Yes, Sir

5.7

•- Laine Bennett -•

The sand was still scolding under my bare feet. It'd be too dark to announce the amount of pleasure I got from the pure feeling meeting my cold body, but I was willing to put it out there.

I'd managed to pull on random clothes before making my way down towards the ocean. If I jumped in now, I'm sure I could be in the middle of no where by morning. However, I've reached my height of over dramatization for the rest of the year.

There was a slight wind dusting through the beach and I'd been greeted with small amounts of sand in difficult places to wash free of the natural element, but I needed the fresh air to play through everything that had gone so utterly wrong tonight.

I didn't want to quit working for Austin. The pay was excellent, the relationships I'd built at the office were unbreakable, and the overall environment would be hard to come by at any other location in New York. In a fit of annoyance, I'd managed to damn my future. 

I hated holding expectations for people, and yet I stood in front of Austin and exclaimed that he had to love me. He didn't have to do anything, and yet I'd convinced myself that what I was feeling was mutual. I'd been manipulated by myself and that was the worst form in my own opinion.

I collapse to the ground and wish that the sand would cave bellow me and drop me in the depths of Hell where I've already reserved my space.

I glance to my phone and dial the one person, other than Thea and Mahalia, who could help me through such a rough time.

"Laine? What's wrong? Why are you calling me at three in the morning? What did he do to you? I'll beat the living shit-"

I can't help but laugh hoarsely, only to immediately choke on my small ounce of humor.

"I can't really talk about this with Hails and Thea. They don't know anything about the male mind as much as they attempt to reassure me they do. And I know you have your odds with Austin, but Brent, I really need a friend right now who won't verbally judge my choice of love interest."

I hear Brent let out a delayed sigh before the sound of his ruffling sheets reminds me that it's still only three in the morning.

"Lainey, I don't know much about you and Austin. I caught onto the train a little too late and before I knew it you were flying off with the man who'd been signing my paycheck for five years. But from the interaction you two have had, I've come to realize that you're a pair that's almost as inseparable as you and Thea."

I let out a rough sigh, "So you think him and I are like siblings?" I ask, scrunching my face in absolute horror and disgust.

"Not at all that's fucked up even for us. But what I'm saying is, you two share some indescribable bond. You're tethered to one another and even the sharpest pair of scissors couldn't cut it."

"But he doesn't care about me the way I care about him. What am I supposed to do? Pretend like I don't love him?"

"You can't pretend that, Lainey. Believe me, I've tried," he pauses as though his next words were absolutely crucial, "Men like him are afraid of failure. Afraid of taking two steps back when you can take a giant leap forward. But sometimes you need to take a step back. Sometimes you need the foundations to fall back on in order to go on with your life. You are his foundation, Laines. He's your first love, maybe the only one for all you know. You two are like the Ken and Barbie of the office. Honestly, I'm surprised you two aren't dating yet."

I was closer to Mahalia than Brent, and that was honestly my fault. I ran at the chance of him having feelings for me because I couldn't reciprocate whatever I'd convinced myself he felt towards me. But I liked Brent. And as much as I had wanted to call Dane in that exact moment, I knew that I had better chances of getting somewhere if I dialed Brent.