Alone Again (Brusnop)

2

"And she's buy-ing the stairway to Heaven," Ben sang with earbuds in. They were connected to an mp3 player, which had an image of the infamous Led Zeppelin album on its face. Whenever he sang, I got this odd feeling in my stomach that I didn't want to go away. I could listen to him sing for hours and never tire of it, and that concerned me greatly. I couldn't listen to my girlfriend for thirty seconds without wanting to get her annoying voice out of my ears. 

I know I don't love her, but how could I possibly like Ben? I mean, for starters, he's a dude. I sat down, laying my head back and closing my eyes while he sang. I was listening closely, trying to pretend that I wasn't really listening. Ben stood up, putting his phone down and picking up an acoustic guitar that had been left on the bus for some reason. He plucked the strings a couple of times to make sure that it was still in tune. Then he started playing several arpeggios. It wasn't a real song, but you could tell that he was basing it loosely off of what he'd just heard Jimmy Page play. 

"Didja fall asleep?" The guitarist asked me. My head snapped up, eyes open. Ben chuckled. "It's alright, mate. Just making sure my playing won't put the crowd to sleep tonight."

"Are you done practicing?" I asked him.

"Do you want me to be?" His question was lighthearted, a joke. That stung a little bit, but I guess my question wasn't exactly an invitation.

"No," I mumbled, a little shy about it. I don't know why being around Ben has got me so crazy lately. But it's not like I could've stuck around for an encore, because my phone started ringing. "Should probably answer this," I said, picking it up.

"I'm sorry about Bitchabelle."

I left the room without responding. His sympathy touched me, but I didn't need it yet. "Hello?"

"We're done! I'm done with you and your fucking sarcasm and your not really caring. I'm done with all of it!"

"That's fine with me," I sighed, holding the receiver away from my ear so that the bitch wouldn't make me go deaf with all of her screaming. The line went dead. I looked at my phone, laughing. I laughed and laughed. "Freedom!" I cheered. "Sweet freedom, baby!"

I stepped outside to the front lounge where Ben was sitting. "Well?" He asked. I grinned at him. "Is she gone, mate?"

"I'd say victory lap dances are in order," I said, taking his hand so that we could head straight for the nearest strip club.

"I haven't seen you this happy in a long time," Ben said after we'd been frustrated by all of the sexy women giving us all sorts of erotic attention.

"I haven't felt this good in a long time. Being away from her feels so good. It's better than drugs, mate. I'm free."

"Not thinking about your next relationship anytime soon?"

"Nah, I just wanna pay for a lot of good sex and treat groupies like the whores they are. This is the life." I laid back, clicking my whisky bottle against his. I was a filthy liar though. In fact, I was thinking about my next relationship. It wasn't the girls at the club that had given me the idea though, but rather the man who I wasn't supposed to be paying attention to. Yes, the sexy, 36-24-36 'perfect' bodies were definitely turning me on, but seeing the way that Ben was looking at them was really getting me going. I wanted to make him look at me like that. The notion was bizarre and I hated it, too. I'd never liked another man in my life, why was it suddenly changing now?

Ben finished his bottle, standing up. We were sitting on a random street corner drinking before the bus left for the next city. Dangerous as it may seem, it'd become so much of a ritual we were both definitely alcoholics at this point. "We should probably start heading back now," he concluded. I stood up as well, nodding slowly. 

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I picked it up. "Why is she-?" I started. Ben groaned when I answered my phone. 

"Take me back!" Isabelle whined on the other end of the receiver. "You need me, you love me. You can't do a damn thing without me, right? Doesn't your life feel empty without me?"

"You only broke things off with me a few hours ago. Why are you changing your mind now?" I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated with her. I was done with her; I didn't want for this to become a back and forth.

"Because I realized that I was being an idiot. Why would I do something like that to you?"

"Couldn't immediately find another man that would let you push him around?" I taunted her. "Have a real nice time with your psychotic life, asshole. I'm done with you." With nothing more to say, I hung the phone up.

"Smart move," Ben told me, putting his hand on my shoulder. He was proud of me, and that put a warm feeling in my blood.