Not a Love Story

Twelve // So a Love Story?

Oliver Greene

Weeks breezed by as school began to pick up. I spent the evenings tutoring Ben, volunteering at the shelter, working on homework and working on my college applications. I'd already submitted a few applications to 'safety schools' as my advisor put it, but I was still working on one for my back-up, Wisconsin-Madison, and my dream undergrad school, University of Michigan. It's far enough from Wisconsin that I can escape the small town I've grown up in and their well known pre-med program will hopefully give me a straight shot to Harvard for medical school.

Before I knew it, the first bio test was next week and much to my surprise, Ben and I had been getting along really well. He was a lot funnier and kinder than I thought he'd be. He has a player, cool guy reputation, but when we're studying he's not like that at all. He's always asking how I am and about the shelter. He even asked if he could help with the next adoption drive. He's surprised me, in a good way.

I was sitting in the library waiting for Ben, reading Romeo and Juliet as he hurried in after practice and dropped into the chair across from me, out of breath.

"Sorry. Coach was making us run suicides because some of the guys were joking around too much and we have the big rivalry game coming up." Ben groaned. I wrinkled my nose and set my book down.

"Gross." I responded. Ben chuckled and nodded.

"You're telling me." he said, taking a deep breath and looking at the book I'd set down. "What're you reading?" he asked as he opened his backpack and started to pull out his bio stuff.

"Romeo and Juliet. For classic lit." I responded.

"What's it about?" he asked.

"Are you serious?" I asked. Ben nodded.

"Yeah? I've never read it." he responded, completely serious.

"It's one of the most popular and well known plays ever, how do you not know what it's about?" I asked, still shocked. Ben chuckled and shrugged.

"I'm not much of a classic lit guy I guess." he said.

"It's a forbidden love story. Romeo falls in love with Juliet, but their families are rivals and they're never supposed to interact, let alone speak to one another. Like most plays, it ends as a tragedy. It's basically the inspiration for forbidden love stories." I said. Ben hummed in response.

"So a love story?" Ben said. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"If you want to boil it down that much, yes a love story. But it's a lot more than just that." I said. Ben softly smiled, listening to me rant about the book. "Enough about that, we need to start reviewing. The test is next week and I want to make sure you're prepared." I said. Ben nodded, frowning.

"I'm not so sure how this is going to go." he admitted. I smiled at him.

"You're going to do just fine, okay? Trust me." he looked up at me and nodded.

"Okay. Let's get started."

I yawned as I looked over at the clock a few hours later, seeing it read 10:58pm. Ben was hunched over a worksheet I'd given him, seemingly stuck on a question.

"Why don't we just call it quits for tonight? There's no use in trying to work on a question this late at night. I'm sure you're tired from practice." I said, starting to put my things away. Ben sighed but agreed.

"Yeah, I guess." he responded, starting to put his things away. "I don't have a game this Friday and I really need some extra help. Would you be able to study Friday and maybe sometime this weekend too?" Ben asked, yawning as he put his notebook into his backpack. I thought for a second before nodding.

"Yeah that should be fine. Where do you want to study?" I asked, zipping my backpack.

"My house okay?" Ben asked. I nodded.

"Sure. Just text me what time works for you." I said, both of us walking side by side out of the library.

"Cool. Thanks, Ollie. I really appreciate." he said, genuinely, as I locked the door to the library.

"Yeah, of course. I think my brother and friends would murder me if I didn't help you get your grades up to stay on the team." I said, laughing. Ben chuckled and shook his head. We walked in comfortable silence to the parking lot.

"See you tomorrow." Ben said. I nodded.

"Yeah, see you." I replied, smiling lightly as we went our separate ways to our cars.