I stayed away...for two days.
After that, I cracked.
I couldn't help it!
I was so very bored. So bored. I spend hours exploring the forest; read a few books, cooked a grand meal, and then ate it. But time works differently here, so what was two days here, was more like a week back in my realm.
So, I left through the mint-green door, ignoring the puppy on a leash following me, in search of my ice cream room.
...Yet after thirty doors, I couldn't find a parlor. Or any type of desert place.
So, I settled for a bar. Because I need a drink.
I walked through a dark brown door, to a slightly dingy and dark karaoke room with a full bar in one corner and a snack bar in the other.
Benedictis followed me in, and I let him.
"About earlier...I-" He started before I cut him off. "Nope. Not happening. At all. We'll not be talking about the... what happened a few days ago! Right now, I am going to drink, drink, and then drink some more."
"...are you even old enough to drink?"
"I'm surprised you need to ask, you pedophile! Child molester! Cradle-robber! Predator! Perv-"
"I get it, I get it! Please stop, Antonio."
"And the worst part is I don't know anything about you! Yet I kissed you. I just-I just don't know why...THAT happened."
"I'm sorry. I...shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have taken advantage of you."
"You shouldn't have, No." I paused and took a swig of... a lime green drink that tasted like lime jello had a baby with rootbeer. Oddly yummy.
"But I'm sure that I could have stopped it...if I wanted to."
There was another beat of silence.
"So what now?"
"Now? We drink you docile dog. Drink, and then talk, share random things about ourselves. Because I don't want to be known as the kind of pope who kisses strangers."
I pour more of the lime drink into two whiskey glasses, handing one to Benny-Ben-Ben, made him clink glasses with me, before downing my drink and watching him do the same.
"Well, Benny-Ben-Ben, let's play."