Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
“You could belly dance and I could swing flaming swords around you?”
Benny ran a hand over his slicked-back hair and let Jack know straight up that there weren't going to be any flaming swords anywhere near him at the Arbor Bay pageant. Or just in life in general.
“How about you belly dance and I just pull up a chair and watch with the crowd?” Benny offered.
Jack laughed into the water.
“I’m good for a show when I need to be, but I don't know about that act, sweet cheeks.”
Since Benny had jumped into the bay, the group had somewhat gone on to do their own things.
Marcus had beached the boat and then spent time lounging in the shallow water with Felicity.
Carol and Ruby had taken their lounging to the small strip of sand that curved against Floater's Cove, taking several selfies while tanning on matching designer towels.
While Benny and Jack, on the other hand, had opted to lounge by switching between standing in and treading water out of earshot of the group.
There they finally addressed the Arbor Bay-sized elephant in their shared room.
The talent portion of the Sailors and Mermaids pageant.
“We should keep it nautical-themed,” Benny tried. “Something we can do while wearing mermaid and sailor costumes. Really on the nose stuff that's all flashy so they don't notice right away that we have no talent.”
Jack splashed at him.
“Hey, I know you aren't lumping me in with you right there.” He brought his hand to his chest, causing a ripple across the surface of the water. “I have talent. I make all the guys and gals drop their jaws.”
Benny didn’t look convinced.
“Oh, really? Tell me, then. What, Mr. Knox, are your jaw-dropping talents?”
Jack couldn’t help the eyebrow wiggle that cruised across his brow.
“I can name a few, but I don’t want you getting too excited out here in front of our company. Carol will surely talk.”
Jack expected Benny’s face to flame on. Instead, he rolled his eyes.
Jack couldn’t exactly prove it, but he felt like something had happened to Benny on the boat. That something had changed. He’d been hurt and stressed and fidgeting on deck, but since he’d surfaced from the water he’d been…sassier.
Laughing and teasing and deflecting every pseudo-naughty comment Jack had thrown his way. It was like the water had washed away whatever had been gunking up his confidence works.
Jack didn’t know what had inspired it or if it was temporary, but he wasn’t complaining.
Sassy Benny was playful and Jack had been having fun playing so far.
Benny splashed him back, proving his quiet point.
“Nothing that constitutes an eyebrow wiggle is going to be appropriate on a stage,” he said. “At least not the same stage Mrs. Norton is going to be playing Moonlight Sonata on for the closer.”
Jack supposed he could see the problem in that.
“Okay, fine,” he relented. “Well, as far as talents that two people can do on stage that are rated PG…” He sucked on his teeth. No gem of an answer came out. “Well, shit, I have no idea.”
Benny’s sassy turned into focus.
“Here, let's take this approach,” he said. “Instead of two truths and a lie, let's say three things we're really good at and see if we can't get something from that. Let’s refresh first.”
Jack didn’t watch as Benny went underwater.
He did watch when he popped back up.
This was the third time—he was counting—that he’d seen the man bare and wet. The sight still didn't disappoint.
His hair looked different, but good, slicked back. Like he'd styled it for a night out at the opera or some fancy gala. One where he'd wear a three-piece suit and a trendy pocket square that Jack himself would have no doubt complained about had it been in his pocket.
Then there was that body again.
Jack had seen it, felt it, and held it during the spider incident.
But wet?
Shit was admirable.
Even bobbing around in the bay, there was something to be said about the man’s pecs and shoulders.
They weren’t toned to a tee, but they sure as sure looked nice enough to touch.
Never mind the damn sunshine making his skin fucking shimmer.
Jack’s trunks got tight.
It didn’t help that the water was warm.
Benny ran a hand down his face and then through his hair.
“Okay, you go first.”
Jack, and his tight shorts, tried for focus now.
“Three things I'm good at…” he started. “Hmm.
Well, I always thought it looked stupid when bartenders slung shakers around when making drinks.
So, I learned how to do it? I can sling ‘em around. But nothing else. Glasses? I break them. Knives? Nearly lost a finger when I tried. It's just the metal shakers. Something Dixon has always dogged me about but, I gotta point it out here, he can’t juggle anything.”
“Let me also point it out here, I can't juggle anything,” Benny was quick to interject. “In fact, I'm not even that great at throwing and catching anything. My dad and Callum tried to impart to me that specific skillset, but I couldn’t do either to save my life.”
“Is there anything you could do to save someone’s life?”
Benny didn’t even flinch.
“You know the big scene in the movie Flashdance? Where she’s in front of the judges and blows them away with her dance?
I can do that. The dance, I mean. Every step, every twist, every move.
No mistakes. Just a boy with a dream. But not the outfit.
I’m not sure I’d look good in a leotard and tights. ”
Jack had to take a beat.
Benny’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t think of me in a leotard and tights, Jack,” he warned. “I mean it.”
Jack’s hands shot up out of the water in defense.
“I’m not thinking about your tights,” he lied. “But I gotta point out that you—Benny De Carlo, the nervous nelly himself—just said you’d be okay to do a whole-ass dance routine on stage. In front of the town.”
Benny’s eyes widened.
“I don't think I'll ever be emotionally, mentally, or physically able to do that in public. Definitely not on a stage. We’re just sharing our weird skills right now.”
“So you wouldn’t want to do any kind of trend dance then, I’m assuming.”
Benny was violent with his head shake.
“That’s a big no-go for me, Mr. Knox.”
Jack shrugged, water rolling off of his hair.
“Can’t say I’m any different, though. Being in the pageant is one thing, twerking my ass up on stage is another.”
He lowered himself in the water to lessen their height difference. He was able to see Benny’s smile head-on that way. It was nice.
“The only things I would consider myself really good at are bar-related,” he finally decided. “Slinging mixers, making drinks—”
“—and keeping the secrets of people who have had too many of those drinks,” Benny interrupted.
Jack snorted.
“Yeah, but none of those is a skill I think I can wow at a pageant with. What're your other two things?”
“I'm really good at old school arcade games like Donkey Kong? You know the one where they throw the barrels and you have to dodge and climb ladders… Oh! I can stand on one foot for a really long time. Like balance on it. Ethan timed me once and I made it to six minutes without falling. Which, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure whether that is impressive or not.
” Benny burst into laughter, a ripple of water moving around him. “We are so screwed, aren't we?”
Jack wished he could say otherwise.
“Yeah, I’m not too sure how slinging drinks and standing on one leg is going to get us much in ways of a prize or good publicity for the bar.”
They swam around for a few more minutes, throwing out suggestions and recaps from movies they'd seen with real-life pageants and talent shows in them.
Nothing really landed. Benny was ready to give up, wondering aloud if it would be easier if the pageant didn't call for couples to do a talent together, when Jack asked what he thought was an innocent and reasonable question.
“Ms. Peggy said your parents were in the pageant back in the day, right? What was their talent?”
The moment he asked, Jack knew he’d hit some kind of something. Benny’s smile wavered in a way that didn’t seem like he was in control of it. That someone else had instead tied strings to it and wiggled.
A weird silence stretched between them.
Jack almost took his question back when Benny finally answered.
“They were in the pageant,” he said. “But I don't think what they did will work for us. My parents had been dating for a while by the time they were in it and my mom used their first festival date to try and convince my dad to move in with her. Dad, who was a self-proclaimed commitment-phobe, freaked out. So much so that he actually ignored her for a few days leading up to the pageant. Then, when he showed up and tried to apologize for freaking out, she said they would do the pageant because she'd already committed to it but after that? She was done. They were through.” Benny’s off-kilter smile transformed into a grin.
Jack felt lighter again.
“They had this dance routine they'd practiced for their talent before, but Dad decided to scrap it as soon as they got onstage,” he continued. “Instead, he sat my mom down on one of the props and sang Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler to her. A capella.”
Jack laughed out in surprise.
“No way.”
“He sure did. In front of the entire town, he committed to a very rough bit just to prove he loved her.”
Jack whistled.
“Oof. I’ve heard a few people at Cassidy’s attempt that song during karaoke and it’s a hard one with music. I’d be sweating bullets.”
Benny laughed.
“Well, Dad even sang the high parts. No music. Just him. Mom said it was so embarrassing, but Dad stood by his reasoning that it was the only way she'd see he was all in, despite being clueless at first.”
“And I'm guessing, since I've met you and your brother, that it smoothed things over between them?”
“Definitely. Mom said he could have stopped at the chorus and she would have forgiven him. It was the single weirdest and sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. They got married six months later.”
Jack was all admiration.
“What a power move.”
Jack took a moment.
Then he narrowed his eyes at Benny.