It's Been a While

[kailey]

Bentley smiled gratefully and slid out of bed, making her way toward the bathroom. She had a small bag that the rehabilitation center let her take that had two of her shirts and some shorts. The rest of her clothes were at her old apartment that now belonged to her ex friend.


"Thanks. Hey do you think we could stop by my old apartment later? I need to grab some more clothes," she wasn't sure how smoothly that would go. Her and her friend, Adaline, had a major falling out when Bentley's addiction started and definitely were not on speaking terms.


"If not maybe we can stop by the bank so I can see if I have enough money in my account, or any, to stay at a hotel. I don't want to be an inconvenience to you," she informed him. Yet, secretly she really wished he would let her stay with him. She needed his comfort.

 

[GreyZone]

"We can go anywhere that you have to," he promised quickly. He was definitely a people-pleaser, especially when it came to pretty girls like Bentley. He found it was just a lot easier to do what they wanted, and it caused him a lot less trouble.


Through the bathroom door, he called, "I really would let you stay here, but it's an all-male dorm and my roommate is...gross. You wouldn't get one spare moment without being hit on. I mean, he's okay and I enjoy him, but he's not someone you can leave your girlfriend around if you understand what I'm saying."


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[kailey]

Bentley laughed at John's comment as she stripped off her clothes and turned on the water. "Alright dear." She replied in a teasing manner. He was right, the thought of staying here with him was just naive.


"As long as you promise to visit me lots wherever I end up. Who knows, Adaline might take me back. " She called out as she stepped under the warm water.


Bentley stood there a moment, letting the soothing water cascade down her skin. She then quickly got to actual showering.

 

[GreyZone]

John slumped against the door, trying not to think too closely about what she was doing on the other side. "She might," was the only half-assed reply he could muster up.


Right as he was saying that, the door opened with a huge noise, smacking a desk chair. Joyful and roaring greetings could be heard among an obnoxious slap of the shoulders.


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[kailey]

Bentley furrowed her brow as she heard the commotion on the other end of the door. With a sigh, she turned off the water and wrapped a towel around herself, being sure to cover everything. She had left her bag in the other room.


Sheepishly, Bentley turned the knob on the bathroom door and scurried through, trying to ignore everything that was going on while quickly locating her bag.


When she turned to return to the bathroom, her pathway was blocked. So she stood there. Confused, clad in only a towel, and a bit frustrated at her luck.

 

[GreyZone]

John's roommate made an overjoyed sound of approval at the sight of Bentley. "What have you been hiding from me, Johnny boy?"


Adam smirked as his eyes rolled over her frame. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the closet before continuing with, "You know, I never pegged you as the type to hide hot naked girls in your bathroom, but to thine own self be true, right?"


John blushed furiously and tried to distract himself with recording absolutely nothing on his desk. "/Shut up,/" he grumbled.


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[kailey]

Bentley scowled over at Adam as she watched his eyes scan over her body. She proceeded to roll her eyes and shot an annoyed glance at John.


"I see what you meant, Johny Boy," she growled. It definitely wasn't smart of her to leave her clothing on the bed, but she hadn't anticipated anyone else coming over during her shower.


"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get dressed real quick," she informed the two men as she turned to head back to the bathroom.

 

[GreyZone]

"Leaving already? But I thought the party was just getting started! Or, well, if Johnny over here couldn't get you wet enough so you had to resort to the shower..."


"/Stop,/" John hissed at him, shoving the bundle of clothes into Bentley's arms. "Don't harass her. She's getting dressed, and we're leaving. Go target someone else's girlfriend ."


"GIRLFRIEND?!" Adam looked like he had just gotten his paycheck permanently doubled.


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[kailey]

Bentley was appalled at Adam's words and was grateful that John urged her to go get dressed like she had planned. But not before getting a little payback.


She sauntered over to Adam, a wild grin on her lips. "Actually, you just missed all the fun! It was great, and a bit messy. That's why I had to shower, actually. I hear I'm fan-freakin-tastic in bed, by the way," she blew him a kiss and moved back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.


After getting dressed in a pair of tan colored skinny jeans and a teal flowy top, Bentley dared to come back out into the dorm room.

 

[GreyZone]

Adam let out a low chuckle. "She's a feisty little one, Johny!" He moved to start unpacking his bag. "I might allow you to keep her around."


"Excellent," John snapped back, taking Bentley's elbow. "You know how I just live and die for your permission. How would I even function without you, Adam?!"


"You wouldn't." His roommate smirked as he peeled his shirt off, reveling all of the conditioning he had done over the break. "Sure you don't want to leave your scrawny little man, doll face?"


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[kailey]

Bentley made a show of moving her eyes over both Adam's and John's body before responding, "I think I'm good with what I got, but thanks anyways."


She quickly grabbed her bag and sent Adam a sickly sweet smile. "I kinda feel bad for you, actually. You don't get any of this," her eyes flicked down to herself before patting John's chest. "But Johny Boy here gets allll of it" she drawled.

 

[GreyZone]

John rolled his eyes. "Do not call me that and I mean it, Bentley."


"Looks like you're not the only feisty one in the relationship, honey!" Adam cracked a grin and tossed his shirt into the hamper. "Your boyfriend's a little drama queen, in case you haven't noticed. But he does occasionally come with beautiful women and for that I can't complain."


John whispered to her, "he really does get enjoyment from this, I swear, but he's actually nice to his girlfriend. If he wasn't, I think I would throw up just a little more."


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[kailey]

Bentley shook her head in amusement, and turned toward the door. "Can we get going?" She asked John quietly. Adam may be nice underneath the whole facade, but she wanted to get moving before she talked herself out of visiting Adaline.


Before leaving, she spoke once more to Adam, "Nice to meet you, by the way. Even if it was on very... Awkward terms." She waved her hand and turned to open and slide through the door.

 

[GreyZone]

He waved her off, rummaging through his suicide. "Don't get all sappy on me, John's Girl. I'll see you later."


John quickly rested a hand on the small of her back and steered her out of there before anything else could happen. "Bentley, I am so sorry about that..."


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[kailey]

She shrugged and offered John a subtle smile. "Don't worry about it, boys will be boys," she exclaimed.


Before long the two were downstairs and in the parking lot, once again moving toward his crappy car. It made her grin with amusement everytime she saw it.


"Sometimes I don't know what's better, you or your car," she teased as she walked around to the passenger side, waiting for him to unlock it.

 

[GreyZone]

It took a few jabs at his keys, but the locks finally did open with hesitancy. "I will make sure to save it for you when I can actually buy a vehicle from this century."


John climbed behind the wheel and pulled out of the parking lot, his driving extremely careful despite the decrepit car.


"Are you really going to try to work it out with her?" He asked after a while. "Live with her again?"


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[kailey]

Bentley looked up, eyebrow raised as John spoke. She wasn't really sure how to answer that. Sighing, she turned to face him.


"I'm going to try. It can't hurt, unless she like... Pulls out a gun or something. Maybe she can be sympathetic. We'll see." She mumbled.


Truth be told, she was very anxious about going over to her old apartment. The two had gotten in a huge fight when Bentley came home drunk off her ass one evening, acting like a complete bitch to Adaline. Or so she was told, her memory fails to recall the whole thing because of her intoxicated state. It wasn't long before she kicked Bentley out and the whole situation became much worse. But she had a right to.

 

[GreyZone]

Once John had reached Bentley's old apartment, he walked around to open her door for her and didn't waste any time holding her hand. "Does she even like me dating you?" He asked. "If she didn't, I'll just wait in the car if things might go better without me."


To be completely honest, he didn't want Bentley trying to mend things with Adaline again because it would probably result in both of them being hurt again. "If she doesn't want you back, we'll just go. Don't pressure her."


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[kailey]

Bentley gave John an appreciative smile as she took his hand. "She didn't have a problem with you, could you please come with me? It might help ease the tension,"


Sighing, she turned to enter the building, dragging him with her. Her old apartment was on the first floor, luckily, and didn't take too long to locate. 12A.


Bentley took a few deep breaths before bringing up her hand to knock... Only for it to fall back to her side. "God! I don't know if I can do it," she groaned. Owning up to her issues had never been a huge problem with Bentley, but owning up to a problem of this magnitude was difficult.

 

[GreyZone]

"Here," he replied quickly, rapping on the door himself and squeezing her hand.


He leaned down to whisper, "You have this, Bentley. She's still your /friend/ even though you've had a few trials over your relationship. Just be honest with her."


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[kailey]

The door swung open revealing a tall-ish girl in sweats and a PINK t-shirt holding a bottle of beer. Bentley swallowed as her eyes lingered on the bottle a moment before she dragged them up to Adaline's face. "Hi?"


It took the girl a moment to realize who was standing in front of her, but once she did, there was a big embrace and some tears and hysterical mumblings-all from Adaline.


A few moments later, her friend had disposed of the beer carefully and was sitting across from Bentley and John, waving her hand excitedly.


"So... You're not mad then?" Bentley asked lamely.


"Ofcourse I am! I'm majorly pissed off at you but that doesn't matter! You're out and you're back and you already look so much better!" Adaline shrieked.

 

[GreyZone]

John was absolutely shocked when she was holding the beer bottle, and his arm tightened around Bentley's waist. Should she even be living here if there's alcohol just lounging around?


He carefully lowered on to the couch next to her, his eyes scanning the room. John wasn't very social in groups of more than one other person, but he was still glad that Bentley had wanted to come and support her when meeting her old friend.


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[kailey]

Bentley nodded, a nervous smile playing on her lips. "Look, I'm sorry-"


"And you brought the boy too! That's so cool of you to take her back after all of that!" Adaline squealed again.


Frowning, Bentley examined her friend. She was never one to be overly loud or casually be holding a bottle of beer. Something was out of place here.


"I came here to apologize, I-" before she could finish, a man came stumbling out of the bedroom clad in only a pair of boxers. He was obviously intoxicated.


A look of pure shock overcame both Bentley and Adaline's face.


"I gotta go, Ada," she muttered before rushing out of the apartment and quickly closing the door behind them.

 

[GreyZone]

"Of course I would take her back, I--" John froze when his chance to explain himself was abruptly ended. Why in the world would he not take his girlfriend back after she returned to him, after taking the courageous initiative to fix it herself? He had always assumed that she would be the one to leave him because a doctor convinced her that their relationship was toxic.


But when the man in the boxers made an appearance... He jumped to his feet to follow Bentley. "Since when does she dangle beer bottles in her hand and have men casually sleeping over?" He asked her quietly.

 

[kailey]

Bentley shook her head and turned to leave the apartment, unable to speak or comprehend what had happened yet. When she arrived at the car, she gratefully leaned against it and stared up at the sky.


"What kind of bullshit was that?" She asked, incredulous. "That isn't something I would ever think she would do! She barely used to touch boys, let alone have a drunk... A drunk one just-" Bentley shook her head once more. It was a bit too much for her second day out.


"I need a hug," she whispered, holding out her arms lamely and flicking her gaze over to John.