Amaranthine Devotion

II

Leo sighed quietly in exasperation as his key refused to turn inside the lock.

"Every fucking time?" He groaned to himself. He jimmied the key back out and knocked on the door.

After a moment of shuffling, Ben swung it open with a hand in his hair. He looked like he could've been sleeping except his eyes were wide and he looked pale as ever.

"Thanks," Leo muttered, walking inside quickly. Ben shut the door and walked back to his desk.

"How was work, mate?" Ben asked in his faint British accent. Leo threw his coat on the couch.

"Fine. Wanna go out for dinner with everyone?" Leo asked groggily. Ben typed a few words into the computer before turning in his chair to face Leo.

"Where at?"

"Trixi wanted Hooters because she's gay as fuck," Leo answered, running a hand through his hair. Ben grinned.

"She's tryin to get you there," Ben suggested. Leo rolled his eyes.

"No way. I can't have a girlfriend right now."

"Oh, because you're so focused on your career?"

"Yeah. Maybe."

"Leo you haven't even made a move on that job since you found out about it."

"I'm just trying to make myself a good profile."

"What at the coffee shop? Leo you're the same way with everything: you wait and wait until the offer is gone then you get upset when it isn't yours," Ben pointed out with raised eyebrows. Leo bit his lips and turned his head, nodding along to what his friend said.

"I know. I know. It's the fear. I can't get over that wall, ya know?" Leo admitted taking a breath.

Ben smiled slightly. "You're asking the failed writer if he understands the fear to start something new. Of course I understand."

"You're not a failed writer," Leo said seriously with raised eyebrows.

"Come on, Mate. It's been years and I've never finished a single book," Ben laughed.

"You finished that one! The one with the hunchback!" Leo smiled.

"That was in primary school!" Ben retorted with a wide smile. Leo collapsed into laughter on the gray couch.

"How do you even remember that?" Ben asked between laughs.

"Because you named the troll guy after me and I got mad at you until you changed it to Agatha," Leo answered, gasping for breath. The boys collapsed into laughter. When Leo laughed, he always threw his head back at least a little bit. Ben's eyes always creased at the edges and his eyebrows raised high on his face.

Their laughing died down slightly, but smiles still took up space on their faces.

"Now. Are we gonna go to dinner or what?" Ben sighed, standing from his laptop.

"Yeah. Lemme get a different shirt though," Leo replied, stretching as he walked to his room.

The shirt he was wearing smelled like coffee that was too strong and the perfume that Trixi sprayed on him as a joke. He changed into a black v-neck that showed off his arms.

Leo's room was cleaner than most guys rooms. After years of taking pictures and Polaroids of his friends and family or anything that he thought would make a good photo, his walls were covered in frames and bare pictures. His favorite was the one of him and Trixi that Ben took while they were napping, but he would never tell her.

Leo started taking pictures with he could work a camera. He majored in photography while in attending San Fransisco State University. His parents wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer like Adam but he despised everything except taking photos.

Ben popped his head into Leo's doorway with raised eyebrows, biting his upper lip.

"Ready?" he asked. Leo nodded his head, messing with his hair.

Ben and Leo met in the 4th grade. Ben had transferred to America from London when his parents both got jobs here. Even though Ben was two years younger than Leo, Ben was so much ahead in the curriculum that he got to skip a normal grade. Leo had been a weird kid in school that never finished his homework and frequently got lunch detention. Ben was the one that was a complete mess and constantly forgot his stuff.

The day Leo considers they became friends was when they were paired for a project with the best kid in the class, the teacher hoping that she would rub off on the slacking boys. The entire time Ben drew pictures on the desk and Leo stared off into space, squinting his eyes until everything matched his aesthetic. The girl became furious that they weren't working and the boys found it hilarious.

Ben says it was when they had detention together and Leo continued to mess with the sleeping teacher to the point that Ben was in tears, trying to hold in his laughter.

The agree that they weren't best friends until 6th grade when they sat at the same lunch table and had to become friends. Either way, it happened and it stayed.

"Did you buy food today?" Leo asked the younger boy. Ben's face turned pale as he sighed.

"I did not actually."

"Ben," Leo scolded, throwing his head back and rubbing his eyes in exhaustion.

"I'm sorry, okay? I was writing all day. I didn't even cook my Ramen," he grumbled. Leo suppressed a smile walking behind Ben.

"Well you have to go tomorrow. We don't want another incident.." Leo mumbled.

"That was one time!"

"But still."

"I mess up one fucking time and you rub it my face for 3 years," Ben mumbled, climbing into the passenger seat of their car.

"Which book did you work on today?" Leo asked him, starting the car.

"The Quantity of Hope. It wasn't going the way I wanted though. I'm thinking of stopping it," Ben said, scratching his head.

"Yes. God yes. Shit, Ben. How many books do you have right now?"

"8. Not counting that one."

"That's too many books!"

Ben went to college for two years before dropping out. He hated it all. Everything about school he hated. So he saved his parents a shitload of money and stopped going. He made his way by sending articles to a magazine he worked for. Ben loved working for them because it meant he didn't have to leave his house....or his laptop...or his pajamas.

After a little bit of driving, the boys arrived at the Hooters, about 10 minutes away.

"You ready to get smashed, mate?" Ben smiled, getting out of the car.

"Hell yes."

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