Chapter 187 Escalation
After the initial guests arrived, more and more people started showing up, and Benjamin spent some time socializing with them while at the same time taking care of the food. For the ribs, he only needed to check on them every half hour and cover them in some of the barbecue sauce, and since everything else was finished, he just needed to grill everything else, distributing everything left and right regularly.
And while he wasn't doing that, he talked to some of his old friends and people from all around town, simply having fun. Apparently, he wasn't the only one having fun either, since he could spot Sophia with Kim all day, mostly them talking to each other alone. At one of those occasions, Melody stepped up to Benjamin as well.
"What's that girl doing? She brought her boyfriend along, and all she's doing is talk to Andy's kid. Unbelievable." She complained before Benjamin chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, they're all having fun, right? Kyle and Benji are together a lot, and it looks like they're having fun too. Now, how about you go and calm Michael down a bit? He seems a little agitated right now." Benjamin suggested, seeing that Michael was talking to himself about something before Melody nodded slowly and made her way back to her husband and Sean and Katy came running up to their grandfather.
"Grampa!" Katy yelled out, attaching herself to Benjamin's leg as she did so before the old man looked down at her in confusion. "Be careful; we're by the grill. What's up?" He asked before he noticed that, different to what he expected, Katy wasn't actually in her usual cheerful mood, and was instead somewhat hiding from something, or rather someone.
"What happened, Katy?" Benjamin asked as he kneeled in front of his granddaughter before she began to explain.
"There's this girl I made friends with, her name is Jam, so I wanted to see if she was as sweet as Jam and that's why she was called that, so I licked her cheek and then, and then…" She said, becoming quieter around the end before Benjamin sighed loudly.
"And she got mad at you?" He asked before Katy surprisingly shook her head. "No, she thought it was funny and laughed! But then Uncle came over and yelled at us… He said lots of words I didn't understand, and Jam started crying even…" She said before Benjamin jumped up and looked around, seeing Jam's father in the distance, taking care of his daughter while she was crying.
And there was only one 'Uncle' that Katy could be talking about, Benjamin wanted to let it slide at first because this would probably escalate if he didn't, but then Katy said something that made him quite riled up.
"And he called me a weird word… Erm, what's a Slut?" Katy asked before Benjamin looked down at his only nine-year-old granddaughter who was just insulted as a 'slut' by a grown man.
Angrily, while grinding his teeth, Benjamin called over Benji so that he could take over at the grill for him while he took care of something. Luckily, Michael was sitting somewhere that was a good bit away from the other guests, and as such, those other guests didn't need to see or hear the argument that was now bound to unfold.
"Michael, what do you think you're doing?" Benjamin asked before Michael looked at him, confused. "I'm drinking a glass of water, what does it look like?" He responded, which didn't help calm down Benjamin's temper.
"That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it. What I'm talking about is that you called Katy a slut." Benjamin angrily said, having a hard time keeping his voice down. Luckily, only one person beside Melody and Michael heard it, although it may have been the worst one.
"Wait…what? Dad, what are you talking about?" Tony asked after having started to pay attention once he heard his daughter's name and quickly came closer, immediately getting angry just thinking about it. And likewise, Melody also didn't seem to be happy with that idea. "Michael, what did you do?" She asked before Michael looked at Tony with eyes full of spite, which also included Benjamin in their gaze.
"Yes, I called her a slut. After all, that's what she'll turn into if she continues doing those things, and even worse, she'd become a dike slut on top of that." Michael yelled out, while Tony was already mentally ripping him to shreds. "But what can you expect from a criminal's child! You're all messed up, aren't you? And I can't believe that your father is even allowing someone like 'Benji,' how you all like to call that little Bi-Sinner, inside of his house." He yelled out, now entirely looking at Benjamin, while Tony went ahead and did the thing that all of them wanted to do. Tony slapped Michael as hard as he could, turned around, and made his way inside the house to cool off for a bit.
As he was holding his cheek, Michael loudly clicked his tongue and glared at Tony's back. "Benjamin, with all due respect, I know that Tony is your son, but you cannot allow some violent criminal like him in your house. Under his care, even his children will end up as-"
"Stop right there, Michael," Benjamin said with the calmest voice that he'd had all day, trying to keep his anger under control as he looked at the man standing next to him. "I won't let you insult my son like that, and neither will you insult my grandchildren. Yes, Benji is Bisexual, so what? Are you trying to tell me that it's a bad thing?"
Confused at what was going on, as if he was entirely right with his opinion, Michael looked at Benjamin with a frown. "It's not bad per se, but if he is half-straight, then he should choose to act fully like it and ignore his side of sin. Being Bisexual isn't a problem in and of itself, just that he acted on it in the past is. And I'm sure you're aware of that myself. 'Benji' is nothing but a sinner at this point, and he's still young, so he can yet be saved."
"Ah, so you're saying I'm beyond saving, then?" Benjamin said with a superficial smile before Michael looked at him, confused. So, Benjamin moved a bit closer and looked at the utterly disgusting man in front of him. "I'm proud of Benji, and I do truly love him. He's like a younger version of me in some ways. He's good with his hands, likes people, wants to travel as much as he can, and now that we're talking about it, we have another thing in common. Both him and I have had relationships with men before." Benjamin told him after leaning in a slight bit before Michael's face took on a completely different look than before.
One of utter and complete disgust. "You… you're like him?"
"Yes, I am 'like him.' But you won't have to worry about that. I want you out of the house by tomorrow, understand? Melody, you're welcome to stay, because I know that I haven't raised you to be like your husband. But I will not allow him to stay around here any longer than necessary. There's a small hotel in town; I'll set you up with a room, Michael." Benjamin said as he turned around and left, not paying attention to what was now going on behind him right now and instead made his way back to the Grill where he instantly began working to cool himself down.
Of course, Benji, who took over for Benjamin for a while, was wondering what was going on. "Are you okay? Did something happen?" He asked full of worry since his Grandfather took over again, completely silent, and didn't say anything at all, merely staring at the task in front of him.
Slowly, Benjamin then shook his head without saying anything, and continued to flip some of the meat before checking on the ribs and taking them out of the smoker, plating them on the table with the rest of the ready-to-take food before carving them up into a large amount of pieces with about four actual 'ribs' per piece.
"Grampa, what the hell happened?" Benji asked once more, before Sophia, who just approached them after noticing that something was off as well, spoke up. "Yeah, what happened? You were with Mom and Dad just now, right?"
After a long sigh, Benjamin then nodded. "Yes, I was. But let's just leave it at that, you'll find out after the party." He explained before Benji, and Sophia looked at each other in worry while Kyle and Kim were standing next to them in confusion and awkwardness.
"Benji, can you take over for a while again? I need to talk to your dad." Benjamin explained before Benji looked at him with a frown and nodded. "Yeah, sure, but why do you need to talk to dad? Does he have anything to do with why you're like this right now?"
"No, but he's also not doing so well, and I'd like to talk to him," Benjamin told them while Benji took over the grill again silently, worried about what was going on, while the old man himself made his way inside.
And it didn't take long for Benjamin to find his son either, as he was sitting on the couch in the living room, staring at the wall opposite to him. "Hey bud, you doing okay?" Benjamin asked as he sat down next to Tony, who slowly began to nod.
"I'm fine. You can go back outside; I don't want to ruin the party for you." He responded before Benjamin quietly chuckled. "Don't worry, if anyone is ruining anything today it's Michael, not you."
"Tell me about it… That goddamn prick just thinks he's better than everyone." Tony said as he looked at his father, who then slowly nodded.
"Yes, he does. I'm just as mad as you are, trust me. He said some things that you just can't say, no matter the situation. He'll be gone by tomorrow and will have to stay in a hotel or drive back home or whatever, I don't care. But I hope that Melody will stay here." Benjamin explained before Tony slowly nodded.
"Thanks, I really, really can't stand him. Michael insulting my children like that, he can be glad that I only slapped him." Tony muttered, gazing down at his arm, and more specifically a single tattoo of a rose. "I… I did so much to make up for my mistakes… I worked my ass off, I help out at shelters so fucking much, and I'm even a fucking youth counselor for kids living on the street. What else can I do not to be seen as a goddamn criminal anymore?"
While gripping his arm quite violently, Tony looked at his father with tears in his eyes, while Benjamin placed his arm on his son's shoulder. "Tony, you've done more than enough for that already. And both of us know that it isn't your fault that you ended up like that either. Everybody has their mistakes. You do, I do, and even your mother did. Nobody is perfect, and nobody expects you to be. The only ones that still bring your past up are people like Michael, whose opinion shouldn't matter to you anyway." Benjamin said with a smile before he stood up and looked down at his son.
"I'm sure you want to be alone for a while. You know the password to the door lock to the basement, so go ahead and get rid of your worries." He told Tony with a wink and then made his way back outside, trying to be cheerful for his family again. And when Benjamin stepped out the door into the garden, he saw a man that he hasn't seen for a while, whom he could engage in very distracting conversations.
Samuel finally arrived.