House of Bounce Trampoline Park

Bellwood, CA

Tuesday, December 19, 2000

10:50 AM

"Are you excited?" Gwen asked the dark haired girl walking next to her towards the warehouse-looking building that was the trampoline park. She glanced over her shoulder as the minivan they were just in pulled away and returned the wave and smile her Mother gave her.

Michelle pulled at the braid that fell over her shoulder. "About what?"

Gwen rolled her eyes at her bestie's familiar nervous tick and bumped the girl's shoulder. "About what…" she muttered. "About seeing Jorge again, duh! You've only asked about him every week since the dance!"

"I have not!"

"You have so!" Gwen smirked. "It's OK to want to hang out with him. It looked like you two got along great at the dance."

Her friend got almost the same dopey look her Doofus sometimes got. "Yeah. He was fun!"

Gwen smiled. She always liked to see her friend happy, especially now when she'd have someone to hang out with instead of being a third wheel, like she had been so often since August. Gwen wanted to believe that didn't bother her friend, like she always said. Most of the time it was probably true, but after that one time at the mall, when Michelle admitted she was afraid Gwen didn't need her any more… Well, that was the source of yet another bad dream that haunted Gwen in her sleep.

Her friend's interest in Ben's teammate was a welcome development for both girls. It would be fun seeing how their initial good time together at the dance would turn out. It was kind of like a double date…

Which presented a way to retaliate for Michelle's running teases.

"Just don't stare at him like you want his babies before you even kiss him, m'kay?" Gwen said smugly, mirroring words back at her friend that had frozen her brain at the mall. As if she hadn't been frazzled enough by all her strange and wonderful feelings about her boyfriend that day…

"I WOULD NEVER-" the olive skinned girl shouted before Gwen burst out in laughter. Michelle scowled at her.

"Hate you!" Her BFF grumbled. "Ben's right! You are so evil!"

Gwen just giggled as she opened the glass entrance door. Her attention shifted as they went inside to a group of boys in the lobby, especially to the shortest of the bunch, facing the door. The giggle turned into a smile as the boy that took over her attention looked towards the door when he saw it open; his familiar smirk from whatever they were saying turned into the bright smile she loved as soon as her Doofus saw her. Gwen's heart fluttered when he did, and even her feet followed suit when she stumbled as the door closed behind her.

The dark haired boy facing Ben saw the smile, too, and turned towards the door with a quizzical look. He looked at Gwen, then his gaze shifted to Michelle and his expression changed to a happy, if slightly uncertain look. The rest of the group noticed their reactions - hard to miss since Ben and Jorge just dropped out of the conversation - and took the opportunity to diss both of them.

"Oh nice, a couple girls walk in and you just ignore your teammates!" "Geez, close your mouths you guys! You're drooling!" "Guess this shows how important we aren't."

Her Doofus's smile never wavered as he answered back. "Oh, stick it in your ear!" and took a step towards her.

Jorge followed Ben's lead. "Kiss my ass! None of you guys are as good looking as they are!"

The other guys kept razzing them for a minute, then headed towards the jumping deck to get started, grumbling about their teammates' sudden change of interest. When Ben got within three steps his hands twitched as if he was going to bring them up at the same time she was, but the group of his classmates still in the lobby made him stop. Gwen kept her arms at her sides, too - the hug she wanted to greet him with would have to wait. The look in his eyes told her he was as happy to see her as she was to see him, and that would do for now.

Jorge ended up at Ben's side in front of Michelle when they all stopped three feet apart.

"I was wondering if you'd come" he said to her bestie, grinning in an almost shy way. One of the few boys waiting his turn to go into the jump area interrupted with a smirk. "Hoping, you mean!" as the other two laughed.

"Of course I was hoping! Who wouldn't want to see one of the prettiest girls at the dance again!" he said over his shoulder without looking. "Great dance partner, too." he added warmly.

"It's about time you guys got here! I was wondering if I had to go search for you!" Ben said, still smiling and looking at Gwen. "Don't listen to those losers, Army Girl. They couldn't keep up with you if they tried!" he added.

Michelle turned her head towards him with a surprised look that quickly shifted to a bashful and pleased one. Gwen's self-control was tested again, much sooner than she expected, as the urge to hug the Doofus again was almost overwhelming - since the dance, he and Michelle had been acting more like friends than just someone they had to tolerate when the three got together.

"Thanks, Ben." Michelle said, then turned to his teammate. "Hey Jorge" she said with an uncharacteristically shy smile. "Yeah, I've wondered what this place was like when we drove past it. I've never done this before, though. Have you?"

"Nope, new to me, too. We can both flop around together if you want" he replied with a goofy smile.

Michelle grinned back as she tugged at her braided hair again. "Sure."

"All right, let's get going!" Ben said enthusiastically, grabbing Gwen's hand and leading them to join the others on the jumping deck.

After kicking off their shoes and stashing their stuff in some cubbies, they stood at the entrance to the carpeted deck around the trampolines - eight normal size ones for one or two people; two right next to them that were big enough for three, maybe four, jumpers; and a thirty foot long tumble track running along the back wall. The big tramps each had a basketball rim and backboard, and there were already six guys bouncing on each of them with several red rubber kickballs trying to outdo each other with outrageous power dunks and alley oops. Most ended with kickballs slamming into the rims and bouncing anywhere butthrough the nets, and the boys all laughing and hollering as they pushed each other and fell on the tramp after each failure. Once in a while one of them actually got a ball through the hoop, with appropriate hoots and hollers of celebration. It was a totally ridiculous scene that only boys could make happen.

And it looked like so much fun!

Gwen glanced at her Doofus next to her and laughed at how he was bouncing on the balls of his bare feet, almost vibrating in anticipation of joining in. Bare feet instead of having socks on like the rest of the guys, because she told him to take them off so he'd be able to feel the trampoline and not slip. Just like she learned during her first year of gymnastics.

"So you've done this before, Dweeb?"

"Uh huh."

"Really? When?" he asked incredulously, as if she could ever have done stuff without him.

"I started almost four years ago. When we weren't all that friendly…" Gwen said cautiously.

"Oh. Yeah. I guess that wouldn't have been much fun." Ben said, a little subdued from his initial excitement. "So who'd you go with then?"

"Some of the other girls at the gym."

"Huh?! You mean from school?!"

Gwen snorted. Like she did fun stuff like this with those harpies from school … "Where I did gymnastics, Doofus. Like I have been for five years. We came here to practice until the gym I train at put in a couple tramps and a tumble track."

Gwen took his hand and dragged him towards an empty trampoline, a grin forming on her lips. "Come on! We're wasting time!" she said. Today was for fun, not rehashing the past when they didn't appreciate each other. When they got to the edge of the deck, she let go and took two steps and jumped to the middle of the tramp and started well controlled jumping, as Ben followed a step behind with a whoop. He tried to do a forward somersault but ended up falling on his back, bouncing on his butt at Gwen's feet and grinning ear to ear.

"Look out, Diez! Move your skinny ass out of the way!" Jorge yelled, jumping to the middle of the tramp just as Ben rolled to the side. Michelle was right behind, timing her jump to match the black haired boy's bouncing. Gwen adjusted her jumps to match theirs while the Doofus scrambled to his feet and made it a foursome.

They spent the next forty minutes bouncing together, switching from one tramp to another, then to the large ones to try their skill - or lack thereof - with the rest of the team at baskets and kickballs. None of them were any better at putting the balls through the rims, but they all had a terrific time trying, bumping into each other - Ben and Jorge mostly on purpose, Michelle and Gwen a little less so - and having tons of fun doing so! More than once multiple kids fell in tangled clusters on each other, adding to the mayhem with shouts of glee and laughter.

Eventually the four of them all made it back to a smaller trampoline near the back wall, and Gwen started to do her gymnastics skills - back flips, front flips, cartwheels and round offs. Ben and Jorge tried to do them as well, and fell in heaps as they failed most of the time and gave each other happy insults about it. 'Chelle joined for some of them, and even pulled off a passable backflip to great cheers from the boys; but she was as unskilled as they were and fell just as much. Not that lack of skill stopped any of them from trying.

Ben's inability to do what Gwen could finally got to her over-confident cousin, and he stopped jumping to watch her while he took a rest. "Hey, Dweeb, is that what you really do in a competition?"

She finished one more active jump, then let the trampoline settle down with a couple successively smaller bounces. Gwen turned to face him as she swept some stray hair behind her ear, breathing hard and face flushed from exertion.

"Sort of. A lot of the moves I do use those skills, but I combine them in more complex ways." Gwen replied, walking to the start of the long, narrow strip of trampoline. "Like this."

She stepped onto the track, stood still for a second with her feet together and took a deep breath. Then she ran five steps before doing a round off into three back handsprings, then a full layout backflip. She landed with a small bounce, both feet together, then went to the far end of the track and turned around. Another short starting run led to another round off and a back handspring, then two whips - back handsprings where her hands never touched the track - then one more normal handspring into a double pike backflip. She finished near the end of the track, feet together with another small bounce and a big grin. She nailed both tumbling passes, even though she hadn't practiced them for over a week!

She looked to the jump deck to see her boyfriend and burst out a laugh - he was standing there gaping at her, eyes wide as he could make them. Jorge and Michelle were standing next to him with equally stunned expressions, and several of the other boys, who were also still on their trampolines, looked at her with admiration.

The silence was broken by her boyfriend's excited cheers, followed by similar noise from the rest of the boys. 'Chelle was clapping her hands with a huge grin, as Ben rushed towards her, beaming proudly. He took a step towards her as she got off the track and almost glomped her right then and there before he remembered where he was, but the smile on his face and the excitement in his eyes didn't go away.

"That was totally wicked!" he shouted, as his teammates cheered and whistled before going back to their trampoline games.

"How come I've never seen that before?!" he all but yelled, still excited and impressed. His reaction felt even better than knowing her coach would have approved.

Gwen looked down, though, embarrassed by the attention. "Yeah, I did those pretty good! I would have stuck the landings, too, if I was on a spring floor!" She looked up at him and met his gaze.

"If you'd come to the meets like I asked you to the last two years, you'd have seen all that in my floor routines. And the other apparatuses - you should see what I can do on the bars and beam!"

She wiped a bead of sweat that was slowly working it's way down her forehead. "I have, like, four more before the regional competition in April. Don't miss them." She smiled at him, pleased to see him return it to her and nod his head. She was definitely looking forward to finally having him see her compete, especially since this would be her last season.

But that could wait. They still had some time left to the hour they paid for. "Your turn, Doofus. Remember how to do that back flip I showed you?"

Ben started to reply "Of course I do…"

"That's how you learned to do that kick?!" Jorge said with an admiring look, first at his teammate, then at Gwen. "Coach tried showing it to us at practice once, but no one really got it. Good thing you got through his thick head!" he grinned.

"Hey! I was one of the only guys on the team that even came close then!" Ben complained, glaring at Jorge. Then his expression softened. "But Gwen did help me with the flip part when we were at the dojo before karate class."

He jumped onto the tumble track, bounced lightly twice looking down at his feet, then looked at them. "This'll be easier than the dojo mats, there's more bounce." Then he turned to face the end of the track, took a small bounce and jumped, and did an almost perfect back flip, stumbling a couple steps on the landing. He put up his right hand as Jorge started a friendly insult, got a determined look, and did it again, this time sticking the landing with a fierce grin.

"Like that?" he said more than asked, looking at Gwen.

She beamed back at him. "Yeah, Doofus, exactly like that!"

He smiled back, then turned to his friend. "How do you like them apples, Horhay?" he said with a tight grin. "Come on, let's see you do it!"

The Latino boy took the challenge and gave it a try, but ended up on his back. Ben laughed with his hand out to pull his teammate up. They spent the next ten minutes on the track, with Ben trying to show Jorge how to do it without falling as Gwen did the same with Michelle. When her bestie started to get the hang of it, Gwen shoo'ed Ben to the side and helped Jorge directly. The three of them were doing full backflips and Gwen was doing lazy layouts, double backs with a twist, and double pikes when their time slot ended. Everyone finished their bounces and made their way to the deck with expected complaints and bragging from the rest of the boys about who was the best and worst at trampoline games.

Ben smiled that proud smile of his when they heard more than a few comments that she was the obvious winner of that informal competition. Gwen felt the familiar, wonderful flutter in her stomach when she saw it, and didn't even glare at 'Chelle when her friend shot her a knowing smirk when they got to the cubbies to get their shoes and jackets.

- G -

Michelle and Jorge finished putting on their jackets by the entrance door, waiting as Gwen and Ben followed them. Gwen started to put on her jacket as well, when Ben cried out "Ah crap!" Gwen turned towards him with a worried look - what would make him react like that?

"Ben? What's the matter?"

"Aw, I forgot my jacket! It's back in the trampoline deck, I'll be right back" he said as he turned and hurried back to the jumping area.

Jorge laughed and called after him "Pinchy Tennyson! You'd forget your head if it wasn't connected to your neck!l" Her Doofus never liked being criticized, even for fun, and this time was no exception. He didn't bother to reply or look, he just raised his left hand and flipped the bird to his friend.

"Doofus!" she almost yelled as Michelle joined Jorge's laughter.

"Don't bother, Crazy. I'm used to him being a jerk!" her friend said before she let out one more chuckle. Jorge added "Yeah, don't get mad about that because of me! You should hear some of the stuff he yells at me during practice! Hard to believe he kisses… um, his mom with that mouth!"

Gwen shot an annoyed look at his back anyway, then turned to 'Chelle and Jorge. "You guys go on ahead. You know he'll get lost between here and wherever he left his jacket. You can find us a table."

Michelle gave her a part knowing, part grateful grin. "Yeah, sure. We'll see you in a few minutes." She took the few steps to Gwen for a quick hug, whispering in her ear as she did. "Thanks, Crazy! Take your time with your Doofus!"

She turned to the black haired boy. "Come on, Jorge, looks like Gwen wants to take advantage of the situation." she said and waggled an eyebrow. Gwen rolled her eyes and groaned.

Jorge grinned back at her as he opened the door and followed her to the parking lot. "Works for me. She's right - he's always losing stuff. And he'll take forever to find it. I've seen that guy take three trips to his locker for just one class! … After class started!"

Michelle giggled as they walked away. "I like where this is going! You can tell me all about it! Ben is never on 'best behavior', but he's usually pretty good around Gwen. I've wondered how he acts when they're not together …"

Gwen laughed softly as she watched them walk away. She enjoyed seeing her friend having fun, flirting back and forth with Ben's teammate. And Jorge seemed like a good guy - he was nice but still flirted right back without missing a beat, and managed to make Michelle blush more than once turning her risqué comments back on her. The boy was about as quick witted as the Doofus, engaging with him almost non-stop. He even started dishing wise cracks her way, after an initial comic but mild insult followed by a quick eye to eye check between the two boys that resulted in a small head nod and grin from Ben. Another boy thing that Gwen noticed but didn't pay much mind - boys could just be weird sometimes.

But the way her boyfriend growled when Jorge went a little too far was just… Gwen laughed to herself at that memory, one she'd keep in her mind for a long time. Ben had been adorable, and she came that close to kissing him! If it had only been Michelle there she probably would have; her friend would tolerate their PDAs most of the time, as long as they didn't get carried away.

They did forget a couple times, and without realizing it she and Ben had been more physical than she otherwise thought acceptable - a quick side hug, touching a shoulder that lasted long enough for someone to notice. One time she and Ben were jumping together on a small trampoline, and started to compete with each other to see who could bounce the highest. That turned into both of them jumping for height together, and their combined bounces produced a truly amazing altitude. She'd had to grab the Doofus's hands when he got a little wobbly, and they did several more bounces that way. When they heard catcalls and cheers during it, they stopped, only to see Michelle and Jorge on the tramp next to them doing the same thing. 'Chelle had grinned like a maniac at her, but Jorge gave her an honest smile, as if saying not only did he not think it was weird, but was happy to see them having fun.

Still, she didn't know Jorge, and they had to be careful…

She was staring out the glass door, watching 'Chelle and Jorge walking side by side and bumping shoulders and laughing about something when she suddenly felt two arms surround her middle, resting on her stomach through her unzipped jacket. She jumped and let out a short, surprised squeal.

She felt as much as heard Ben's soft laugh. "Geez, Dweeb, jumpy much? It's just me." he murmured into her right ear, holding her tight against him and nuzzling her cheek with his. She loved the feeling, the warmth from his hands, the soft feel of his cheek against hers! She'd been longing to hold him since they arrived at the House of Bounce, and this was wonderful!

But…

"Don't sneak up on me like that, Doofus! I nearly jumped out of my skin!" If she was facing him she would've swatted his chest, too, just on principle. And because she could then leave her hand there, feeling his muscles twitch and his heart beat, and…

"Serves you right for talking trash about me!" Ben snorted gently. "They look like they're having fun." He said, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Yeah. 'Chelle kind of acted like she wanted some time alone with Jorge, so I told them to go ahead of us." She turned around to face him, liking that Ben managed to keep his arms and hands inside her jacket as she did the same to him. She glanced quickly around the lobby, noting with approval that no one was there with them. "And I wanted some time with you, too. I didn't think you'd mind." She slid one hand up his back to the back of his head, weaving her fingers into his tousled hair. Ben almost purred at her touch.

"Mind?! Nuh uh! I've wanted to do this since you got out of your mom's van!"

Gwen looked deeply into her boyfriend's beautiful green eyes and couldn't stop the smile on her lips. "Then shut up, Doofus, and…" she stopped as he leaned his face towards her and met her lips with his, in a kiss that started that wonderful, warm feeling in her chest and had both their hearts racing. They finally got to hug each other like she wanted after several days of not even seeing each other!

One long kiss and two shorter ones later - neither wanted the first one to end, and Ben snuck in a quick peck on her lips right after she did it to him - time and friendship reality intruded, and Gwen shifted her hands from his back to his chest as their lips broke apart. "We should get going, Doofus. They're gonna start wondering what happened to us." She shivered as much from feeling him as the sudden cold breeze from the door as a couple grade school kids pushed past them carrying brightly wrapped boxes. "Besides, we're blocking the door."

Ben sighed at the interruption, then rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we don't want to keep the little rug rats from getting in. Looks like a party." He stepped into the half open door and pushed it all the way open with his butt, keeping his right hand around her waist as they went through the opening.

"All right, Dweeb, where are we supposed to meet them?" he said as they walked together across the large parking lot that was close to filled from all the Christmas shoppers.

"We didn't pick out a specific place. We'll just find them when we get to the food court." Gwen slipped her left arm around the small of his back - it was cold, after all, and his back was nice and warm between his jacket and T-shirt.

They were past the first row of cars when Ben let his right hand slide down her back, over the smooth fabric of the close-fitting stretch jeans and sideways to her right butt cheek before returning to the left for a long two seconds, putting a little bit of pressure so it was more than just a quick slide. Gwen gasped at his action - he'd never been this forward about feeling her back side before!

Then, without missing a step, he dropped his hand to his side, and she missed the pleasant sensation and warmth that went with it.

She started to turn and scold him, but … he'd been careful, there was no one around to see what he did, and he hadn't let his hand linger for a grossly obvious feel, and…. He'd done far more blatant feels, or semi-clumsy attempts, when it was just the two of them, ever since Halloween; out here in the parking lot with no one around, this was actually not bad by comparison. Even if someone was there to look, it's not like there was anything to see anyway, since the bottom of her jacket extended past her butt and covered his hand.

In fact, she liked how she felt, especially since she didn't worry about some random, judgmental adult watching them - his hand physically on her backside just felt good, and she was always as amazed by that fact as the idea that he would want to have that contact. It had to made him feel good, too, right? Otherwise why would he do it? He was way past his pre-boyfriend motivation to rile her up for its own sake, thankfully!

She'd even done the same thing to him a few times in response - she liked the feeling of his cute butt under the rough fabric of his jeans, too. She never grabbed a handful, though, or let it last more than a second, even though she really wanted to.

So she let his momentary indiscretion slide without comment, and instead wondered why she didn't return the gesture more often. If she liked it, why wouldn't he?

As they walked a few yards more, she stayed close to him, and she felt him brush her left hand with his right, the way the were now used to doing so they could hold hands when they were alone. She didn't remember dropping her arm from his back - when did that happen? Instead of taking it, though, this time she put her arm back around his waist, nervous at the bold thing she had in mind, a little afraid of actually doing it. Ben didn't react except for the slight upturn of his lips that she could see out of the corner of her eye. Good! He wasn't expecting anything more than that, and was probably very self-satisfied that he got away with brushing her butt like that.

That gave her the resolve to follow through on her decision. After another three feet, she quietly took in a deep breath and made her move, slipping her hand from his waist down and across the small of his back before moving it south to his left cheek. And leaving it firmly in place, taking in the round feel of the muscle and skin beneath the rough denim of his jeans and imagining the smoother feel (it had to be, didn't it - even boys couldn't like the feel of just denim on bare skin, could they?) of the boxer shorts she knew he wore, wondering what it would feel like if at least the jeans weren't interfering with what was underneath. Even this little advance in her intimacy with him made her hold her breath and start her face to burning, as the motion of walking was transmitted through his clothes to her hand.

Ben turned his head towards her, still walking, with wide eyes but a pleased look. "Dweeb?!" was all he said, and somehow managed to make it sound like a full conversation. She turned her head to look back at him with a bashful smile, still marveling at her boldness and the sensuous motion of his rear end under her unmoving hand.

"What? … You've been copping feels of my butt since before Michelle's party."

"Yeah, and you always give me crap about it and turn away or smack my hand!"

"So? Isn't this OK?" Gwen asked nervously before holding her breath. Did she go too far? Was her action so out of character that even Ben thought it was too much?

He stopped, and Gwen had to stop with him so she wouldn't lose the contact she just made and was very much enjoying right now, even if she was almost overcome with apprehension. Ben turned slightly to face her, careful to not spook her into moving her hand. The smile forming on his face was adorable and made her fear vanish.

"Oh yeah! It's more than OK, Dweeb!" her Doofus said with a grin. "You should know by now, my butt is yours!"

"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, feeling her check turn a deeper shade of red. "You can't say stuff like that!"

"Why not?!" Ben said, waggling his eyebrows and smirking. "It's true! Only for you!"

Gwen snorted and mumbled "Such a dork!" She moved her hand then, the way he did, slowly across the seat of his pants to see if his right cheek was as good as the left, pleased to find out that it was. Even without the walking motion. She pressed her palm a little firmer against his rear end.

"I've always thought you had a cute tush, Doofus. I wanted to know if it felt as good as it looked…"

"And?"

She giggled. "Better than I expected, actually!" She put a little more pressure to his butt and started a step, dragging him along. "Come on, we can't just stop in the middle of the parking lot to feel each other up!"

"Doesn't sound so bad to me!" Ben grinned, but started walking with her. He slipped his right hand to firmly cup her left butt cheek. "But this is good, too!"

The feeling of his hand, warm and constant on her read end, only amplified the good feeling she got from her similar hand placement on him. This was amazing - so out of her character and so risky! What if someone their parents knew saw and ratted them out?! The thought was scary and somehow exciting!

She wanted so much to stop and grab him with both hands and kiss him, hard the way they did when affection and teasing turned into making out, to pull him against her from their thighs up to their chests and get lost in that feeling again! But her sense of propriety got the better of her - ladies didn't do such things - and she let the feeling pass as they walked. She didn't forget it, though - at some point she'd have it again and she wouldn't make it stop! She wanted to see what it would lead to, how they could show each other how they felt instead of only saying it.

But not now.

Instead, she reluctantly let go of his butt to grab his hand and lift it off her pants. Before Ben could complain, though, she slipped his fingers into the left pocket they were just on top of, and put her hand back on his rear end. She gave him a quick squeeze before moving her hand into his right rear pocket and then left it there, feeling again the warmth from his body and imagining what the smooth, rounded flesh would feel like against her palm without any covering.

That will just have to wait, she thought, blushing furiously at the idea.

"My tush is only for you, too, Doofus. … You know we can't go around groping each other all the time, though. Got it? … But I've noticed people don't seem to mind when couples put their hands in each other's pockets like this."

Ben smiled in a wicked way at her. "Yeah! This is a socially acceptable feel up!"

"Idiot!"! Gwen giggled quietly, bumping her shoulder hard against his. But she didn't move her hand out of his pocket.

And no one around them paid any attention.

- B -

They had just sat down at a bench in the food court for lunch when Michelle started talking about how good Gwen was at gymnastics. At least what they saw before lunch.

"So that's what you do in competitions, huh? You're pretty good! Do you win?"

Gwen finished the bite in her mouth and took a sip of her drink. "That's part of it. The passes I did on the track are part of my floor routine, and I do some of it on my balance beam one, too." She took another sip and continued, looking a little embarrassed.

"I do pretty well in my level - I place in the top three most of the time in floor and beam, and I've gotten second and third all around a few times."

"So you'll be ready for the next Olympics, huh?" Ben said. Before their relationship started that might have been the opening attack of their game, but this time he meant it. His Dweeb would be seventeen when the next Olympics were held, and it would be awesome if she could compete in them.

To his surprise, she snorted gently. "Nice try, Doofus! No, I'm not going to be in an Olympics. I'm good, but not that good. I'm in level 8, and I could move up after this season. But there are girls in 7th grade now that are at level 9, they'll be in Junior Elite soon. After a couple years of that some could go into Olympic level competitions and be ready for Athens. I could never compete with them."

"Why didn't you do that?" Michelle asked before taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Yeah" Jorge added, munching on a fry. "Looks like you've got the skills for it. Just need more practice time?"

"That's really expensive. I would have had to go to the gym for, like, six more hours a week, and I'm already there so much Daddy complains about it. And competitions at that level are in bigger cities like Santa Rosa or Palo Alto. That would mean overnight stays, and then Regionals would be at places like LA or Portland, so even more money."

"Besides, I started karate about the time I should have pushed hard to get to level 6, and I decided to focus on karate instead. I'll probably stop competing next year when we start high school." Gwen shrugged her shoulders and went back to eating her enchiladas.

"You mean I won't get to see you compete next year?!" Ben asked, disappointed. This was no good! He finally got a glimpse of what she could do in gymnastics, and she was good at it! At least the things he saw, and he was sure she'd be good at that other stuff, too. She had to be if all those previous awards clippings Aunt Lily had sent his Mom were true. He'd watched the gymnastics events from Sydney when schools started, it was fun to daydream about her doing them.

And seeing his girlfriend in one of those sexy, sparkly swim suits with long sleeves, like he'd seen in her photographs and on TV, wasn't influencing his attitude in any way.

Gwen gave him a wry smile. "I told you you should have come to one of the meets I invited you to, Doofus! Like I said, though, I have a few more next semester. You can at least come to the one in January, it will be at my gym. And Mom and Dad could take you to one of the others if you wanted."

Michelle made a happy noise as she took a drink of her soda. "Oh, good! One that's in town! I'll definitely be there, too!"

"Can I go, too?" Jorge asked, glancing back and forth between Gwen and Michelle. No one expected him to ask that, since he barely got to know Gwen, but then Ben saw Michelle nod at him ever so slightly.

Gwen was a little taken aback by it, though. "Well, if you want to… They're open to the public. But you should know, they take all day. We start at 8 in the morning, and awards don't happen until maybe 4. And I wait a long time between events; there's a lot of girls competing."

Michelle grinned at Jorge, and he smiled back at her. And this time Gwen saw it, too, as a similar grin grew on her face.

"Cool!" Jorge said. "I'm sure we can figure out some way to pass the time." He bumped Ben in the shoulder. "Right, Diez?"

Ben rolled his eyes at his friend's somewhat blunt way of getting to be with Michelle again and reached for the basket of food he and the Latino boy were sharing. "Yeah, dude. I'm sure you two will." he said smugly, causing Army Girl to blush.

"Hey, Watch Boy, give it a rest! There's nothing left in that thing." Michelle said, changing the topic with a mock scowl as Ben used the next to last, grease-sodden French fry to wipe up the remains of the chili that covered the mountain of chili-cheese fries he and Jorge just devoured. "It was disgusting enough when you first got it, but sopping up the chili grease with an even more greasy fry is gonna make me hurl!"

He brought up the fry with a smear of chili on it with a triumphant smirk. "That's where you're wrong, Army Girl - see!" he crowed before popping it into his mouth. She just hmpf'd and rolled her eyes at him before shooting a quick smirk at Jorge.

"Watch Boy?" the Latino boy sitting across from Michelle asked, puzzled.

Ben saw a panicked look flash over Gwen's eyes before he replied as casually as he could. "She's talking about the Watch…"

"… you used to wear until the start of school." Jorge finished, a look of understanding replacing his pinched eyebrows. "Now I get it; that was a pretty big part of your personality for a few years. You never took that thing off! What happened to it?" He grabbed the last, scrawny fry from the serving basket, swiped it through an almost-gone puddle of ketchup and ate it.

Ben took a controlled breath to steady his not yet racing heart that was masked by his deceptively calm demeanor - two months ago a comment about the missing Omnitrix was more likely than not to start an anxiety attack. He didn't need that to happen now - he really didn't want anyone but his Dweeb to see him in that condition - but the breath, and the steady look his girlfriend gave him calmed down his initial surge of panic.

"I, um… I stopped wearing it and put it away. It seemed like a good time to give it a rest." Ben said as evenly as he could. He almost heaved a sigh of relief that the awful, and sadly familiar feeling in his chest didn't start after all; since he made up his mind on when he would tell his Dweeb the thing he needed her to hear, there had been a noticeable drop in both the anxiety attacks and the night terrors. Even so, he'd had to call her a few nights ago at 3:20; the sound of her voice did it's soothing magic, like always. He glanced at the sudden soft warmth on the hand he had on the table; Gwen had put hers on top of his while he was answering and gave it a reassuring squeeze. In front of Jorge and everybody!

"Besides" Gwen added " there's almost always a clock or someone with their own wrist watch around if we want to know the time. Not that Doofus here really cares, anyway!" she finished with a playful smirk after a quick glance to make sure he was OK. "Being on time isn't one of the things he stresses over!"

Michelle was used to them touching each other and didn't make a comment. If Jorge noticed, thankfully he chose not to make a big deal about it.

"You are so mean to me!" Ben complained as he bent down to put his forehead on the table, because that was just the way they did things. "I'm not that late for stuff!"

"Oh, you are so, Ben! We're always waiting for you to get your act together." Michelle accused. "You two were way late to my party!"

"That wasn't my fault!" Ben cried as he jerked back up. "U- , her dad had to take pictures! That's what held us up!"

"Uh huh. It had nothing to do with the twigs you had on your backs and in Gwen's hair, huh?" Michelle said, waggling her eyebrows.

"Oh for… I told you, 'Chelle, we took a shortcut to your house!" Gwen grumped.

"Really?! So that's what we're calling making out these days?" her BFF giggled, pointedly looking at Jorge again and quirking an eyebrow. "Whatever you say, Crazy!"

"Party? … Crazy? … You guys have too many inside jokes…" Jorge said with a puzzled look again, glancing first at the cause of the problem across the table, then to Gwen and finally stopping at his buddy beside him. Ben saw Gwen's face turn the color of her hair, as his cheeks heated up as well, even though his teammate pretty much knew what was up between him and the red haired girl; he knew from past experience that both his girlfriend's and his complexion color change would be very noticeable - Jorge couldn't help but see it. He finally put together Michelle's dig with the other two's involuntary reactions and grinned. "Guess I'll just have to figure out the backstory myself somehow, huh?"

"Yeah, well, the less you ask about it the better!" Ben growled. This made Michelle laugh out loud - a normally pleasant sound when it wasn't directed at them - as Gwen hid her face in her hand and groaned.

The cringeworthy situation didn't get any better when his so-called teammate joined in with his not-date - the traitor!

Gwen figured out how to end it with an exasperated sigh into the palm of her hand, then looked at her friend. "Since we're obviously done eating…" she glanced at the empty food containers and cups on the table, "Come on, 'Chelle, I want to check out the winter stuff at Hollister."

She and Michelle stood up from the table. Gwen looked into Ben's eyes with a gleam in hers. "Unless you guys want to come with…" she said with an enigmatic smile.

"Uh uh, no way! You know what I think of watching you two shop!" He knew there wasn't much chance that they could play the ugly clothes game, not with Jorge watching. He was still too much of an unknown in social settings - who knew what he'd think if he saw Ben picking out an outfit for the Dweeb to put on, even if it was butt ugly. Not to mention the atrocities she could pick and somehow convince him to try on.

Michelle wasn't quite on the same wavelength yet, though. "How 'bout you, Jorge?"

"Nah, I'll pass, too. I'll stick with my homeboy here. That store isn't really my style."

"All right, then." Gwen said happily. "We'll see you guys in fifteen minutes. In the meantime, you don't mind cleaning this mess up, right Doofus? You made most of it, anyway!"

"Yeah, yeah. Always making me clean up after you…" Ben grumbled as the two girls turned to the exit of the food court. Gwen just walked away and laughed that sweet, bright laugh of hers without turning her head. Michelle snorted loudly, also without looking back, and held up her right hand in an obscene gesture that was very much out of place amidst the cheery holiday decorations and Christmas music playing in the background, causing Gwen to gasp out "Michelle!" before both dissolved in giggles.

"Send me a text when you're done, we'll catch up." Ben called out to their retreating backs, as he got up and collected the wrappers and empty cups and took it all to a trash can.

Jorge was watching him with a smirk as he walked back to the table. "What?"

"Looking pretty whipped, there, Diez!" The smirk turned into a grin. "Never seen you take orders from any of the kids at school."

"Up yours, dude! Hang around Michelle long enough and you'll see what it's really like. Besides, just 'cause I don't mind doing stuff for her doesn't mean I'm whipped!" He sat down next to his friend and looked at the table in front of them.

About halfway through lunch, Jorge had taken out a pen and started writing on a piece of brown paper towel from a napkin holder on the table. "Whatcha got there?" Ben asked, grateful for a change in the conversation. He didn't mind the girlfriend implications of Jorge's snarky comment, but he didn't want to pursue it. Out loud, anyway - his inside voice kept getting more insistent that he should 'fess up and admit how much he liked having his Dweeb in his life, but he still felt they couldn't say it out loud. It didn't matter that he'd pretty much admitted their more-than-friends relationship after the cafeteria incident on the last day of school.

"Oh, just doodling." Jorge replied absently as he added another line to the page. Ben leaned over the table to get a better look - a sketch of Army Girl, with her ever-present braid of hair exaggerated in a way that was humorous, and somehow showed the playful side of her personality in her eyes and mouth. It was actually a very good likeness.

"That's pretty good, dude! How'd you learn to do that?"

"Eh, I've been drawing since I was a kid. When my parents took me to visit my uncle in Goleta a few summers ago, I saw a guy doing caricatures on the boardwalk along the beachfront in Santa Barbara and started doing it myself." He added a few more touches, then turned the drawing towards Ben.

"What do you think?"

"Pretty cool. I think she'll like it!"

"Good!" The boy smiled bashfully. "I wish I had my sketchbook so I could do a better job, but I guess this'll do."

Ben pushed the paper back to his friend with a small grin. He was surprised that seeing Jorge and Michelle hit it off made him feel good. For a change his girlfriend's bestie didn't have to feel like just a tolerable presence, or worse, that she was expected to be a chaperone. Besides seeing her having fun, it was great that he and his Dweeb could focus more on each other without feeling guilty.

Jorge obviously liked Michelle, and she seemed to like his physical attentions - the olive skinned girl was a hugger, and after the first few tentative side hugs and shoulder bumps from the Latino boy they both got used to casual touches. Not that either one could hide some embarrassment; who knew that a blush would be so obvious on people with darker complexions?

Gwen picked up on that, too, and was taking wicked delight in teasing her friend about it. For some reason, whenever she caught Michelle and Jorge make contact she'd shoot them a knowing look that made Michelle duck her head and complain 'shut up!' even though Gwen didn't say a word.

Ben could only shake his head in bewilderment. Girls could be so weird…

"The trick is finding some feature of your subject that you can exaggerate, without going overboard." Jorge explained as he took the drawing back.

"Yeah? So what would you do for me?"

Jorge looked at him thoughtfully. "Hmmm… I'm not sure…" he said slowly. "If you were still wearing that watch, that would be an obvious choice. Doing that flip kick would work… Say, didn't I hear your gir-, um, I mean Gwen, doesn't she do karate too?" Ben couldn't help a small flinch at the mention of the g word, and appreciated how Jorge rephrased when he noticed it. I'm so tired of having to hide this! he thought for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah. She got me into it. We go to the same dojo, she's been doing it a couple years longer than me. Why?"

Jorge's grin was almost a smirk. "I don't know… I think showing you two fighting and her winning would be funny as hell!"

Ben snorted - like he was going to go along with that! But he also remembered how messed up his life got when he wasn't clear about his Dweeb's ability and dedication to her favorite sport. "You would! Like I said, she's a couple years more advanced than I am. But only by one belt!" he added hurriedly. "I could be a blue belt just like her in six months if I wanted!" He knew that was an exaggeration, but only a little, and Jorge wouldn't know the difference. If he'd stayed in the class he would have been ready when his Dweeb and Paul were, he knew it! He'd prove that after New Year's…

"Uh huh, sure, sure…" Jorge teased and grinned at Ben's frown. "It would still be funny! But I'd also do some physical things about you, too. … Probably your eyes, the shape and color stand out on your face. And your jawline. … Yours and hers…"

Ben suddenly felt a tight sensation in his chest, a nervousness he hadn't felt since the first time he played his guitar with Paul, when the blond saw that family photo…

"You two look a lot alike, now that I think about it… It's almost like…" his buddy got a pondering look on his face before it got replaced by surprise as he blurted out "Wait a minute. … Holy crap! You are cousins! Aren't you?!"

Oh shit!, Ben thought, panic rising in his chest, how'd he figure that out?! "Why… why would you think that?" He tried hard to calm the familiar, awful panicky feeling again, for an entirely new reason.

"'Cause that's what you told Coach, pendejo!" Jorge mocked. "Besides, your eyes are almost the same shade of green, the shapes are pretty much identical, too. And your jawlines, even your noses and cheekbones are really similar... I could draw one face and make it you or her by only changing the hair color and style. That doesn't happen with non-family very often."

Ben could only stammer an incoherent reply. "Ah… um, we don't… I guess maybe…"

"Whoa, dude, don't freak out! I'm not trying to mess with you. It doesn't matter to me - if you're cousins or something, I mean."

"It doesn't?! Really? That, um, that's ok with you?"

Jorge let out a short laugh. "Well, yeah. It's just… we thought you made that shit up when you told that story at the game! You really are a shitty liar!" He laughed again. "It's no big deal, don't spazz or anything."

"That's one of the things that's different between culture here and where my parents came from. Its kinda messed up here, really. I don't get how people are so uptight about it, all those stupid Deep South jokes. Outside the cities, seems like everyone in Mexico is related to each other somehow, especially in the villages out in the country. Like, my parents grew up in a small town about a half hour from Ensenada, they had aunts and uncles and cousins across Baja from Tijuana to San Felipe."

Ben's rising feeling of panic slowed down. "No kidding? That's, um … interesting."

Jorge shot him a weird grin that could be taken as wicked or teasing. "So that's the secret with your girlfriend, huh?!"

Oh shit! How do I get out of this?! Ben raged in his mind. "She's… we're… I mean… Damn it!"

Jorge gave him an easy going laugh, soothing his anxious feeling. "Relax, ese! I told you, it doesn't matter to me! Heck, four of my aunts and uncles in Baja had the same last name before they got married to each other."

Ben looked directly at Jorge. "She's into you, you're into her. You're not siblings…"

The black haired boy gave him an evil smirk. "Come to think of it, I don't remember her hanging around any adults besides your parents. And that big guy that looked like Santa Clause. Maybe you're not cousins after all?"

The implied criticism of the Dweeb overcame Ben's fear then, as he gave Jorge a dirty scowl back. "Stick it in your ear, Hor-hay! Her parents were sitting right next to mine! Pinchy cabrón!" he muttered as his teammate laughed hard.

The Latino's friendly, infectious laugh flipped a switch, and Ben decided to trust his friend's reaction, like he did with Paul. He looked Jorge in the eyes and said out loud what he felt. He took a slow breath first, though - this was still harder to do than it sounded.

"Yes, we are cousins. And yes, we are together - she's the most important part of my life." he said firmly. His inner being was pumping a fist; it felt really good to say that out loud! At the same time, such an open admission was so scary his heart was racing, and he braced for the outrage even though the boy next to him said more than once that he didn't find their relationship gross or anything.

"Then what I think isn't that important, is it?" Jorge said, ignoring Ben's irritated reaction to his tease and his nervousness about his declaration, instead giving him a reassuring smile. Ben slumped back in his seat, almost overwhelmed with relief, just like the first time. He appreciated what Jorge said, and he believed his buddy wouldn't make a big deal of it, especially when they caught up with Gwen - his girlfriend! - and Michelle. Still, he'd have to let Gwen know the boy figured it out. She'd still be twitchy about it, even when she heard the part about what he thought wasn't important.

Ben wanted to believe that, but he knew it wasn't completely true. It may not matter to Paul and Michelle and Jorge, but what their parents thought was another matter. And good natured teasing from their friends - even from Grandpa! - was tolerable, but reactions from other people could be a problem. Even if their parents accepted them, would their classmates? What about Sensei and the kids at the dojo? And Coach?

There was too much to think about and it was starting to make his brain hurt! He decided he'd push it all back down in his mind until he could talk to his Dweeb. They could figure it out together, the way they were getting used to when it came to all the other mind-bending feelings and stuff that were part of this boyfriend-girlfriend thing.

As long as they were together! Ben felt his lips twitch into a smile at that thought.

The table resonated from Ben's vibrating flip phone as a text message arrived and slowed down that trip down the rabbit hole. He picked it up, opening it in a smooth, practiced way and absently read the expected message, while his mind switched gears to how conflicted he was about the conversation he just had. Any time the details of his relationship with his Dweeb were even remotely recognized his first outward reaction was to be as neutral, if not dismissive as he could so he could deflect attention away from it. He saw Gwen do that, too, and felt the twinge of hurt and rejection he saw on her face when she heard him brush past the topic. Even though they both knew why they had to - they'd talked about it more than once - it still hurt.

Now another of his friends figured it out, and his reaction - not just not freaking out, but really accepting it - and Ben's relief was physical as much as emotional. He felt the tightness in his shoulders and back melt away as the panic that had been dancing in the back of his mind turned into the sensation he got from his Dweeb's smile. He didn't expect Gwen would be around Jorge that much, but it was good to know when they were, his teammate wouldn't be judging them.

"Thanks, dude!" was all he could manage to say.

"¡De nada! … And don't worry, I know you don't want to talk about it, so I won't either." Jorge correctly guessed what the text was and got up from the table. "Not at school, anyway." he teased.

"Come on, loverboy! We don't want to keep the girls waiting!"
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