Chapter 1- Setting up Base
Hi, I am Ben Howe and if you saw me, you might think that I was a successful businessman. There are a few things I have learned in life that I take as life lessons: the first, every books cover is judged accordingly; the second, that if one is to whisper it makes a conversation more intriguing; and the third, pronounce the with a he as apposed to the with a uh. These three life lessons I took into adulthood and discovered that even with them my life sucks.
***
Ben Howe trotted leisurely down the Embarcadero, a long street in San Francisco. He decided today was going to be different than all the others in his life. He didn't know why but today felt different. It could have been the lazy fog which drifted in from the Bay and distorted the gray Bay Bridge which reached its long metal arms from Oakland to San Francisco. Ben pondered a moment and knew that the fog wasn't the reason why it would be different, the fog felt the same. His dark dress shoes patted against the pavement and his heart thumped with each step. Then the feeling came to his attention, when the day ended he would be off to Disneyland.
Ben wore a slick business suit; at least it gave that impression. Ben's suit was a hand-me-down from his father. At the not so tender age of twenty-three, Ben still lived with his parents. The situation not only made it impossible to bring any guys home but also restricted his mental growth into adulthood. He wanted to spread his wings and fly the coop like a caged bird set free. For a moment, Ben thought of turning back and going home, he was late now. As he passed by polished glass windows he noticed his brown hair needed to be cut. The longer it got the curlier it became and the curls tended to flip up in the front.
As he arrived at work, his boss greeted him with a questionable smile. It was the stereotypical boss with thinning gray hair and a crooked smile.
"Ben," His boss muttered as he walked in late, "When did your shift start?"
"9:30," Ben replied and glanced at his watch, it was 9:40. He braced himself for the fatherly lecture which would pursue it. It was not the first time Ben received the speech. The young man had lost all his passion for his current position at his current employment facility.
"I believe in personal character Benny," The boss noted trying to make the phrase more personable than it was. It was going to be a long drawn out speech with pointless morals that even the boss wouldn't fully understand. The Doctor Sues kind of speech, with 'kanglamours' and 'borgginkers'. "It was in my character to hire you." The thinning haired man pointed to himself. "You are a reflection of me, Benny Boy."
Ben looked at his boss and frowned slightly. He was sure the older man had taken the frown as a sympathetic and apologetic one. The frown symbolized more than that. It was more a disappointment. Ben took the term a reflection of him to mean that by thirty that is what he would look like.
"You see when you perform badly, I perform badly, and when I perform badly…" The boss explained taking pauses, which felt like small seizers by the expression on his face, but were placed for dramatic effect.
"People die, I know," Ben replied nodding. It was awkward being so blunt about a harassing statement. But who could Ben report to about it? His boss? Not if his boss was making those statements.
"Not literally, but metaphorically," The boss pointed out with an arrogant grin. "What would we do here if we didn't have our gofer to get coffee for us in the morning?" The boss gave Ben a manly pat on the back which not only emasculated the boy but slightly hurt.
"Oh that college degree in communications means so much right now." Ben whispered as the boss walked away. "Yeah, so much," Ben rolled his eyes and walked down the hall. It would be a long day full of pointless tasks. The young man knew today was different though. Today was the day that he would leave this place even if only for a moment.
***
A large Boeing took Ben to LAX. His flight passed by peacefully. The hum of the engine through the cabin relaxed him. It was a gentle song to his ears cooing to him about the following days ahead. Ben held his breath in anticipation as he landed. The flight wasn't that horrible besides the fact of am immature flight attendant. She had too much makeup on and smelled of a pungent citrus orange. Even though the flight attendant wasn't the nicest woman in the world, she did do her job.
Once the plane landed Ben found the exit. He was the last of the three friends arriving at the airport. His heart beat faster and faster and his feet felt heavy. Ben wanted to start his vacation and knew that it only could when he spotted Colby and Gwen. In high school they were the three brunettes. The trio that stood strong amongst all the taunts and terror that surrounded them.
Ben didn't like thinking of his high school days, it was fruitless for him to go back and think of things he could never change. In a way, high school was the stereotypical time of the world. He was the gay guy which was friends with the fat girls. At the time, Gwen was short and pudgy with frizzy brown hair which stuck out in all directions. Colby was the Goth girl who wore black and dyed her hair multiple colors. Then, last but not least, Ben was the shy guy who hid behind religion in a feeble attempt to hide his homosexuality. It was an awkward time for everyone, no one was sure of themselves and no one could accept the world for what it really was. Ben didn't dwell on these thoughts as he passed by the security check in.
Colby, beautiful Colby who had become a bright and peppy swan. Her eyes shimmered with a green glow and her straightened brown hair drifted down her shoulders like silk. She held up a sign and bounced up and down indicating to Ben where she was located. Colby still had a large butt which she carried on in pride through the generations of her family.
Ben lifted a hand and gave a single wave moving his wrist horizontal as opposed to vertical. It was the straightest thing he could muster up. Over the past years he perfected the ways of acting straight so people around him wouldn't know more than he wanted them too.
Gwen caught this act and let out a laugh, she had become a butterfly as well, her hair was only slightly frizzy but among the perfect teeth and skinny body she looked wonderful. This is not to say that Gwen still didn't have some extra chub and that she didn't have to wear a retainer at night.
"I am so glad you are here Ben," The taller of the two girls, Colby, hugged him. "You can't imagine, I mean this is so great the three of us together again, like high school." Colby had to bring the topic up. They had seen each other since the graduation but the times had been far and few between.
"Please don't remind me Colby," Gwen, the shorter girl said to the other. She looked up at Ben with a yearning smile and nodded. "You remember right Ben? Gwen, the obese trumpet player, never invited to the band parties." Gwen let out a mocking laugh as she pushed aside those memories. "To think, I envied those band geeks." Gwen muttered to herself.
"Well, I was really into black, remember, dyed my hair purple and sat by the old oak tree." Colby laughed and straightened her posture. "Okay, can we please get out of the airport, police make me nervous." Colby glanced over at a cop who was scanning an Indian woman.
"How about we drop our stuff off at the room and then go to Disneyland," Gwen explained and walked off with her suitcase. "Anything else with you? Other than that backpack?" Gwen pointed a finger at Ben who felt the attention shift to him. His feet were still wobbly from the flight.
"No, I don't pack as much as girls do," Ben replied his snide remark beginning the endless round of sarcastic joke. He took a few steps closer already feeling the warmth of the Los Angeles area.
"But you are a queen Ben, a beautiful queen," Gwen added as she hailed a taxi and the three went off to their hotel. "I am sure you have your servants carrying the rest."
That evening as the three returned from their adventurous day at Disney Magical Kingdom they found their way to the beds and collapsed, tired. Each one had had a spectacular day braving the haunted mansion, adventuring with pirates, and even blasting off into space with Buzz Light-year.
"What a fun day, I am glad we got into the right park." Colby stated as she stretched her arms. She wanted to soak up the coolness of the sheets. Her arms burned with tiredness.
"Me too, it was confusing, there are all these different tickets. Ticket packs too. It's like you can't just buy a single ticket anymore you have to buy a whole weekends worth." Gwen yawned and looked out the window into a black abyss.
"I think my favorite part of the whole day was when we went into the Haunted Mansion. Those two brothers were fighting then the dad called the mother a whore, classic American Family." Ben pulled himself together and moseyed over into the bathroom. His legs felt like Jell-o but he wanted to brush his teeth. "Mind if I take the free stuff." Ben spoke of all the tiny free soaps and combs which the hotel offered.
"No, go ahead," Colby shouted as she adjusted her position to find even more of the illusive cold. "Okay, this is probably the most fun I have had in a long time." She stated with a laugh.
"Yeah, my life is a crap compared to this." Gwen blurted out not caring about what response she would receive. Gwen thought to her tiny apartment in New York and what little money she had left in the bank.
Ben came back in the room with a toothbrush in his mouth and collapsed on his bed. He looked over at Colby and Gwen who had yet to move. The room was quiet and the heavy weight of sleepiness pressed down on them. In all the adventure of the day they had yet to speak of their personal lives.
"I am done with the lies, my life sucks." Gwen repeated. She sat up on her elbows and looked at Ben from her bed, which was closet to the window.
"Why do you say that? Gallery isn't working out?" Colby tried to turn her head but was too tired to move and gave up.
"Gallery, hah, yeah all my work is in La Basura, I learned that from this Mexican in my apartment complex. It means 'the trash' in Spanish." Gwen frowned. She could just imagine people breaking into the gallery as they spoke. It was in such a run-down neighborhood.
"Don't refer to them like that," Colby argued. She didn't want to be the party-pooper but felt it needed to be said. She was only joking anyway.
"Please, Miss I don't speak to the help." Gwen retorted. They argued, but it was all in good humor.
"Okay, well, my life isn't that great either. I tried to go into photography but, it just…didn't jump off." Colby pursed her lips in thought. "I guess I am a failure, I was so hoping to beat those skinny white skanks from high school too. I guess they lucked out using sex to get with senators."
"Skinny white girls always get what they want." Ben replied with a bear-like yawn. He thought off all the attractive guys he had seen with skinny white girls. "They get the money, the power, and the guys…and I am stuck with Mr. Settle."
"Okay, so your love life hasn't been that fantastic, but your career is…" Colby tried to sound encouraging.
"I am a gofer; I advanced from intern to gofer. I haven't had sex in over a year and…" Ben was interrupted.
"Over a year," Gwen shouted in shock. Gwen couldn't imagine any gay man not having sex in such a long time. "Sorry, but that's a long time right? That's a long time?" She turned to Colby for reassurance.
"Yeah, it is, but hey you live with your mom so you can't exactly bring them home right?" Colby said but knew that she had failed miserably. It was interesting to Colby that her words of encouragement could emasculate Ben so much that he felt worse than before.
"Can we please just drink our troubles away," Gwen said in a whiney voice and made a feeble attempt to move her arm in the direction of the mini-bar.
"I'm not even rich enough to spend any money on that," Colby cried. She lifted her hand up and slammed it down on the bed in complaint. "Check my purse though; I think there is a flask in there, my little pick-me-up."
The three drank their troubles away with the large bottle which was neatly tucked away in Colby's purse. None had decided to ask of her methods of concealment but they all felt it necessary to drink to their lives. It was a toast which they all accepted freely. The sweet nectar would drown their troubles and melt their brains.
As dawn broke as the harsh light flooded into the tiny room Gwen was the first to moan which resulted in a cascade of moans from everyone else. The headaches were immense. It was as if each one of them was hit by a train, carrying buses, carrying passengers.
"I feel sick, of everything. I just want to throw up my life and feel better." Colby sat up and felt her head throb as she winced. The light didn't make her nausea any better.
"Same, I can't believe we tackled that whole mini-bar, that's going to be like a hundred dollars easy." Gwen said as she barfed a little bit in her mouth but swallowed it. She felt dirty still in her clothes from yesterday. Gwen wanted a large breakfast of waffles served to her in the bathtub.
Ben noticed a dry toothbrush on the bed sheets and frowned. "You know when you brush your teeth and then drink something sweet, it tastes weird. Same with beer, toothpaste and beer...yuck," Ben complained noticing the strange taste in his mouth.
"Same with life, life is weird," Colby was still on her rant continuing from where she left off the night prior.
"Shut up you emo," Gwen joked and hurried to the bathroom. Gwen slipped off the bed faster than any of them could see.
"What if we start over?" Colby turned to Ben who lay in the fetal position on his bed. Colby couldn't help but smile at her friend who reminded her of a baby boy.
"You mean go in my mother's uterus. My parents make me pay rent for the house I wonder how much that would cost." Ben shrugged.
"Yeah, Colby, stop being cheerful, it makes me sick." Gwen said as she brushed her teeth, exiting the bathroom.
"No, guys I am serious." Colby spoke with enthusiasm and slapped her hands down on the sheets. "We take our money and go somewhere and start anew. Our lives might still suck, but we will be together. You both said it, yesterday was the most fun you've had in a long time."
"Oh and we can all just live in Disneyland, get real Cinderella, life isn't a fairy tale," Gwen replied and walked into the bathroom to spit out the foam which accumulated around her lips. She wasn't about to spend all her money on a pleasure cruise.
"There definitely is no prince charming," Ben shrugged and picked up his dry toothbrush then went to the bathroom. He knew that if he couldn't find one in one year, his love life had died and been buried.
"Ben, if you bring a guy home, I promise you could sleep with him and I wouldn't bug you about it. Just you know, keep it in your room." Colby said, knowing full well that Ben would have trouble even picking up a guy. She wanted to entice him to go along with her idea. The idea, which in Colby's head, felt very feasible.
"I'm in," Ben said overeager. He spun around on the balls of his feet and a large grin, with the promise of romance, appeared on his face.
"Oh the allure of treats makes the puppy happy," Gwen added as she exited the bathroom. "What do I get? All the alcohol I can drink?"
"No, a new location to show your work, you can become international?" Colby replied her eyes wide with hope.
"Oh Mexico, fancy," Gwen laughed and twirled her finger in the air. She knew Colby and loved her dearly. The words Colby uttered were appealing but Gwen wasn't sure. She knew whatever Colby said next would either seal the deal or break it.
"No, I am thinking London, England." Colby suggested as her lips turned upward. She knew that she had convinced both her friends to join her in a new part of their lives.
***
Heathrow Airport, London's major airport and a hub to all of Europe, was a long line after another long line. The customs official, other than staring at Colby's bust, let them through without a hitch. Getting the Visa and all the official permits proved more of a wait than a hassle. The trio kept each other company and although the time didn't fly it did move.
Once away from the airport and in downtown London they found themselves immersed in a barrage of stores and people. The bustling streets of London felt too busy to care for outsiders. Everyone appeared like they knew where they were going; this was discouraging to the three who still had no place to live. They picked up a few newspapers and skimmed articles for rooms available for rent. It didn't take long before they found places in their budget. After inspecting all of the rooms they sat down on a bench to discuss where they would live.
"Okay, so I think we should take the third apartment or flat or whatever." Gwen nodded. "That's the only location I feel I won't get shot in." Gwen didn't want to live in a ghetto neighborhood where she had come from. It wasn't that she was scared; it was that she was sick of hearing gun shots at night.
"Same," Colby raised her hand in agreement. "Plus, it is close to a Tube station, don't you love that name, tube like lube."
"Okay, sounds good. We only have enough for two months rent though. That means we need to find jobs quickly or we are booted back to homelessness in America. We for sure will get shot there." Ben added as his stomach grumbled. He looked down the street and spotted a dodgy Chinese place. "I hate the money here."
"Why?" Colby inquired furrowing her brow. "It's really cute with little pictures of the queen and it's so colorful, like monopoly money." Colby had a way of bringing play into every aspect of her life. It was something that made being around her enjoyable.
"Because, it's called pounds and you know if you spend it on food you will gain pounds and let's face it," Ben paused afraid of what he would say next.
"You're already fat Ben," Gwen interjected then let out a laugh at the joke. "Get over it, you are skinny and beautiful…such a beautiful daughter I have." Gwen lifted her hand and rustled his hair. Gwen liked to mess with Ben and knew he could take it. She had such a soft spot in her heart for the boy who had been with her through all the rough spots in high school.
"Shut up," Ben replied his mouth revealing a tiny spark of happiness as he edged away. "Okay, so we are here, in London, let's go buy our place so the movers know where to drop our stuff off. Then grab a bite to eat."
"Or grab a bite to eat then buy our place." Colby recommended a bounce in her step. She grabbed one hand from head of her friends shaking them playfully.
"Or go find Prince Harry and show him how Americans have fun." Gwen said in a sultry voice with a smirk on her lips.
***
Okay, so we learn lessons throughout our life and I learned my three. I guess the biggest lesson that needs to be learned is that sometimes you need to readjust your lessons. To figure out that it is okay to change your routine and do something new. The worst that can happen is you come out knowing more than you went in with. It's the simple fact of life that every day is special because we are the oldest that we have ever been each day. I have not yet figured out if age equals wisdom, but it's reassuring to think it does.
***
(((AUTHORS ANALYSIS)))
Okay, okay, so we are off to a start here. I know most of you just want to get to the romance, but I need to build up the characters first. It was more important to me to show where Ben, Colby, and Gwen were coming from. How much they have grown and how much they are still kids. Hence all the references to Disneyland, this will probably be a carrying on theme.
Let's take a look at Benny Boy; he was probably the most desperate of them all to escape his life. Alone he proved incapable of living. He still was with his parent, stuck with a job he didn't like, and had already accepted that he didn't deserve a love life. His character is the one that needs others to help push him though. I think he is also the one which will develop the most because by him agreeing to Colby it was him taking control of the decisions in his life for once.