Florida Still Gets Cold
1870 Words
Amy POV
The third morning, Bennie was waiting again.
This time, he didn’t smirk.
He just… looked at me.
Not in the usual what can I say to annoy her today way. More like he was actually seeing me instead of just messing with me for sport.
“You look beat up,” he said.
“I feel beat up.”
He frowned. “You’re doing too much. You need to take a break, yeah?”
“We’ve been over this… The kids need me,” I said. “And I need money…. Still the same just a different day. Plus, who’s going to finish school for me? There’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m getting there.”
He nodded slowly, like he didn’t love the answer but respected it anyway.
And then—very subtly—he smiled.
Which was ridiculous, because Benjamin Rojas was absolutely not the type to smile like he was proud of someone.
Austin leaned over the balcony railing. “Why do you look like you’re judging my sister before she’s even had coffee?”
“I’m not judging,” Bennie said. “I’m concerned.”
“You’re nosy,” Austin said.
“I can be both.”
I snorted. “He’s definitely both.”
Bennie glanced at me. “You always this positive and agreeable in the morning?”
“Only when I’m too tired to fight.”
“Well that’s unfortunate,” he said, eyes flicking over me in a way that felt entirely too intentional. “You’re way more fun when you’re mad.”
I stopped.
Austin stopped.
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
Bennie cleared his throat. “I said—uh—nothing. Ignore that.”
Austin’s grin went slow and evil. “Oh no. You said it. You don’t get to pretend you didn’t.”
Bennie rolled his eyes. “Your brother has never once in his life known when to shut up.”
“Correct,” I said. “It’s his most reliable flaw.”
Austin put a hand over his heart. “Wow. Attacked from both sides.”
I rolled my eyes “Bye losers, have fun!” Both boys just laughed as I got into my car for work and drove off. A little smile on my face the whole way.
The next morning I woke up slowly to the low murmur of male voices drifting through the apartment. I slept in, finally. It was the start of my three days off.
For a few blissful seconds, I was still half-asleep and unaware of my problems. Then my brain caught up.
Austin.
Bennie.
The kitchen.
My life being a personal attack.
I lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, listening to them talk about measurements and paint and something about shelves, Bennie’s voice doing deeply inappropriate things to my stomach. I almost reached for Mr. Red, but the idea of them hearing anything suspicious made me freeze.
I sighed. Maybe later.
I glanced down at myself.
Old Aerosmith hoodie. No bra. Just how I like it. Comfortable. And underwear that absolutely did not qualify as “public facing.”
As tempting as it was to pretend I didn’t care, I did, in fact, care very much about not giving Benjamin Rojas a free morning show.
I grabbed a pair of pajama shorts from the chair. The safe ones. The ones that covered more than my dignity and did not invite commentary. I pulled them on, ran a hand through my hair, and shuffled out of my room in search of cereal and emotional stability.
The condo smelled like coffee and testosterone.
Austin was at the table with his laptop open, gesturing wildly at the screen like he was pitching a million-dollar idea. Bennie was at the counter with a tape measure and a pencil, leaning over a notepad, sleeves pushed up, tattoos very much on display like he was personally trying to end me.
They were both talking.
Neither of them noticed me.
I walked into the kitchen, shocked that neither of them even glanced my way. I was only a breath away from both of them. Grabbed a bowl of too sugary cereal and sat down on the ridiculously comfy couch. I could fall asleep again for another hour.
Only then did I really take in the room.
Austin’s condo was small in the way that made you very aware of everyone else’s existence. The kitchen, living room, and dining area were basically one long rectangle pretending to be three separate spaces. Two mismatched bar stools made from old wood sat at the little counter, and the couch was close enough to the kitchen that you could argue with someone while they were cooking without raising your voice.
They were still talking.
Not to each other.
At each other.
“So if I open in two weeks,” Austin was saying, spinning his laptop around to show something, “I want the front area clean. Like, really clean. Minimal. White walls. Maybe gold accents.”
“White gets dirty,” Bennie said without looking up. “But yeah. We can do shelves here. Desk there. Storage cabinets along this
wall.”
“I want it to look expensive,” Austin said.
“You are not expensive,” Bennie replied. “But we can fake it.”
They continued like that. Parallel conversations. Same topic. Zero actual listening.
Honestly, this was my kind of morning.
I sat there in silence, eating cereal, watching a murder documentary. The wife totally killed her husband. I kept eating my cereal and pretending the two extremely male presences in my kitchen were not there.
Austin finally glanced over at me. “What do you think? Keep it simple, right? Bright. Clean. Maybe white with gold accents?”
“Sure,” I said around a spoonful of cereal. “Whatever you want, Austin. Sounds great.”
That’s when Bennie turned around.
And froze.
Not subtly.
Not casually.
Just… stopped.
Stared.
At me.
Like he’d seen a ghost.
Or a crime scene.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said too fast.
Which was suspicious. I followed his eyes down.
And there it was.
The hoodie, His hoodie.
The same one.
The only one.
Oh......Oh, no.......Shit.
I’d completely forgotten I’d put it on.
My stomach dropped like I’d missed a step on the stairs.
Great. Now he knew.
Not just that I had it, but that I’d kept it. All these years.
“It’s not—” I started.
He looked away first.
Which somehow made it worse.
“Did you… always have that?” he asked.
I shrugged, suddenly very interested in my cereal. “Yeah. I mean. Florida still gets cold sometimes.”
Austin blinked between us. “Wait. That’s your hoodie?”
Bennie’s voice was flat. “Yes.”
“Dude,” Austin said. “I thought you lost that.”
“I did,” Bennie said. Not taking his eyes off me.
My ears were on fire.
Austin’s face slowly broke into a grin.
“Oh my God,” he said. “You kept his hoodie?”
“I needed a jacket!”
“For ten years?”
“Do you ever shut up?” Bennie snapped.
Austin just laughed harder.
“I’m just saying—”
“He’s just saying because he doesn’t know when to stop,” I cut in. “You don’t get to make this weird.”
Austin pointed at me. “Wow. You’re defending him.”
“Because you’re being annoying.”
“You always take his side,” Austin sputtered.
“And you always talk too much,” I shot back at Austin.
“Don’t even remind me of all the times you made my life miserable because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut. I still have PTSD from high school.”
Bennie looked at me like he was trying to understand something.
Then Austin, of course, ruined everything.
“Oh, Yeah! Sean Miller!”
I froze.
Bennie went very still.
“…Who?” he asked.
Oh no.
“You don’t remember Sean?” Austin said. “Tall. Annoying. Thought he was deep because he played guitar?”
My face was on fire. “Austin.”
“What? You were in love with him.”
“I was not!”
“You cried when he moved.”
“I was fifteen!”
Bennie’s jaw tightened.
“You liked someone?” he asked.
I stared at my cereal like it had personally betrayed me.
“Yes,” I said. “For five minutes. Until my brother told the entire school.”
Austin held up his hands. “In my defense, I thought it was funny.”
“You announced it over the lunch tables,” I snapped. “You told the cheerleaders. The football team. The band. I got asked out as a joke for a month.”
Bennie turned slowly to Austin.
“You did that?”
Austin shrugged. “I was a senior, and stupid. You know I wouldn’t let it get that far Ames. I had no idea.” Then he actually laughed.
The jerk.
Bennie’s voice dropped. “That’s not funny.”
“I didn’t know it was that bad—”
“She cried?” Bennie asked.
The room went quiet.
Austin frowned. “I… yeah. She did.”
Bennie’s jaw worked like he was biting back something. “I didn’t know,” he said.
I looked at him. “You weren’t talking to me then.”
Something dark flashed across his face.
“Still,” he said. “I should’ve known.”
Austin tried to lighten the mood. “Look, she survived.”
“She shouldn’t have had to,” Bennie shot back.
I stared at him.
Austin blinked. “Okay… wow. I feel like an asshole.”
“You should,” I said. “You’re emotionally reckless.”
He winced. “Fair.”
Then he pointed at me. “See? Always on his side.”
“Obviously.”
I stuck my tongue out at him.
He smiled, smaller this time. Not teasing. More… apologetic. And I knew, deep down, he wouldn’t have said anything if he’d realized how much it had hurt. If I didn’t love him so much, I’d probably yell at him for being an i***t. But I know he would rather die than make my life miserable. It wasn't his style. He was just stupid sometimes.
That’s when I felt it.
That quiet shift in the air.
I looked up.
And Bennie was watching me.
Not like before.
Like he was really looking at me.
Taking me in.
Like he was seeing something he hadn’t noticed before.
Like something had just shifted into place.
Later, when they left, I stayed on the couch and stared at the hoodie like it might explode.
It didn’t mean anything.
I was just poor, couldn’t afford another one.
That’s what I told myself.
I didn’t see Bennie again after that.
Not until Sharkey’s Tavern on Saturday.
This town is way too small.
And I was pretty sure someone — my brother, Savannah, or the universe — was absolutely screwing with me.
- Writer
