Chapter 22 #2
“And I'm guessing by your clear excitement that it was lightyears better than doing it on Derrick's dad's boat.”
Benny gave one definitive nod.
“Well, I'm glad boat sex with Jack is so good I’m getting yelled at for it.” He threw Benny the pair of back-up hot glue sticks that had been requested of him and got out of the car.
Like Benny, he’d dressed up for the occasion.
Both had slacks and shirts that showed off their best features, tastefully.
Benny had also donned his mother’s favorite fun ring on a chain around his neck for the event.
A detail Cal had approved of before Benny had left earlier.
“You know, I love you, I really do…” Ethan continued as they started to walk through the parking lot. “But I think I like you more when you’re around him. Jack, I mean.”
Benny put his hand to his chest in offense.
Ethan waved him off before he could call him on it.
“What I mean is, I haven't seen you like this in a really long time,” he explained. “You just really seem to be digging you and, I don’t know, it’s kind of cool.”
“I’m digging being myself?” Benny repeated. “Was I not before?”
Ethan seemed to think about the question for a second.
He shrugged.
“I mean, within the last month you’ve published a secret blog, all but clinched a contract with a literary agent, brunched and boated with the Robertsons—and survived, might I add—played spies, became judge and jury of perhaps the most embarrassing first-time sex stories I’ve ever heard in my life, and you’ve just yelled at me about boat sex.
Something I appreciate but did not, in fact, ask to know. ”
He pointed a finger gun at Benny.
“Yeah, Jack might have helped push you out of your comfort zone some but, Benny De Carlo, you're the one who started almost all of the chaos outside of it.”
Benny started to deny the observation. He stopped.
Ethan wasn’t wrong.
For someone who loved a comfort zone, he’d gone and tried to escape through someone else’s window.
“Well, whatever or whoever is making me this way, let’s hope my luck and not my awkward holds out tonight,” Benny concluded. “Everyone inside is really counting on it going well.”
Jack, Dixon and his parents, and Santana were all inside, bracing for what they hoped would be a party that reminded Arbor Bay of the sense of community a small-town bar could offer.
Sometime in the last few weeks, he’d also become invested in that hope.
“Cassidy’s is a good place,” Ethan added on.
Benny nodded, a few steps from the front door.
He slowed when Ethan asked a question he hadn’t expected.
“And a place you might want to stick around for?” Ethan held his hand up to stop a response.
“What I meant to say is, I've already made peace with you moving out of Arbor Bay and staying away, and I won't for a second try to guilt you or beg you to come back just because I miss you.
Because moving on is normal and no one should force themselves to live in their hometown just because it is their hometown.
But. I like seeing you happy and, well, I just like seeing you.
So, for tonight, why don't you do me a favor and pretend you live here again?
Then tomorrow, remember that you're leaving. After the pageant? Tell me which feels right. What do you say?”
Benny didn’t know what to say.
Ethan, who still had no idea that Jack wasn’t his real boyfriend—wasn’t his Guy—had just asked him to play pretend.
Not only that, he’d asked him to think about his future with the guy he was already playing pretend with.
Addressing the lies and the future all at once became an overwhelming weight in Benny’s chest.
The best he could give his friend was one little answer.
“I can try.”
* * *
Missy Robertson was drunk and swearing she wasn't, Ms. Peggy had an eye patch on, Dewey's shirt was wet from the impromptu wet T-shirt contest out on the patio, Callum and Ethan were talking in rasps after their karaoke set, and Benny had kicked off his boots beneath the table he was sharing with Marcus and Felicity since he'd damn near worn his feet out after dancing for over an hour.
Jack, sexy-as-hell and smooth-talking bartender extraordinaire, was in his element slinging drinks and vibing with every person who stood across from him.
“He really loves this place, doesn't he?”
Felicity was wearing a cute yellow dress that did everything for her tan, perfectly applied makeup, and a nice smile. She nodded toward Jack, and Benny could tell there was some wistfulness there.
That should have made Benny feel some kind of jealousy, he guessed, but he just didn’t. Maybe because he knew she didn’t understand the noise of it all.
It also helped that Jack hadn’t really left Benny alone all night.
When he hadn’t been a few feet away at the bar, he’d been laughing with him, dancing with him, and had even kissed him beneath the horror-movie-styled antler chandelier for good measure.
During that time, Marcus and Felicity had done more or less the same things, just within their own bubble.
“I think he’s lucky to be so passionate about something,” Benny said, matter-of-factly. “A lot of people go their whole lives looking for that kind of feeling and never get it.”
Felicity nodded slowly.
She excused herself.
Benny had to admit he got a teensy bit worried when the woman headed to the bar, in the direction of his bartender, but then she cut right and went to the bathroom.
Marcus, who had been finishing his conversation with the local mechanic, Dina Morris, took a swig of his beer and turned his attention to Benny.
Just like he thought it was okay for Felicity to feel a bit of remorse for her and Jack's failed relationship, Benny knew there would never be a day that he didn't think Marcus Robertson wasn't a pure, genuine, nice guy.
Just not his Guy.
“Hey, can I tell you a secret?” he asked. He attempted a whisper, but it was loud enough to hear easily over the music and chatter around them.
“Sure!”
Marcus scanned the crowd until he found the person he was looking for. He pointed to his twin.
Carol Robertson had been weirdly absent from Benny's personal space since she had arrived.
“My sister tried to overthrow this party by putting together her own party over on Blecker Street.” He shook his head. “But guess what? Everyone she asked already said they were coming here. Even Ruby said she wanted to come to Cassidy’s to see what all the fuss was about.”
Benny took a moment to find Ruby in the crowd. For once she wasn't stuck to Carol's side. It seemed her lips stuck were stuck to the mayor's metaphorical ass instead. They'd been talking since the moment after he'd finished telling Benny and Jack that he couldn't wait for the pageant.
“Wow, that's big,” Benny said.
Marcus laughed and threw his arms out wide.
“That’s what I’m saying, Benny! This party is big! I mean, y'all really just killed it. Really and truly.”
Warmth spread across Benny’s chest and it had nothing to do with the drinks he’d been slinging back since the party had started.
A Robertson had given Cassidy’s Place a stamp of approval.
The Golden Boy of Arbor Bay had endorsed the bar.
Which hopefully meant the rest of Arbor Bay who had shifted loyalty to The Drinking Spot might wake the hell up and help support their own.
Which would make Jack happy.
Which would make him happy.
Because Jack loved Cassidy’s Place.
And Cassidy’s Place was in Arbor Bay.
Not Nashville.
Pretend you live here, just for the night, Benny reminded himself. Pretend this conversation doesn’t have to happen later.
Benny accepted his own advice and was back to smiling when Felicity returned. She immediately had thoughts too, but they weren’t about the festivities around them.
“Benny, have you seen what's in the women's bathroom?”
“You mean the tampon and pads platter?”
Felicity hit the table with her hand in a rare hoot of laughter.
“Yes,” she exclaimed. “There were three of us in there just staring at it.
I mean, it has labeled dividers and the really nice name-brand ones too.
There's even a drop box next to the sink that asks for suggestions on how to make the bathroom experience even better.” Felicity laughed again.
“I've never seen that before and, honestly, I'd come back to drink here just for that kind of service.”
Benny was about to tell her that she wasn't the only person there who had praised the selection, but the sound of Dixon yelling from a table over beat him to a response.
“I knew it!”