A Second Chance

Benji: 

Gabriella and I have been friends since we were in 1st grade and she and I got partnered together for a school project. We hit it off immediately, both of us finding things we had in common that no one else seemed to like. We bonded quickly and have basically been inseparable until now, the summer before senior year. We’ve barely talked all summer. She had a camp counselor gig, so I did all our usual summer traditions alone.

That is until I met Kacey. 

We hit it off as soon as mutual friends introduced us. Kacey and I were almost polar opposites, unlike Gabby and I. Gabby and I were both video game freaks, but Kacey was a bookworm through and through. Her black glasses gave her that straight A student look, and she lived up to that stereotype. We had completely different tastes in music, books, and movies, yet somehow we made it work. 

Kacey has taken up most if not all of my time for the summer since becoming my girlfriend. Even when Gabby got back, I made excuses about hanging out with family and being too busy. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about Kacey. I wasn’t sure how she’d react, and couldn’t bring myself to lie to her.

Gabby:

Benji and I hadn’t spoken for most of the summer. I knew that things would change after I got back, but suddenly he was busy all the time. Eventually, I stopped texting him. I miss him, but if hes busy there’s nothing I can do about it; even though part of me assumed he was avoiding me because of something else.

However, when Benji’s twin sister Hailey calls and asks me to come over for dinner to hang out and watch a movie, I hope in my heart Benji will be there so I can see him. Hailey comes to pick me up, and I jump in the car.

“Hey! OK, so I just found out Ben is gonna be there too.” I nod with a smile. “How are you feeling about…well, you know…” She looks over, biting her lip.

“Wait, what? What do I feel about…”

“His girlfriend.” She blurts out. “Please tell me he told you about Kacey.” I feel as if I’ve just been struck in the stomach. How could he not tell me? “Oh, Gabby, I…”

“It’s OK. I would’ve found out eventually. I’m just a little sad he didn’t tell me himself.”

“I’m so sorry. I thought you already knew. They've been together since about a week after you left for camp.” Two months. I think to myself. They’d been together for two months and he hadn’t bothered to tell me. Then another part of her comment resonated. All it took was a WEEK? I stay silent for the rest of the car ride. “I think Kacey is coming too. Do you want me to just bring you home or…”

“No, seriously. I’m fine,’ I tell Hailey and she nods as we pull into the driveway. 

“It looks like they’re already here. I didn’t tell Benji you were coming so don’t take it the wrong way when he’s surprised to see you.” I nod as we walk in the door. “Hey, Benji! I brought your girlfriend!”

Benji:

I start to panic as Kacey chokes on the sip of water she had taken. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I…” I start to explain but then my sister and Gabby walk in.

“It’s an inside thing,” Gabby says quietly. “I’m his friend, I’m a girl. That’s all.” She clears her throat and avoids my gaze. I can see the hurt in her eyes and know Hailey told her. “I’m Gabriella.”

“Huh. I’ve never heard about you.” Kacey replies, looking spiteful. Hailey’s eyes flare and Gabby shifts her position, looking like she wants to run out the door. Kacey stands and walks right up to her. “I’m Benji’s girlfriend. You know, the actual meaning of the word. Kacey.” She grabs Gabby’s hand and shakes it. 

“Nice to meet you.” She replies, her voice breaking.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kacey asks once she sits back down. She tried to be quiet but I can tell by Gabby’s face she heard what she said. 

“Benjamin. A word?” Hailey forces out and I know I’m in trouble. She turns to Gabby. “Hey, would you mind heading up to my room? I’ll be up in a second, OK?” She nods and I can tell Gabby is barely keeping it together. She can’t get up the stairs fast enough. Hailey yanks me out onto the back porch. I close the door and turn to explain, but suddenly she slaps me across the face.  “How dare you? How could you do that? You didn’t even tell her?! Gabby is your best friend! You’ve been avoiding her since she got back! And now, I’m the one who ended up telling her because I thought my twin brother had the decency to tell the most important girl in his life that someone else was in the picture!” My jaw was still slack from the slap and I barely took in her words. “What do you have to say yourself?” I try to answer but look down in shame. She laughs coldly and walks past me, bumping me hard with her shoulder. “Don’t even think about trying to fix this with me until you fix it with her.” She tells me, then walks back into the house, slamming the door behind her. 

I take a deep breath and watch the rain pour, taking me back to the day Gabby left.

“I’ll miss you.” She says as she hugs me. I hug her tighter, not wanting her to leave. When I pull away, I look into her deep brown eyes and feel like I’m drowning in them. She looks back for a couple seconds, and then her eyes show her confusion.

That’s when I kiss her.

I bring my lips to hers and she kisses me back. And I mean really kisses me. My fingers entangle themselves in her hair and her hands are at the nape of my neck, playing with the tufts of hair. She pulls me closer, kissing me harder.

But then she pulls away.

“Benji. Think. Is this really what you want?” She looks up at me, her brown eyes looking for an answer and I nod. 

“Always. I think I’m in love with you.” Her eyes darken at the last phrase. 

“Benji, I just…I don’t want us to hurt each other.”

“I know. How about this? We’ll figure it out when you get back, but for now…” I kiss her again as the bell rings for everyone to get on the bus. She pulls away, this time with a smile on her face and walks towards the bus. 

Suddenly, the door opens and I think it’s Kacey coming to get me, but I turn and to my surprise, I find Gabby. I see her face and guilt wracks my body. 

“Hey.” She says softly, sniffling a little. “Look…I know it seems like my heart is broken and your new girlfriend is probably thinking I like you or something but…I’ll admit, my heart is a little broken.” She looks into my eyes and continues as tears roll down her face. “My best friend of ten years didn’t even tell me about the happiest thing in his life. It hurts Ben. You know everything about me. You know everything I went through with Jack. Do you remember that? Remember how he cheated on me, and then he lied to me for three months?’

“Gabby…”

“That’s what you did to me. You lied to me. I trusted you and you lied to me for two months.”

COPY POINT

“I know. I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t want you to react badly.” She doesn’t mention the kiss, or that we could’ve been anything more, so I don’t either. 

“I would’ve been happy for you. I am happy for you. She seems like a good person. Jealous, but a good person.” She sniffles again. “Even though you didn’t tell me, why did you avoid me?”

“I didn’t want it to slip out.”

“That’s not the truth and we both know it, Benji.” She tells me and I nod, knowing she’s right.

I take a deep breath and tell her yet another lie. “I didn’t want to have to tell Kacey about you. As you said, she gets…protective.” Gabby scoffs but doesn’t comment. I know that if I had told Kace about Gabby, she would’ve had this reaction though. “I didn’t think she’d like me hanging out with you and I didn’t wanna risk it.” She nods then turns to go. “Gabby, wait!” She stops but doesn’t turn to face me. “Please. Give me another chance.” 

Gabby:

I look up at the ceiling of the covered porch, trying not to cry. He lied to me again. I know why he avoided me. 

It takes a minute but I pull myself together and turn around to face him. “Another chance for what?”

“Our friendship.” I scoff. He didn’t give us a chance to be anything more, even after he kissed me. We’ll figure it out when you get back…right. 

“Will your girlfriend even let us be friends?” I ask and he flinches. 

“Even if she won’t, we still will be.” 

“So just more lying? Come on, Ben.” 

He flinches. He knows I only call him Ben when I’m not happy. It’s only ever happened once or twice in our friendship so he knows it’s bad. 

“Please. I wouldn’t lie to her, I’d take a stand for our friendship.” Of course he wouldn’t lie to her. Just me. Yeah, he broke my heart. 

“Fine. Whatever.” I turn around and this time, he lets me go. I rush up to Hailey’s room where she’s waiting. 

“So? How’d it go?” She asks.

“He explained. Doesn’t really make a difference though.”

Hailey nods, knowing I’m right. “He sucks. I’m telling you, he sucks. I can’t believe he did this to you. Especially after he kissed you before you left for camp.”

“I’m sorry, he what?!” Hailey and I both turn to see Kacey standing there.

“It was just a kiss on the cheek.” I lie and to my surprise, Hailey doesn’t correct me 

Kacey calms down and nods. “Thank you for telling me the truth and not just letting me think you two actually kissed” I nod. “I came up here to apologize. I was rude when we met and I’m sorry for that. It’s just that Ben never told me about you. It hurt.”

“Well, he didn’t lie to you that much. We haven’t seen or even really talked to each other since I got back from camp.” I tell her.

She nods. “Ok. I’m gonna go back downstairs. It was nice meeting you. Really.” She then turns and closes the door behind her. I turn around to see Hailey looking at me with annoyance.

“Why didn’t you just tell her?” She asks.

“If she’s who he wants to be with…then that’s his choice. I’m not gonna ruin it.” Tears roll down my face. “I was so happy at camp, Hailey. I was so excited to see him; to start whatever we were gonna be.” My body is wracked with sobs as I collapse. Hailey runs to me and catches me, holding me to her. “It hurts so much, Hailey.” 

“I know.” She holds me close as I cry my eyes out.

Benji:

I watched as Gabby lied to Kacey. And then once I started to go in after Kace went back downstairs, I listened to Hailey ask Gabby why, and I wanted to know too so I kept listening. But soon, I wished I had gone downstairs. 

Hearing Gabby cry like that broke me inside. The only time I can compare it to is when she found out Jack had been cheating on her, and it wasn’t as bad as this. I lean my forehead on the doorframe, tears rolling silently down my face as I hear her sob. 

I run downstairs and Kacey is waiting. She has a smile on her face until she sees the tears. “Benji?”

“I…I can’t do this. I think you need to go.”

“Are you…”

“I’m breaking up with you.” I say quietly and she nods, not even fighting it.

She stands up and as she passes me she stops. “Fight for her.” That’s all she says before she walks out the door. 

I run back upstairs and open Hailey’s door without knocking.

“Benji, get out!” Hailey screams.

“No. Gabby, I...”

“No.” She says through her tears. “Don’t come in here to lie to me again. I can’t…I can’t do that. I can’t.” She looks up at me and she looks so broken. I drop down, sitting next to her. I reach for her and she flinched away from my hand as I brush her tears away. 

“Kacey’s gone. We’re done.”

“What does that change?” She whispers. “You still chose her.”

“I was afraid. I was so scared, Gabby. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. I didn’t want to ruin us. I can’t lose you.” I reach for her and this time she doesn’t move away. I brush the tears away with my thumb, my other fingers in her hair. I watch her lips and then rub my thumb over them. I look up, searching her eyes for permission. She nods a little, but her expression is hesitant. 

I bring her lips to mine and this kiss is even better than the first. She doesn’t respond at first, and then she slowly kisses me back. 

But then she pulls away, fresh tears threatening to spill. “Please don’t play with me. I can’t take it if you kissed me and then just ditch me.” I flinch, knowing that’s exactly what I did. “I love you, Benji. I always have.”

“I love you too.” I tell her and she nods. “Please know that I do. Forget about Kacey. She and I started dating because I thought you wouldn’t want to be with me once you got back.  You met Jack at that same camp so I figured you had met someone else.”

She takes a shaky breath. “I did. He’s a great guy and he liked me, but I didn’t have the same feelings for him as I have for you. I didn’t let it happen. I waited to talk to you. But then, once I got back, you just avoided me. I thought that was my answer. My heart was broken long before tonight, Benji.” 

“I’m so sorry, Gabby.” I hug her, and she melts into my arms.

Gabby: 4 Years Later

As Benji and I throw our college graduation caps in the air, he pulls me to him and kisses me. As our classmates cheer, he looks down at me with love and adoration, his blue eyes sparkling.

And then he drops to one knee. 

“Gabriella Jenkins. You have been my best friend since first grade, and I’ve been in love with you since I began to understand what love was. We’ve been together through thick and thin, and you’ve made me happy through every moment of my life since I met you. Will you give me the chance to make you even happier for the rest of our lives, and give me the absolute honor of marrying me?”

Tears fill my eyes as I nod. “Yes. Yes.” He puts the ring on my finger, and I barely give him the chance to get up before I kiss him.

The End <3