AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I need to show him I’m strong.
I need to…
Benji decided that he would message Lars first and let him know that he was okay. They hadn’t messaged much in the last couple of days, and the last thing that Benji wanted was for Lars to think that he was giving him the silent treatment.
To be honest, it had struck Benji as being a bit odd that Lars hadn’t been messaging him either. But, on the other hand, Lars always had a lot going on in the science lab so maybe it made sense.
Benji typed a quick series of messages to Lars but just before he could write to Harrison, Tucker reentered the room and pretty much snatched the phone out of Benji’s hand.
‘I’ll look after this,’ Tucker said, handing Benji the juice box. ‘After all, we don’t want you getting unnecessarily distracted, now do we?’’
Benji shook his head.
Benji may have managed to squeeze in a message to Lars, but the fact that he hadn’t managed to get in touch with Harrison made him feel sad. Part of Benji wanted to stand up and snatch his phone right back from Tucker. But Benji knew that he wouldn’t do this.
Confrontation wasn’t Benji’s thing.
‘Come on, up!’ Tucker said. ‘You can drink that juice later. We’re behind on our schedule and you need to get changed out of those clothes and into your outfit.’
‘My outfit?’ Benji said, not sure what Tucker was talking about. ‘But-’
‘But nothing!’ Tucker replied. ‘Trust me. I’m your manager. I know exactly what’s good for you. Now, hurry up. We’ve got some naughty footage to record!’
Benji gasped but he didn’t say anything. Stunned into silence, Benji’s heart felt sad. As Benji followed behind Tucker, his only wish was that the day could come to an end as soon as possible.
What does Tucker mean by naughty fun?
I don’t like the sound of this.
I don’t like the sound of this at all…
Benji was finally done for the day. And he was glad that there was at least no more filming to do, even if that meant he had to work on writing a blogpost to go live the following day.
‘Urgh. I’m no good at writing stuff like this,’ Benji sighed, his mind still distracted by the embarrassment he had felt at filming in nothing but a pair of skimpy gold shorts earlier on. ‘Zozo, I don’t think I can keep on doing this.’
Benji and Zozo were back in their apartment.
They were sitting at the small kitchen table with a big blanket over them. Tucker had apparently cancelled the heating so that more money could be invested into buying a new camera for them to film on. Well, this is what he had told Benji anyhow. Benji was beginning to have some serious doubts about whether Tucker was truly looking after his money well at all.
This just doesn’t feel right.
I don’t think Tucker is a good man.
But I feel… trapped.
Benji wanted to burst into tears. Cold, tired and hungry wasn’t a good place to be – and especially when Benji cast his mind back to just how happy he was living in Harrison’s house. The roaring fire, the fully stocked kitchen, the endless supply of Daddy-snuggles.
‘I give up,’ Benji said, his voice full of sadness. ‘This blog can write itself. Come on Zozo, let’s watch a movie in bed.’
Benji picked Zozo up and the pair of them walked into the bedroom. It was so cold that Benji didn’t even change into his pajamas. Instead, Benji simply got under the covers and wrapped both him and Zozo up as tightly as he could.
Benji tried to warm up, but it was difficult with the whole apartment so chilly. Even the prospect of watching a movie didn’t seem appealing.
Lying in bed with no motivation and feeling physically and emotionally drained, Benji’s mind cast back to one of the moves his family made as a child. It had been across from the West coast to the East, and Benji remembered how the new house didn’t even have a working heating system for the first three weeks. Each night had been a long, horrible experience of shivering so hard it wasn’t possible to get to sleep.
No, no, no, stay positive.
Life is different now.
