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1 Kamala
The first person who noticed Devi wearing her boyfriend’s sweatshirt was Kamala. Devi had just come home from her and Ben’s first official date. As soon as Devi opened the front door she heard Kamala gasp from the other side of the room. Devi flinched, not expecting anyone to be waiting for her due to the fact that her mother was currently taking care of some aunt in India and therefore hadn’t been home in two weeks.
“That was not what you were wearing when you left the house this afternoon,” Kamala said and smiled knowingly at her cousin “There is no feeling that compares to the American Tradition called the walk of shame, huh?”
“This is not a walk of shame in any way shape or form,” Devi said, a hint of irritation in her voice.
“Oh no?” Kamala challenged “Let’s see. American TV taught me a walk of shame consists of messy hair, and not wearing your own clothes. You check both of those boxes.”
“First of all, It’s not morning. A walk of shame is usually happening in the morning. It’s only midnight,” Devi said, irritation growing “Secondly my messy hair and me wearing Ben’s sweatshirt both have a reasonable explanation that doesn’t include sex,” Devi said and crossed her arms in front of her chest “I pushed him into the pool and he got his revenge by dragging me in with him.”
“Yeah, right,” Kamala said. Devi saw the doubt on her face “Just tell me, you guys used protection and I won’t tell your Mom.”
“Did you not listen to me?” Devi said, her voice now louder than before “I did not have sex with Ben Gross,” Devi practically yelled, “This is not a walk of shame and I will definitely kill you if my Mom gets wind of any of this.” Now Devi’s voice got almost threateningly low “I have a rich boyfriend now. I can make your body disappear.”
“Awww, you called him your boyfriend.” Kamala said in a high pitched voice “That sweatshirt does suit you surprisingly well, by the way.” Kamala shrugged.
“I would sure hope so. This thing probably costs more than my future college education,” Devi said, glad for the change of subject “But thanks, I guess,”
“It still smells like him, doesn’t it?” Kamala said, her eyebrows raised as she sent Devi another knowing smile.
Devi ignored her. Mostly due to the fact that she wasn’t in the mood to agree but also couldn’t argue with facts “I will go to sleep now.” she announced instead, making her way up the stairs.
“Don’t sweat to death, sleeping in that thing,” was the last thing Devi heard before closing her bedroom door.
2 Paxton
“Your sweatshirt is gross.” was the first thing Devi heard as she entered the school that morning. She could hear the smirk in Paxton’s voice.
“Wow, tell me what you really think,” Devi said a little taken back by the unusual greeting.
“No, you misunderstand me,” Paxton said, his smirk even wider now, “Your sweatshirt is Gross.” Devi still didn’t have any clue what he meant. Paxton rolled his eyes at her, “Gross with a capital G. As in your boyfriend? Ben Gross? Heard of him?” Paxton said, spelling it out for her.
Devi couldn’t help but snort at that “You are ridiculous.” she said but gave Paxton a high-five for the pun, none the less.
“I just noticed, you wear his clothes a lot lately,” Paxton said, his voice sounding a lot more serious now.
“Well, what can I say? They’re just better quality.” Devi said, a hint of playfulness suggesting she was joking.
“Right...” Paxton said “So, you’re not sleeping at his house? Or something?” Paxton asked. Devi couldn’t believe it but she was definitely hearing insecurity in his tone.
“Not really, no,” Devi said, not giving his question a second thought.
“That’s good.” Paxton let out a sigh of relief.
“Excuse me?” Devi said, irritation sweeping into her voice again “I’m so sorry,” she said, sarcasm heavy in her voice “Of course, I will ask your permission first, your highness, before I dare to have sleepovers with my boyfriend.”
Paxton just stared at her. Dumbfounded.
“Just so we’re clear. I like Rebecca and I like to hang out with her and I don’t mind us sometimes crossing paths and making dumb jokes,” Devi said, “But you had your chance, Paxton. Move on. I like Ben. I like wearing Ben’s clothes and when the time comes I will have sex with him. Deal with it.” Devi snapped at him “Are we clear?”
Paxton cleared his throat before answering “Perfectly clear. I’m sorry. You are right.” and then turned around to go into the direction opposite of where Devi was standing.
“Hi,” Devi suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned around to look at her boyfriend, biting her lip, “How long have you been standing there?”
“You mean, how much of that did I hear?” Ben smirked at her “I’m not telling you that, David. Let’s just say I heard quite a bit.”
“Ugh, fine.” Devi said, giving in, “But I want your history notes to make up for it.”
Ben smiled at her once again and leaned in, kissing Devi urgently. Leaving her panting as he pulled away “There is no way in hell, I’ll give you my history notes. Should have made your own.” he said his voice low.
“You will give in eventually,” Devi said, still a little dizzy from the kiss but feeling confident none the less.
“Wouldn’t bet on that,” Ben said, “Just because we make out, doesn’t mean I can’t crush you academically.”
“You’re so funny,” Devi said laughing “I know your locker combination,” Devi was now the one running in the other direction.
3 Ben’s Mom
The clock on the nightstand read 6 am when Devi woke up. Groggily she took a look around the room, not entirely sure where exactly she was yet. At least until she felt a warmth pressing against her back and an arm draped around her waist. Suddenly all the memories came flooding back. Not that there was much to remember. They had just watched a movie the night before and had somehow fallen asleep. Devi had never been so glad to have lied to her mother the night before as to where she was going. Kamala had definitely covered for her being out the whole night. That was what they agreed on the last time Kamala had drunkenly stumbled home.
Therefore Devi was close to just going back to sleep. At least until she heard loud voices from downstairs.
Of course, Ben’s parents were home the one night she had accidentally fallen asleep in their son’s bed. That was just perfect.
Hurriedly she got out of bed, leaving a still sound asleep Ben behind with the goal to find a way to sneak out of there. She grabbed the hoodie Ben had worn the day before and put it on. The nightly temperature-drop in mind.
As quiet as possible she tiptoed down the stairs. Once she had gone down enough steps to see properly, she stopped and watched Ben’s parents eating breakfast in the kitchen, therefore blocking the front door. She knew better than to try and sneak out the window again. The last time she tried that every alarm in the house went off. Apparently sneaking through the window is mostly done by criminals. Who knew?
She observed her boyfriend’s parents for a few minutes before she saw the only chance to get out of here. Both of his parents were busying themselves looking for something inside one of the many cupboards.
As quickly as possible, she made her way to the front door but as she was just about to slip out Mr. and Mrs. Gross turned around. They looked directly at her.
“Good morning, Devi,” Mrs. Gross said smirking at her “Here pretty early, huh?”
“Uhm...” Devi cleared her throat “Yeah, Ben and I have a school project due in a few hours. That’s why I came early,” she tried to save herself.
“It’s Saturday.” Ben’s Dad looked at her, his face a display of utter confusion.
“It’s an E-Mail thing,” Devi said hastily.
“Right,” Ben’s mom said and started smirking again “So, why are you wearing Ben’s hoodie?”
“Still had it at home. I wanted to give it back,” Devi said, still a little to fast.
“That’s weird. I was so sure, I saw that one lying on his bedroom floor just a few hours ago,” she said. Her face twisting in mock confusion “But then again, I was kind of distracted by the girl lying in his bed.”
Devi’s eyes widened before she started rambling “Nothing happened. I swear. We watched a movie and then we fell asleep. It even was a Disney movie. Totally innocent. I know this looks-”
Ben’s Dad interrupted her “It’s alright, Devinator. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that you name my grandchild after Andy Samberg. He made me promise ba-”
Devi felt her stomach turn at the thought of pregnancy alone.
Ben’s Mom cut in “Stop that. You are scaring the poor girl. Do you want some breakfast, Sweetie?” she asked her, now a sweet smile on her face.
“No, thank you. I’m not hungry,” Devi said, letting her eyes wander to her shoes “Can you maybe not tell my Mom about this?”
“About what? I think you are a responsible student for waking up early to work on a school project.” Mrs. Gross said and winked at her.
Devi let out a sigh of relief “I’m going to go back up there.” Devi said, letting her guard down and regretting it instantly as her face started to get hot “I just- uhm- forgot something in Ben’s room,” Devi said, stumbling over her words and ran up the stairs.
She took off the hoodie as soon as she entered the room and made her way to the bed. She quickly slipped under the blanket and heard Ben sleepily mumble something before taking her in his arms “Did you sleep well?” his eyes were still closed.
Devi just hummed in agreement and let her head fall against his chest.
“Want to sleep some more?” Ben asked his eyes still not open.
Devi gave another hum in response.
“Good talk,” Ben said. He opened his eyes for a moment to kiss her forehead then closing them again clearly falling back to sleep.
“I’m really sorry, I fell asleep,” Ben said after swallowing a bite of his breakfast. They were sitting outside at the table “I should have gotten you home as soon as the tiredness started to set in.”
“It’s alright.” Devi said and gave him an assuring smile “I really enjoyed sharing a bed with you.”
“Me too,” Ben said smiling back at her “Even though I could have done without you kicking me every ten minutes.”
“I did not kick you.” Devi said laughing “If anything I could have done without your drooling,” she shot back.
“You’re evil, David,” Ben mumbled before he started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” A voice behind them cut in. It was Ben’s Mom looking back and forth between them both.
“Nothing,” Ben said immediately.
“The fact that Ben is drooling in his sleep,” Devi said. Successfully ratting her boyfriend out.
“That is funny,” Mrs. Gross agreed “Devi, did you find what you were looking for this morning?” shooting a smirk in Devi’s direction.
Devi cleared her throat before answering, ignoring Ben’s confused face “Yes, of course. It just took a while.”
“Sure,” Mrs. Gross said “Hey Ben,” she now directed her voice at her son “As I can see you got your sweatshirt back.”
Devi felt her face flush and ignored yet another confused looking Ben.
4 Devi’s Mom
“You’re wearing a lot of sweatshirts lately,” Devi’s mom pointed out as her, Devi and Kamala were eating Dinner at the Dinner table.
“Uhm… Yeah,” Devi said, agreeing just to get herself more time to come up with an excuse. She ignored Kamala’s knowing smirk directed at her “It’s what’s trendy lately. You know how young people can be.”
Her Mom looked at her with doubt written all over her face “Are you and Ben trying to match then? I have definitely seen him wear the exact same sweatshirt.” Her Mom said now a teasing smile on her face. Devi couldn’t believe that her Mom of all people would tease her about this.
“This isn’t funny,” Devi said shooting her laughing cousin a glare before turning her attention back to her Mom “No, I didn’t even notice that.” Devi tried her best to sound confident.
“I’m sure you didn’t,” Kamala said and snorted, and with that made herself the recipient of another death glare.
“Well, at least sweatshirts can’t get you pregnant,” Devi’s Mum said and shrugged.
Devi choked on her food, coughing violently just a few seconds later “What the hell, Mom?” Devi said immediately after getting the ability to speak back.
“That’s karma for not telling me that Benjamin is your boyfriend,” her Mom said not looking up from her food.
Devi was taken aback for a second “How did you-?”
Her Mom interrupted her “I wasn’t born yesterday and you’re not really subtle with all that making out that’s happening on my front porch.”
“That was one time!” Devi defended herself “And that definitely wasn’t making out. That was barely more than a peck.”
“Well, I’m not raising my own grandkids,” Devi’s Mom said, now glaring at her daughter “So do us all a favor and keep it in your pants.”
5 Patty
It was only a matter of time until Devi started casually wearing Ben’s clothes. Most days she didn’t even think about it until his still lingering scent reached her nose and made her heart skip.
It was one of those days when Devi innocently ate some kind of white people food while sitting inside the kitchen of Ben’s house. Ben was off doing who knows what in the public library but she simply hadn’t wanted to go home just yet. Besides, Patty was still in the house with her so it wasn’t like she didn’t have any company.
“Do you miss Mr. Ben?” Patty asked sitting down next to Devi.
“Not really,” Devi shook her head slightly “Just don’t feel like going home yet.”
“Do you want to move in again Mrs. Devi?” Patty asked. Devi wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not.
“No, of course not.” Devi said and let out a deep sigh “I just prefer hanging out at my boyfriend’s super fancy house instead of my family’s suburbia nightmare.”
“Well, considering the fact you wouldn’t need to pack any bags you should maybe give it a try,” Patty said, now obviously sarcastic as her smirk gave her away.
“What do you mean?” Devi asked not having any clue to what Patty might be referring to.
“You and Mr. Ben share his clothes,” Patty deadpanned, her eyes wandering back and forth between Devi’s face and the sweatshirt she was wearing.
Devi choked on the food she had just tried to swallow. Making it obvious that Patty’s answer took her by surprise. After coughing a few times and taking a few sips of her water, she was finally able to get out a response “I don’t wear his clothes that often.”
“I don’t mean any offense but there isn’t one sweatshirt left inside his closet.” Patty clarified.
“That’s because he puts them in the upper left drawer now,” Devi said, her tone just a little condescending.
“Yes, he does put them there. In your drawer,” Patty said talking slowly as if Devi had just arrived in the US and couldn’t speak a word of English.
“That is not my drawer,” Devi said immediately “I haven’t even slept here ever since Ben drove me to Malibu beach. So that can’t be my drawer.”
“You think Mr. Ben doesn’t notice you wearing his clothes but he does,” Patty said confidently “he made me a list of what to put in your drawer,” Patty explained further “It’s on my phone because he keeps updating it every time you steal his clothes and give them back. He keeps track of what you like to wear.”
Devi’s stomach tingled and she briefly wondered if that feeling was what people commonly referred to as “Butterflies”.
“He really cares about you, Mrs. Devi.” Patty said, her eyes sharpening for just a second “Don’t hurt him.”
Devi swallowed hard, still not entirely used to the fact how scary Patty could occasionally get, “I don’t plan to.” Devi said intimidated.
+ 1 Ben
Devi was currently standing inside of the Gross Family’s kitchen. Trying to find any useful ingredients to make breakfast. It wasn’t a too unusual thing for her to do. Nowadays she often came over before having have had any breakfast at home. What was unusual though was her choice of clothing or more like her lack thereof. While she was still wearing one of Ben’s sweatshirts, her legs weren’t as covered. She had been too lazy this morning to find her pants and because she was sure Ben’s parents wouldn’t be home until a week later and Ben gave Patty a few days off, she just went with it.
“I can’t believe you bailed on me,” she heard Ben say as he came down the stairs “I was looking forward to waking up next to you,” he said as soon as he reached the kitchen. A pout on his face.
“I was hungry,” Devi said rolling her eyes at him but still couldn’t wipe that smile off her face.
“Did I wear you out last night?” Ben smirked at her and crossed the distance between them. His hands settled on her waist as he pulled her closer.
“You wish, Gross,” Devi smirked back at him but kissed him nonetheless. Kissing him made her feel like every nerve in her body was on fire.
Ben wasn’t nearly as forward as he had been just a few hours before. He seemed like he wasn’t trying to get anything more than kissing out of it. He was also the one that pulled away after a good amount of time had passed. His forehead still leaning against hers while he quietly spoke “You’re okay, right? I didn’t hurt you?”
“I’m fine, Ben.” she said and stroked Ben’s cheek in reassurance “You were the perfect gentleman. I already told you that a few times yesterday.”
“I know you did,” Ben said and let out a sigh “I just really want to make sure, you’re okay.”
“And you did.” Devi said pressing a quick kiss to her boyfriend's lips “Last night made me really glad that I didn’t sleep with Paxton.”
Ben groaned pulling away just enough so Devi could see the insecurity on his face “Can we not talk about Paxton right now?”
“I was complimenting you, dumbass,” Devi said rolling her eyes at him.
“Didn’t sound like a compliment. Maybe you need to be more specific.” Ben said with a smirk on his face. He was now pulling her closer again. This time by taking a hand full of the sweatshirt she was wearing.
“You’re so needy, Gross,” Devi said playfully.
“I can’t resist you when you’re wearing my clothes.” he murmured against her lips before kissing her.
“Possessive much?” Devi said pulling away from the kiss. Resisting Ben’s lips just to tease him.
“Come on, David,” Ben whined trying to chase her lips “Don’t do that to me.”
“I can do whatever I want,” Devi protested a cheeky smile forming on her lips.
“But seriously did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?” he now asked. His voice was suddenly genuine and raw with emotion.
“I didn’t even have a shower yet.” Devi was the one whining now.
“I don’t care.” Ben said and pressed a brief kiss to her cheek “You’re beautiful.” His voice still soft “But I do think we need to talk about you wearing my sweatshirts in public,” he added “It’s driving me nuts. You look way better in them than me.” he added with a pout.
“That’s the point,” Devi smirked at him.
“Don’t even act like you’re only wearing them to look better in them than me,” Ben said and started to poke Devi’s ribs to make her laugh “I see you smelling them every ten minutes in class.”
“I do no such thing,” Devi said shrugging innocently. Now Devi was the one getting serious “I think I kinda… Uhm. You know?”
Ben looked at her, the confusion written all over his face.
Devi took a deep breath before trying again “I love you, Ben.”
Ben’s eyes widened in shock for a moment before pure joy crossed his face and he kissed her urgently “I love you too, Devi.” he said immediately after pulling away.
“Now make me breakfast, Gross,” she said but her usual eye roll was replaced with a shit-eating grin and just as dopey looking eyes.