Pool Hunny // Benny Rodriguez

36.

Benny.

I stopped when I heard banging on our front door turning to go and open it, Caroline rushed in and slammed it closed behind her. She had crouched down at the base of the door so no one could see her through the windwows behind it or the little window in the door. "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" unmistakably Katherine's voice, I couldn't tell if Caroline was breatheless from running or if she was laughing.

"What the hell did you do?" I asked her confused.

Caroline grinned at me and opened her closed fist to reveal an expensive but a little gaudy looking ring, "that psycho bought herself an enagement ring."

I shot her an incredulous look, "and you stole it?!"

"What else was I supposed to do?" She asked earnestly, "let her convince my poor, smitten father to propose to her with that piece of costume jewellery? I don't fucking think so."

"That is the kind of stuff you go to jail for Caroline." I muttered astounded. Although I really shouldn't have been surprised at all.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Caroline continued as I pulled her to her feet, "speaking of, look what else I took."

She opened her other hand to show a simpler but more elegant ring, I frowned, "and that's what? Her back up?"

Caroline laughed, "good one, but no. This was my mother's engagement ring, and that gold digging, superficial rat has had her beady little eyes on it since I mistakenly wore it in front of her."

I led her up the stairs and into my room where Katehrine definitely wouldn't see her, "won't your father be mad?"

"I don't expect so no, mostly because she can't tell him that I stole the engagement ring she bought for herself. Although I have no doubt she'll tell him I stole something." Caroline paused, "you're right. He'll be livid actually, but I hate Katherine enough that the expression on her face this morning will have been worth it. What are you doing today?"

"I was going to go fishing with my Dad, you can come if you want." I offered.

Caroline made a surprised face, "really? Don't you want some quality time with your father?"

"I can get that another time, he's staying for a while, trust me it will be fun." I told her, despite all of the running and stealing of rings I couldn't imagine Caroline was actually happy about what Katherine was trying to pull here and that she felt comfortable enough in her relationship for this to work.

She nodded decisively, "okay, I guess it could be fun. I should warn you that I don't know how to fish."

I snorted, "niether do my Dad and I, which is what makes the trips so much better. You will have to change before we go, because those nice clohtes will get ruined."

She frowned, "how do you fish?"

"There's usually a lot of capsising." I told her remembering the last time my Dad had taken me fishing.

"I guess I can borrow something of Emmy's, when do we leave?" Caroline asked walking across the hall to my cousin's room.

"In twenty minutes."

Time skip to the lake.

When we got out at the lake lugging the fishing equpiment behind us, the rental boat was already waiting at the dock with the anxious, skinny ginger that usually gave us the instructions. Instructions that my Dad completely ignored on account of 'he'd done this a million times and didn't need the patronising him'. He may have done it a couple times but he sure as hell didn't get any better as it went along.

"I don't know what my son has told you about my boating skills but I can asure you they aren't half as bad." My Dad told Caroline as she jumped onto the rickety wooden boat.

"I'm sure your right." Caroline replied although she looked a little less secure in herdecision to come along when my Dad couldn't figure out how to get the motor working.

"May I?" Caroline asked as I got in.

My Dad moved out of the way although I could tell from the look on his face that he wasn't expecting her to do much better. "It's waterlogged." She explained quickly. I could see my father was nodding but I knew he had no idea what that meant because like I'd explained before he couldn't fucking drive this boat to save his life.

Caroline shuffeled around for about ten minutes until she pulled on the string and the motor revved. "All done." 

I could see the impressed look on my Dad's face, he wasn't an arrogant guy but when it came to boats for some reason he was convinced no one could do it better than him, which was completely delusional. "Thank you Caroline." 

She nodded about to reply when my Dad sat down grabbing the pedal and accidentaly pushing it to the highst level the motorboat could go. The boat basically went as far upright as possible as it took off across the lake. Caroline and I let out yells as we lost our balance smacking down to the ground and rolling towards where my father was sitting completely unbothered. 

When he finally spotted us he turned it down a bit. "Dad, don't you want to let Caroline drive, seeing as she actually knows what she's doing?" I asked. 

He laughed, "would you relax I know exactly what I'm doing."

Caroline and I shared dubious looks as we pushed back upright taking a seat, "no offence, but your father must be delusional if he thinks this is driving." she hissed as we grabbed onto the railing of the boat to keep from flying out as he turned a sharp corner. 

"You try telling him that." I hissed back, "he's absolutely convinced he's the best there is."

She snorted, "now I know why you offered to take me a long." 

"And what is that?" 

"Because you want to get rid of me and thought your father's nutso driving would be perfect for the job." Caroline replied making me snicker. 

"Yeah watch out, any moment we'll hit a bank and you'll fall out never to be seen again, I had it all planned out." I told her making her grin. 

"This is a motorboat, a sorry excuse of one, but a motor boat all the same, so how the hell did you manage to capsize? And multiple times at that?" Caroline joked as we drove straight through the large patch of reeds sticking out of the water. 

"It's like your not sitting in the boat my Dad's driving, are you really surprised?" I asked her pointedly. 

"Now that you mentioned it not really." She replied, we turned our attention back to the lake. I had been coming here since I was six, not that it had improved my fishing. I still hadn't caught a single fish in the entirity of the eleven years I'd been here. Although I was starting to think that was because my father liked to 'tear up the lake' with his 'awsome driving skills' and accidentally scared all of the fish away. 

Caroline let out a scream grabbing onto me and I moved my head to her line of sight only to see us driving straight at a massive rock. "DAD!" I shouted snapping him out of the zone out he'd been in. When my Dad wasn't working he was the most unconcentrated person ever 

"CRAP!" He yanked the boat to the side just tin time to avoid us crashing, instead Caroline and I were hurled out of the boat into the water. We resurfaced hacking up water to see my Dad who was sitting in the boat laughing his ass off about what just happened. Caroline and I shared a look before we started laughing too, what was the point in taking this too seriously. 

"Remind me again how you got your boating license Mr Rodriguez?" Caroline asked as my Dad pulled her back into the boat. 

He waved her off, "please call me Ale, and i don't have a boating lisence. That's why we come to this lake because the owner doesn't give a crap." 

That explained a lot. 

By the time we were done with the little excapade Caroline and I were still soaking wet, we sat together in the back of the car wrapped in our towels on the way home. "Thanks for taking me along." She told me quietly. 

I nodded, "anytime princess."