"May I ask why you want to talk before we leave? Why not talk while we eat?"
I thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded.
"We can do that." Then I whistled for my bike. Prime looked at me kinda perplexed.
"Do we have to use your bike, love?"
I looked at him. "What's wrong with my bike? I'm not reckless when I ride, if that's what you're worried about. I ride safely. I'd say ask Throttle, but he's dead."
Prime sighed. "Ok. If you give me your word you won't ride recklessly, we'll take your bike. Do you have an extra helmet?"
"Always. Where we going to eat?" I grabbed my helmet and the extra one after my bike showed up out front. I handed him the spare helmet.
"It doesn't matter to me, love. Whatever place you pick will be fine." He took the helmet and put it on. Fastened the strap and got on after I did.
I revved the bike then we headed for the city to go eat. It was nice to feel his arms around my waist as we rode. I smiled to myself. ************************************************************************
2hrs. later, we were in the city. He was surprised that I kept my word and didn't ride recklessly. In fact, he loved the ride from the base to the city.
Shortly after I found a place to eat, I parked the bike and got off. He followed suit. We both took our helmets off and I put them on the hooks on each side of the bike. We walked into Sizzler. The owner recognized me immediately.
"Hey Wolf. Long time, no see. The usual spot?"
"Not this time, Ken. I need a booth this time."
Prime looked at me. "You know the owner?"
I looked at him and smiled. "I helped him buy the place. Please don't let this get around the base, but I get anything I want free as well as cook my food if I don't like how it comes to me."
Ken asked me who my friend was. "My apology Ken. This is my boyfriend, Orion. Orion, this is Ken. I apologize again for not coming more often. I've been going through a lot lately."
Ken smiled. "Its ok. One of your friends was here about a week or so ago. Looking for a part time job, in fact. I was a bit surprised when I interviewed him."
"Really? Do you remember his name, by chance? I have many friends, Ken."
"I think he said his name is Prowl."
I looked at Prime. "Why would Prowl go looking for a part time job, love?"
"I have no idea, but I will ask him when we get back to base. Right now, I'm hungry and would like to get something to eat."
Ken lead us to a booth and gave Prime a menu. Prime looked at me. "You don't need a menu?"
"Nope. I plan to go cook my lunch. I cook a mean steak. Care to try it?"
He thought about it for a bit, then shrugged. "Sure, why not."
4 hrs. later, we finished lunch and our talk. Prime was shocked to find out what our son told me. I had found out that he had nothing to do with it, which was shocking to me.
"I figured you would have had a hand in the whole thing. Guess I was wrong. I wish I could ask Wheeljack why he did it, but he's dead, too. Speaking of. Any word on if First Aid is going to take over his brother's spot or are we looking at making Sparkplug the new CMO?"
"I haven't heard anything back from him. I will get a hold of Rusty and find out if he's talk to his son. Oh, that steak was outstanding, love."
"Glad you liked it, baby. Shall we head back to the base or would you like to cruise around the city for a bit?"
"For as much as I would like to, we need to get back to the base. I told our son that I would spend some father/son time with him after lunch."
I felt like such an idiot. I've been so busy with everything lately, that I haven't spent time with Vince.
Prime noticed the look on my face and put his hand on mine to reassure me. I looked at him and smiled. He smiled back at me.
"Vince knows that you've been preoccupied with everything and he understands. He wants to sit down with you later tonight and talk. He's worried about you."
"Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk about everything. Especially, after I find out what Wheeljack had done. The idea of me laying Throttle to rest was not to have a clone of him walking around the base. I understand why he did it, but he could have at least gotten a hold of me before he died. How do I deal with the clone walking around, especially, since I've moved on like his note had said."
"Hm, I see your point. Perhaps you should sit down with him and explain everything."
"Explain what, exactly? That I'm engaged to my former father? Yeah, that's going to go over well with him."
"I can see how that can be a problem. Would it help if I was with you when you talk to him?"
"Yeah, I think it would help. It probably wouldn't hurt if I sat down with Vince tonight and talked. I need to explain to him what he did was not only a sweet thought, but the wrong thing to do when I'm trying to move on with my life."
"Then let's head on back to base so we can get it all taken care of. Vince wants to take me to the football field we have to play against the Dinobots."
I looked at him and almost laughed out loud. Instead, I just smiled. I knew Vince had that planned. He had text me about his plans with his father.
Hours later, we arrived back at the base. As we pulled up, Throttle was standing outside the base, enjoying the fresh, afternoon mountain air.
"Hey Throttle. What's up?" I had just taken my helmet off when I asked him.
"Just chillin'. It feels weird being back like this. I'm guessing that you have already moved on, huh?"
"Yeah, I did. I would like for us to be friends, though. If that's cool with you?"
"Can I think about it for a while?"
"Yeah, no problem. Maybe tomorrow morning, we can go for a ride. There's something we need to talk about."
May I use your bike right now? I need to get back in the saddle. Know what I mean?"
I nodded my head and gave him my helmet. I watched him mount my ride, then watched him leave.
After he was out of sight, Prime asked me why I didn't tell Throttle about him and I.
"Its something I'm going to do on my own. I was thinking about it while on our way back to the base. And in all honesty, I didn't want to see you get hit by him. That glove of his can hurt you bad. Especially, when its charged up."
"You've seen this glove in action?"
"Yep. He hit Greasepit so hard, he went flying over to the next street. Charley even recorded it. I don't know if she still has it, but it was funny as hell."
Prime looked at me while I watched Throttle ride out of sight.
He put his hand on my shoulder. I jumped a bit, then I looked at him.
"Are you ok, love?"
I just shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't really sure myself on how I felt. I looked towards the direction Throttle had rode away, then looked back at Prime and sighed.
"You're conflicted, aren't you?"
"I'm not going to lie to you, babe. I'm very conflicted. A part of me misses him, but I'm also committed to you."
"Then let's go inside and talk in my office. Perhaps we can figure out something. I'd hate to find out that he doesn't want to be friends after your talk with him tomorrow."
Just the thought of that made me want to cringe. I don't like losing friends, no matter what.
