Page 15 of Under The Cherry Blossoms
“Skye, great to finally meet you. I’m sorry it hasn’t happened sooner, work’s been kicking my ass lately. But rest assured I’ve heard all about you by text. Ben’s been gushing like a pre-teen girl talking about Bieber.” Mason’s last statement causes me to laugh outloud.
“Well, I’m glad to meet you too, Mason, I’ve heard a lot of stories about you, that’s for sure, so it’s nice to put a face to thename.”
Mason groans in response. “None of it’s true, Iswear.”
“So, you didn’t strip Ben naked and leave him lying under a tree on campus once? I’ve got to say I’m disappointed,” I challengehim.
“Oh, well that’s absolutely true. But in my defence, he was drunk and getting handsy with me. And I did leave him a pillow, so I think I’m the good guy in thatstory.”
“The good guy, seriously dude?” Ben interrupts. “I woke up surrounded by a bunch of people laughing and taking photos of my junk; which was definitely not at its best considering how freezing it was. That shit could’ve scarred me and my dick forlife.”
“I will admit that I may have been slightly inebriated myself, so my judgement wasn’t the best. But if I recall, the pictures didn’t hurt your manwhore status at all, in fact they may have even helped,” Mason swiftlyretorts.
“Manwhore, huh?” I question. “Nowthishe never mentioned.” Mason laughs atthis.
“Doesn’t surprise me. Until the Amber incident, Ben was legendary on campus.” My eyes widen slightly at this statement and seek out Ben’s. He has vaguely mentioned in passing about a messy romantic history, but hadn’t gone into specifics and I didn’t want to push him. The air is thick with tension. Mason, realizing that he may have put his foot in his mouth, looks around the restaurant awkwardly, and Ben refuses to make eye contact with me. Thank goodness Mason’s food arrives at that moment and he makes a hastyretreat.
“It was great meeting you, Skye. I’m sorry if I fucked up just now. That’s all in Ben’s past, he’s a different man now, and he really cares about you. Don’t listen to a word I say,okay?”
“It’s fine, Mason, please don’t worry about it; I’m not.” I stand and give him a brief hug to show there are no hardfeelings.
“You don’t have to leave, Mase, it’s fine. Stay and eat with us, we were planning on another coffee, right,Squeak?”
“I definitely won’t say no to another,” Ireply.
“Thanks, but I can’t, I have to get back to theoffice.”
“It’s Friday night, man, you can’t take the night off?” Benasks.
“No, we’re trying to push a deal through at the moment so everyone’s working around the clock to meet deadlines. Things should settle down in the next few weeks though, maybe we could all have dinnerthen?”
“Sounds like a plan, make it happen, okay?” Ben stands, slaps Mason on the back and returns to hisseat.
“It was nice to meet you, Mason, I’ll look forward to that dinner.” He returns my smile before turning and walking out of therestaurant.
“So, manwhore, huh?” I say with asmile.
“He’s exaggerating,” hescoffs.
“Uh huh, I’m sure.” I roll my eyes at him. “Can I ask what the Amber situationwas?”
Ben sighs and takes a large sip of hiscoffee.
“Amber was my ex-girlfriend. Or ex fiancée, I shouldsay.”
The teaspoon I am holding clatters to the table as I try to process what he just toldme.
“Okay. Ex fiancée. That feels like maybe something you should have mentioned beforenow.”
“I know, Skye, and I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to tell you for ages but it’s hard for me to talk about. That was a really bad time in my life and I hate thinking aboutit.”
“I understand. But I do need to know.” I stand firm in my resolve. If we’re to continue with this relationship he is going to have to behonest.
“I know. You deserve to know.” He leans back in his seat, takes my hand and holding it tight, places it on hislap.
“Okay, so Mason wasn’t lying. I was a bit of a manwhore back then. It was my first time away from home, I was enjoying my freedom and I didn’t want to be tied down. I dated a lot. I fucked a lot. I had a lot of fun. Then one day, this girl I had dated casually, Amber, came to me and told me she was pregnant. I freaked out. I totally lost it for a while there. Mason got my dad to come down and he pretty much talked me off the ledge. Told me I had to man up. If I was going to go out dicking around I had to be prepared to deal with the consequences, and he was right. So, I got my head straight, accepted this was happening and actually started to get pretty excited about it. Then Amber told me that her parents were pissed as hell and threatening to cut her off and not pay for college unless she got married. That they couldn’t face the shame of their unmarried daughter having a baby.” He shakes his head at the memory, and takes a deep breath beforecontinuing.
“It didn’t make much sense. I mean it was two thousand and fucking ten, you know? Nobody cares about shit like that. But she was devastated and I felt awful. I figured we could get engaged, say we were having a long engagement and then once she finished college, break it off. We were both about to start our last year so that seemed logical. Initially she agreed but then she started putting the pressure on. Saying her parents weren’t okay with that and they weren’t going to pay her last year’s tuition unless we got married before the year started. And Amber was so persuasive. She convinced me we could make it work. That we could take a shot at being a proper family, for the sake of our baby. So, I agreed and we made plans for a simple elopement to Vegas. Because that’s how all great love stories start, right?” He snorts. I squeeze his hand to encourage him tocontinue.
