In Her Eyes Read Free

of prefer to get lost in my thoughts.”
    “Me too,” he said. “It just helps…” He paused looking for the right word.
    “Quiet things down a bit,” she finished.
    Ben smiled. “Exactly.” He stepped forward and held out his hand. “I’m Ben.” Before she could respond, a girl on rollerblades came whirling into him, arms flailing.
    Casey stepped back as Ben caught her.
    “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry,” the girl said. She tried to right her balance, but as she moved backwards she almost fell again.
    Ben grabbed her arms, steadying her. “You okay?”
    The girl looked up and smiled at him. “Yeah. I think.”
    Ben moved away and towards Casey, still standing there watching everything unfold. “Okay, well…”
    “Hey, aren’t you Benson Wilder?” the girl said. She waved over another girl also on roller blades.
    “Uhh, yeah,” he said, looking back over at Casey. “Just call me Ben, though, please”
    The two girls were now completely blocking him from Casey. “Oh my gosh. We were at your last race. You are so fast.”
    Casey laughed lightly and then started to turn away again.
    Ben put his arm on the girl’s shoulder in front of him. “It was great meeting you, but I need to…” He saw her step into a light jog. “Wait.”
    Casey looked back briefly, but kept moving in the other direction.
    “Can I get your number? Your email? Your name?”
    She held up the card. “You have my name,” she said with a smile. Then she jogged away.
    The two girls were talking between each other and then looked at him and asked, “Don’t you have a race this weekend against Missouri?”
    He just stood there, shaking his head.

3
    Girls
     
    April 2, 2015
     
    Eddie Clark and Jimmy Garcia stood up from the table. Eddie ran hurdles and Jimmy was a sprinter. They both leaned over and bumped fists with Parker. When they looked towards Ben, he took a sip of his drink and ignored them.
    “Alright, Parker, we’ll catch you later.”
    “Alright, guys,” Parker said. He looked over at Ben after they were out of earshot. “Why do you do that shit?”
    “They don’t deserve to even be here,” Ben said as he watched them make their way through the maze of tables. “They don’t take it seriously.”
    “No one takes it seriously compared to you,” Parker said.
    “Whatever, man, let’s go.” Ben stood up and walked his tray over to the trash cans along the wall and Parker followed.
    Parker looked right at him as he turned around. “Holy shit, are you still caught up on this girl?”
    Ben didn’t respond. He just swung the door open and exited the Reitz Union. They both headed down twenty or so steps until they were walking across the north lawn. Hundreds of students were scattered across several acres of grass. Some were in bathing suits on their beach towels, silently affirming the fact that they attended the University of Florida for nothing more than a good tan and an increased shot at skin cancer. Meanwhile, others were simply lying against their backpacks, thankful for the shade of the huge laurel oaks. Sidewalks crisscrossed the cropped lawn, where even more students stood in groups talking, or hurried in directions likely opposite of the class they should be attending.
    Parker was finishing off the last of his fourth Subway cookie. He ate it in two bites, as if he hadn’t also just had a foot-long meatball sub and about a gallon of soda.
    Ben just shook his head. Parker was about three inches taller than him and twenty pounds lighter, regardless of what he ate. He looked the part of a collegiate runner. His DNA was the thing runners dreamed of. Only problem was he didn’t actually care that much about running. He was here on scholarship too, but running more or less got in the way of everything else for him. And by everything else, that pretty much just meant girls.
    “So, what am I supposed to do now?” Ben asked.
    Either Parker was ignoring him or he was busy checking out anything with a skirt and