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  “Liv, you really have to tell me what’s up with you and Bench lately,” a conspiratorial whisper in the near vicinity of my ear interrupted my musings at what to write for a reflection paper for Lit class due Friday.
I whipped my head up to stare in the incredulous eyes of one of my best friends Melai, dressed ever in clothes that emphasized her curvaceous figure, lustrous brown hair drawn up into a ponytail as usual. She sat on the empty seat beside me with a huff and peered at me as if I harboured all the world’s secrets and unwilling to share them to her.
                So, being the smart person that I was, merely opened my mouth, my brow furrowed in utter confusion and said, “What on earth are you talking about?”
                We were at the boarding house we currently lived in here in Baguio city, studying in Kultura School of Performance and the Arts.
I was studying Literature, like the avid bookworm that I am, whereas Melanie, or Melai as she so frequently demanded everybody to call her, studied Dance, which suited her. She was graceful even when the others of our group of friends teased her as being fat.
                We just had dinner with those group of friends which comprised mostly of the people living with us in the boarding house: myself, Melai, my older brother Viggo, with friends from his batch, Sisa, Jaja and Bench, then Rodel, Melai’s self-proclaimed rival, Vinci who was in the same year as I was, then Santi, my best guy friend, then the first years, Kala and Mikey and Red.
The boarding house was pretty big, if you were going to ask, seeing as how there were a pretty large number of people who lived in it. We had dinner together all of us once a week, just to get rid off of whatever tension there might be within the house, and have a bit of fun in the midst of studying as well. It was one of my more brilliant ideas which my older brother had been quick to approve of.
                As I was saying we had just gotten back from dinner and no sooner after I placed my books on the kitchen table (my favourite place to study) Melai comes up and asks me that question.
                “Don’t play coy with me Liv,” Melai said in a threatening tone after rolling her eyes. “You guys were all over each other tonight.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, you two are always all over each other when you’re together. It’s enough to make me wonder.”
                “Oh please.” It was my turn to roll my eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
                Melai threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “I don’t know what to do with you!” she said with a growl of impatience I had to laugh at her expression.
                “Contemplating on the many and torturous ways to kill her is how I get by,” a masculine voice said from behind us that I jumped up in surprise.
                Turning around from my seat, I wasn’t surprised at all to see Bench, my older brother Viggo’s best friend enter the kitchen, dressed already in pyjama bottoms and a ratty T-shirt with a towel draped over his broad shoulders his customary smirk on his face.
Fair-complexioned and full-lipped for a guy, Bench always had incredibly jet black hair, not tainted with tints of brown or red, but just really black hair, now spiky because of his recent shower; his eyes were a normal Filipino brown though they were always sparkling and therefore more intriguing than most eyes.
I rolled my own eyes as he proceeded towards the kitchen sink as to what I presume; brush his teeth, evidence of a glass and the toothbrush sitting inside of it.
                “You do know that you guys have your own bathroom right?” I say as he promptly ignored us and began brushing his teeth. “No need to drag yourself to the kitchen to do so.”
                Bench, who had his back to us as he brushed his teeth, raised his eyebrows in reply. I just folded my arms, completely aware that Melai was giving me the dagger looks beside me but was ignored, and raised my eyebrows back at Bench.
                A smirk quirked his toothpaste froth-filled lips before he neatly spat it out on the sink and rinsed his mouth. (How could a guy be so neat?) He finished up, wiped his mouth before leaning against the sink to look back at myself and Melai.
                “Viggo’s in the bathroom; you know how long that’s going to take.” Was all he said and I raised my eyebrows again, this time in confusion.
                “No smart-alecky remarks tonight Bench?” I asked, now turning away back to my paper, glancing at Melai still with the dagger looks beside me. “Woah, you must be really tired.”
                I felt Bench come up to me and draped his arm around my shoulders as he bent down to my level. Now, if it were any other guy, this would have made me really uncomfortable, but this was Bench, the minute my brother introduced him to me a year ago, my gay-dar beeped frantically, so I knew it was safe.
And besides, Bench and I have a more how you say, intellectual relationship. For some weird reason, conversing and exchanging wit with Benson Aquino, commonly known as Bench was more fun than flirting with boys.
                “I wouldn’t be if you didn’t keep me up all night.” Bench answered, his now minty fresh breath blew across my cheek and I caught a whiff of it.
Now I wasn’t stupid. You could practically feel the double meaning behind those words as he said this, and I found myself smirking in response. This was a game we did; it all came with the exchanging wit thing we always do. It started out a year ago, when we first met when I entered Kultura, he had this arrogant smirk on and drawled about something that I had let my mouth get away from me, intending to put him on his place. Kuya Viggo had been particularly shocked that I had been so vocal, but Bench had just grinned and perhaps found an equal in me and since then, throwing insults as well as double innuendos became the game we played.
                I turned my head so I met his eyes, his face so close to my own. I could practically hear Melai squealing in delight beside me but I again ignored her. Bench and I were not like that, in fact, I was pretty sure he was gay. He never admitted out loud of course, and I was too polite to ask him outright despite us being comfortable with most topics. But ask around our friends and they would tell you Bench is gay. Even Kuya Viggo said so, and he’s not one to lie.
                Not that I wanted Bench to be a guy, he was so not my type in the most typical answer, but I just don’t see us in a serious relationship. It’s just one of those unexplainable things I guess.
                So when I looked back to meet Bench’s eyes, I paid no attention to the fact that if I strayed a little closer our lips would meet and smiled a sweet smile. “I didn’t know that a big, strong man like you could be drained of strength by little old me.” I smirked knowing where to hit his vulnerable spot while I heard Melai give a scoff of indignation.
                Bench meanwhile pulled back a bit, black eyebrows raised in amusement as he ran his eyes down my petite frame. Then he leaned close again. “I didn’t say you were the only one with me last night did I?” he smirked again his black eyes did this funny sparkling thing which I have always wondered about.
                Pushing the sparkling thing aside for another time I gave him a look of mock-astonishment. “You sly dog.” I swatted his hand that was still perched comfortably on my shoulder. “I didn’t know you were into threesomes. Who was it? One of those drama friends of yours? Or better yet,” I paused for effect and let my eyes grow wide in mock-realisation. “Santi was awfully quiet last night, you didn’t soil him did you?” I looked back at him as I did my lips twitching in effort to hide my smile.
                Bench meanwhile just threw his head back and laughed. It wasn’t a deep laugh like most males, but it was almost breathless and wheezing and it made me laugh too. I cast a glance at Melai again and she rolled her eyes in more exasperation at the two of us.
                “Don’t let Santi hear you say that,” Bench warned seriously this time, drawing a chair beside me now, placing his glass on the table.
                I grinned, still unable to get rid of my teasing mood. It was hard to do so with Bench around. “Oh, of course. I wouldn’t want your secret tryst be known to everybody in the boarding house right? It would be such a disastrous scandal.” I gave a gasp to emphasize it. Bench just rolled his eyes though his smirk was back.
                “No, we wouldn’t want that.” He agreed after a while then gave a wink at Melai who returned it with a confused look. “We wouldn’t want the wrath of Melai to come crashing down on us too would we?”
                We laughed at this. Melai did have quite a temper and it was no secret that compared to Bench and our harmless no-sexual-tension flirting, Santi and Melai should just get a room and be done with it. But they wouldn’t be my best friends if they weren’t stubborn. Too stubborn in fact. So we let them be for a while, knowing that sooner or later the collision was going to happen and all we had to do was wait and watch.
                When Melai realised we were laughing about her, she narrowed her eyes at us in death glares, which made me giggle because it was quite comical and of course my giggling made Melai angrier. She stood up in a huff and spat something about betrayal before she stomped off. Bench and I watched her go, fighting laughter again only collapsing when she was out of earshot.
                “We shouldn’t have done that,” I said rather breathlessly while Bench emerged from the haven of his folded arms where he buried his head in trying to muffle his laughter and grinned again.
                “Oh come on, Melai’s so easily riled up these days. I bet it’s because she’s dying to get laid.” He smirked and he wiggled his eyebrows as if telling me “with who” and I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to stop my laughter becoming too loud.
                “Oh please.” I scoffed waving a dismissive hand. “The year Melai and Santi will learn they are meant for each other is when you will become a guy and actually grow a dick.”
                Bench placed a hand over his heart in mock-hurt. “Ouch, Liv. I resent that. I do have a dick. I just don’t use it on girls.” He grinned suggestively and this time my scandalous gasp was no where near acting.
                “Eww, Bench!” I thwacked his arm utterly disgusted. “That just sounded so sick and wrong!” (See what I mean about Bench being gay? He even suggests it! I didn’t need to assume that far.)
                “What?” Bench said now feigning innocence. “It’s your fault you took a swipe at my masculinity.”
                “Whatever made you think that using your dick on anything but girls makes you masculine?” I asked him now and he laughed again.
                “You have a point there.” He conceded and ran a hand over his just showered hair. Now, if you need more evidence as to why I think Bench is a certified gay, here are some. (Now I don’t mean to be stereotypical but this is just what I notice with gay guys here in my country, so no one should be offended.)
                Bench takes like five baths a day. I don’t know how he does it, but Kuya Viggo has vouched for this one and I have never ever met a guy-guy so conscious about hygiene ever. And since we are in the subject of hygiene, Bench uses Pond’s facial wash as well as Cream Silk conditioner and even uses blot paper to get rid of the oil on his face. Blot paper! I don’t even use blot paper!
Okay, maybe these are too stereotypical, but I can’t help it. Living in a country where gays are either feared or ignored and only faintly accepted, it’s quite hard not to put stereotypes now and again.
But then perhaps maybe Bench agreeing with me that Orlando Bloom was “way hotter” as Legolas than as Will Turner, and that Itachi of Naruto was “way cuter” when he was still with ANBU and not with the Akatsuki, and also agreeing with me that there was no way a Filipino heartthrob could pull off a Filipino version of Edward Cullen if ABS-CBN would dare do a Pinoy version of the beloved book would be tweaks higher up the gay-dar.
I mean which guy would argue with a girl constantly about who’s the more gorgeous Brit: Orlando Bloom or Robert Pattinson? (Though this two will always be on my top 5 list) And which guy would argue with a girl heatedly that when we had watched High School Musical 3 just for fun, Gabriella had acted and dressed more slutty than any of the other movies and shouldn’t have deserved Troy in the end? So all in all, don’t blame me or any the others when these little quirks made us doubt whether Bench was gay or guy. I mean, there was more than one clue to suggest it. Add also that whenever Melai and I went guy-spotting in the mall when we were bored, or just Melai since I’m not exactly into that, Bench would come along and point out his type of guys passing by. So yeah.
That was why I was so comfortable around him. Though he may be gay, there were aspects of him that sometimes made me hope that he could be turned back to his biological sex. Bench was a clothes horse worse than Kala our resident fashionista, though his physical appearance never bordered on cross-dressing, he never showed interest with the guys in the house though we may tease him about it, and he always referred to him as a “he”.
I knew for a fact that he preferred the brand Penshoppe over his namesake Bench, any day, and that he loved listening to Switchfoot, My Chemical Romance and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. He had this weird fixation over the colours black and brown and most of his wardrobe was in these colours. He preferred Converse to Nike, mailman bags to backpacks, loved jackets and hoodies rather than long-sleeved shirts, was a closet Jollibee fan rather than McDonald’s, and didn’t eat vegetables. Not even potatoes. He uses wax instead of gel on his hair, had an enormous sweet tooth and couldn’t stand it when people, aside from us, called him gay. He was extremely dramatic and exaggerated a lot and hated awkward silences. He also seemed to have a fetish over large fluffy pillows and stuffed toys. (He had commandeered my favourite stuffed frog for a week before he gave it back) So maybe he wasn’t really gay or just denying it somehow, I don’t know.
What I did know was that I perfectly content sharing this comfortable atmosphere with him because I know he would never fall for me and vice versa so we avoid all that messy confrontations of friends –then-becoming-more stage that so many clichéd couples seem to experience. Less torture for me at least.
                But sometimes it was so fun to pretend. Whenever we would go out just the two of us and we would meet people who didn’t know us that well, we would hold hands like a couple would and cuddle and make them wonder what our relationship was. I would tease him mercilessly, or in Melai-speak, flirt endlessly, comfortable with topics with him that with other guys I would be too shy to tease about. I would look after him like a girlfriend should, get his groceries, fixing his bed, (which isn’t actually saying much since I fix all the guys’ beds) and would cook for him when he was hungry. He in turn would make a show of putting his arm around me as we walked around campus, taking me to my classes whenever he was free and invite me during his rehearsals. (He was studying Drama)
In short, we did act like a couple but we had such a good laugh at it, seeing the improbability of it all. It would be like Julia Roberts’ character in my Best Friend’s Wedding, where she had elicited the help of her gay friend to pretend to be her boyfriend to make her best friend jealous. It was that hilarious.
                But then again, it wasn’t as if Bench was just good for a laugh. I mean if I had to choose the most supportive people in my life Bench would be on the top list. Last year, when we still didn’t know each other that well, it was the first semester of my sophomore year at college and there were still more people living in the house, Bench had been the one to comfort me during one of my rarest emotional breakdowns.
Back when Bench and I were still not seeing each other eye to eye, (it had been constant argument and diatribes whenever we saw each other; he was that infuriating) I had gotten really close to one of the previous tenants in the boarding house, a guy named Jan who was in the same year as Melai and I but he was studying Music, string, to be in fact. We had befriended him because of his brilliant guitar-playing, well I did, because I was a frustrated guitar player and we bonded over late-night jamming sessions when most of the others were asleep. Jan and I seemed to have a lot in common, he had been a fan of Eraserheads, my favourite band, and had introduced me to bands like Silverstein, Collective Soul, Dream Theatre and some of the local bands like Giniling Festival. Jan also liked to play video games, which I could also be proud of having the same addiction. Having to live with an older brother, it was only natural that I loved dolls as much as I loved kicking butt in Tekken, Mortal Kombat and Bloody Roar. I never thought I could find another person to discuss the intricacies of Resident Evil, Final Fantasy and God of War in full detail and had been surprised when I discovered Jan had played the games as well.
Not that we just bonded over things like that, but it seemed then that Jan and I shared the same feelings about taking care of other people without having to be told. I had discovered he cared immensely for his best friend then a girl named Joana, studying Design and he often didn’t get thanks for it. I do the same for the people in the house, and not that I needed to be thanked for it, but one did need to feel appreciated once in a while, and back then I felt I wasn’t.
So Jan and I bonded over that, and I had been comfortable talking to him, like how I did now with Bench, with the obvious difference of Jan being a guy and Bench, well, let’s not go there.
It wouldn’t be too long before other people noticed Jan and I’s friendship, sure enough I had wisecracks from Bench in that category more than anybody else, and it was not like Jan did anything to dispel the rumours. I on the other hand was irritated by the rumours but also did nothing about it. I had had enough of teasing back when I was younger to be affected with it. I had just been worried that Jan would think I started the rumours and go blaming me.
Though Jan never did such a thing, he didn’t hide the fact that he had been displeased about the rumours. He would frown whenever people would coo and squeal and tease us whenever we were together, and he would never hide the fact that he preferred Joana as a girlfriend than me. He would always tell anybody who was in earshot that Joana was prettier than me and more deserving of his love. I hadn’t been affected in that way at all seeing as how Jan was just a good buddy to me, but I had been offended that he would belittle my person so easily as if it meant nothing.
I had been there for Jan when he had come in home in a state when he was completely wasted, bemoaning about how Joana didn’t listen to him and that he loved her and would do anything for her, all the while threatening bodily harm to me as I helped him up the stairs in his drunken state. I didn’t resent him for that, in fact I understood completely and I didn’t even bring it up the next day when Jan was nursing a major hangover.
I just couldn’t understand why Jan seemed to resent me one day then act as if nothing happened the next day. I had been on the verge of declaring him bipolar just to explain his behaviour. I should have noticed Bench defending me, but I admit at that time, I was just too offended and confused if my friendship with Jan was just a farce to notice my allies.
Jan finally abolished any thoughts of being a true friend when in a flurry of texts that became a full scale argument, Jan had called me at 3 am to yell at me about all my faults.
“Alam mo kung anong problema mo?” (Do you know what your problem is?) He had yelled in the ear piece while I had sat up in bed, speechless at the scathing tone he was using on me.
“Kala mo kaya mong ayusin ang lahat.” (You think you can fix everything.) His voice was harsh and unrelenting.
“ ‘Kala mo kailangan ng lahat ng tao na kilala mo ang tulong mo at pag-aaruga.” (You think all the people you know need your help and care.) My hand had shaken against my phone but I couldn’t and wouldn’t say anything.
“’Ni hindi mo makita na may mga tao na walang pakialam sa iyo, na kailan hindi kailangan ng tulong mo at ni minsan hindi inasam na ibigay mo ang puso mo sa kanila!!” (Not once can you see that there are people who don’t give a damn about you, that not once did they need your help and not once did they want to receive your fucking heart!!)
“You’re so eager to please, Liv you can’t even see that to do so you need to butt out and stop running after me!! For once in your life, shut the hell up and stuff your advice and care up your ass!”
I had thrown my cell phone by that time, not wanting to hear anymore, only to go rushing for it when it beeped another message.
Sorry. It was from Jan and I stared at the message before another one had come through.
Myrn akong high-blood ngaun, and I needed a prson 2 vent out on. Not dat wat I sed wasnt tru. I jst didnt wnt it 2 b so harsh.
When all those words he had yelled at me just shocked me into speech, his text was enough to trigger my tears. I had thrown my phone again, this time, not bothering to reply and wept, sobbing helplessly, not even bothering to hide my tears.
It had been Bench who came into my room that night. He had not bothered to open the lights, but merely used the light of his own phone to locate me, I had been seated near the door way, my back to the wall, knees folded and sobbing in my arms. He had closed the door, locked it and silently slid down beside me and opened his arms. Even in the dark then I felt him offering comfort and because I was so distraught and so heart-broken, I moved closer to him and allowed him to envelope me into this enormous hug, my hands resting on his broad shoulders before settling down around his waist, throwing caution to the winds and I proceeded to cry some more.
“It hurts.” I had whispered and I was aware how feeble my voice sounded. I had felt Bench clutch me tighter to him and I did the same, needing someone, anyone to comfort me. I could not believe that someone I had trusted, someone I had let in so close to my self had the ability to hurt me like this. My brother, though he could get on my nerves sometimes, never did so, never taken my trust and my character and shove it back up my face making me feel as I was the lowest of all dirt, just because I cared.
No one had yelled at me like that, blaming me and hating me just because I cared for them, wanting them to be happy. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t in love with Jan, it was as if he had torn my heart out when he said those words, and despite the remorse behind them it had been for a different reason. He had been sorry because it came out harsh, not because he didn’t mean it. I never felt a friendship blow up in my face like that, that I felt a sharp pain pierce in my heart that I haven’t felt before and I had to clutch at Bench for support, looking for an anchor to save me.
I whispered his name and my tears streamed down my face and I closed my eyes harder though we were both enshrouded in darkness. “It hurts so much.” I had whimpered like a child, my hands fisted on his shirt, wincing and crying more as the pain engulfed me. I had barely heard Bench whisper in the vicinity of my hair and ear: “I know, Liv. God, I know.”
“It hurts,” I had said again, not knowing what else to feel except this pain, needing just to say it over and over again in the hopes that it would go away. But it hadn’t and I had to repeat it. “It hurts so much...Bench...” I pleaded desperately, my tears fell against the cloth of his shirt, but I was too much in pain then to realize Bench was rubbing circles down my back while the other ran through my hair.
“I know,” he had whispered then and it’s only now, remembering it did I even notice that Bench’s voice had been deeper that night, and not the usual pitch he used, the higher, slightly feminine pitch he used normally. It had been deeper, and filled with emotion I still could not name. He had held me tighter, if it was even possible, not stopping in trying to soothe me. “I’m here for you.”
“Make it go away.” I had begged him, looking up to his eyes, which were cast in shadows, the lights from outside just enough to catch only silhouettes and not his whole face. That had been the only time I had seen Bench so serious, his jaw hard and firm, his eyes not sparkling.
It had made me frightened, despite all the pain. I buried my face in his chest again, inhaling his soapy smell and twinges of his cologne. “Please, make it go away. It hurts so much.”
“I don’t know how Liv.” He had whispered so softly then I almost couldn’t hear it. “I’m so sorry; I don’t know how.”
And because there had been nothing left to do, I had cried myself to sleep, and not once did I let go of Bench’s waist.
I had awoken the next day, on my bed, and in the arms of Bench, who despite the bed being quite large, was sleeping close to me, one arm around my waist the other cushioning most of my head. I had sat up, surprised and more than a bit embarrassed at my display the previous night, and to Bench of all people. I was still staring into space when Bench woke up beside me, his hair all dishevelled and his face looking quite disoriented. When he saw me however, all his sleepiness had gone.
“Morning,” I whispered, unable to look at him, (I still wasn’t sure if he was gay then, and I was contemplating on how to get out of this confrontation unscathed), my hands tight on my blanket.
Bench gave a yawn and stretched before looking at me again. “Did you sleep all right then?” he asked me and his voice and tone was still serious. I had snuck a glance at him, sure as hell that he would no doubt throw his insult now, but there was none.
“Yes.” I nodded. Then I had sighed, not really in the mood to do any bickering. “Though I have had better nights.” I had looked away, the memory of the previous night fresh.
“Ouch.” Bench had said and it snapped me away from my thoughts. “Well, can’t say it’s the first time a woman has rejected me. Maybe that’s why I have been declared gay.” He had met my eyes and there was that sparkle in his own that it had made me smile. And just like that we were more than okay, and we had bonded and shared a deeper connection more than before.
So here we were months after that incident, Jan had been kicked out of the house by my brother after he learned what had happen, but not before the rest of the guys gave Jan pieces of their mind. It was then did I feel I was appreciated for who I was and I had been stupid as not to feel it before. I had been grateful for their friendship and I had not had contact with Jan since then.
It had been Melai who told me Jan and Joana got together and were now flaunting their relationship all over campus, even spreading rumours I was madly in love with Jan. Bench and I had a kick out of that and whenever we spotted them, we would laugh loudly enough to indicate we were laughing at them.
Sometimes, pettiness could be so much fun, and it was always more fun with Bench around.
“So, what are you planning to write about?” said person said beside me and I looked at him. He had never used that deep voice again when we were together and reverted to the slightly higher pitch he normally used. Sometimes I even think I imagined it, just wanting a male presence then to comfort me because a male had hurt me so much.
“It’s a reflection paper.” I stated a matter-so-factly, grinning as Bench rapped me slightly on top of my head.
“I know that genius.” He said after rolling his eyes. “What about?”
See, the best apart about this friendship with Bench is that it’s not always flirting and double innuendos (not that it wasn’t fun) but we could have normal conversations like normal friends, though it may be boring at times. Teasing was always more fun and more comfortable with him anyways, and my brain had developed teasing as a habit whenever with Bench it became second nature.
“When I lost my virginity.” I said in such a deadpan voice Bench laughed out loud again.
“Oh?” he asked in a tone of mild interest. “Whom did you lose it to?”
That earned him a thwack from the head but I was suppressing my laughter as I did so. “You idiot. What, you mean you didn’t feel it when we did so?” God, talking about sex with Bench was funny only to the two of us. For some weird reason Melai and Santi always looked uncomfortable whenever Bench and I teased each other that we were having sex. I couldn’t understand their discomfort, seeing as how Bench and I were never going to do that, his being gay was just one of the reasons, and the other would be I was determined to wait until marriage (comes from being raised in a Catholic school in elementary I guess). Melai and Santi didn’t seem to think these were strong enough reasons and frequently said that just because Bench and I say it won’t happen, then it won’t happen.
I had half a mind to tell those two to have sex instead of contemplating if Bench and I would ever do it, knowing it would clam them up immediately, but I never said anything; I wasn’t that mean and cold-hearted.
Bench merely pretended to look surprised. “I’m flattered that I am your first.” He placed a hand over his heart and gave a solemn nod, I had to laugh again.
“Yeah, unlike you,” I said in a dry voice. “How many times do you go at Burnham offering yourself up to all who pass by? Laspag ka na.” (You’re all dry.) I chuckled now.
“Makes me wonder why you still have me at night though.” Bench was quick to throw back his answer.
“Because no one else would keep you this long.” I said not hesitating, the sarcasm flowing easily between the two of us.
Bench quirked his eyebrows and smirked. “True.” He stood up now. “Come on; write about your virginity some other time, I’m sleepy.” He said in a whiny voice and I rolled my eyes. He gestured for me to stand up.
I made no move to do so but just raised my eyebrows at him. “I don’t need to sleep when you want to, dickhead.” The insult coming easily and with no hesitation.
“And here I thought you’d be there at my every beck and call.” He drawled but he offered his hand to me nonetheless.
I rolled my eyes but I made a move to fix my stuff. Bench typically, didn’t do anything to help. “I am not your slave, motherfucker.” I curse under my breath and which Bench laughed at before replying.
“Language Olivia.” He chastised teasingly using my whole name. “And I thought we were fuck buddies?” he asked as we proceeded up the stairs towards our rooms. True, we did jokingly call ourselves fuck buddies, or friends-with-benefits, for the more delicate ears.
“Buddies.” I emphasized with a small grin. “Not fuck slaves.” I ran a glance up his much taller frame; I was just 5’1 and he was easily five or more inches taller than me, I barely came up to his chin. “Though it would be interesting to have you as a fuck slave.” I felt my lips quirk interestedly.
Bench clucked his tongue as we stood before my door. Around us were random sounds of the other occupants of the large house. I ignored those and looked up at Bench again.
“And you claim yourself to be a virgin when we first did it. Shame you and your dirty little mind.” He shook his head in mock dismay; I just grinned wider.
“I learned from the best.” I said rather proudly, nodding happily.
“You mean Viggo?” he wiggled his eyebrows conspiratorially and I had to laugh again.
“I meant you, dickhead.” Bench just chuckled because he was interrupted with a door opening.
“Lights out Bitches!!” Santi, my other best friend, his usually untidy ponytailed hair was loose and it hovered just above his shoulders and he was without his trademark Wayfarers, and yelled randomly as he stuck his head out the door. “I need the sleep!!”
Another door was opened somewhere and this time I heard Ate Jaja’s voice somewhere downstairs before she yelled her reply. “Fuck off Santi and stop yelling!!”
“You’re yelling!”
“No I’m not!”
“Will the lot of you shut up?!!” This time it was Kuya Viggo’s voice that came from the floor above where most of the guys save Santi and Mikey were staying. Immediately, the voices yelled back who started all the yelling. Soon others had opened their doors and were yelling as well.
Bench and I exchanged amused glances before he gestured towards me to do the honours.
“SHUT UP!!” I yelled loud enough that I was sure was heard all over the house. I cast a glance back at Bench who had folded his arms, staring amusedly at my display. Well, yeah, I normally don’t yell, I didn’t even raise my voice that much, except to Bench, but he was an exception. So yeah, most people would be surprised that I had that much voice power.
Sure enough, the other yells abruptly stopped when they heard my yell.
“Hey, is that Liv?”
“Did Liv just yell?”
And other random incredulous voices floated all over the house before I breathed in and shouted again. “It’s 12 o’clock, time to go to sleep! School tomorrow! No more yelling!!” With that I breathed in and let out a whoosh of air when silence fell and one by one the guys closed their doors until it was just Bench and I left.
“You know you could shift to Music.” Bench said suggestively, giving me a smirk. “Your voice would give Mistress Laverna a high.”
I swatted his arm playfully. “Uhuh. Yeah right. Just give me my goodnight kiss already so we could go to sleep.” I offered my cheek in the traditional cheek to cheek kiss, or lips to cheek kiss Bench and I do every night before going to sleep. It started out as dare from Santi which later became a habit between Bench and me.
“You won’t sleep with me tonight?” Bench paused in leaning over towards me, meeting my own boring brown eyes with his sparkling ones. I just rolled my eyes and leaned forward a bit on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.
“No sex tonight. You’re too tired,” I turned to go, laughing gently at his mock-protests. If it would only stay this comfortable between my friend-with-benefits.