Fork in the Road

Bernie sits in the chair for a time, but then gets up. She walks up the stairs back to her old room, the scene where she and Ben had gone down on each other with ravenous gusto. She swears she can still smell the sex in the room as she gathers up her clothes. She starts to put her panties back on when there's a knock on the door.

"Hey," Ben says, gone was the smugness of before, in its place was her closest friend. "Naomi..I'm sorry if-no, I did come on strong back there. I just..thought we could pick up where we left off. I didn't respect the fact you're in a committed relationship now. I assumed because I'm like Aunt Joyce that you would be too, but I didn't consider you could actually be into this whole monogamy thing." He says it like it's a foreign word, but not in a disrespectful way. "What I want to say is..you are more important than whatever I might want. I was projecting onto you, and that wasn't right or fair of me. I'm sorry."

Bernie listens to Ben's speech, just letting him talk and not interrupting. When he's done she smiles. "I appreciate that, Ben. Don't be too hard on yourself though, it's not as if I was protesting all that much"

He chuckles, a small amount of smugness, but more charming than annoying. "True, but I could have been more respectful."

"Any time I said "no" you backed off, and most of the protests I made were half-assed at best," she admits.

Ben smiles. "That brings me to what else I wanted to say," he leans against the door frame. "In all seriousness, you were pretty into it earlier." He's not being cocky, but matter-of-fact. "Maybe it's not me who's under a mistaken impression, but you."

"Excuse me?" Bernie asks, a little defensively.

"Maybe you think you've wanted this whole one-on-one relationship, but you don't actually? That what we did earlier was you rebelling against something you don't really want?" He suggests seriously.

"Are you implying I don't love Gary?" She asks, an edge of anger in her tone.

"No," he shakes his head. "I think you do, but maybe you're not really into the whole one partner thing after all. Maybe you still feel strongly about me and want that too?"

Bernie pauses getting dressed, thinking on that.

"I'll respect what you decide, Naomi. I have my own selfish wants, but I also want you to be happy. Whatever you decide." Ben turns to leave.