“Take all the time you need. Ha, now there’s a good one. But hey, I shouldn’t worry too much, right? I fall and you’ll be around to catch me, I’m sure. That’s gotta be in the terms and conditions of your hometown hero contract,” he grinned but it didn’t last long, it never did when it came to Benjy Montgomery. But it was all different now and as much as he was trying, he couldn’t ignore that. Their last interaction (that night) was still there. Everything that had happened… Benjy was so good. Righteous in the most annoying of ways but better. He was better than Greg.
“Isn’t it? Damn well, that’s my life changed. I’ll start my mission to save the planet right now, you’ve saved me. Henchmen? Wow. That’s poetic. Do you mean Asher or are you directing your tolerance at my entire harem?” There was an obvious shift in his expression at Benjy’s next words. The attitude he carried ever so naturally fell away and he found himself clenching his jaw. Benjy didn’t know what had happened after he’d left and Greg didn’t want to think about it but pummelling down the shame, the regret wasn’t as easy as it used to be. There should have been more bite in his response but there just wasn’t.
“Uncanny. You should become a TV psychic. You glossed over Lyndsy Moore’s wedding, I took my bruise to that actually ‘cause it went with the tie. Then, yeah, pretty much. Less sulking in my room, more sulking in a crapartment somewhere in New Haven but that’s all just details. Like the beard. You’ve still got something going on there, I’d give it 7 out of 10,” he said through practically gritted teeth before his expression relaxed a little, becoming uncharacteristically hesitant. “I’m sure you’ve got some kinda 'welcome back’ party to get to, right? Family, friends…,” Bonnie, “Et cetera.”
“Ha, sure. I’ll catch you if you ever fall. Might be too heavy to grab easily, but I’ll try. Honestly I never bothered to read the thing. I figured people would be so busy being charmed by me that they wouldn’t have time to hold me to anything crazy.” Things were never easy with Greg--in fact things were usually difficult--but that didn’t stop them interacting. Though it probably should have. They both knew neither of them would ever win the awkward stand-off they had going on.
“If I knew that was all it would take to get you to care about the planet, I would have tried it years ago. Sorry--what do you prefer to call them? Minions? Henchpeople? The entire group. Except Scott, on most days. I just can’t in good conscience go there.” Most days he would have reveled in the change Greg’s face shifted through. If it were for another reason, maybe today he would have reveled anyway. But this was about Bonnie, and no amount of self-satisfaction over having pushed one of Greg’s buttons won out over that.
“I’ll make more money than the Long Island Medium. Shame I missed that, but I’m sure you’ll wear bruised couture to another event, so I won’t miss out forever. Oh really, you--” But the words struck Benjy as odd, if only because Greg belonged in Havensdale (and not just in the ‘he had no marketable skills to help him ever get out of town’ way that Benjy liked to remind him about so often), and he stopped talking to stare at Greg for a moment, trying to figure out if the thing with Bonnie had actually been bad enough to send Greg running to New Haven, or if something else was going on. Not that he cared, but he was a concerned brother at heart, conditioned to worry about people. Even assholes from school. “She got you good, huh?” The words sound resigned, like he’s realized he might have something in common with Greg and he’s not happy about it. “You know, uh, she’s not too happy with me, either. Difference is, she’s already hit you. I’ve still got one coming.” There’s a laugh, so it sounds like a joke, but he’s not sure it is one. Either way, he’d deserve the hit for ditching her when she needed him. “Take it from a guy who just got 7 out of 10 on his psychic abilities evaluation...You’d be happier if you stopped self-sabotaging.” But that sounds too close to actual advice that he might give someone he cared about. “Or if you shaved. Your choice, really.”
