Crazy In Love | Buggy

f o r t y t w o

As I cut into the steak, Buggy's eyes were firmly locked on me. He was waiting to see my reaction, not even bothering to dig into his meal until he saw it.

"You're making me nervous," I said, laughing.

"Oh, don't be nervous. If you don't like it, all that'll happen is I'll cry. A lot."

"I'd like to see that, actually."

"You're a cruel woman," He replied, in a sarcastic voice. "Stop taunting me and take a bite."

So, I did. The taste was indescribable. It was absolutely amazing, my mouth watering, my mind immediately desperate for the next bite. However, it wasn't as good as the steak from my town.

Realistically, it was probably better. But a mixture of nostalgia, bias, and just missing my town so bad made it so all I did was compare them. I wished I could have a steak from my home town instead. I wished I could have anything from my home town.

"Well?"

"It's good."

"Good?" He repeated. "Betty, that steak cost more than your house. Just good?"

He annoyed me, saying that. "Screw you."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're serious? Just good?"

I was going to say more positive things about the steak but now I was just annoyed at him. "It's nothing compared to the steak from my town."

"I find that hard to believe."

"And why is that?"

"It's obvious. Don't make me spell it out."

"You're going to have to because it isn't obvious to me."

He sighed. "Because your town is a podunk town. It's poor. There isn't one luxury item in the entire place."

"There was until you threw it in the ocean," I reminded him.

His book had been the most valuable item in our entire town. I knew that. That's why I was so drawn to it.

"Okay. There was one luxury item, and that item didn't belong to your town. It belonged to me."

"A pirate complaining about stolen property is a bit ironic."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't want to argue with you. Let's just eat our 'okay' steaks."

He was so dramatic. We ate our steaks in mostly silence until he finally spoke up again.

"I bought you a gift."

I swallowed the bit of steak I was chewing. "A gift?" Without saying anything else, he slid a red box across the table to me. "You've bought me enough today. I feel bad."

The edges of Buggy's lips twitched, as if he had been about to smile but had repressed it. That made me smile. I didn't want to fight with him.

"Open it."

So I did. Inside, was the golden chain that the women serving us in the clothes shop had been wearing. The one that I complimented. For a moment, I worried he had stolen it off of her.

"Did you buy this?" I asked, praying that the answer would be yes.

"No, I went back into that jewellery shop, cut off that servers head, and stole the necklace. It was hard to clean. It was covered in blood."

My face paled and I felt like I might throw up every piece of steak I had eaten. "You... you..."

"Jesus Christ Betty, I'm obvious fucking kidding," He said, laughing and rolling his eyes at me. "You're so easy to fool."