Crazy In Love | Buggy

t h i r t y - e i g h t

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."

"That's not funny!" I basically screamed. My heart was still going a million miles a second.

"If it's not funny, then why am I laughing so hard?"

He really was laughing hard. He had the cruellest sense of humour I had ever witnessed in a person.

"Because you're a psychopath."

"I'm a sociopath, actually, it's different."

"Oh, a sociopath. I'll make sure to get it right in the future."

"Make sure you do," He told me through a thick grin. It was clear on his face that he was amused. That made me feel almost giddy. "I added a little something to it. I hope you don't mind."

When I re-examined the necklace, I saw that he was right. The ladies in the shop had just a basic gold chain - however, this one had a circular golden container attached to it. It was pretty but I wasn't sure what it was. The container wasn't massive but it wasn't tiny either - probably around three inches wide.

"It's beautiful but what is it?"

"Let's just say it's a good luck charm. It'll keep you safe."

I smiled at that. Maybe it was some type of pirate superstition that I was unaware of. I didn't mind either way. It was beautiful and the fact he wanted me to be safe made me want to sing with happiness.

Sometimes, we hated each other so much, and other times, he was so sweet to me. It was confusing.

When I went to put it on, he said, "let me."

He walked around to my side of the table, gently took the necklace from my hands. He scooped my hair, again very gently, to keep it out of the way, then put the necklace on for me. The feeling of his touch was electrifying. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on their ends and I prayed that he wouldn't notice it.

When he was done, he walked around so he could see me wearing it, smiling widely.

"Does it look nice?" I asked, playing with the golden container. It felt like there was something in it, but I didn't want to risk breaking it.

"You really suit it. You should wear it as often as you can."

"I'm never taking it off," I told him genuinely.

Nobody had ever bought me jewellery before. Not my family and not any man I had ever dated in the past.

It meant even more because he had both went out of his way to get it for me and also because he had seen me compliment it when the lady in the shop had worn it, and had went specifically looking for it.

That was so unbelievably sweet of him. Now, I felt bad that I couldn't gift him anything in return.

I took another bite of the steak. "You know, I was wrong. This steak is amazing. It's definitely better than the one in my town."

He rolled his eyes at me. "I'm not stupid. You're only saying that because I gave you a gift. If I'd known it was this easy to please you, I would have started buying you things sooner."

"I'm being genuine. It's amazing."

"But is it better than the one in your town? I command you to be one hundred percent honest."

Our eyes met and I could tell he wanted a serious answer. So, that's what I gave him.

"It isn't... in my opinion, at least. Of course, I'm biased but -"

"You know who's unbiased? Me," He said, leaning forward and resting his head on his hands. "I really will have to try this steak from your town then."

"You will."

The thought of my town was making me sad. I didn't want to talk about it.

"Should we get desert?" Buggy asked suddenly. "I'll letter you order for the both of us. Since I ordered the main."

I smiled at that. "Sounds like a plan."