On Bended Knee (Brandon's POV)

***(Luita, it's not what you're hoping for, but I got the song in!)***

"I'm gonna swallow my pride
Say I'm sorry
Stop pointing fingers
the blame is on me
I want a new life
And I want it with you
If you feel the same
Don't ever let it go
You gotta believe 
in the spirit of love
It'll heal all things
It won't hurt any more
No I don't believe our love's terminal
I'm down on my knees begging you please
Come home"- On Bended Knee by Boys II Men


Brandon's POV

I drove back to the house after a long day at work. Before I left, I had to deal with an unsatisfied customer and a disgruntled worker. The customer was purchasing a princess Halloween costume. She claimed it was on the $16.99 shelf when it rang up $24.99. I would have just changed the price, but she had to get in Ashley's line, a part time cashier and one of those girls that had to be right. Yes, $24.99 was on the actual costume, but if an employee stocked it wrong, we had to honor it. Alexis wasn't even going to check the shelf nor change the price. At the end of the day, I sold the costume at $16.99 and had to coach Alexis. I was really starting to hate the holidays...

When I got home, I was greeted by the smells of dinner being cooked. I was so thankful for that. I didn't even have the patience to stop for food. When I walked into the kitchen, Rocky was chopping celery like it did something to piss her off.

"Rough day at work?" I said, coming up beside her to kiss her on the lips. I was going to be a gentleman and let her vent first. She turned her face away and gave me her patented "you fucked up" glare. I sighed.

"Work was fine. Did you know Jake and Lily met up on Saturday?" She asked me.

"No..." I answered, confused. I had nothing to do with that...

"Me neither! My best friend is not talking to me. Thanks to your dumbass plan!" Rocky snapped.

"Hey, I was just trying to help..." I started.

"Please! If you were, you would've kept to your word and stayed out of it!" Rocky continued.

I picked up my keys before she started another rant. "I don't need this shit. I'm out." I said, before leaving. I got in my car and pulled out my phone. I called Jake.

"What did you do to Lily now?" I asked him, after he answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Rocky is bitching at me over you and Lily." I explained.

"That's on y'all. Lily and I are done." He said, calmly. Too calmly.

"I'm coming over." I said, before hanging up.

------------

"So what's the plan? " I said, looking over to see what Jake was doing on his tablet. I sighed when I saw his Facebook pulled up. He just told me about the conversation he had with Lily Saturday night.

"Instead of sitting here, looking at her pictures like a crazy person, you should be working with me on a plan to win her back." I told him.

"Brandon, have you noticed your plans work as well as Wile Coyote's?" Jake said, not looking up from his tablet.

He had me there. Everything I tried to do didn't go as planned. Sometimes, they even made things worse. My first plan to get Rocky's input didn't go well. Jake and I schemed right in front of Rocky, knowing how she couldn't keep her opinion to herself. I waited for her to jump in and give us suggestions to get Lily to speak to Jake. When Rocky didn't, I took it up a notch and suggested he confront her at her job. Jake gave me a look like I was losing my mind, but through non verbal communication I told him to go along with it (I kicked him under the table until he agreed with me!)

When Rocky heard that, she didn't give us any help. She bitched us out, telling Jake behavior like that was why Lily needed to stay away from him. Jake conceded and said he understood, but needed to talk to Lily, even if it was just to apologize. Rocky told him that should be Lily's choice. Let her come to him if she wanted to hear him out. That's how he came up with  flowers and a card.

While the plan didn't go as I expected, it wasn't a complete disaster like the night out with the fellas. I thought it would cheer him up and give him a break from moping around his apartment, waiting for a call from Lily. I never imagined Omar and Jake would have a physical altercation.

But that's what happened. We were out at a patio bar. I felt the tension between the two of them, but I assumed that was because of the break up. Nothing lots of shots couldn't solve. Before Malik and Colton branched off to check out women, Omar shared the news that Kelly was pregnant. Congratulations went around the table. I ordered more shots to celebrate. Jake said a dull congratulations and abruptly left the table.

Omar watched him but didn't say anything. I didn't think anything of it. I figured he was as shocked as me. I didn't even know they were trying. Colton said what I was thinking when he asked Omar if it was planned. Omar shared that they decided to start trying a few months ago, they just didn't think it would happen so fast. Jake came back as Malik joked about Omar's strong swimmers.

I asked Jake where he went, Jake answered the bathroom. Omar sarcastically thanked him for letting us know. Jake just looked at him and told him next time he would if he needed someone to hold his dick. I laughed, thinking it was a joke, until Omar confronted Jake about the Facebook post. Omar wasn't apologetic about it at all. He was pissed off that Jake was letting Lily fuck with his head. When Jake denied that, Omar pointed out his lackluster response to his news about Kelly's pregnancy. Jake celebrated, mockingly, telling him he was thrilled. He added now that Omar was having a kid, he would be too busy to interfere in his life and would finally get off his nuts. Omar responded by punching him in the face. I jumped up quickly, separating the two of them as they exchanged blows.

Omar took off after that and we all followed. I was embarrassed. We always talked about dudes that got into brawls at the bar. I thought we were past that childish bullshit.

I saw I had a text from Rocky saying Lily picked her and EJ up to go to a football game. When I called her back, she confirmed Lily was driving her home, my next plan formulated in my mind. I made Jake come over with the expectation of crown and ice for his face. I knew Lily wouldn't drop EJ off without coming in to tell him goodnight. I was right. I watched Jake and Lily stare at each other. A grin spread on my face when he followed her. One look on Rocky's face told me I fucked up.

She promised me this was going end bad. She was right. Lily ran out of the house and Jake came back, looking more miserable than he did after getting into a fight with Omar. Rocky shook her head and took her phone to the room. I took Jake home. When I came home, I admitted I was wrong. I thought Rocky and I moved past it. Until the fight when I got home that day.

"All my plans did blow up in my face. I'm sorry about that man." I said. I really felt guilty about that.

"Don't be." Jake informed me. "It's my relationship. I fucked it up. It's on me to fix it, not you." Jake said, putting down his tablet. I looked at the screen. He blocked Lily on Facebook.

I looked at him surprised. "How is giving up and pretending like you don't care going to help? "

"I'm not giving up. I'm taking a break." Jake answered.

"Why'd you block her?"

"Cause seeing her pictures and shit just makes me wanna go over there and convince her to change her mind."

"Good! Go get her!" I encouraged him.

"I would if I didn't put that type of pressure on her our whole relationship. I need to....regroup. Give her time to forgive me, then we'll go from there."

"Don't pressure her. You gotta be smooth with it... with a lot of begging and pleading man." I told him.

He laughed at me. "I always wondered how you managed to keep Rocky this long..."

"Laugh all you want, but I got her." I smiled.

"So why are you over here bugging me? Don't you have some begging to do?" He asked.

"Alright man, I can take the hint." I said, standing up to leave.

As I drove home, I couldn't help but think about my plans, and even with the best intentions, they went awry. Even Rocky's and my first date was a disaster. I smiled at the memory. I took her to this French place, where I could barely read the menu just because it was rated 5 stars and it was expensive. I tried to get a conversation going, but she just wasn't into it. I thought she was playing hard to get.

On the drive home, I asked her when we could go out again. Even though the date was bad, I still wanted to take her out and get to know her better. Maybe we'd go to a steakhouse next time, still expensive, but at least I would be able to read the menu.

Being the blunt person that she is, Rocky told me I should just give it up. She informed me she was sorry, but it wasn't going to work out. When I asked her why, she told me she wasn't one of those girls who could be bought. When she went out, she liked to be comfortable and she never felt so uncomfortable in her life.

It took a lot of convincing (begging) but I got her to extend the date a little longer. We went to Cold Stone Creamery. Over waffle bowls, I explained to her that wasn't my style and I was just trying to impress her. She smirked and informed me she wasn't impressed. We laughed and spent the rest of the night discussing what we thought was fun. It was enough to get me a second date.

The house was silent when I entered. I found Rocky in bed. I kicked off my shoes and joined her. She turned away from me.

"I'm sorry." I told her, lying on my back. "I should have stayed out of it. I just feel guilty. "

When she turned to look at me, I continued.

"I talked about Jake and Lily's relationship so badly. I didn't want them together, but I should have supported him. Maybe it wouldn't have went down like it did if he felt like he could talk to me."

"Don't play the maybe game. You can't take the blame for that." Rocky commented.

"I just feel like the least I could do was help get them back together."

"We have to stay out of it. Interfering will only make it worse." She told me.

"I know. Jake called me Wile Coyote today."

Rocky thought about it for a moment, then laughed. "Beep Beep!"

I laughed too.

"I did give him one piece of advice..." I continued.

Rocky groaned. "What?"

"Same thing you taught me. Learn how to beg and plead." I smiled.

She rolled over to straddle me, looking down at me with a huge smile. "Brandon! It took you forever to learn it, but finally you got it!"

"As long as I got you, I'm fine with that." I told her, before she leaned over to give me a kiss. "Think you can get me some food?" I asked when she pulled away.

She rolled off of me. "Boy, you trippin!"

I sighed. "Had to try..."