The sun peaks through the curtains again, and I'm awoken not to my alarm but a tightening grip around me. I open my eyes to see Ben still asleep, but his arm still around me. There's a part of me that wants to move, so he isn't nervous when he wakes up. Although, there's another part of me that desperately wants to savor this moment. I feel safe with him holding onto me, and I know as soon as he wakes up it'll end.

All of a sudden, my alarm rings, and I can't turn it off without disrupting Ben. However, if I don't turn it off, it'll eventually wake him up. I slowly try to slip passed his arm, but as I do that, his eyes flutter open. He jumps up and looks around to try and process what led to this position. While he does this, I turn off my alarm, and once I return to my bed, he seems to remember what happened.

He gives me a look of confused concern, and I tell him, "don't worry, we didn't do anything." A relieved look spreads across his face, and I can't help but joke, "wow, didn't know I was that unattractive."

"No, no, no, no, I didn't mean it like that," he scrambles to say as I just laugh.

I grab his hands and look into his eyes, "I was joking, you dork." He buries his head in our hands as blush covers his face. This boy is making it so difficult not to kiss him right now. "Come on, we need to go downstairs, so my parents aren't worried," I say as I drag him behind me.

We reach the kitchen where my parents are making breakfast. It's Saturday, and they always cook breakfast on Saturdays.

My mom turns towards me and tells me, "honey, go show Ben where the shower is. Breakfast is still going to be a bit, so he can easily get a shower in."

"Oh, thank you, I appreciate it," he responds, and I lead him to our bathroom upstairs.

"In the cabinet are towels, and I'll let you figure out the controls," I tell him and go back downstairs. I sit on a chair, and I can feel there's some slight awkwardness between me and my parents.

Eventually, my dad speaks up, "thank you for keeping the door open."

This is followed by my mom asking, "so, are you two officially a couple?"

"Why would you think that?" I ask in an attempt to seem clueless. They definitely saw us snuggled together this morning, but I can’t let them think I know too.

"He confessed to you, didn't he?" my dad asks in return.

"What?" I'm now the one showing confused concern.

My mother chimes in, "you didn't hear him say he wanted to tell you he loved you when the time was right, but Max basically took that away from him?"

"No!" I shout before realizing Ben could probably hear me.

My dad turns to my mom, "we raised him clueless, darling."

She kisses him on the cheek, "he gets it from your family."

I interrupt them by saying, "he was rambling so fast, are you serious?"

"Yes, sweetheart," my mom tells me, focused on the bacon she's cooking.

I just sit there with my thoughts racing through my head. He confessed to me, and I didn't even understand it. I told him I didn't think he had a crush on me, and now I look like a complete idiot. I'm so lost in thought, I don't even notice Ben got out of the shower. It isn't until my dad puts a plate in front of me that I snap back to reality. My mom then places the food on the table, and everyone starts reaching for things. Ben grabs a couple slices of bacon, my dad aims for the toast, and my mom picks up a bagel and starts spreading cream cheese all over it. It isn’t until everyone else is done grabbing stuff that I grab a slice of toast. I would normally eat more, but my stomach feels so knotted that I’ve lost all sense of hunger.

My dad is the one who notices first, and he asks me, “are you feeling okay, son?”

My mom and Ben turn to me with concern, and I feel even more sick. How am I supposed to react to learning something like this? 

Eventually, I look at him and tell him, “yeah, I’m just not all too hungry.

My parents exchange knowing glances and continue with their meals. Ben, however, still looks somewhat concerned, but I try to give him a smile to show everything really is okay. It takes a minute, but he goes back to eating too, and I continue eating my toast.

Once everyone finished their meals and puts their dishes in the sink, I turn on the water to start doing the dishes. My mom comes up to me as I start washing one of the plates.

“Honey, you have a guest over, I’ll do them,” she says, and I would normally accept this offer. However, I need some more time to process everything, time alone.

So, I tell her, “it’s okay, it’s my one chore to do, and it won’t be that long.”

She lets out a small huff and says, “okay,” before walking away. I go back to washing each dish, and the soapy water somehow helps me calm down and focus everything. I would make the perfect housewife if it weren’t for the fact that I can’t be a wife. My brain is racing through so many thoughts that I don’t even fully process when I’ve finished until I basically punch the bottom of the sink. I let the water drain and move on to drying off all the dishes.

Ben then enters the kitchen, “do you need any help?”

“No, I’m just drying off stuff.”

“Let me rephrase, I’m going to help,” he grabs a towel and starts drying off dishes too. We stand in awkward silence as we work. I don’t know if he just doesn’t talk while he works, or he’s waiting for me to say something. Whatever the case may be, it isn’t solved before we finish drying the dishes off and putting them away.

I then turn to him and finally build up the courage to say, “what do you want to do today?”

He pauses for a second, clearly not expecting that of all things to be what first comes out of my mouth, but he eventually says, “I’d like to grab some new clothes preferably, and after that, I got nothing.”

“Do you want me to go with you or meet you somewhere?”

“Think long and hard about what you think I’m going to say. Of course I want you with me!”

“Okay, just let me tell my parents where I’ll be,” I say as I look into the living room for my parents.

My dad, without even looking at me, says, “we heard you two talking, yes you can go.”

“Alright, thank you.”

I step back towards Ben, and we leave the house without a second thought. The outside is still somewhat cool, at least compared to what it’ll get to later.

For once, Ben isn’t holding my hand to lead me somewhere, and I actually kind of miss it. I move closer to his side, and I debate grabbing ahold of his hand. I twitch my fingers to hit his hand, and I'm hoping he just thinks it was an accident. I slowly build up my courage, and I'm about to grab his hands. When I reach out, he lifts his hand up and points to a house.

"There's where I live," he says with a bright smile. It's so warm that I forget about my disappointment. We walk up to the front porch, and Ben takes out a key to unlock the door. He steps inside and quickly yells, "I'm home, mom!"

I follow him inside, and his mom comes downstairs. She shares the same deep brown eyes and skintone as Ben does, but she's leaner, more a track star than a football one. However, the most notable thing about her and Ben's resemblance is the smile. She has the same warmth radiating from it.

"I don't think we've met, I'm Ben's mother," she says as she shakes my hand, "you can call me Evie though or Miss Morgan if you want to be fancy."

"I'm Sammy," I say trying my best to replicate their smiles.

"Oh, Ben has told me so much about you," she turns to look at Ben, "finally you bring him over."

Ben looks at both of us, "I'm going to go change; I'm sure you guys can handle talking for a bit." He runs upstairs, leaving me and his mom alone.

"He has talked nonstop about you for the past couple of days," she tells me with a small giggle.

"I hope in a good way," I joke before saying, "you two have the exact same smile."

"It's a family trait; everyone comments how we have nice smiles."

"What exactly has Ben said about me?"

"Oh, he's talked about how you put 110 percent into everything you do. He says you have the most beautiful grey eyes, which you do. He loves how you are so unabashedly yourself and have been for years."

I blush super hard, and I know for a fact that she notices. I eventually squeak out, "yeah, definitely nothing bad."

She leans in and whispers, "you didn't hear it from me, but he has a crush on you, and I can see clearly that the feeling is mutual."

Ben then comes back downstairs in the outfit I would expect to see him in, athletic top and gym shorts. "You guys weren't saying anything bad about me, were you?" he says as he steps next to his mother.

She kisses him on the cheek, "of course not, so what do you two plan on doing now."

We both look to each other for an answer that neither of us can produce.

"Well, if you don't have any plans, I would like to put in my input," she says, "I think it would be nice to meet your parents Sammy."

I turn to Ben before saying, "okay, just let me call my parents."

I grab my phone and call my mom, who answers quickly.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I'm at Ben's, and his mom wants to know if you guys would want to meet her today."

"Of course, she's perfectly welcome to come over."

"Okay, I'll let her know." I hang up and relay what my mom said.

We leave their house and make our way to mine. The air starting to warm around us as we walk.