Makayla Richberg (makknows) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2017-10-28 18:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | #september 2017, mak |
Who: Ben and Mak
When: Wednesday, Sept 13th, 4:30pmish
Where: school
Status: Complete
The first SAFE meeting had gone pretty well, in Mak’s humble opinion. More people showed up than she was expecting, so that was a delight. Her posters must have worked. Things were still a tiny bit stiff and strange between her and Sabrina, but she was trying really hard not to overthink it. Hunter had told her not to worry and just play it cool, but that was so hard. It was almost like their kiss had never happened, they hadn’t talked about it at all. It was pretty much the only thing she’d been thinking about since though, so it stung a little to try and pretend otherwise.
But all that had to be set aside for the meeting. She was cheerful and pleased to talk to so many people, and even saw a few brand new-to-school faces. Not counting Hunter’s, of course, she knew his face like the back of her hand. Once the meeting was over and kids were starting to disperse, she approached one of those new faces. He’d introduced himself as Ben, and seemed kind of quiet but nice, so Mak wanted to go out of her way to say hello to him.
“Hi,” she started with a grin before Ben could escape. She stuck her hand out to shake. “I’m Mak, nice to officially meet you.”
--
At his old school Ben had been fairly active in the groups. He’d been part of the jazz club (obviously), helped in any artistic based committees that helped the community, and dabbled in athletics for fun in Central Park when groups of his friends got together for some unplugged exercise. He’d gone to a few meetings of this type, too, just to check them out but had never made a big deal about it to his parents (not that they really cared as long as he was staying out of trouble).
When it came time to introduce himself, he did. Hey, I’m Ben. it was short and sweet but to the point. And after that he just sat back and listened. Sabrina was someone he knew, she’d managed to help him out of a sticky situation, and he was familiar with a few others.
As the group began to shuffle out, Ben grabbed his backpack, slung on the straps and rose slowly. Though before he could get too far he was staring at the smiling face of a girl who was holding out her hand. Instantly Ben smiled wide.
He stuck his own hand out, shook, and nodded, “Hi, Mak. I’m….well, you know already...nice to meet you, too!” Then he laughed and let go of her hand, “This place is pretty cool,” Ben said, meaning the town. The people were nice, friendly. “Beats the crazy city life, anyway.”
—
Mak gave him a firm shake and laughed a bit herself. She’d given her name at the start of the meeting, but there was just something more personal about a one-on-one introduction. If Ben was here at the meeting, then he had to be queer or an ally, and Mak felt like she needed to know as many of those types of people as possible. They were building a nice little community. Plus ... well, it gave her a distraction from the impulse to hover around Sabrina.
“Yeah, we’re pretty cozy here,” she said, still smiling warmly at him. There was so much more to Point Pleasant than met the eye initially, but she wasn’t going to go into those kinds of details and freak the poor guy out. “Where did you live before this?” She hooked her thumbs into her own backpack straps, looking at him curiously.
--
It was so strange. Before this week he didn’t really know anyone, didn’t have friends and it was as if something changed entirely. Maybe Monday had been his lucky day for friendships. “New York,” Ben replied.
Shifting a touch as he stood there, Ben absently tugged at the bottoms of his backpack straps just to have something to do with his hands. “I went to a pretty neat school before, they had clubs like this but it was more of a social group and the meetings were always packed. This is much nicer, I feel like it’s more personal. You know?”
That and there wasn’t any judgement. Not yet, anyway. Art kids tended to be either very pretentious or very laid back. The meetings were dominated with messages he wasn’t always partial to.
“Did you grow up here?” He was meeting a lot more of the natives which he didn’t mind at all.
—
Mak probably should have guessed New York from Ben’s accent, but she tended not to notice things like that about people right away. “Oh wow,” she said, sounding impressed. She assumed he meant the City and not just the state. Most people did when they said New York, it seemed like. “This must be way different. Point Pleasant is like, tiny. But yeah, I can imagine. This is actually kind of a big group for us, it was way smaller last year.” She offered him a bright smile, glad that there were more people filling up their seats. It could be hard for non-hetero kids in a small town, they had to stick together.
“Yeah, I’ve lived here my whole life, pretty much,” Mak told him. She was born somewhere else, but she didn’t want to get into the whole ‘I’m adopted’ thing right off the bat. This was her home no matter what. Mak was aware that she might be keeping him from something, so she turned to start ambling slowly toward the door while they chatted. “What kind of school do you mean? Like not a public school?”
--
“Yeah, it is different. It’s really small, but I like it. It’s homey..you know?” Nobody really used the word ‘homey’ to describe things, but in the moment that felt right as it fell from his lips. Ben glanced around as Mak told him about the growing number of students. He was glad that in such a small place the support was there that teens needed. “Cool. I hope we continue to see more new faces.” He would be a regular for as long as the program was available. “If I can ever help, you know, with anything...even like passing out fliers...let me know.” He’d lend his support and appreciation in any way he could.
As Mak began to move Ben fell into step beside her. “Not really, it was kind of a private school. My parents, they’re musicians...they play all over the world and I guess they wanted to put me somewhere where my music could really have some influence. I play sax..” He couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned it yet or not, or maybe Mak already knew (who could miss the new kid with the large saxophone case in tow).
“They had a lot of programs there. We had basics, of course, like English, Math, you know...but the art programs sort of dominated the days. You had your artists, poets, writers, theater kids….there were so many avenues. I got lost every day. Seriously. Everything was always so busy and people sort of bustled around...sometimes they’d have class outside. It just wasn’t very organized but I managed. I like this…” Ben said, waving a hand around, “This school seems like it has more structure to it.”
—
Part of Mak was thoroughly amused that Ben described Point Pleasant as ‘homey.’ It was such a Mayberry town, but there was so much more going on under the surface. Things that she wasn’t about to launch into with Ben. No need to scare the new kid. Or make him think she was crazy right off the bat. She kind of was, in her own way, just like everybody, but he didn’t have to know that just yet. He’d figure it out eventually.
“Aw, thanks!” she chirped at his offer of help. “Sounds like we’re gonna need plenty of hands, so we’ll use you for sure.” Mak smiled warmly at him. SAFE already had events planned, it was kind of exciting. “You play sax? That’s kind of amazing. My parents tried to get me to learn violin for years, but I sucked at it. That’s really cool about your parents though, I don’t think I know like, any professional musicians. Why’d they move you guys here, then? New York seems like, a way better place to be for that kind of thing.”
As for the school, she grinned a little and nodded. “Yeah, we’re all about boring structure here. Maybe you’ll love it.”
--
“Yeah! It’s relaxing...you know? Music, in general can be relaxing I guess but I really love the sax. My, Uh, my mom plays the Cello and dad…” Ben laughed softly, making a face of amusement, “Bagpipes. He’s like got albums and stuff. It’s the weirdest instrument to have a solo album for, in my opinion, but he kills it.” Then Ben shrugged, “Could be worse. He could be good at the accordion.”
The conversations he had with his parents about moving away from New York came back to him:
”...now Benny, yer Ma an’ I wantcha ya ta have a nicer life than ya get in a town like this ‘n…”
”...Ben, honey, we care about your future. There is so much outside of New York. You could find a nice girl, have a great life in a small town..”
“My parents wanted something slower paced,” Ben replied. “You know, without all of the hustle and the traffic. My mom said maybe I’d find a better life here. Kids and being married and stuff.” He wrinkled his nose again. Being sixteen meant not worrying about grown up stuff.
“Moms, right?”
—
Mak had to laugh a little at the revelation that Ben’s dad played the bagpipes professionally. It wasn’t a derisive sort of laugh, just a surprised and amused one. “That is awesome,” she declared, grinning. Of course pro-bagpipers had to be a thing, it just wasn’t a thing she’d ever expected to even peripherally run into. People were neat.
The rest of what Ben said wasn’t as amusing. Mak didn’t feel optimistic that anybody would really find a better life in Point Pleasant. Everyone she knew their age wanted to leave, herself included. Maybe that was a regular part of being raised in a small town -- movies sure seemed to think so -- but she felt it was a little something Extra about PP. Ben made it easy to just play it off though. Mak wrinkled her nose too and gave him a sympathetic nod.
“Moms,” she agreed, glad that her own wasn’t pressuring her about marriage and kids and shit. Just school. “We definitely don’t have as much traffic, but our bank of wifey -- or husbandy? whichever you prefer -- material is questionable, so ... one thing at a time, right?” Wow, that was a convoluted sentence, and Mak gave another little laugh. “Glad to have you, though, for however long you stay.”
--
Ben smiled.
“Thanks. I don’t wanna think about stuff like that...you know, heavy stuff like being married. I’m only sixteen. I’ve hopefully got a few years before I get there.” He was in no rush to commit to something like that at this point. Sure, they weren’t kids anymore but that didn’t mean they had to grow up just yet either.
“So, Mak, what about your family? What do your parents do?” He wasn’t trying to be competitive, he actually didn’t tell a lot of people about his family’s success because he wasn’t any better than anyone else.
—
Thinking about marriage as a teenager was crazy, and Mak had never understood it. What was this, the middle ages? People didn’t die at the ripe old ages of thirty anymore. They had tons of time to figure all that out. And now, thankfully, all of them in the SAFE meeting and everywhere else in the country could finally marry whoever the fuck they wanted. It was a good thing.
“Well, my dad’s a doctor, his practice is in Portland though. He’s an oncologist. Mom doesn’t really work -- well she sells some crafty shit online -- but she’s on the city council and runs around organizing a bunch of stuff all the time.” Mak shrugged. They weren’t as interesting as traveling musicians, but they were her parents and she loved them. “It’s just the three of us, no siblings.”
--
“Really? That’s so cool!” He could appreciate the hard work that went into being a doctor, especially the specialty practices, and also being on the city council. Plus staying home and selling crafty shit was cool too. “Like Etsy?” Fun fact about Ben McKenzie - he loves Pinterest and Etsy.
“I basically live on the Pinterest app,” he admitted, laughing. His cheeks flushed some. Did that sound too weird?
She said she had no siblings. That was something they had in common. “Got any pets?” Ben asked. “I have a dog, a pit bull. Boomer.” Boomer was his best friend, they did a lot of things together and even now, after the two years they’d been together, the dog still got sad every time Ben left for school.
—
Mak laughed, charmed that he was a boy who knew what Etsy was. She didn’t know a lot of them who lived on Pinterest either. This was why Mak loved queer boys, they were so much more fun than the straight ones. And Ben’s blush was adorable!
“Ohmygod I love Pinterest, so I feel you,” she said, grinning. Granted, her pins were usually of weird and super nerdy things, but whatever, it was hers. “But yeah, like Etsy. I had to show her how to use it, but she got really good at it.”
“No like, fur-pets, we have some fish. Mom is allergic to cats and I tried so hard to talk them into letting me get a dog, but they won’t.” Mak gave a very brief pout, then smiled at Ben again. “So I totally have to come cuddle your dog. It’s like, a must.”
--
He breathed out in relief, glad that Mak was cool enough to have Pinterest and held no judgement toward him for browsing the endless Halloween crafts, superhero Head Canons, and healthy recipes. And maybe the occasional pins of dogs in PJ’s, cause why not?
“Oh good! We should be friends on Pinterest!” He said, excitedly, and then pulled back the joy, offering Mak a sheepish smile, “If that’s cool with you...you know, adding me. I’d love to see what you’re pinning. I’m BMac153.” If she wanted to add him, she could.
“Etsy is good. I like see what people make with their hands. All if it is super expensive, but you find really unique stuff. I’ve gotten people gifts from Etsy before.” He was totally in support of local arts and crafts; the things people could create and imagine sometimes floored him.
Nodding, Ben laughed softly, “He would love that. He loves cuddles, especially when it’s a new friend.” Lucy had wanted to meet Boomer, too. He needed to get the dog, his new wingman, out more often. Whatever it was with girls and dogs he didn’t know, nor did it really matter, Boomer did a great job helping Ben make friends.
“We should get together at the park some time, or something. Do you run? Play any sports?” He didn’t play sports, per say, but he liked being active. “I get up early and run if I can, or later at night sometimes.”
—
Mak’s phone was never far from her hand, and she whipped it out at the suggestion of the two of them being friends on Pinterest. Her social media circle was much wider than her meatspace circle, so she had absolutely no hesitation about adding Ben. He seemed really cool so far, so why not? “Got you added!” she chirped happily, then refocused on him.
She laughed and gave him a pained-apologetic look. “This girl only runs when somebody’s chasing me,” she said lightly. Mak had dabbled in yoga a bit and she walked nearly everywhere she went, but other than that she wasn’t a very active person. Definitely not into sports ... though she very much enjoyed watching the cheerleaders and girl’s volleyball team. “Not really a sportsy chick, I dunno if you noticed but I’m a total nerd ... but I do love to hang out at the park! You can run around and I can cheer you on or something.” Mak gave him a grin. “I do like walks though, so. If you bring your doggo I’ll totally walk with you.”
They’d reached the door of the classroom by then, and Mak checked the time on her phone again. “I better get going though, I gotta be at work soon ... I work at the library,” she explained. “So like, if you’re ever around there and bored, come say hi!”
--
Ben had to restrain himself from leaping with joy when Mark added him on Pinterest. Like it was some sort of a big deal, right? Well, she was the first one to add him as a friend since he’d moved here that he actually knew. Sometimes he got those pesky emails saying someone repinned his pin. But usually they weren’t anyone he knew personally.
“Aw, that’s alright. We can walk. That sounds like fun!” Boomer wouldn’t care, he was all about anything that had to do with the outside - walking, running, laying in the sun.
And then Ben paused at the classroom door. “Cool! I’m at the Orion,” he replied, smiling wide. “I’ll come say hey, for sure! Have a good rest of the day!”
He offered Mark a friendly wave, coupled with a smile, and let her go.