Chapter 29-They Work Out/Old Grudges

Beni:

Two days after Thanksgiving and Bucky was still thanking me for the bike. But it was only a fraction of my wallet, so I didn't mind doing it for him. The money didn't even matter to me. What had made me the most happy was seeing the gratitude and excitement in his eyes. They were the most full of life I had ever seen them, and yet they still had a ways to go before being completely filled up with happiness.

And today, since I had about as much planned as yesterday and I needed to continue building muscle mass for my leg, I made the decision to go to the gym. I needed to keep in shape, not just for the leg. It was out of habit, like if I wasn't doing weight lifting in the next hour then my old drill sergeant would pop out of nowhere and yell at me to drop down and give him fifty.

So Bucky and I fell into the same routine as yesterday, except he made the normal amount of coffee and Garfield actually lost the argument in the comics of the newspaper. I sighed and leaned against the counter with my elbows, putting most of my weight on my prosthetic.

"What's up?" Bucky asked, and when I looked into his eyes, I saw worry and lack of sleep. He was always wearing a look on his face, with furrowed brows and jutted bottom lip, as if it was up to him and only him to carry the weight of the world. I smiled and shrugged.

"Nothing, just thinking about going to the gym later. Want to join me, Princess?"

"Why not? You know I've got nothing better to do."

"Well since the weather dude said it's going to be snowing a little bit, yeah."

I shivered in disgust for effect, and that got him to smile. There were many reasons that I kept the house at eighty degrees. One being because of my weird lizard blood, and the other being my extreme hate for cold weather in general.

"Awesome," I said. "I've literally got nothing else to do, too, so don't be surprised if we stay there for the majority of the day. We can take the truck, and you're going to drive because I can't feel anything in my leg. We leave at...Eleven. Good?"

Bucky nodded and took a drink of coffee. We were going to have to eat a big breakfast if we were going to stay that long.

We stayed in the kitchen for another hour before gong to our separate rooms to go get ready.

I was ecstatic when we got there. The trip from the parking lot to the lobby was simple excruciating. I probably should have worn something over my gray tank top other than my really, really thick jacket, but I figured since I would be getting hot soon anyway why even bother?

Bucky was wearing a long sleeved shirt (duh) and a pair of shorts, but he didn't seem that bothered by the cold. Lucky bastard.

We quickly signed in using my membership and went into a special section of the gym. There were treadmills and other cardio work out machines, a place for people who wanted to work out but were under the age of eighteen, and the weight lifting section. I wasn't really one for Zumba (In the very back corner with the exercise balls, such a tiny corner that they should get their own room), and treadmills weren't really my thing considering how much I ran with Bucky around the Reflection Pool down by the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, so I headed towards the weight lifting while Bucky hit the treadmills.

Many of the big, strong brutes there were scoffing at me as I walked by, but I ignored them by putting my headphones in. I was thankfully met with the All American Rejects (it's an ancient playlist, but I still like them) and laid down on the table and under the bar.

At this point all of the guys had stopped lifting whatever weights they had chosen and stared at me like I was a fucking Kardashian. Either in awe or completely out of my mind. But I paid no mind to them, or my dog tags that had fallen to the side but were still attached to my neck. Even after I came home from the war I never took them off.

I expertly remembered to breath when I lifted nearly two hundred pounds above my head. I could probably lift more, but I didn't want to hurt myself. Especially since it has been forever (It certainly feels like it) since I've done this. I lifted, dropped, lifted, dropped, all to the rhythm of Basket Case by Green Day.

I did this for about ten minutes, and then one of my ear buds fell out. I couldn't lift all of that weight with only one hand so I put it back on the rail and sat up, wiping the sweat off of my nose as I did so. I looked over at Bucky, who was starring at me as he ran. Considering he didn't have any music, I was probably his only source of entertainment. I smiled and stuck out my tongue, and he just smiled back. I huffed and walked over to him. He didn't stop.

"What's up? Are those guys being jerks?" he asked slightly panting.

"Surprisingly not. I came to offer you Journey and Green Day."

I quickly took my MP3 out and plugged the buds in his ears before he could protest, and walked back to the station I was at.

Unfortunately my station had been taken by one of the jocks, and he was now trying to lift the weight I had been doing. And he was. But he wasn't doing it with as much ease as I had been doing. I internally smirked and went to the one next to it. Same stuff, just a slightly bigger load. I didn't mind, though. That had been a warm up of sorts. Now I was ready for the bigger stuff.

"Now that's just showing off," one of them said. I physically smirked this time. This was about thirty pounds heavier than what I was doing before, and I was still doing it with somewhat ease. It was at least two-twenty.

"Jealous, boys?" I asked as I lifted it above my head again. Since the head of the table I was in the same direction of Bucky's treadmill, I could kind of see him smirking if I looked up high enough. So he was still watching me.

Then I would give him a show with watching.

"No. You're probably just a dumb blonde, anyways," one of them grunted. Literally. He actually grunted when he spoke, and I could tell be wasn't actually lifting anything. He just grunted to grunt, as if showing off his deep voice. Well who the fuck cares anyway?

"I'm actually a Herpatologist," I grunted. And I was grunting because I was actually putting effort into it.

"A what?" he asked.

"I study reptiles for Tony Stark," I simplified. If they kept as asking stupid questions, Bucky would later find me beating myself in the head with the wall. He would ask why, I would say "Because if I lower my IQ down to their level it might not hurt as much."

I was seriously thinking about it.

"Damn, with all the weight she's lifting I kind of want to arm wrestle her," a new one said. I put the bar on its holder and sat up again, panting slightly. I was hunched over slightly, so now my dog tags were just sort of hanging there instead of being pressed against my body like normal. Out of habit, I took them and stuffed them in my shirt, making many eyes go to my chest. In the corner of my eyes I could see that Bucky had stopped running and was walking over, iPod in hand.

"Who said that?" I asked. A black haired guy pointed to his red headed friend and I gave them a not-so-friendly smile.

"I accept your challenge," I said. He looked taken aback slightly, but quickly shook it off.

"No way, it was just an idea," he said quickly with a shake of his head.

"What's just an idea?"

I looked up to see Bucky, who was standing right behind me now. He had an easy smile on his lips, but his eyes showed over protectiveness.

"Him arm wrestling me," I said, pointing a thumb at the red head. Bucky snorted and handed me back my headphones and iPod, muttering an,

"He would lose," under his breath. I nodded in agreement.

"Really? I'm right here!" He said, pointing to his chest.

"Well would you rather us do it behind your back?" I asked, meeting his gaze. "But that aside, why won't you arm wrestle me? Just out of curiosity."

"Because you're a girl. Girl's aren't supposed to arm wrestle or lift weights."

"Then what are they supposed to do?" I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly. My smile was fake now.

"Well, make dinner and clean and stuff."

My smile completely dropped.

"That was probably the worst choice of words you could have picked," Bucky said with a bit of amusement in his voice. "If you can't talk about a dame correctly then I suggest you go before you say anything else as stupid as that."

Dame? Since when are we in the forties? But who cares, at least he had my back.

"Just because she can't defend herself in an argument?" he said stupidly. His friends all agreed with him. Bucky face palmed, and I glared.

"I can defend myself just fine. Any time, anywhere. But what you're telling me is that women were put on the face of this planet to make men happy," I clarified. They all had the idiocy to nod.

"Yeah, no. We were put on this planet as your equal."

"Not really. Guys are way stronger."

"One, no. They aren't. Not in all situations. You had trouble lifting one-eighty, and I had no trouble at all lifting two-twenty. You were red in the face. Also, you wouldn't be strong enough to carry around a baby inside of you for nine months even if you could. Or go through the pain of child birth. So take that and stick it where the sun doesn't shine."

Bucky placed a comforting hand on my shoulder-his metal one-and glared extra hard at the disrespectful idiot.

"He's not worth it, Beni," he said, giving my shoulder a little squeeze. "Besides, I think if you keep talking to them you're gonna lose brain cells. I don't want you to be as dumb as them."

"How would you know the pain of child birth?" one of them asked with a sneer. An honest to god sneer. And here I thought only Draco Malfoy could pull those off. "Have you even had your own, whore?"

"Whore? That's the best insult you have? So what if I have a lot of sex? I guess that just means I'm getting more than you," I shot back. I've never had sex, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I almost did, though.

Bucky's grip on my shoulder at the insult tightened, and he wasn't wearing his smile either. Be rolled his shoulders, loosening them up a bit. He took his free band and moved his shirt out of the way, showing them where the metal met flesh.

"Go," he said in a deathly low tone. They paled and nodded, and I turned my head up to Bucky.

"Just in case you're curious, I've never had sex."

I could almost see the relief in Bucky's eyes.

I stretched as I waited for Bucky to get out of the bathroom. It was about three, and other than those jocks, we've had a pretty good day.

Until he walked in.

I knew him from high school. He bad been the quarterback for our football team. But be looked really different from ten years ago. Then again so did I, so I was really hoping that he wouldn't recognize me. But he did. And he wanted to start a friendly conversation.

Damn.

"Beni?" he said, as if he couldn't possibly believe that I changed in the past ten tears. "Is that you?"

"Who are you?" I asked, a slight edge to my voice.

"Do you really not remember me? Drake Greene, Midtown High."

"Oh! Drake, I hardly recognized you, you've changed so much," man I hated people. He was number two on my hate list. Cain was number one.

"I could say the same to you. Where are your glasses? And your braces?"

"Uh, home and gone. I got them off before senior year ended, remember?"

All I had to do was keep stalling until Bucky was back.

"Cool, cool. So hey, I figured since you're in town, do you wanna go grab something to eat?"

Was he fucking serious?!

My smile dropped for the second time that day.

"Not in a million years," I said, voice as cold as ice. Be looked so surprised by that answer, and a little offended. Good. I want to watch him burn in hell.

"Is this about me picking on you in school?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. At this point I was really wondering if Bucky and I were the only smart ones left.

"And because of Carmen."

Carmen bad been my first and only girlfriend, and we were absolutely head over heels. But she had depression and anxiety, and on top of the stress of school and home stuff, she could barely stand the bullying. So she killed herself.

"That wasn't my fault-"

"-It was completely your fault!" I shouted. I couldn't help it. I was beyond pissed at this point, and right now, the temperature was higher than my patience. And it was fucking snowing!

"I didn't slit her wrists!"

"But you were the one to started the bullying. You were the first person to say she should kill herself."

My eyes were stinging from unshead tears, and thankfully that was when Bucky decide to come out. I didn't bother with a smile when I saw him, and he narrowed his eyes at Drake.

"Who are you?" He asked, voice as icy as ever.

"Me? I'm an old friend-"

"-Not even close," I interrupted. I began to walk away, and Bucky began to follow. But I stopped when my arm was grabbed, and I was pulled back.

It was Drake, unsurprisingly.

I grit my teeth and grabbed the wrist of the hand that had a death grip on me and swung my right leg to his face, sending him to the ground while I landed smoothly.

"Don't touch me," I said to him. Bucky put a comforting hand on my shoulder but I just shrugged him off.

"Come on. Let's go," he said.