She looked up disappointed. "Oh," she tried to hide the disappointment in her voice but failed miserably.
"Really?" she asked. "I suppose you wouldn't consider going now?" she fidgeted nervously. "It's not mine either, I just figured I should go since I got elected to be President and stuff and my dad got me this dress for it," she held the fabric of her dress out a little as if offering it up for inspection.
"I mean. I don't really see the point..." Ben shrugged, the corners of his mouth curling into a half scowl. He was more confused on what to say, than anything.
"I understand why you would go. Political obligation or something like that."
"I just... um... you know, I thought you might come hang out with me," she rushed through the sentence, her face getting warmer every second. He thinks I'm an idiot.
"If you don't want to that's fine I just thought..." You have no idea what you were thinking. "That maybe it would be nice," she wanted to curl up in a ball in die. This was not going well.
"You want me to come with you? To the dance?" Ben repeated, just to make sure that he hadn't misheard her. Even though he'd heard her clearly enough. More than clear enough, it wasn't exactly loud in the dorm.
She nodded shyly. "Yeah," she said simply. And then realized how inconsiderate it was to wait until the night of the dance to ask. "I'm sorry, I should have... errr... asked earlier than, oh, ten minutes before." Give him more time to say no without embarrassing herself completely.
"Oh, um... it doesn't have to be fancy or anything," she pushed her bangs out of her eyes and looked around the room nervously. "I mean... if you don't want to go with me you don't have to."
"Isn't it a semi-formal? I thought that meant fancy." Ben glanced back at his closet and then returned his gaze briefly to Mekala. Briefly. It was about three seconds before he was looking at the floor again.
"Are... you sure you want to go with me? Surely there are other people you can take."
"I think it means sorta fancy," she looked up at Ben catching his eyes very briefly before her eye were set to wandering the room again. "So it's not like all out? I doubt any of the boys really bothered," she shrugged.
She laughed nervously. "It's not like there are people lined up to be taking me to the dance Ben." That was stupid to say. "And it's not about that anyways," she said quickly and she meant it. She wasn't particularly worried about other boys and whether or not they wanted to take her to the dance. "I mean... there is no one else I would want to go with," her face turned an even more brilliant shade of red.
"You know because... they would all be typical boys but I feel like you and I would actually enjoy the evening... It's cool, I'll just... you know... leave you to your reading if you don't want to go with me." Oh god this is so embarrassing. What were you thinking Meka? He obviously doesn't want to go with you.
"Do I have to wear a mask?" Ben wasn't sure if he could come up with something on such short notice. He stepped away from the door and over to his wardrobe, rummaging through it's contents.
"I don't mind going if you want me to come," he said quietly. "I... am just not a very good dancer."
"You don't have to do anything really," she shrugged. He was looking for clothes though, there was a little spark of hope that he might go with her. She smiled as she watched him rummage and caught herself looking goofy and shook her head.
"Really?" she asked snapping out of her momentary quiet. "I'm not a very good dancer either to be honest," she said looking at her feet again.
Oh god I've been caught. "As much as a self saboteur as I am, I just... kinda... I kinda want someone to be there with, you know," she shrugged. "It would be nice to have a friend there on my first public outing," he said, her voice growing more and more quiet as she carried on explaining herself.
Meka was pretty convinced that no other girl had to work this hard getting someone to go to the dance with them.
"I thought so." Ben agreed, awkwardly running his hands through his hair and nodding as he scanned his wardrobe. More like staring blankly at it than actually making any real decisions.
"I mean... I don't really want to go but..." He sighed and gave her a small sort of half smile. "I won't leave you to the sharks unchaperoned... or something."
"Thanks," she took a preemptive step forward and stopped. "I'll do my best to make sure you're not suffering through it," she said sheepishly.
To be honest, Meka didn't really want to go either but her dad had sent her that dress and she wanted to wear it at least once. It was... different being girlie. She wasn't sure she liked it, but she didn't exactly hate it either.
"I'm sure I'll be suffering whether you try to make it better or not." Ben replied in his usual deadpan tone. The barest hint of a smile still rested in the corners of his mouth, subtly hinting that he might be anything other than miserable.
Which... he wasn't. Despite the fact that it looked like he was attending a dance he'd been otherwise avoiding.
"You, uh. You can wait in here, or outside if you want." He offered, awkwardness creeping right back up again. "Just don't leave my door open. I just need to go change. I guess."
"Right," he nodded. "I'll just... I'll wait out in the hall for you," she backed away toward the door, suddenly feeling bad for interrupting his night. She looked at him shyly, awkwardly... before shutting the door and leaning against the wall with a sigh. This was going to be a weird night.
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