Do I Want To Know?

Chapter 12- Playing Games

   Bess, having searched desperately for Joe after he ran out of the room, finally found him sitting in a random hallway of the studio. He was clenching and unclenching his fist with a pained expression on his face. She walked up to him, arms crossed, and looked down at him,

   "You wanna tell me what that was all about?" She prompted, and he glanced up at her for a moment before looking back at his hand,

   "...Not really." He mumbled under his breath. Bess huffed slightly, moving to the ground so that she was sitting next to him.

   "How's your hand?" Bess asked, changing the subject. Joe still wouldn't look at her.

   "Hurts. Cedric's got a jaw like a rock, that prick." He murmured, eyebrows raising in surprise when Bess reached over and grabbed him by the wrist. She pulled his hand toward her, surveying the damage. His knuckles were red, and would most likely bruise, but otherwise seemed okay.

   "...So you don't like Cedric." Bess concluded, lightly running her finger across Joe's knuckles. He winced slightly at first, but soon the motion became comforting. That was the only thing comfortable about their current situation.

   "I thought he was fine, until he started flirting with you..." Even that wasn't entirely true. Joe had been suspicious of Cedric since the beginning. He was too perfect, too nice, and it made him seem like he was putting on a facade, not exactly unlike everyone else they had met. But Cedric hadn't really done anything out of the ordinary so far, and the rest of the group was so focused on Honey and Clyde, that they had mostly forgotten about him. So naturally, Joe had put his assumptions on hold. Now his feelings toward the assistant were purely personal.

   Joe finally looked at Bess, who was still holding his hand and staring down at it, concerned. She felt his eyes on her and looked up to meet them. Her blue eyes were a mix of confused, worried, and maybe even happy. She let out a deep sigh, squeezing his hand slightly where his knuckles weren't bruised,

   "I don't get it, Joe..." She started, but then trailed off without any way to continue. Joe ran his thumb over the back of her hand, ignoring the spark of pain that shot up his arm every time he did it.

   "What do you mean?" He asked, only he had a pretty good idea of what she was saying.

   "I mean... Were you jealous?"

   That struck a chord in Joe. He thought it was pretty damn obvious that he was jealous about way too much. He didn't exactly want to admit it, but he considered it to be a clear fact.

   Cedric had swooned Bess so easily. He was the neat, professional, put-together handsome type she loved.

   Joe lived a life that constantly pulled him in every direction, and he finally felt like he had an anchor to keep him sane. Bess was his anchor, she had no idea how much she was now, and yet she had been pulled away from him so easily.

   So of course he was jealous, that there had finally come a time where reckless flirting didn't satisfy him and he had someone that gave him a confusing flutter in his stomach, only for it to be taken away from him like none of it mattered.

   It wasn't exactly fair to Bess, though, who knew none of this and just kept staring at him with those cute, confused eyes of hers. How did she feel about him? Was he just a friend she could harmlessly flirt with while she searched for the handsome prince of her dreams?

   He wished he could be what she always dreamed of.

   He thought maybe, when they almost kissed last night, that they were on the same page. Maybe it wasn't as simple as he thought.