Memory Field

My eyes scanned the white ceiling. I actually don’t know how long I’ve been staring at it. I then sat up. Benji’s room. But no Benji was insight. The last thing I remember was Benji rubbing my head. I smiled at the thought. After minutes of procrastination I got out of bed when the smell of waffles tickled my nose.

I peaked into the kitchen. “Morning sweets.” Benji had just finished putting a waffle on one out of two plates. “Morning.” I sat down on the stool. “Did I fall asleep before we finished our movie marathon?” Benji laughed. “Yeah you fell asleep on the bed while I was rubbing your head.” I frowned. “Sorry.”

Benji set a plate with a waffle on it in front of me. “It’s fine. You hit your head pretty hard.” Benji then sat three different syrup types in front of me, blueberry, maple and butterscotch. “Yeah I can remember when I was five my mom would rub my head each night before bed.” I added butter and butterscotch syrup to my waffle.

Benji flipped his waffle onto the other plate. “You do know I have to work at ten today.” He nodded pouring the maple syrup on the waffle. “Yeah.” He slid his plate by mine and sat down. “Well I need to go home to get a change of clothes.” Benji was in the middle of eating when he shook his head.

“No I have an outfit here.” My gaze floated to his. “What’s with men and having women clothes in their house?” Benji scoffed. “I had a girl over the other night. I had bought the outfit but she decided not to wear it.” I shrugged then went back to eating. Benji then set his fork down. “Let me see your head.” I nodded then turned around so the back of my head faced his. “Yup you have no bump.” I smiled at the thought of the kiss he laid on that spot.

We finished eating. Benji cleaned the dishes then we went back to his room. He pulled open the closet doors and took out the outfit. It was a thigh high black dress with a white blazer. “Hold it.” He handed me the hanger with the outfit then pulled out a pair of black gladiator high heels. He handed me the shoes and walked to the door. “Come out to living room when you get done.”

He shut the door. I took off the shirt and laid it neatly on the bed and slipped on the dress. Next the blazer went on. Lastly I fit the heals over my feet. I stole a quick glimpse in the mirror. The clothes fit perfectly. The dress was form fitting, the blazer added class and the heals added the edge. Plus with my pixie hair cut it made a perfect business woman outfit.

I walked out into the living room where Benji sat on the couch. “So?” His gaze went from his phone to me. He examined me from head to toe. Finally he got up and walked towards me. “The outfit looks better on you then it did on her.” He held up his finger. “I’m going to go change real quick then we can go.” Benji disappeared down the hall and into his room.

I grabbed my purse from the coffee table then went back to where I was before. A couple minutes passed before Benji came back out in black slacks and a white button up shirt. “What are you dressed up for?” He finished tying his black, shinning shoes. “One, I don’t want to look bad next to you and two, my mom and dad are coming into town and they want to meet for lunch.” I smiled. “You look good in whatever you wear.”

Benji grabbed his keys. “Same goes for you sweets.” We walked out the door. He followed closely behind. “Be careful of the ice.” He maneuvered around me and stepped down the steps then held his hand out for me to take. “Thank you.” He helped me down the stairs and to his car. Once inside I fixed my dress. Benji got in and started up the car. “Snow is only great for the holidays.” He backed out of the driveway. “Other than that I hate it.”

As he drove I stared out the window at the snow and ice that had already began to melt. “Oh my shoes!” I randomly yelled. Benji pointed to the back seat. I took a quick glance to find my clothes and both pairs of shoes in a bag. “Oh thank you.” He smiled. “Okay so I want to meet this Jack guy tonight over dinner.” I choked on my own saliva. “What?” I said in-between coughs. “I told you yesterday. So when you get off you pick the place and we’ll both be there.”

Yeah cause that sounded like a great plan! Benji pulled into the parking lot. I propped the door open and stuck my right leg out. “Okay but you two cannot pick a fight.” He shrugged. “I cannot promise that.” I sucked in a breath, rolled my eyes and shut the door. He drove off as I walked inside. “Is there anyway to stop these two from meeting?” I meant to ask myself but Amanda walked in on beside me.

“Probably not, Benji is stubborn.” I smiled at the thought. “Yeah well so is Jack.” She chuckled. “This means, they’ll most likely fight.” We walked into the back where I put my stuff in Amanda’s locker. I clocked in and watched as she grabbed a cookie from the vending machine. “Ladies!” Gabriel. She was the boss. She had red with black hair underneath, red thick glasses and hips that could knock a small child out.

“We are extremely behind on returns! I need you both to stop slacking off and get your butt’s out there!” She pointed to the door. Her fingernails reminded of a Disney villain. “Well are you just going to stare at me like that or work?!” I then realized Amanda had already left. “Sorry Gabriel.” I grabbed an empty cart. It’s like she was the Evil Queen and I was Snow White. She was going to poison me with her candy red fingernails.

I walked out to the returns area. I then started to stack the cart full of returns. “Boy she wasn’t kidding!” Amanda laughed as she was still trying to stuff her cart. “Yeah but I will never tell Gabriel that.” Amanda put a couple more books on her cart then inspected me from head to toe. “Hot clothes, I’m guessing Benji?” I looked at myself then back to her smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” Amanda patted my back. “You’re a man magnet.” She then walked to the elevator and went up.

I finished stuffing my cart and stayed on the first floor like I usually did. Most of the books I had belonged to the mystery or (mushy) romance section. I liked to read and look at the covers of those books. It was funny to make fun of them. I pulled out a book. It had a cream colored woman and a tan man on the front cover. He looked like he was ripping off her clothes and she looked like she didn’t like it which she most likely did.

I scoffed then turned it to the back “Edna Marie was a woman of no money and no family.” I scoffed. “Sounds cheesy already.” I put the book on the shelf. I then continued to look, read and put away the books. It kept me occupied and away from Gabriel. When I finally finished with my cart I headed back to the returns center. There Amanda was flirting with Aaron.

Aaron. He was a security guard and Amanda’s long time boyfriend. “Hey Aaron.” He smiled. “What up small fry?” I glared at him. “Sorry I can’t be a gigantor like you.” He laughed. “So Amanda told me about the two guys fighting over you.” I parked my cart by the books then turned to Amanda. “They’re not fighting over me.” I packed my cart full of books then headed back out onto the floor.

The rest of my shift wasn’t that great. Every time I would come back to get more books, there Aaron and Amanda were still in the same position they were the few times before. I loved Amanda but Gabriel should have been jumping on Amanda instead of me. During my lunch break I had text both Jack and Benji and told them to meet me at a small Italian restaurant by the library. And by time I finished the entire returns shelf it was already five in the evening.

I clocked out, grabbed my purse and left the library. I didn’t bother saying bye to Amanda since she was already making out with Aaron in the employee bathroom. I wrapped the blazer tighter around my torso and headed to the stop light. When I reached the stop light the little green man and the countdown numbers light up. I stepped out onto the cross walk. Right as I did a car from my right came speeding down the street.