chapter thirty one
florence thompson
song: say my name - destiny's child

"Ben, you seriously have the shittiest taste in ice cream," Rico groaned loudly from the opposite side of the kitchen where he was currently rummaging through Ben's freezer, searching for something to snack on.

Ben scoffed from the living room. "Vanilla ice cream is the best, don't even try me on that. It's just facts," he yelled back, sounding as if he had a mouth full of food.

I rolled my eyes at the two of them from where I was currently sat on the counter, ankles crossed as Rico and I were just talking about work and the new employees that Glenn had recently hired. Spoiler alert: We weren't too impressed.

Thankfully today Ben, Rico and I all got the night off along with Aria so we all decided to have an old fashioned sleepover at Ben's. I had been looking forward to tonight since we made the plans yesterday morning, my busy thoughts needing an excuse to stop overthinking every single thing and punishing myself for something I don't even know if I should be punishing myself for.

"Who even buys vanilla? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard..." Rico whispered, trailing off as he closed the freezer, grabbing a spoon and pulling off the lid of the vanilla ice cream he was forced to eat.

I nodded, agreeing silently with him.

"Ready to go watch the movie?" He asked through a mouthful of ice cream, nodding in the direction of Ben's living room.

I quickly jumped down from the counter, padding across the tile in my fuzzy socks as we made our way into the living room where Ben and Aria were currently sitting, scrolling through their phones. I rolled my eyes at the sight, wondering when the two of them would ever stop being so weird around one another.

Don't get me wrong, they're pretty comfortable together and when we're all together they act like close friends but as soon as the two of them are forced to be in a room alone together suddenly their phones are the most interesting thing.

"What are we watching?" I asked, snagging a piece of popcorn from the bowl sat next to Ben and plopping down on the ridiculously large couch.

"Aria wanted to watch Miss Bala," he commented, putting his phone to sleep and placing it next to him as he looked over to me.

I glanced at Rico.

"We've already seen it, next," he sassed in a teasing manner, a playful smile on his lips.

"What?" Aria asked, furrowing her brows as she finally tore her attention off of her phone. "Was it good?"

Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, tendrils left down to frame her face. She was sporting an oversized college t-shirt that was presumably Brandon's and cloth pajama shorts.

"So good," I gushed through a mouthful of popcorn, glancing over to her where she was seated a little ways away from me.

"How about we watch Someone Great on Netflix?" Aria suggested, Rico and I immediately agreeing since Gina Rodriguez is quite honestly our favorite actress ever.

"Sounds good to me," Ben shrugged, tossing a single piece of popcorn into the air and catching it skillfully with his mouth.

Rico nodded, plopping a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth before grabbing the remote and going to search for the movie.

"So, Rico," Aria began, putting her phone to sleep and giving him her undivided attention to which his ears nearly perked. "How was Nathan?" She asked, clearly amused with herself.

Ah, Nathan. Rico's oh so mysterious lover who he refuses to introduce to us. I'm pretty sure Rico knows more about Vincent than I do about Nathan.

I know that he travels a lot for work, often putting him quite close to Genevieve Springs which usually causes Rico to go off the grid for a few days or so before reappearing with a giddy aura that he didn't leave with.

Rico tried his best to keep this part of his life and that part of his life very separate, besides being overly willing to spill the juicy details of the quality of their sex, quite often to my dismay.

"Nathan was..." he paused, hand on the remote as he mulled over his response in his mind. It was as if you could see the gears turning, trying to find the correct wording. "He was good. He is good, he's great actually," he rambled, his cheeks tinting a cute shade of pink.

I grinned as I watched him, genuinely happy for him. It made me so excited to see him so happy about someone since his last relationship that ended less than favorable because he deserves the world and more.

"Aww, look at his cheeks!" Ben cooed obnoxiously, grinning cheekily as he watched him.

I smacked his chest playfully, knowing Rico hated to be teased.

"Enough about me, how about you, Ben? How is...what was her name again? Tatianna, Taylor? It's hard to keep up with a new name every week, so forgive me," he jabbed playfully, smirking evilly.

Ben rolled his eyes, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Talia is great, thank you for asking. Not nearly as interesting as new found sugar baby over here, though," his tone was teasing, his eyes now on me where I was sat criss-cross next to him on his couch.

I rolled my eyes, chewing the rest of the popcorn in my mouth. I swear the two of them will do anything to switch the attention off of them, but only in situations where they don't want it. Otherwise, they're usually very glad to have all the attention on themselves.

"At least she's getting something out of it other than another notch in her bedpost and a STD screening," Aria scoffed, rolling her eyes at Ben.

I felt my eyes widen at Aria's words, my breath catching in my throat and effectively making me choke on air.

"Ooh, sassy," Rico winked, picking up his mixed malibu drink and taking a swig off of it before placing it back down in its respective place on the coffee table.

"Calm down, guys," I sighed, shaking my head as I went to pick up my glass of water off the table. "Trust me, it's not nearly as interesting as you probably think it is."

Ben scoffed, causing me to look at him.

"There is no way you guys don't have sex," he commented through a mouthful of popcorn.

What is probably important to note is the fact that Ben has had a few shots tonight, which has, in turn, made his (usually) small tendency to be an asshole a little more obnoxious than usual. Cool, calm collected Ben was out the window as soon as he snuck up behind me earlier and licked the side of my face.

He's calmed down since thanks to us three buzzkills, but his assholery was definitely still in full force.

"They don't, Brandon told me," Aria commented, causing me to whip my head over to her, eyes bulging out of my head nearly. "What?" She asked sheepishly when she caught my gaze.

"Why does Brandon even know this?" I seethed, my face reddening with the thought. It made my frustration towards Vincent all that much more heightened. "It's only a platonic arrangement, of course we aren't having sex."

Why in the world is he talking to Brandon about it? What is this, fifth grade?

"You can have sex platonically," Ben commented in the background, shrugging.

"Because Brandon was curious as to what was going on between the two of you," she filled me in, seeming much cooler and collected than I was feeling at this moment in time. "He thought you two were having sex, which Vincent quickly cleared up."

I groaned, sinking further down into the couch and covering my reddening face with my hands. The amount to which this frustrated me was quite honestly beyond belief.

Is it really any of Brandon's business?

"Flo, don't be embarrassed," Ben cooed from my right, leaning over and resting his head on my shoulder. The scent of alcohol filled my nose, making me scrunch it in disgust.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind drinking, but when you're sober and can literally smell it emitting off of someone, it's not very fun. Especially if they've been drinking beer, which thankfully Ben has not.

"Yeah!" Rico yelled suddenly from the other side of the living room, causing me to pull my hands away from my face and place them on my legs that were now pulled up to my chest. "Don't be embarrassed, girl. Aria is over here having sex for money and you don't ever see her embarrassed."

I chuckled, rolling my eyes at him. How he'd managed to get tipsy so quick was beyond me.

"Why should I be? I mean come on, it's my body. If I can make money doing something I enjoy, like having sex, where is the shame in that?" She shrugged, obviously not bothered at all by Rico's comment.

At that moment I wished I was a little more like Aria in the sense of how free she seems when it comes to her sexuality. She isn't afraid to share it with the world or break it down for anyone. She knows she doesn't have to, but she's willing to in order to show a different perspective.

I wish there was even a small part of me that could own that piece of myself as she does.

"Get it, girl!" Rico sassed, holding his glass up in the air as if to cheers with someone.

I chuckled at them, shaking my head.

"You need to loosen up, Flo," Rico demanded, setting his drink down. He grabbed the remote, flipping to Spotify on Ben's TV and finding a playlist before blasting it at full volume and effectively waking up sleeping Ben who had been snoring softly on my shoulder.

Ben shot up, his eyes widening dramatically. I nearly laughed at the scene.

Say My Name by Destiny's child continued to bare through the house, making me full on laugh when I realized what song it was.

Rico was dancing towards me and I was quite honestly dreading the moment he got to me.

"Come on, Flo," Rico came to stand in front of me, reaching his hand out to me, a handsome grin on his face.

I shook my head, a grin on my face as I looked up at him. I placed my hand in his before he tugged me off of the couch and up onto my feet. He held my hands, moving his body to the rhythm of the song and encouraging me to do the same.

I rolled my eyes playfully at him.

Rico is a natural dancer, I mean obviously, it's in his DNA. I wish I had even half the rhythm this boy has.

Before I knew it drunk Ben and Aria were both up, all of us dancing in Ben's living room to Destiny's Child at a ridiculous hour of the night in our pajamas, all of us laughing loudly. All my worries and troubles melted away at that moment, forming merely background noise as me and my three best friends danced like it was no ones business.

Well, except his neighbors.

• • •

q: can you play any instruments? If so, what kind?