Enemies with Benefits 2

Chapter 9: Call me

"Have you ever tried chicken souvlaki?" Like every other dish Stavros had offered to Steven, Steven shook his head and admitted his ignorance of such things.

"I have not."

"You'll like it." Stavros assured. He offered a plate of it to Steven who stared at with apprehension, as he had with every other dish Stavros had offered him. This whole experience made him realise how limited his palate was. He went to all these expensive restaurants and ordered widely the same meals every time and would be dissatisfied if they differed even slightly from what he expected them to be like.

Greek cuisine wasn't so monstrously different that he refused to even try anything. He didn't go to Indian restaurants, or anything oriental, he didn't eat Mexican or Thai food, or the food of any other nationality in that case. He liked what he knew and knew what he liked. He supposed he might come to like Greek food. Never too old to try new things.

"How has your day been?" Asked Stavros as he poked his fork into a square of fried cheese.

Steven played with the food on his plate. Pushing it from edge to edge then internally berating himself for acting like a child for playing with his food. He eventually took a bite of the chicken souvlaki and —like all things Stavros had told him to try— it was delicious. "My day was good, the case that I'm handling looks like it'll go in my client's favour. No thanks to her."

"Is she guilty?"

"It's a theft case. She didn't do it, not all of it anyway. However, she's not very bright, she does whatever her friends tell her to do— um, they're the ones who organised the crime itself then roped her into it. She also can't stop running her mouth when she's nervous."

"She incriminates herself?"

"No, not always. She just manages to make a court session take twice as long as usual because she won't shut up. She goes into an unnecessary amount of detail about everything. The prosecutor asked her about the events before the robbery and she rattled off about what she had for breakfast for an hour and a half."

Stavros laughed, "She sounds like quite the character."

Steven nodded his head. For some reason the phrase 'quite the character' immediately reminded him of his oddball of a future son-in-law. Jesus, he never thought Ezra's teenage boyfriend would ever last this long in his life. He wasn't sure why he said it, but he felt the urge to tell Stavros something honest. "I saw my son the other day."

Stavros nodded. "How was it?"

"Not good. We had an argument."

"Oh."

"It was my fault. I'm not exactly winning dad of the year anytime soon."

"I'm sure you're not that bad."

Steven grunted. "You'd be surprised."

"Well," Stavros leaned back in his chair, it was only natural for Steven to admire the strength of those arms. "As long as you continue to try your best to be good for him, then I think that's okay. Fights only matter if no one tries to improve themselves afterwards."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll try to do that."

They continued to eat and chat about mundane things.

"Do you enjoy being a doctor?" Asked Steven.

"Yeah, I do. It has its ups and downs, but so do all things. I like training the newbie doctors. I like they're enthusiasm."

"Do you have a favourite?"

"A favourite newbie? Yeah, but I can't let him know that. Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen. He's good though, real good."

Their meal came to a close as Stavros looked at his watch and said his lunch break was coming to an end. They had an argument about who should play for the bill. Steven insisted he pay for it since Stavros paid for the drinks at the bar, but Stavros insisted he get it instead. They eventually had to settle on a fifty-fifty as neither of them were giving in any time soon. They thanked the restaurant owner and headed out.