I think it’s unfair my girlfriend won’t let me watch her take a shower on FaceTime. I highly doubt the government is watching, as she claims. Please tell me someone agrees with me. #RoadTripsSuck #MissMyBaby #ImNotAPig – with Kacey King.

As soon as he hit post, he scrolled through his feed, liking and commenting on stuff as he waited for her to call him back. It sucked being away from her, and he could tell she was bored without him. She apparently was assisting Lacey, which he thought was funny. She didn’t have a designing bone in her body. She was more of a throw everything in one spot and hope for the best type. Plus, she hardly wore anything but gym clothes or sweats. But at least she had something to do. He had Facebook, FarmVille, and Netflix. To some that sounded like paradise, but he missed Kacey. A lot.

When a comment came through, he grinned when he saw it was Karson.

Karson King: Really, dude? Come on.

Lacey King: Don’t act like you don’t ask for that all the time.

Karson King: She’s my sister!

Lacey King: Who is doing your best friend. So really, what did you expect?

Karson King: Shh, woman.

Lacey King: Don’t shh me. I’ll kick your butt.

Jordie Thomas: Lacey King, say Kick your ass, makes you sound more badass.

Lacey King: Fine, kick your ass, and yes, I did that with a head roll.

Jordie Thomas: That’s my girl.

Karson King: Still not scared.

Laughing, Jordie looked up as the door opened and Benji came in with takeout for them. To his surprise, sharing with Benji hadn’t been bad. The dude was funny, obsessed with Game of Thrones and other nerdy shit, but still a cool dude.

“Hey, here ya go. Sorry it took me so long,” he said, out of breath as he set the bag of sushi down. “This chick was gorgeous, legs for days, but instead of talking to her like I should have, I spilled soy sauce on her.”

He was always very bad with the ladies.

Chuckling, Jordie shook his head. “You need a class in game, man.”

Benji scoffed as he shrugged. “You know, I used to have game, but I lost that when I stopped drinking.”

“Happens. Thankfully mine is intertwined with my DNA,” Jordie teased and Benji laughed.

“Well, please, share some, ’cause I haven’t been with a woman in months. I think I’m rubbing my dick raw.”

“Overshare, dude,” Jordie said, grimacing. He was sympathetic though, since he had been there at one point.

“I heard you begging your girl to let you watch her shower. So really, is there such a thing as oversharing when you room with someone?”

Jordie thought that over for a moment. “Maybe you’re right. But still, go out and get laid. You aren’t ugly,” he said as he opened his tray of sushi.

“Well, thanks,” Benji said, waving him off and acting shy, which made Jordie laugh. “No, really. I just don’t think I’m ready.”

He opened his own tray and Jordie watched him. He was pretty sure it had to do with his wife, daughter, and brother that had Benji not wanting to be with someone. He thought maybe it was a touchy subject, but he asked anyway. “Because…?”

Benji looked up from his sushi and shook his head. “Sometimes I don’t think I’m meant to be with anyone. Ava was my soul mate. I met her when I was a kid, and we stayed together all through middle and high school.”

Sadness washed over Benji’s face as he threw a piece of sushi in his mouth, chewing while Jordie waited for him to go on. When he didn’t and just kept eating, Jordie asked, “And? What happened?”

Benji looked up at him and shrugged. “She died.”

“I’m sorry, dude.”

“Yeah, blows. We got pregnant when we were seventeen. Leary was my everything and so cute. She looked just like Ava. And though we were young and scared out of our minds, we got married and I promised to make our life good. I worked hard, got drafted, and things were great.”

He paused, leaning his elbow on his leg as he bit his lip, clicking the chopsticks he held in his hand over and over again. “We went home to Chicago for a family reunion and I got shit-faced, doing shots with my uncle and my dad. Since I was so shitty, my brother Silas offered to drive us back to the hotel. Leary needed sleep, and it was so loud because everyone was still partying.”

Jordie’s stomach dropped from the look of pure pain on Benji’s face as he went on. “I don’t remember any of it. I was passed out in the back, leaned up against the door, my hand in Leary’s. But when I woke up, I wasn’t holding her hand because she was gone, along with Ava and Silas. Apparently a semi T-boned them, killing Silas and Leary instantly, while a piece of glass slit Ava’s neck and she bled out before they could get her cut out of the car. Meanwhile, I was so drunk that I didn’t even know anything had happened.”

Jordie was stunned to silence. He had suffered some shitty stuff but nothing like what Benji had been through. Losing his baby, his wife, and his brother? Jesus.

“It was bad, obviously. I was depressed, let go from the Rangers because I wasn’t playing and performing. No one wanted me because I had become a drunk, and my family and hers turned on me. Blaming me for all of it. It was bad, dude, so damn bad.”

“Why did they turn on you?” he asked incredulously.

“Because I should have been dead,” Benji asked. “Why did I get to stay alive when I was a worthless drunk and they didn’t?”

“Dude, that’s wrong,” Jordie gasped and Benji nodded.