sure to be eaten alive by the foxy minx.

The upshot? Me and Robert would be free to go on an actual date without feeling awkward.





Ben





Sixteen years old …




I had seen Robert’s hand up Maddy’s top in the cinema. In fact, I was ridiculously aware of every single movement the pair made; when they started to hold hands, when their legs entwined, when they first kissed – the film hadn’t even started by that point; his tongue was down her throat before the lights had gone down. I couldn’t help but stare at them in my peripheral vision. A couple of times I purposefully asked for the popcorn bucket, or interjected with some little remark, but that was only to gently remind them that I was there – and that they had promised it wasn’t a date. The breast-touching-hand beside me, though, suggested differently. God knows what happened to Bridget and that Mr Darcy bloke, I wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to what was going down on the massive screen in front of me. I was far too distracted.