recognize / b.simmons

27

ben shakes his head at his phone after amari hangs up. he doesn't know why she had an attitude, but he does remember her acting weird earlier. they definitely needed to talk—like she said—but he had a feeling it was going to be about two different things.

he really didn't want to leave tonight without talking to her; he wouldn't be able to enjoy himself properly knowing that she was upset. ben notes in his head that he'll call her before he officially leaves.

after he finishes on his beard and hair, he exits the bathroom and walks into his too-large closet and searches for some jewelry. he rifles through his case and pulls out four silver chains, all varying in size and length, and a giant, diamond-encrusted pinky ring.

he slips the chains on over his head and slides the pinky ring on and examined himself in the mirror in the closet. he looked good so he decides to snap a picture of himself to show to amari.

ben: [attachment: one immage]

amari: who you tryna look good for?...🥵

ben: 😉

he smiles down at the exchange, bur his mind can't help but wonder what is wrong with her. he'll just call her later like he planned. but right now, he needs to find shoes.

he scans over his collection and settles on his section of air force 1s boxes. he takes a box off the wall and looks inside. black off-white af1s lay inside, practically begging ben to put them on his feet. "tag, youre it," ben mutters to no one and the takes the shoes out of the box and puts them on his feet.

he then takes a picture for his instagram story of his shoes and captions it "great feet 🔥" and tags tobias. they have a small shoe competition going on, and apart of it is showcasing the heat they wear to the world and tagging each other.

bens phone buzzes in his hand with a text from tristan.

tristan: otw cuz

ben: 👍🏽

ben does whatever else he has to do to get ready before heading downstairs. he takes the steps one by one and is greeted by his large dogs at the bottom. "y'all hungry?" he asks and their ears perk up. he laughs and walks to his established dog room and starts filling up their bowls with food.

bane, bronx, and chopper scarf down the food like the animals that they are, and ben leaves to let them do their thing.

he goes into his kitchen and leans against the counter and looks at the time. 6:40. tristan would be here soon, so he decided to call amari.

the phone rings and rings, and finally, on the last ring, she picks up. "yeah?" she asks, less than pleasantly. it came out like she was tired of him blowing her phone—which she probably was.

ben shakes his head at how she answered the phone and sighs. "whats up with you. you're acting weird," he says bluntly, making amari rear back from the phone and look at it like it's possessed.

she has a scowl on her face as she says, "ain't nobody acting weird, ben."

ben scoffs and rolls his eyes. "lose the attitude, amari, i'm just trying to talk," he says, which pisses her off even more. she didn't have an attitude, but she could get one easily.

"and if i don't?" she challenges, just to piss him off because he just did the same. she was already frustrated by d'angelo, then maurice added to that, and now, her beloved ben was doing the same exact thing. her attitude was just.

"don't be childish and talk to me. whats bothering you?" he asks, giving her his undivided attention. he cares about her and wants to make whatever's bothering her, go away.