Travelling the barren landscape one man facing infinity.

I checked my watch not so casually as Ben walked into the bar, lifting a brow before I let my eyes meet his. "You're late," I said flatly, turning back to the counter and motioning the bartender over to take my friends order. "I'll have another beer and..."

"Same," Ben replied while the guy gave us a quick nod then left to grab them. "Sorry, I had to drop Gabe off at Cami's."

"And then did you stay for a quickie?" I joked, after all, he was over half an hour and was lucky I didn't leave. 

"Quickie? I don't know the meaning of the word," He grinned at me while I shook my head. 

"Quality over quantity, right?"

"Something like that," He said with a nod. "Sorry I'm late."

I glanced sideways at the bartender as he set our drinks in front of us, the bottle in my hand in a second flat. "So you've said. How was your trip? I feel like I haven't seen you in months," I looked at Ben and brought the bottle up to my lips to take a long sip, not even feeling a buzz even though this had to be my sixth or seventh beer. Maybe eighth, I wasn't counting. 

"Technically, you haven't," He grinned like a smartass. 

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "Hilarious. Have you seen your girl since you've been back?"

He hesitated for a second with a brow raised, "Cami?"

I shook my head and smirked wide, "I was talking about someone a little younger and blonder. Are you more interested in brunettes these days?"

"I've always been actually," He commented nonchalantly and bit back a smirk, not looking at me but taking a sip of his beer instead. 

My eyes studied him carefully, curiously, "So what, you took a break and now you're back to your original sin?" 

"Yeah sure I needed to try a little of everything to understand what I really liked," He said sarcastically and when I raised one eyebrow at him he sighed, but a smirk widened his lips anyway. "I'm kidding."

My brow kept in place as I looked at him skeptically, "About which part?"

He ran a hand through his hair, taking another long gulp of beer before speaking, "Since when you're so eager of gossip?" 

"Since I haven't seen you in months and you could be married with another kid for what I know," I pointed out, exaggerating it of course but I was in a way right.

He let his smirk widen, "I was away less than nine months." Ben let out a small laugh, "And no ring, I'm still single for you." He paused as he raised his hand to show me the proof, "Unless you're taken."

I shook my head stubbornly, "Not even a little."

"Does that mean no harem?" He asked, faking shock on his handsome face. A lot had happened in my life over the past few months, both good and some bad. In good news, I'd gotten a promotion at work... but my sex life was slowly becoming nonexistent because of it. I hardly had any time to fuck, how was I supposed to keep a girl happy in a relationship? I wasn't even relationship material as it was. "No shit, what happened?" He asked before I even had the chance to part my lips, my expression giving me away.

"I got the promotion," I replied and shrugged, Ben's smile back on his face as he clamped a hand on my shoulder then gave it a pat.

"That's good right? Why do you look like you're about to complain?"

I laughed, liking the way he could practically read my mind. No wonder he was such a good friend. "I'm not complaining," I said honestly, trying to find the right word. "Just tired. Not all of us get to take months off of work to jet off to paradise."

A sly grin spread across Ben's face, "Now that definitely sounds like a complaint."

"Jealous more like it," I grinned back and studied my friends expression. "So what about you? You look well rested. No wild sex on the beach?"

He raised one brow at me, "Are we back talking about me? Already?"

"Already?" I echoed my friend, smirking, "You barely said anything. Which is always a bad sign because it means that something actually happened."

He let out a small laugh as he shook his head,  "No sex on the beach." 

My smile widened at his words and the disappointed look on his face, "Only in bed like an old married couple?" 

"What's with you and marriage tonight?" He asked, this time his turn to tease me as he sipped his beer.

"Don't deflect," I replied, not even blinking.

Ben took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair as he broke eye contact, almost looking embarrassed for whatever reason. "No sex at all." He paused, rolling the bottle between his hands, "I mean yes we did something...but we didn't go all the way."

I kept my gaze on him, never understanding those two. "Why is that? Are you insane, it was a great chance...you had her all for you in the middle of nowhere."

"I know but there was Gabe with us too, it was hard with him always around," He explained quietly, doubting himself. Or at least that was how it sounded. 

"And now that you're back?" I asked, lifting a brow again when he stared at me blankly, the look on his face answering for him. I wanted to groan for the guy or slap some sense into him. Not that life revolved around sex, but god damn, they'd been doing the same dance with each other for too long now and it was about time. "Gabe has school during the day and you've been back for a month now. What's your excuse?"

"Work," He shrugged, giving me the most basic response. One that I expected. "Our schedules make it hard."

"It's been a while for you, hasn't it?" I grinned, "It'd probably take you a good ten minutes before you finished. Don't you get a lunch break?"

He let out a laugh and shook his head, "Fuck you."

"I know that I'm trying to help you get laid, but I don't know, you're not really my type," I grinned back. 

"Lies," He let his grin match mine, running a hand through his hair again. "So are you going to tell me what happened to the harem or not?"

I let out a deep sigh, "Erin went home for the holidays and Evie's always on location somewhere for work."

"Poor Tristan," Ben faked a frown and I rolled my eyes at his expression. Erin and Evie weren't my girlfriends... it wasn't like that. Sometimes it felt like it sure, but there wasn't much more to our relationships than sex. 

"Poor Ben instead," I retorted. "Is it painful to walk yet? Those blue balls have to be killing you."

"I still get some," He shrugged nonchalantly.

I raised one brow skeptically, "Some what?" 

His lips curved upwards in a wide grin as he looked at me, "Do you want to hear me talk dirty?" 

I let out a small sigh and shook my head, staring back at him as if he were hopeless. "How old are you? 15?" I joked, not sure why sex was such a big deal with the two of them... clearly they'd done it before and had Gabe to vouch for that.

"I wish," He said and made a face, throwing me off since there was no way in hell I'd ever want to go back to being 15 years old again. 

"Come on you're not even close to be drunk enough to start acting like a sissy," I teased and nudged his shoulder, always knowing how to stop him from frowning.

At that he grinned back at me, "Buy me a drink then."

"Aren't you the famous model who earns a lot just because of his pretty face?"

"Didn't you just get a promotion?" He asked back, knowing that he had a point. Not that it mattered though. When I rolled my eyes but ordered two other beers, he grinned, "Speaking of balls-"

"When were we talking about balls?" I cut him off and made a face.

"When you asked me about mine," He answered with a small laugh, making me hope that no one was listening to us. I'd hate being on the cover of some sleazy tabloid being linked to him romantically... no matter how much I loved the guy."Anyway, I refuse to believe you're not getting laid these days."

"Why are you assuming I don't?"

He reached for his new beer and downed a gulp before answering, "I don't know, you said no more harem and didn't mention anyone else."

"I like how you think I'm above bringing a girl home from the bar," I grinned and winked at him.

"Above it?" He shook his head, "No, but you're not exactly smooth with the ladies."

I let a laugh escape my lips, "I'm plenty charming."

Ben shook his head slowly, "Charming is pushing it... with me? Yes. But I've seen the way you are around models and half of them are afraid of you."

"Good, they should be," I said seriously, not one for mixing business with pleasure. Sure it was hard since most of the girls were hotter than hell, they were models after all, but there were millions of other gorgeous girls in the city that I didn't need to worry about saying the wrong thing to and having a sexual harassment case on my hands. I took my job serious. Work would always come first.  

He snorted while staring at me,  "So tell me about her?"

"Who?"

"The girl you took home from the bar. What's she do for a living?" He asked sarcastically.

"Do you think I made her up?" I lifted both brows.

He shook his head again, "No, just curious. Any pictures?"

 I laughed and resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "This is exactly why I don't like talking about myself. And no, no pictures. If you're that curious though, she works at that dive bar by the agency."

"A bartender?" His laugh echoed the room. 

"Cocktail waitress," I corrected him. "And it's not like I'm planning on seeing her again. It was a one time thing. Now can we go back to talking about you again?"

"No we can't," He said nonchalantly as he shrugged, taking another sip of his beer and ignoring the glare I shot him. 

"There's nothing else to know about me anyway," I retorted flatly.

Ben leaned his elbow against the bar counter and raised one eyebrow slowly, "You know I never believe that."

My expression matched his as my brow arched too, "And why is that?"

"You're a very private person, it's hard to get anything from you." 

"It must be the universe trying to balance for how you let out anything from that mouth instead," I grinned at him, deflecting expertly.

He rolled his eyes, "You should consider yourself lucky that I tell you everything instead."

"But you told me nothing," I retorted.

"There's nothing else to know about me," He said back, using my own words against me as he smirked wide. That bastard. 

"Wrong again. You amuse me," I winked at him and this time, a laugh escaped his lips. 

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were hitting on me," He replied and set his empty bottle down on the counter. Not more than a few seconds later, a new bottle appeared in its place. The bartender definitely knew how to make a living. 

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know about that. I'd never compare to Camille. I've heard that her nips are pierced." He gave me a blank stare before my lips quirked into a smirk, "No? Am I wrong?"

"We're done with discussing her," He said protectively. Either that or he was already annoyed. She was always an off limits topic for us, I liked fucking with him. Luckily, it never put any hitch in our friendship. We knew how each others minds worked I guess.  

I nodded my head slowly, "I'm definitely right. You wouldn't get so touchy over it otherwise." 

He pursed his lips together as he looked at me, "Just one." I

I smirked as he took another sip of his beer, wondering if I'd heard him correctly. "What?" I leaned into him, smirking even wider.

"How do you even know?" He asked instead, curiosity showing in his tone along with annoyance.

I shrugged nonchalantly, playing with my bottle lazily, "I don't remember. Does it matter?"

He considered my words before answering, "I guess it doesn't." 

"You can't get so grumpy every time we talk about Camille," I said in a teasing voice and when Ben turned his head in my direction, I grinned wide. 

"It's not like that," He retorted. "But you wouldn't like it either if someone talked about the boobs of the girl you love."

"...you love?" I blinked, almost missing his confession completely, "Wow."

"Don't act so surprised, you already knew it," He rolled his eyes as if it wasn't a big deal. 

"I knew it," I shrugged, agreeing with him since it had always been obvious. "But I was almost positive that you didn't know it. Or at least that you weren't going to admit those words out loud anytime soon."

"Well there you have it," He replied back and I shook my head as a quiet chuckle escaped me, slapping my friend on the back.

"Good. That's good man, I'm happy for you," I said honestly, the bartender eyeing our touching bromance of a moment. I moved my hand back to my bottle of beer, which was empty, lifting it up to get the guys attention. "So are you two waiting for the wedding night to finally have sex? Because I've got to tell you, your balls will be aching by then."

"Hilarious," He deadpanned. 

I grinned, "I thought so too."

 

"And I didn't think you were obsessed with my balls instead," He raised one brow at me, shooting me an amused look.

My grin faded as I snorted, "You wish."

"You brought them up three time already," He pointed out with a smirk.

"That sounds really weird and wrong," I said and both of us let out a silly laugh, looking like little school girls I'm sure.

Ben sighed, finishing his beer and asking for another, "Did you hear from my sister?"

"Why would I?" I asked back, not sure why he'd bring Chloe up. Sure I'd run into her a few times... but it's not like we were best friends. 

He shrugged his shoulders,"I was wondering if she's still obsessed with you since I haven't talked to her in forever." He paused and studied my face, looking for some sort of clue or something, "Okay, I got the message...but if you run into her for some odd reason please don't tell her anything about me and Cami."

This time, I raised a brow at his words, "Is it some sort of secret? Because I hate to disappoint you, but everyone who knows the two of you can tell that you're still in love with each other."

He rolled his eyes in response.

"I'm serious," I added. 

"Just don't bring it up to her," He said finally and a grin spread across my face. 

"Such a shame since my favorite past time is gossiping about your love life with your sister," I said sarcastically. 

"Does everything have to be a joke with you?" He asked flatly although he looked a little relieved, knowing that even though I joked, I'd never say anything to anyone. 

I shrugged my shoulders, "It makes life more interesting, don't you think?"

"As long as your life is not a joke itself," He shrugged too, agreeing in part.

"Are you saying that mine is?" I asked and glared at my friend.

At that he smirked, shaking his head, "Not at all. You're living every man's dream."

My lips curved into a smirk too, "I don't know about that, you wouldn't switch with me." 

"I'm the exception you know, I have a kid...it's too late to switch already," He kept smirking, just like we kept drinking. 

"That's just an excuse."

He smirked wider, "Truth is, I'd rather be with you than you."

I laughed and shook my head, "Keep saying things like that to me and one of these days I might just take you up on the offer. You do know how to sweet talk a man."

"I'm much better with women," He grinned back at me.

"I sure as hell hope so," I stopped laughing, still grinning while I brought my drink up to my mouth to take a long and slow sip. "Your sister-" I started and Ben cut me off with a groan. Just like Cami, Chloe was an off limit subject. I wasn't even sure why to be honest. 

"I thought we agreed not to talk about her," He said flatly and I tried to shrug it off, but while almost two months had passed and I hadn't spoken to her once, I still felt like I needed to say something.

"Before you go and freak out, it was literally nothing," I started again, sounding like I was saying too much already. "But your sister kissed me."

He stared at me and blinked, making me almost regret telling him. "You're kidding me," He said flatly, annoyed already.

I pursed my lips together and shook my head, "No." 

"And what did you do? Did you just stand there passively? I doubt it," He snorted and I sat there, wondering if he wanted me to answer or if it was a rhetorical question. Probably the latter. "No wonder why I hadn't heard from her in so long." 

"Maybe that's because you were too busy playing the happy family with Cami instead," I said in an attempt to ease the mood, but I already knew that it wouldn't work.

"That's not playing, we are a family," He retorted flatly before shaking his head, "But that's beside the point."

"It was two months ago Ben, I don't even know if it makes sense to talk about it right now," I said, this time more seriously.

He raised one eyebrow at me, "Nothing else happened? You never saw her since?"

"Just around work," I answered honestly, wondering if he really thought so low of me. Our friendship came first, always would. I wasn't the type to let a girl jeopardize that, no matter who she was. 

He looked at me skeptically, "Really?"

"Do you think that we hang out all the time?" I asked, trying to ease the moment again even though I'd probably end up pissing him off again. "I see your sister at work and that's it. We run into each other occasionally, but it's not like we plan that."

"Okay," He said flatly, his face showing nothing. 

"Okay?" I repeated, wanting more words out of him even if it was to tell me what an idiot I was. Then again, was it really so bad? 

He shrugged as he shot me a puzzled look, "What do you want me to say exactly?"

"What about what you're thinking?" 

"I don't know what to think honestly," He answered simply, taking a sip from his beer. "I'm confused."

"Why?" I asked, feeling just as confused if not more.

"You kissed my sister-"

"She kissed me," I cut my friend off.

"Same difference," He retorted flatly. "Anyway, you drop me a bomb like that then tell me nothing else, because nothing else happened. I don't know if being glad that more didn't happen or mad that something happened in the first place, or...I really have no idea Tristan."

I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. Did that make me a bad friend? Probably. "Look, I..." I started as my words trailed off. I was at a loss for words for quite possibly the first time in my life. The thing about Chloe was that she'd been through a lot and maybe that was a big reason why I'd pushed her away from the start. Yeah she was my best friends sister and while that played a big part of it, she also came with enough baggage to land her on the cover of magazines time after time and that was enough to scare a man away. 

Ben stared at me in silence, waiting for me to go on.

I didn't know how to. I had no idea what to say. 

"Your sister and I are completely different people," I said finally, hoping he knew what I meant. I wasn't trying to offend her or even worse, the way that they were brought up. It was simple as that though, we weren't cut from the same cloth. I liked staying at home or going to dive bars while she loved the night life and the perks of being a gorgeous model. 

He stared at me and for a moment looked like he might laugh, "I'm aware of that. She's my sister and you're my best friend, I know you both." 

"Yeah," I nodded slowly but once again, didn't add a word.

"So?" Ben pressed on. "I don't get your point."

I shrugged again, "I was just saying."

"Okay." He let out a sigh and got up, "I better go now."

"Already?" I asked as I shot him a look, wondering if he was mad at me.

"I'm tired," He explained shortly, leaving it at that. "I have tickets for the basketball game on Saturday. Do you want to come with me?" 

I stared at him blankly, forcing myself not to grin like an idiot. That's how we were though. We'd be borderline arguing one minute and act as though nothing had happened the next. I was thankful for that and thankful for what a good friend Ben was. "Saturday?" I repeated and nodded my head, "That sounds good."

"Good," He said and shifted awkwardly on his feet. "I'll pick you up around 7."

"It's a date," I winked at him and grinned finally, trying to pretend that the last five or so minutes didn't happen. It wouldn't pass his mind though... I knew that much. 

"You wish," He replied and smiled back at me. 

"You know it."