Marrying My Bully

3 - Clarke vs. Reed at dinnertable

Benjamin

“So, did she arrive at the horror-like house of yours?” Charles was sipping his cocktail, while I was sitting next to him with just a simple whiskey glass.

“Yeah. She didn’t call me for the whole day. I guess she’s busy… But still, isn’t it too much to send her there? Not to mention that SHE is there as well. Clarke is going to make it a living hell for her.” I sighed, gulping at least half of the glass at once.

“Well, what did you expect? Red carpet and champagne?” I grunted. I didn’t need Charles’ direct honesty. I just wanted someone to agree with me.

“Sorry, I’m late.” Mike’s bag landed on the floor while he was climbing up the high chair at the bar.

“Yeah, nothing we can do about it. Everything good?” Charles clinked his cocktail glass to Michael’s.

“Yeah, therapy’s going well. Even though I’m not sure if I’m making any progress at all.” He shrugged. I downed the rest of the whiskey and asked the bartender for another one.

“Anything going on?” I heard Michael speaking behind my back, asking Charles.

“Yeah, Sophie didn’t call the whole day. He’s depressed because of it.” Charles was whispering right behind me. I cleared my throat, so they would realize I was still there. And I was listening to everything they had been whispering directly behind my back, thinking I was so immersed in my thoughts I wouldn’t hear a thing.

“I’m not… depressed. Just a bit worried.” I sighed, holding the newly full glass in my hand, playing with the liquid in it.

“Yeah, and those sighs and your facial expression say that you are JUST worried.” Charles had to hit the nail on the head again. His forwardness today was getting too much to handle.

“She’s gonna be okay, Ben. She’s a strong girl. We all know that. If she survived your haughty attitude at the beginning, she can pull through anything.” Mike tried being supportive while not talking too loud as if he wasn’t sure I was going to snap at him, reminding me how much of an asshole I was to her before.

“I know. But it feels quite hopeless I can’t be there to help-”

“Your dad’s idea?” Charles asked.

“Yeah, who else’s,” I uttered, starting to feel annoyed.

“Well, we can’t do much about our parents, can we?” Mike lifted his eyebrows.

“Looks like three sad plums fell down from a tree!” I rolled my eyes up, now downing the whole glass at once. We all knew who was coming.

“Hey, Rex. Nice to see you again after quite a while. Had fun on your holiday?” Charles picked up his cocktail while talking to Rex without even looking at him. He then walked away with the glass in his hand to sit somewhere else. There was surely going to be a lot of boasting and talking from Rex about how awesome his holiday adventure was. I followed after Charles, muttering only a low: “Hi.” to Rex.

“Nice to see you, bud.” Mike placed his hand on Rex’s shoulder when he was following after us. Rex was left standing there all by himself.

We all sat down at one of the couches, which would make a square if one side wasn’t left out. The dark chocolate leather crepitated when I sat down. Charles was quietly staring into his phone while Mike was making sure his bag wasn’t falling down. Luckily, the whole bar wasn’t full at all.

“Do you think he’s going to come here to boast?” Mike whispered. Charles shrugged. I sighed. I had enough problems to deal with on my own without having to deal with this situation.

“Shhh!” Nathan loudly interrupted our conversation. He was in a bar yet he was still reading a book. The dim lighting wasn’t going to stop him or his eyes in the quest for knowledge. Or from knowing more about the progressing story.

“Nat, you’re in a bar. You can’t be serious about this.” Charles put his hand on the top edging of Nathan’s book.

“Just one more page. I’m almost done.” Nathan flipped the page, still completely immersed in whatever he was reading.

“There you all are! What are you drinking?” Rex’s voice was too loud compared to the complete silence we were in, so Nathan could finish his book.

“Shh!” We all pronounced and showed it to Rex with our index fingers pressed to our lips. Nathan needed to finish the page, so we could finally have fun as the old group.

Rex rolled his eyes and quietly sat down next to Mike. It had been quite a while for all of us to have free time to meet up and talk. We were all busy with university and then exams, not to mention our families’ businesses as everyone was trying to put us to work.

“So, how’s Sophie doing?” Nathan closed his book, asking all of us.

“Shh!” Now it was only Mike and Charles, shushing Nathan’s mouth.

Sophia

“Thank you for lending these things to me for free.” I smiled at the elderly man, who brought all the necessary tools for making this jungle into a garden again.

“Anytime. Your grandpa was a good friend of mine.” I nodded my head, trying to not think about my grandpa in this situation at all. It would get me all too emotional and I wouldn’t get anything done.

“So, what is your plan with all of this? It’s in quite a pretty bad shape. Even that tiny fountain in the back is broken…” I sighed. I could tell he was quite concerned about how I was going to manage to get all of this into order. To be honest, I was more concerned about it than he was.

“Yes, well… I will first try to clean the place, I need to be able to walk around, so I will shorten the grass while also cleaning out the possible trash, branches, and so on. Then I will take care of the trees, the dry ones have to be removed and the ones that are still alive need to be put into a better shape. And if I find space for planting some flowers, I will think about it only then. The fountain is the last step for me… I just need this to look like a garden first before I have even the luxury of thinking about the decorations.” I smiled, shaking hands with him as he was about to leave.

“If anything, just call me. I can send some of my workers to help you out. I think they might be a bit better-versed in this than yourself.” He touched his cap as a final goodbye as he drove off in the van. I was left alone here once again, with the dog lost somewhere in the tall grass.

“Well, time to get to it.” I pulled the sleeves up and started my plan.

“Sophia! Sophia!” I heard the old lady’s voice calling out to me in quite an anxious manner. I straightened my legs and back. It was already really sore from all the manual labor I had been doing the whole afternoon.

“Yes, Miss Clarke?” I wiped off the sweat from my forehead. It was early summer, after all, the days were getting quite hot and evenings weren’t much better.

“Come inside already! What are you going to do there, you want to become fodder for mosquitoes?”

“I will come inside soon,” I called out to her as she was standing at the cleanly mowed grass part, while I was stuck in the part, which was still messy. I mowed everything I could and then moved on to cleaning out the old unused tools that were all over the place. Safety during work was important.

“No, I insist you come right now. Dinner will be served soon as well.” She had to have the last word and it seemed like I had no other choice but to listen. I dropped the trash I had picked up on the pile of other trash I had already cleaned out.

“Alright,” I answered without a single bit of care in my voice. I wanted to finish my work before it was completely dark, so I could start something else tomorrow.

…

“I saw you had done so much in a few hours already.” She sipped her tea while looking straight down at me through the wide table.

“Well, I am used to working hard-”

“That will be enough. I will call a company to deal with the rest of the garden tomorrow. You cannot possibly just finish everything by yourself.” She gave the teacup and saucer to a lady, who was standing right next to her while we were eating. Dining with a person standing in the room was quite awkward and uncomfortable.

“I thought I would have to finish everything by myself.” I looked at her and while staring at her I drank a mouthful of juice.

“Yes, that was to intimidate you. I wouldn’t have thought you’d actually plan to redo the whole garden by yourself. I can let you plant some flowers if you want, but I can’t possibly want a young girl like you with no experience in gardening and garden-keeping to renovate this old place. But, you will be tasked with searching for a skilled company. I want the proposals on my table tomorrow by morning tea.” She cleaned her mouth as she had apparently finished eating.

“I think I can give you the proposal tonight. I have already found a place, which can do all that.” I cleaned my mouth as well. I wasn’t losing this battle. Her eyebrows furrowed as she didn’t trust me. We all fight our battles, Clarke. And I am definitely not losing mine.

“That’s early.” She didn’t bat an eye.

“Indeed. But I trust this company. I believe they will do a great job while someone supervises them. Do you… have any experience in gardening, Miss Clarke?” I smirked while sipping tea from the teacup. I was going to have her roasted before she would finish her dinnertime.

“Well, not much. But I do understand a few things. Flower arrangements are my forte if I should say. You will take classes in flower arranging this summer with me. How is your French?” A vicious counterattack from her side.

“Je parle francais trés bien, merci beaucoup de votre souci.” I smiled again while taking a sip from the teacup. She couldn’t do gardening well but she wanted to lecture me about it. And instead of laying down her guns, she decided to fire yet another round.