S.O.S. on Pecari Commons

Tess Whittaker

June 07, 2017 12:44 PM

S.O.S. by Tess Whittaker

Tess groaned as she flopped back on the sofa she was sitting on. She’d set herself the task of sitting down and homeworking for a couple of hours straight and, one hour in, she was starting to believe it was impossible. She was a reasonably academic student, but homework could be so boring.

It was evening, and Tess was in the Pecari common room, curled up on a sofa. She was wearing a fitted tshirt, little pyjama shorts, and had kicked her shoes off. After all, you had to be comfy if you were going to suffer homework. She had previously tied her hair back in a ponytail, to aid concentration, but she now reached back and freed it, giving up the idea of working as she did so. She’d got through a fair amount, and there was still time before the rest of the work was due.

However, that left her with the rest of the evening free, which meant finding something to do or, preferably, someone to spend time with. Tess liked socialising, and nothing was better than spending an evening with her friends, or her… her Ben. She supposed he fit under the category of friends, really, as much as she wanted to move him into a different category. He’d been spending more time with her this year, but Tess wasn’t totally sure if he was into her the way she was into him. What had started out as a slight crush had become full-blown now, and she’d pretty much decided that she’d have to take matters into her own hands soon. She’d never been the shy or retiring type, and had no concerns about being the one to make the first move, even though part of her did quite like the idea of him doing so.

One of the problems of being the only Pecari girl in her year was that she didn’t share a common room with any of her girlfriends. It was something they generally managed to get around, hanging out in the MARS room and elsewhere, although it was on nights like this that it became especially annoying. She didn’t really have the inclination to move off the sofa, let alone search the grounds for her friends.

Luckily for her, she caught sight of Ben then. “Oi Ben, over here!” she called out to him, not moving from her slumped position but waving an arm wildly to attract his attention. “Come and save me from my homework!”

9 Tess Whittaker S.O.S. 338 Tess Whittaker 1 5

Ben Pierce

June 09, 2017 4:53 PM

You should assume I'm joking. I'm not. But assume it anyway. by Ben Pierce

Ben was reasonably sure that Raine wasn't trying to be alluring. She'd dressed with more coverage after that first practice, when he was sure Kyte hadn't warned her about Ben's presence there, but she was taking up a lot more space in his idle thoughts than she really ought to be and his sleeping dreams were even weirder than his class daydreams as Tess lately had a tendency to become an acrobat in them, and those were the ones he liked.

There were others where he woke up hot and sweaty and terrified that Bel would show up in his dorm room and smite him for chauvinistic dream behavior, and then Kyte would take a turn because Raine was his sister and how dare Ben do that to Raine, nevermind Raine and Tess.

Anyway, Raine wasn't trying but she was succeeding. Even with more clothes on than that first day, Ben could still remember the first outfit all to well and his brain liked to superimpose that one over whatever Raine was actually wearing, to say nothing of what Raine could make that amazing body of hers do.

So heading back to his room from reading at the Collindales again, Ben was planning a cold shower and then trying to achieve dreamless unconsciousness (or ideally having one of the good dreams that didn't leave him feeling horribly guilty though he already suspected this night would not be that kind to him).

This plan was halted in its tracks as Tess called out to him. Other things also halted in their tracks as he saw her in short pyjama bottoms and a tight looking t-shirt.

He did not catch what she said at all as all higher brain activity was currently shut down, but gathered from her waving arm she wanted him to go to her. He did.

With no brain guidance available to it, his tongue spoke without going through any filters. "Will you marry me?"

Wait. What had he just said? Had he asked her out? He'd been meaning to ask her out for days. He thought that was probably the gist of what he'd asked anyway. He gave her a bright hopeful smile.

1 Ben Pierce You should assume I'm joking. I'm not. But assume it anyway. 339 Ben Pierce 0 5

Tess

June 11, 2017 2:05 PM

Here's hoping you weren't entirely joking! by Tess

Tess grinned at Ben as he walked over, glad that he’d appeared just when she wanted him to. Who needed telepathy? However, something seemed a bit off with him, and Tess was just about to ask if he was okay when Ben spoke first. And wait, what?!

Okay. Tess was a young teenage girl and, like many teenage girls, she had of course spared a thought or two for the future. She’d discussed her crush with her friends, wondered if she and Ben had the potential to be a couple that lasted, at least beyond Sonora if not forever, and she might even have considered whether or not she liked the sound of Tess Pierce (not that she’d ever admit to that one). But this question was far from what she’d expected to happen when she’d given up on homework for the evening. Ben was a boy, and Tess was fairly sure boys didn’t think like that, at least not when they were only in fourth year and hadn’t even kissed. So what on earth was Ben doing?

Nevertheless, the question did give Tess the opening she’d been looking for. It also suggested that her feelings weren’t exactly one-sided so, after she’d taken a few seconds to get over the shock, Tess took control of the situation.

“Well, I’m not sure that marrying you is really possible right now,” she pointed out, taking his arm and trying to manoeuvre him into a sitting position. He seemed like he could probably do with sitting down, and besides, then he’d be next to her on the sofa, which would give…potential. Assuming, of course, that Ben’s brain hadn’t completely malfunctioned, and he was on board with the idea of kissing.

“Maybe we should try dating first?” Tess suggested, gathering up her courage and getting the words out there. Maybe he’d shoot her down, but it had been said, and there was something strangely exhilarating about that. Besides, he was the one that had suggested marriage, so he couldn’t object to dating her, right?

9 Tess Here's hoping you weren't entirely joking! 338 Tess 0 5

Ben Pierce

June 14, 2017 12:39 PM

Not even a little bit joking by Ben Pierce

Marriage, what? Ben looked at Tess in utter confusion as she answered his question. He was starting to pick up on the idea that his subconscious may have skipped ahead a few chapters in its muddled eagerness to find a girl willing to do some of the things his dreams were exploring lately. And as some of those things where activities his parents insisted were best saved to be shared between husband and wife . . .

He guessed his tongue must have tried to jump over the middle steps.

He flushed red.

"Er, yeah," he agreed when she suggested they try dating instead. "That's what I meant." He supposed he should offer some kind of explanation as to how a person confuses asking a girl out with an apparent marriage proposal, but he really wasn't sure he wanted to admit to the kind of leap his brain had taken there.

"Did I really ask..." then he shook his head because it was pretty obvious from her answer that he must have. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened to my brain just now." He had a few solid guesses, starting with Raine's amazing flexibility and ending with Tess's pyjamas, but there could be other reasons it came out that way. "But yes!" he was still flushed but the grin he put on was bright and joyous and genuine. "We're dating! That's awesome! Word of warning though," he added, adding a teasing quality to his grin, "Both my dad and my uncle ended up married to their magic school best-friends-turned-sweethearts. It's a family tradition I'm not against continuing." Attempting 'flirting' now, he finished, "Especially now that I can see your preference in nightwear. I love the shorts."

1 Ben Pierce Not even a little bit joking 339 Ben Pierce 0 5

Tess

July 06, 2017 12:14 PM

That suits me! by Tess

Tess was a little concerned by the way Ben was looking at her initially, with confusion and a reddening face, but luckily he did seem to have meant to show interest in her. She breathed a sigh of relief when he agreed to dating, even if he wasn’t as enthusiastic in saying yes as he could have been.

Still, it became clear to Tess that he’d meant to ask her out instead of proposing, and she laughed at him as he apologised for his crazy brain. She didn’t mind the situation – the talk of marriage hadn’t really fazed her, and it had given her the chance to ask him out. She was quite proud of the fact that she had, technically, been the one to do so. She’d have to make sure to include that detail when she replayed the conversation to her friends later!

Ben then did become more enthusiastic, which was definitely appreciated by Tess, who was by now wearing a big smile that wasn’t likely to disappear anytime soon. She went a little red as he commented on her pyjamas, not having thought about it when putting them on, but now glad that she had chosen the cute little shorts.

“Are you proposing to me again?” she joked, as Ben started talking about marriage again. This was going even better than she’d hoped, as Ben made it clear that this was potentially a long-term thing. Not that she thought he wouldn’t be serious about them, but she had friends back home whose relationships had only lasted a matter of weeks. She definitely wanted something far longer than that, especially as she would hate for anything to happen to their friendship as a result of the relationship not lasting. But it seemed she had no reason to be worried about that.

“So now that we’re dating, what next?” she asked, moving a little closer to him and wondering how exactly one initiated kissing without it being a bit awkward the first time.

9 Tess That suits me! 338 Tess 0 5

Ben

July 27, 2017 8:48 PM

Great, so we're dating now. Cool. by Ben

"Not yet," Ben assured her with a grin, when Tess jokingly asked if he was proposing again. "I think graduation is probably a good first step," he admitted, informing his ape-brain of this at least as much as Tess. "But don't be too surprised if the question pops up again after that."

"In the meantime," he redirected in a much less serious tone of voice and a happy smile, "I think I'll start calling you the Terrific Tess." He plopped down next on the couch beside her, closer than he would have before this strange but wonderful conversation, did the stretch thing he'd seen on TV and lowered his arm down behind her, not quite touching, but near enough that if she snuggled in a bit closer, it would naturally fall around her. "Do you have any objection to that?" he asked, mostly about the name, but also about the arm.

He was almost 90% sure Dad had called Mom 'The Great Gabriella' at least once in Tess's hearing last summer, so she would probably get the reference, but if not, Tess was still really terrific in her own right.

He also thought kissing would be a great move now that they were dating, too, but he wasn't sure how to broach that topic without sounding like, well, a hormonal teenage boy, which, admittedly, he was pretty sure he was.

1 Ben Great, so we're dating now. Cool. 339 Ben 0 5