Please, Remember The Bench (BY: Book 3)

Just A Ring

Lena's POV

So she's not jealous. My ass she isn't. Like I don't know her. She just hides it better than I do, that's all. But if she wants to play this game, let's play it right.

I noticed a woman in the bar, following my every move. I've been flirt with enough times in gay bars to know that soon she's going to come talk to me, and that's when I plan on proving my point to Stef, play a little with her nerves.

We were enjoying our time right now, chatting, joking and God was she sexy tonight, my eyes were getting out of control if I'm honest, but when she was about to tell me something about her drink, she soon got cut off by the woman I saw earlier.

"Hey, beautiful. I was looking at you from over there, since you entered the bar, and I was wondering if I could buy you a drink." The redhead woman says, very seductively and I didn't care at all about her, since I have my woman already, but I was in a playing kind of mood tonight.

"Oh, how sweet of you." I say, turning my back to Stef now, ignoring her a little as I look at that woman. Well kind of, I was more interested in Stef's reaction that I was trying to see in the corner of my eyes.

"Are you married, or something sweetheart? I see you have a ring on." she asks as Stef is fuming behind me, I can see her face getting quite pink.

"No I'm not, it's just a ring." I dare say, and that's when Stef jumps in.

"Yes she is, she is. And she's married to me!" she says, getting up and looking right into that woman eyes, and I couldn't be happier for that was exactly the reaction that I wanted. I wanted her to claim me.

"Well, you don't seem to have any ring on YOUR finger, so I don't think that's true." the woman says, and that's when the image of Stef pulling her ring off of her finger came back into my mind... her ring is actually always with me. I took it from the table after the accident, and I kept it with me all this time...

At this, I can tell Stef got confused. I think she didn't realize that I had a ring and not her, so that certainly shut her up for a minute, before she could react again.

"Well, it is. So get lost!" she says, and the woman thankfully didn't make a scene and just left.

Now I feel like I went a little bit too far as Stef gets back to her seat, not glancing at me.

"Not the jealous type, huh?" I say, trying to joke it off, but well... Stef doesn't say anything and just sips on her cocktail.

"Oh come on.... You're not going to pout at me, right? I was just teasing you." I say softly, moving closer to her, but I know that when she's like this, it's very hard to get her to talk again. It changed over the years because she made a lot of effort, but now... well it's like she in her twenties again.

"Baby... please, it's our date night... I didn't even look at her, I swear." I say, putting my hand on her arm, trying to melt her heart a little, because I know I'm able to do that.

"Lena, why don't I have a wedding ring?" she asks surprisingly for I thought she would just brush it off.

"Well... remember I told you that right before your accident, we got into a really big fight and that you... you said you wanted a divorce?" and she nods.

"Well, just before you got out of the house you just... you took it off... and then you... you just didn't remember, so..." I say, getting a bit sad because that was still a hard pill to swallow, both her taking her ring off and her accident were.

"What... what did you do with it?" she asks sort of worried that maybe I tossed it or something.

"I kept it. It's always with me..." I say softly as I go through my purse.

"It's here..." I say, handing it to her, not knowing what she would do with it...

"It's pretty, I like it." she says while observing it carefully as I just stare at her.

"Can I... hum... can I keep it with me?" she asks softly as I smile at her.

"Of course, it's yours." I say gently as she smiles a little now. Then, she grabs the hook of her necklace and undo it. She put the ring in it like a charm, and then put her necklace back on.

I guess that I would have prefer that she put it on her finger because that's where it belongs, but I get that we are working on our relationship, it's still new for her, and she needs time. Besides, as long as it is with her wherever she goes, I am good with it.

"Do you want to go back home?" I ask for I know she is not really in the mood anymore. She's frustrated because I played this stupid little game, and she's also sad because I know she wants so badly to remember...

"Well, I... yes..." she admits, and I know that this is not against me, I can't take that personally, she's just in another state of mind right now.

"Okay... that's okay, honey." I say softly, taking her hand in mine because I want to feel close to her right now.

We drove back home, in silence... I could tell she was thinking, her mind was racing right now, and I couldn't do much...

We walk to the front door for the third time after one of our dates. I was wondering if she was going to ask me out again.

But when usually we say how much we enjoyed our time together, right now we are both silent and I can tell she just want to go home and sleep, but just stay there because she doesn't want me to feel rejected again.

"You're not going to try to kiss me this time?" I ask, hoping that she would...

"Not tonight... I bet you don't kiss on the third date either anyway..." she says, still a little sad.

"Well, yeah but I have to keep your interest up, so..." I admit as she smiles at me softly and then just bring her hand to my face, only to brush away one of my curls.

She looks so sensitive right now... and I admit I feel guilty. If it wasn't for me, flirting with this woman just to prove a stupid point, we would have got a great date night, and she would probably feel better than that...

So I slide my hands along her soft face, rubbing her cheeks with my thumbs and looking deeply into her intense hazel eyes.

"You're so beautiful..." I whisper, making her smile a little, so softly that it was barely visible.

"Would you go on another date with me?" I ask, for I want to make it up for tonight. I know Stef is struggling with rejection. When she has to face it, she shuts down much like now. It's not that she's angry at me, I know she's not, it's just that the feeling that I gave her when I flirt with this woman, is not gone yet... she needs time to recover from it...

Over the years she learned how to deal with that feeling and put herself together very fast... but I guess now it's different. Especially with all my little whims she satisfied one by one by taking me on dates, courting me, letting me go in the house first so that it would feel like real dates for me...

All those efforts that she put into making those little things just to make me happy, and I flirt with someone else in front of her... then the ring thing... it was too much for her for one night, and I know she's tired, and I know she's very close to cry, but as I ask the question, her smile got a little bigger, and her eyes filled with tears... so she just nods, because I know she can't talk right now.

"Goodnight, baby..." I say before I lay a firm and long kiss on her cheek, my hand still cupping her other cheek.

Then slowly I pull away and slide my hand off her cheek, before I open the door, get in and close it behind me... I wanted her to come in with me this time, but I knew she wanted this little time out before coming in, she needed to be alone a minute.