Bryce
After Sam left, I angrily kicked a throw pillow and sat down on the couch, clearly upset. I grunted out in frustration and not five seconds later, I started to cry.
Ben knelt down next to me and held my hands to comfort me.
"I fucking hate Sam," I said, "I fucking hate him."
Ben patted my shoulder to reassure me, "I know."
"I hate that he won't leave you alone," I continue, "I hate it when I see you with him."
"I know."
"I hate that he acts like he knows you better than I do. I hate that he's your first love. I hate the feeling that came over me when I saw him kiss you. But most of all, I hate that he's right about me."
"That's not true," Ben said, "Bumblebee, none of that is true."
"It is," I cried, "It's true. You ARE too good for me. I'm inconsiderate and selfish. I hurt you before I know it and I feel like you're miles ahead of me and I'm the loser who's playing catch up." I finally admitted to him. "And I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"I'm sorry that I'm such a crappy boyfriend," I said, "I'm sorry that I'm not ready to come out and I'm sorry I'm what Sam called me. A closet case coward. I want to be out and proud of who I am and to live our lives openly and not give a shit what anyone thinks. I want to be the man worthy of you."
Ben pulled me in and held me in his arms as I continued to cry, "Bumblebee, listen to me," he said, "You ARE worthy. So what, you've still got a long way to go? Look at how far you've come. You don't have to force yourself if you're not ready. I can wait for the day when you are."
"Another thing Sam is right on," I continued, "It's my turn to take care of you. As much as I hate to admit it, we both want the same thing. For you not to be hurt. I promise you, you will always be my Butterfly, because your Bumblebee does not want to let you go."
"So, I guess," Ben said, "We have Sam to thank for this huh?"
"Don't remind me," I said as I break out of Ben's warm embrace and head for the door, "I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?"
"Downstairs," I answered, "I dropped the wing sauces when Sam kissed you. And you remember this. No matter if Sam's love for you has changed or not, he had his chance, now you're mine. And if someone stole those sauces I bought, you're paying for them."
Luckily, the sauces were still there but a note was attached to them.
Ben's yours now. Take care of him or I WILL take him from you. Love, Sam. That asshole won't give up. No matter, 'cause I will take care of my man and I will never, ever let him go.
Ben
After dinner, I convinced Bryce to come with me to Jackie's bar. More like bribed him with the promise that we'd drink with Jackie and Cole.
"Hey guys," Cole greeted us, "Hey Jackie, look who's here."
Jackie emerged from the bar and squealed with glee seeing us.
"Ben!," she said, "So good to see you, my dear. Bryce, you two came together?"
"And why not?" Bryce asked, "Are we not allowed to come together?"
"Well," Jackie said, "Of course you can. It's just that…" She looked at me, wondering how much I had told him about the last time I was here.
"Last time I was here," I said to Bryce, "I was a sad mess because you broke my heart."
"Did I?" Bryce asked.
Jackie grabbed Ben's chin and turned his face as if examining him. "Yeah, but he looks way better now. I take it there's some good news we need to know?"
"We're just friends." I said to Jackie.
"Um, excuse me," Bryce flashed an expression as if I had insulted his entire family, "You don't have to do that anymore."
Bryce turned to Jackie and put his arm around me, pulling me towards him, "We're more than friends. We're actually dating."
Jackie gushed like a fan girl while I felt a sense of pride in my boyfriend. "Why are you so surprised, Ben?" she asked me.
"Yeah," Bryce added, "Why are you surprised? I just want people to know you're my boyfriend after all."
"Aww," Cole said, "Why can't we be more like them?" he asked Jackie.
"'Cause I'm a girl, not a guy."
"That's not what I meant, Jackie," Cole said, "I meant why can't we be more lovey dovey?"
"Maybe tonight." Jackie said, flashing a seductive and suggesting grin.
Suddenly I felt the need to wash my brain with bleach to get the thought of Jackie and Cole with their bedroom antics.
"Well," Jackie said, "Last I checked, the bathroom was open, we can do a quickie there, unless you two want to go first." Suggesting that we would hookup in the bathroom.
"Anyway," I said to get out of this perverted discussion, "I wanted to discuss the performance schedule with Cole. If you don't mind, Cole let's talk in your office."
"Sure," Cole said, "Let's leave the wives to gossip."
"Excuse me," Bryce spoke up, "Whose wife am I?"
"Spouses," Cole corrected, "I meant spouses. Come Ben."
Cole and I discussed the schedule with Lee on the phone. Our first performance would be in two weeks and we had to have a full set of songs to perform. Thankfully, I just finished the song I wrote for Bryce, and we still had a whole repertoire of songs from the old days. We had everything locked, stocked, and barrelled, that I was so excited to share the news with Bryce.
That is until I returned from the office. I see Bryce sitting alone at the table with two very pretty girls talking to him all flirty. Suddenly I feel like an animal preparing to fight for his territory.
"Hey guys," I said when I approached the table, "What's going on here?"
"Oh hey Ben," Bryce said, "This is Tara and Katy. They're fans of yours." Even though Bryce said this with a smile, the look in his eye was similar to when Sam kissed me.
'Nice to meet you," I said to the girls, "You've seen me perform?"
"Yes," said one of the girls, "You probably don't remember me, but I bought you a Long Island Iced Tea."
"Thank you for the drink," I answered, "I always enjoy the smiles of my fans."
Both girls blushed at the compliment. The other girl turned to Bryace and flirtatiously asked if she could buy him a drink. "Maybe some other time." He responded.
"Turning us down so soon?" asked the girl flirting with Bryce.
Bryce smiled and said, "I'm not turning you down. I'm just giving you an excuse to see each other again."
Damn him and his southern charm. The ladies laughed and said they had to go. They gave us their numbers and waved goodbye.
"What was that about?" I asked Bryce.
"They saw me with you and said hi," he answered, "They told me they were fans of yours so we were just talking. By the way, I didn't know if you were out to your fans, so I said I was your friend. As much as I hated to say that."
His answer caught me by surprise. Was he actually being considerate of me? "You didn't want to say we're just friends?"
"Damn right, I hated it," he said with a hint of anger in his voice, "I wanted to tell them that we're boyfriends and they shouldn't waste their time chasing after you since you're spoken for. But I didn't want to upset your fans by outing you and they had no idea."
"You did that for me?"
"Bet your ass I did," he replied, "The way they were talking about you, fawning all over you, it took everything in me to keep from telling them that you're mine."
"So let me get this straight," I proceeded to ask, "While I was here jealous of you, you were jealous of me?"
"Why were you jealous?" asked Bryce.
"That girl was all over you," I answered, "I wanted to push her away and tell her the same thing."
We looked at each other as we realized we were in this predicament and then started to laugh about it.
"God you're sexy when you're feisty," I said to Bryce, "I would never cheat on you."
"And you're cute when you're so domineering," He replied, "And I won't cheat on you either. But listen well. If you do, I will cheat on you back worse than you can imagine."
"Deal," I said, "So want to go home and fool around?"
Bryce grinned and replied, "I have a better idea. Let's take Jackie on her offer and do it in the bathroom."
I really do love my sexy, perverted boyfriend. We rushed to the bathroom and locked the door.