layers | john bender

[06] "Kiss my ass, Johnny." "Gladly."

6. ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴄʜᴇʀʀʏ ɪs ᴏᴋ

I hit Bender's thigh this time and he looks at me, mouthing 'lighten up' before intertwining his hand with my hand and placing them beside him on the table.

'Pull away', said the logical side of my brain. But, then again, when was I ever logical?

"No I'm not! I'm not!" Brian was practically sweating his ass off with all those nerves rushing throughout his body. He had ignored me hitting Bender, you could tell all he cared about was clearing his name at that moment. Claire was attempting to contain her anger and I was trying so hard to pull my hand away from Bender.
"John said I was a cherry and I wasn't, that's it, that's all that was said!"
John perks up one more time, using his free hand that wasn't holding mine to point between Brian and Claire. "Well then what were you motioning to the both of them for?"
"You know we don't appreciate this very much, Brian." Claire finally speaks up, pointing at the both of us after letting Brian and Bender speak and I can only agree with her.
"Bender, please, enough already." I was practically begging, something I barely did with Bender. I turned to see Brian visibly shaken up and Claire clearly upset. Bender got what he wanted, can't he just quit it?
"He is lying!" Brian spoke up again, I nodded and looked back at Claire. She saw my actions and thought for a second as Bender chose to let the idiotic words fall off his tongue again.
"Oh you weren't motioning to Claire or Rhiannon?"
"You know he's lying, right?" He looks at me then back at Claire. She stays silent with her head down not knowing what to believe. Bender seems to get bored with the conversation as he let go of my hand and played with the rings on my fingers instead. Again, I hesitated on moving away as I was currently trying to stick up for poor Brian but I didn't move.
"Were you or were you not motioning to them?"
"Bender please-"
Brian stuttered a bit when starting his sentence, it seemed like he wanted to make up some lie but he didn't. "Ye- yeah, but it was only...was only because I didn't want her or Rhiannon to know I was a virgin, okay?" Bender stared at him and I hit his knee, letting go of his hand. Bender finally sensed that I was annoyed because he moves me slightly so I was in completely sat between his legs, his knees right at my head. I looked up at him and he puts his hand out in front of me. Again, another way for him to apologize, I knew Bender all too well. I shook my head and continued to listen to Claire as she laughed a bit and spoke up.
"Why didn't you want us to know you were a virgin?"
"Yea, Brian, why does it matter? It's not like you're alone."
"Because it's personal business, it's my personal, private business." Brian spoke softly, slightly red with embarrassment.
"Well Brian, it doesn't sound like you're doing any business..." Bender mumbled from behind me. I pinched the back of his knee, he let out a low 'ow.'
"I think it's okay for a guy to be a virgin." I nodded in agreement to Claire's opinion and Brian looks at both of us, shocked.
"You do?" Claire and I nodded. Brian smiles to himself and walks away to his chair, Claire follows him and sits with him. They begin to talk and I turn to Bender.
"Why must you be such a pain?"
Bender let out a sarcastic gasp and placed a hand on his chest. "I'm shocked you think of me that way. i thought you liked me."
"Kiss my ass, Johnny." I glared at him, slightly annoyed.
"Gladly." I stood up, ready to walk away but he held on to my waist. He turned me to face him and kept his hands on my waist.
"C'mon sweetheart, don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad. I'm annoyed, there's a difference, sweetheart." I pulled his hands off me and placed them on his lap, walking over to my chair. After a few more minutes, Claire walked over to her chair and Bender also walked over to sit next to me, grabbing my hand under the table.

Ever since we became friends- whatever the hell we were, we had this on going 'silent sorry.' Whenever we frustrated or annoyed one another, we'd grab each other's hand and trace 'sorry' on their palm with our finger. I knew that's what Bender was gonna do. I knew he was going to keep annoying everyone so I pulled away before he could apologize. I didn't look at him, instead I stood up and sat besides Claire. She had no idea what happened just now so I smiled at her and she smiled back. We instantly picked up a conversation on something random. I felt an instant friendship with Claire even though I was mean at first.

I could practically feel Bender's eyes on me. I turn to look at him, for a second I saw guilt and sadness until he shook it off and got up. He walked around the library before sitting back down and placing his feet on the table, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. I looked back at Claire and we kept talking about whether or not animal print belongs on clothing or not.

As much as I felt bad for not letting Bender apologize, I couldn't keep letting him continue to be an ass. Especially not to me.