A man was sat quietly on a bench in a park. He had his legs crossed, quietly smoking a cigarette. He'd watch the smoke escape his lips and slowly dissipate in the air before him, his mind wandering to memories from years back. He was Nineteen at the time, back with his old unit. They'd been called to help with a charity event, raising money for refugees in Iraq. He'd been told by his Staff Sergeant, a good friend of his, Richard Smith, that all the troops would be dressed in some form of pink clothing to come across as more friendly and upbeat. So, the young man had decided to wear a pink bow-tie to the event.
He walked into the town hall, wandering over to find various other members of his squad and to his surprise; none of them were in pink.
"Nice Bow-tie Benderly." One of the men, Claire, said straight off the bat, causing a few others to laugh and look to the Lance Corporal. He blinked, looking around for a moment.
"You guys are aware we're supposed to be in pink, right?" Claire shook his head.
"Uh... no, we're not." The man shook his head, looking down at his bow-tie.
"Well, have fun when Staff Sergeant Smith gets here, hope you all have a good excu-" Bently was then cut off by laughter, looking over to see Richard, not wearing any pink.
"He actually did it? No way!" Richard looked over at the bow-tie wearing male and began to howl with laughter. Unsure how to react to this, Bently simply stared, staying silent.
"You- fucking idiot." Claire mumbled, shaking his head and taking a sip from his beer.
Bently watched as Richard walked over, placing a hand onto his shoulder and shook his head.
"You're too funny Bently, I swear." Bently looked to Smith's hand as it squeezed his shoulder and then looked down at the bow-tie, blinking a few times, still not saying anything.
"Uh..." He mumbled before giving a slow nod.
"Right- well, I'm gonna go take this off now." He said, slipping out of Smith's grasp.
"No wait, no, keep it on." The Staff Sergeant said with a small chuckle.
"I- definitely am not going to do that." He replied, reaching up to loosen the bow-tie. "Wait wait, no, keep it on, seriously. In fact-" Richard pointed to Claire, who was sipping his beer.
"You're gonna help Bently find a date." Claire choked on his drink and coughed into his hand, Bently raising a brow.
"Uh... what?" Richard grinned a little.
"I'm a little too caught up to help, but whenever I can I'll swing by and be your wingman. Unfortunately, you're stuck with Claire." Claire tried to speak.
"But Staff-" Richard cut him off.
"I know, Claire, you've never had a girlfriend, but this will be a great learning experience." This made Claire fall silent and Bently cracked a small laugh.
"Fuck you, Staff. I'm great with women." Claire snapped back, flipping Richard off as he turned.
"Come on Bent boy." He'd call out as he started walking. Bently gave a quick glance to Richard, who would give him an empathetic look.
"Get going, enjoy yourself, Seb. You've earned it."
Bently followed Claire to the small cocktail bar, hands in his pockets as he walked behind the ginger haired male. The two stopped and Claire looked back to Bently.
"Right, there's plenty of chicks here so let's find one you like." Claire would look around, seeming to scan the crowd while Bently looked down at his shoes.
"I don't think this is necessary, Claire." He'd say with a sigh, getting a light punch in the arm.
"Bullshit, come on. I'm not picking a girl for you, look around. Go." Bently would pause, looking up slowly and scanning the room silently. He looked from person to person, seeming to examine everyone in the room while Claire sipped his beer. Bently paused when he spotted a girl.
She seemed to be a few years older, early twenties maybe. He couldn't tell. He would examine the woman for a few moments. Her hair was in fact a dark brown, though he was never sure if that classed as Brunette or not. She was wearing a pair of black trousers and a white shirt with a black blazer over the top. Most of the other women there were wearing fancy dresses or elegant gowns so she certainly stood out. Her hair was rather short, probably only a bit longer than his own, which he found somewhat odd. He'd stare at her for several moments before Claire finally spoke.
"I dunno who invited the dyke either, man. Can't go anywhere without that dumb shit popping up nowadays, huh?" Bently just ignored him, raising a hand to shut the man up. Bently would squint a little to try and read her little name tag, though it was difficult as she was quite far away. He could make out the ‘Hi, my name is!’ With ease, mostly because his own said the very same thing, as did all the name tags. However, he couldn't make out her name. He handwriting was too... elegant for him to read it.
"You- can't be serious, Bent." Claire would mumble with a sigh before taking a long sip of his beer, yet again, being ignored by Sebastian. He looked to the woman for several more moments before he was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.
"SO! How we doing?" Richard would ask, throwing Bently off. He looked to Richard, then Claire when he started speaking. "Bently's got love eyes for some dyke over there." Richard looked to the woman for a few moments before nodding.
"Nice, let's go say hi." Richard started dragging Bently as he spoke.
"Oh- no, no- we really don't have to do that-" Bently muttered as he was pulled along.
"Nah, come on man, let's go." Bently sniffled, walking beside Richard with obvious reluctance. They approached the girl, who was stood alone with one hand in her pocket, the other holding a bottle of beer.
"Afternoon, Ma'am!" Richard said with a wide smile, oozing with confidence as always.
"My friend here hates his bow-tie. Doesn't it suit him?" Bently looked down at his bow-tie, trying to avoid looking at the woman. He heard her quietly laugh.
"Well-" She started, speaking in a surprisingly soft and sweet voice. He looked up to see her squinting at his name tag.
"Sebastian.. I think you look quite fancy." Bently paused for a moment before looking back down at the bow-tie, not saying anything. Richard let go of Sebastian's shoulder and cleared his throat.
"Well, that's great. See, Seb? Ya look fine. Now, if you don't mind, I need to go find the mayor, mind keeping my friend here company? He's shit with making friends and this man, right here-" Richard would jab a thumb towards Bently.
"-Is too good to sit alone in this party. He's had a rough year on tour with us and needs to relax. You seem like a fun enough person." The girl nodded.
"Sure, why not, my friends ran off to get wasted anyways." Richard nodded and gave a wide smile.
"Great!" He'd then back step and walk off, leaving Bently alone with the woman.
"So... Sebastian." The woman said after several moments of silence, that time made up of Sebastian staring at his shoes. Bently looked up.
"Hm?" The woman flashed him a polite smile and spoke.
"Your friend there. He mentioned touring. You military?" Bently nodded.
"Oh- yeah. 103rd Rifleman Division, British Royal Marines." The woman nodded.
"Impressive. Been doing it long?" Bently nodded.
"A few years now, yeah. I joined when I turned 16." She nodded again.
"Wow. So how old are you now?" Bently paused before speaking.
"Uh- nineteen, Twenty next month." He took a moment to try and read her name tag again.
"Alison." She'd say, extending a hand.
"My handwriting is uh- hard to read, sorry." Bently laughed a little, taking her hand and shaking it.
"Nah, you're fine. Nice to meet you though." Bently would flash a small smile before releasing her hand, letting his own fall to his side.
"Sorry about being dumped on you- my friend there's my uh- Staff Sergeant. He's ordering me to kinda mingle and make friends I guess." The woman gave a slow nod, this time being a little more reluctant, her voice lowering a little, not as sweet now.
"Oh... well- if you don't wanna talk then that's fine, I can go." Bently paused, shaking his head rather quickly.
"No, no, you're fine. You seem quite nice, so- I'd quite like to talk to you." This made the woman smile a little.
"Thanks... you seem nice too."
