Going for a Ride

Hi, my name is Nathan.

JEREMY: So you're not dead?

Ben is back.

BEN: Nope.
JEREMY: Terrific.

Jeremy backhanded him.

BEN: Ow!
JEREMY: Ow? We've been worried sick.
RITCHIE: Where were you?
HANK: We thought crazy blog people kidnapped you.
CARTER: I cried about it for awhile, but then I got over it.
BILLY: Good to know you're still pulling Ben's.
BEN: You can't call it a Ben when I'm the one doing it.
JEREMY: I could kill you!

Jeremy looked really upset, and I got nervous. Ben and I had just reunited, and I didn't want to risk him getting back into that Black Hole he and Jeremy called a relationship.

BEN: What are you talking about? You know where I was. You followed me to the airport and then told me to go!
JEREMY: Are you insane? I never--
JACKSON: Jeremy?

Everyone turned and looked at Jackson.

BEN: Are you kidding me?
JACKSON: I didn't know--I mean, I did, but--
JEREMY: You told Ben to leave?
JACKSON: It was either that or you were going to know that I was still here.
RITCHIE: Jesus, you people are like the cast of Falcon Crest.

Silence.

RITCHIE: Does nobody else get Soap Net?

I looked at Ben and could already see his resolve softening. Now that he knew Jeremy wasn't the one who told him to go, he would buckle.

So I decided to do a preemptive strike.

ME: Ben and I had sex last night.
BILLY: Was last night 'Bad Idea Night?' I thought that was next week.
ME: We're back together.
JEREMY: Great. As long as nobody's dead.

Uh...about that...

BEN: We're not back together.
ME: Excuse me?
BEN: It was just sex, Nathan. We weren't thinking.
ME: You piece of--

I wanted to grab a glass and break it over his head, but Davis got in front of me.

DAVIS: We already had a bar fight the other night, Nathan. I don't feel like getting kicked out of another sketchy dive.
HANK: Pretty soon we'll have no place else to go.
CARTER: We could go to Boston.
RITCHIE: Carter, we're from Rhode Island.
ALL: We don't drive.
JACKSON: Driving for an hour just to get drunk and make out. What do we look like--Brown students?

I'd heard enough.

ME: I'm leaving.
BEN: Nathan, don't.
ME: I thought we were finally going to be together for good.
BEN: Nathan, that day is never going to happen.
BILLY: In time, you'll see that this is like being told you'll never get syphilis. It's a good thing, Nathan, really.

But it didn't matter. I knew when I had Ben in my arms again that he was the only guy I could ever really love.

I walked out of the bar and got in my car.

VOICE: Lock the doors.

Shit.

ME: I don't have any money.
VOICE: I don't want money.
ME: Then what do you--
VOICE: Don't look in the rearview.
ME: Fine.
VOICE: You should recognize the voice anyway.
ME: Cal?
VOICE: Drive.
ME: Where?
VOICE: The mall. You can drop me off in front of Borders.
ME: Okay.

The mall was only a few minutes away. He must not have wanted to have a long conversation.

VOICE: You've been looking for me?
ME: Everyone has.
VOICE: Now you have me. What do you want?
ME: Why did you disappear?
VOICE: You know why. Billy spilled his guts, didn't he?
ME: He didn't say why you disappeared.
VOICE: I disappeared so I wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. You boys turned the entire city into a war zone.
ME: But you didn't know we were going to do that.
VOICE: I knew things were going to get bad.
ME: Did you know you were going to show up at the Mr. Providence pageant and fire off a few rounds?

He didn't say anything, and then--

VOICE: What makes you so sure that was me?
ME: Who else would it have been?
VOICE: Someone trying to look like me.
ME: This is all getting way too complicated.
VOICE: I'll uncomplicated it for you.
ME: Not a word.
VOICE: Should I get out here?
ME: I'm sorry. I'll shut up.

He took a deep breath.

VOICE: I took off because of Billy, because of what happened between us. I was just going to lay low for a little while when I got a phone call from someone who had a beef against all of you guys.
ME: Why?
VOICE: I'm not at liberty to say. Don't forget. I want to keep myself out of this.
ME: Fine. Go ahead.
VOICE: He wanted to do some serious damage, and he wanted to use the Wilde Blog to do it.
ME: What about the drugs in the drinks?
VOICE: That I know nothing about, but once Joey died, this guy--
ME: The guy who contacted you?
VOICE: He went berserk. He blamed all of you for not protecting him.
ME: But that doesn't make any sense. Was he close to Joey?
VOICE: This is where I get off.
ME: But--
VOICE: Look, you know the Roofier and the Shooter have nothing to do with each other, and you know that looking for me isn't going to help anything.
ME: So now we have two wackos out there who want to take out the CBQ's.
VOICE: Are you that dense?

He leaned forward, and whispered in my ear.

VOICE: One of them IS a CBQ. Now brake.

I did. He got out, and I sat there...

...Wondering what to do next.