Ben
Lee has been acting strange ever since I told him that I was dating Bryce. In class he barely spoke to me and he avoided talking to me by any means necessary. I tried to talk to him but he always said he had something to do.
On our next band rehearsal, I had to confront him about his avoidance of me.
"Lee," I called out to him, "What's with you?"
"Nothing," he answered, "I've just been busy."
"Busy with what?" I asked him, "Ever since I introduced Bryce to you, you've been avoiding me. Are you mad at me?"
"No," he replied, "I'll admit, I was a tad bit annoyed that you didn't tell me immediately that you had a boyfriend. I've just been busy with some of my classes, and promoting our band. It's a lot to juggle."
"So," I asked him, "Are we good?"
"Yeah," he replied, "We've always been good. Sorry I made you think there was an issue between your boyfriend and I. You two look great together."
We continued with our rehearsal, learning a new song and hammered out any and all errors we made during the rehearsal.
Bryce
A few days after the awkward visit from Ben's friend, Ben had told me his friend was avoiding him. I found that to be rather odd. That is until I ran into him heading towards the dining hall.
"Hey man," he called to me, "What's up?"
"Hey," I answered back, "You're Ben's friend, right?"
He looked somewhat offended, but still playfully cheery, "Oh, You can't remember my name?"
"Fucking Lee!" I said as his name popped into my head all of a sudden.
"Just Lee," he replied, "I am your boyfriend's most trusted friend after all."
"Yeah," I said, "He talks about you a lot."
"Oh," he said excitedly, "All good I hope. After all, I am the handsome drummer of the band."
"But I heard the lead singer is more popular than you," I clapped back like I would if he were Techno, "He gets drinks, phone numbers, social media friend requests…"
"Oooh, you're pretty harsh," he said, "I like that about you."
"Seems to be my best quality," I replied, "According to my boyfriend."
"And if I were to tell him you're picking on me?" he asked with a playful smile.
"Go ahead," I told him, "Let's see whose side he'll take. Yours or mine?"
"Wow," he said, "playing the boyfriend card off the bat. I'll lose for sure. I can see why he likes you."
"Well," I said, "Since we both don't know about each other, why don't we grab a bite to eat and get to know each other better?"
"I'm game," he answered, "But I don't have any money. I used my allowance for new drumsticks, so I'm broke for now."
"No problem," I said, "I can cover this time. Next time, on you?"
"Deal," he said, "Besides, I can also tell you Ben's deepest and darkest secrets."
I bought him a meal pass for the day and Lee ate as if he hadn't eaten in days.
"So," I asked as he dug in, "What secrets do you have on Ben?"
Lee swallowed his food and asked, "Well, what would you like to know? I know everything about him, including his ex-boyfriends."
I found it rather odd that he would mention that, but still I played along, "Why would I need to know about his exes?"
"Well," he answered, "You may not know this, but Ben has a bit of a reputation. He would date guys in high school constantly. However those flings never lasted. Almost like he's cursed when it comes to dating."
"How so?" I asked, "I've been dating him for a while and we're fine."
"Then I guess you're the one who broke it," he said, "But it all started with Sam."
The very mention of his name made my stomach turn, "You know him?"
Lee nodded to confirm, "Aside from Sam, all of Ben's exes are fucking assholes. Sam and Ben were together sophomore year. After Sam graduated, they broke up because Sam went to college out of state. After him, Ben dated this violin player. He was so freaking handsome and a sweet guy. That is until Ben caught him cheating with five other guys."
My expression must've been obvious because Lee continued with the story, "Yeah, you heard me right. Five guys, six including Ben. One of them was a sugar daddy. Ben was so worried that he may have caught an STD from that guy. That relationship broke him. After that, the two month curse began."
"Two month curse?"
"Yeah," Lee replied, "Any relationship Ben began after that, lasted no more than two months. He either got dumped or was cheated on. The ones that left him, left for stupid reasons. Like 'you're too good for me, Ben' or 'I want to see other people'. Ben at one point started to sleep around because he was tired of relationships. That is until he met Lenn."
"Who?" I asked. Ben never mentioned his name.
"His twin brother, Jayden, was in our band," Lee said, "One day, Jayden brought him to rehearsal. He and Ben met, they hit it off, and started dating. Both twins were pretty hot. But Lenn set his sights on Ben. Lenn fell in love when he heard Ben sing and then mustered up the courage to confess his love one day. Seriously, it was like one of those Asian BL dramas. They declared their love for each other one day and started dating. It seemed like the curse was broken until right before their one year anniversary, Lenn dumped Ben."
"Why?"
"You know," Lee continued, "That is the million dollar question. No one knows. Not even Ben. Lenn just broke it off with him and that was that. Jayden was kicked out of the band after he punched Ben for hurting Lenn. Even though we had proof that Lenn was the one who ended it, Jayden didn't want to listen."
Some details didn't make sense to me as Lee told the story. Why did Lenn end things if they were both in love with each other? Why would Jayden assume his twin was the one who was hurt when he ended things with Ben? What happened to Lenn to make him break up with Ben?
"But don't worry," Lee said, "Now he has you. But don't say I told you this. I don't want him to get mad at me for 'filling his boyfriend's head with ideas.'"
I laughed at his request, "Oh, I'm telling him you sold him out for a free meal."
"You going to eat that?" he asked as he grabbed a chicken tender from my plate. This guy is a hell of a lot like Techno.
We laughed and bonded as we ate, but what was bugging me was Lenn's story. To me, Something didn't add up.
Ben
After classes, Brendan had called me to go shopping with him. He needed a new wardrobe now that he was in the band and wanted to improve his image. But the entire time, he was complaining about why girls never talked to him.
"Ben," he said, "Why don't girls approach me like they do you?"
"No idea, Brendan," I answered, "But hang in there, there's someone for everyone. Just don't give up."
I was so focused on comforting Brendan that I didn't notice someone approaching me until I bumped into them.
"Oh sorry," I said and then realized who I bumped into, "Lenn."
"Ben?" he asked as if to confirm he was not dreaming, his face told me that he missed me. It made me start remembering all the good times we had together and the old feelings started to come back.
I turned to leave, but Lenn stopped me. "Ben, wait." He held my hand like he used to when we were dating.
"Lenn…" I said to him, "I can't stay."
"I've missed you so much." said Lenn.
I can't do this. I can't be here. With him. "I'm sorry, Lenn, but I have to go. Bye."
"See you man." Brendan said to Lenn, he caught up to me and asked, "Ben, who was that?"
"Someone from my past I was hoping not to see ever again."
I kept walking, not looking back at the boy who broke my heart almost a year ago. I have Bryce now and cannot entertain the idea or allow whatever feelings I had for Lenn to jeopardize my current relationship. The past must stay buried. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.