Falling Slowly

Pt.1|Ch.11

•••••Benjamin's Perspective

"Is Sky back yet?" Josh whined. "I'm hungry."

"Chill out, he's coming." I switched lazily through the TV channels.

"Do you me to put a movie in, or something?" Aiden asked from the kitchen. "I have a couple."

"I want food." Josh dramatically flopped down on the couch.

"I have cookies, if you want one." Aiden suggested.

Josh lifted his head with a big grin on his face."Yes, please!"

She laughed, and walked into the living room a couple seconds later with a cookie in her hand.

"You can't give him a cookie." I protested, setting the remote down.

"Why not?" She asked, sitting down next to us.

"Yeah, why not?" Josh glared at me.

"He hasn't had lunch yet."

She raised an eyebrow. "If I want to give Joshua a cookie, then I'm going to give Joshua a cookie."

"He can't have one." I reached across Josh's sulking lifeform to grab for the cookie.

She held it out of my reach, and I instantly knew I'd made a mistake.

"Try it." She challenged. "I dare you."

"You know what?" I smiled, holding my hands up in surrender. "It's probably not that big a deal."

"Didn't think so." She handed the cookie to Josh, who sat up and ate it happily.

"Thank you, Aiden." He said when he'd finished it, still scowling at me.

"You're welcome." She patted his arm and stood up again, returning to the kitchen.

"I have food!" A familiar voice said as the door suddenly swung open.

"See?" I called to Aiden. "He could've lasted!"

"Come at me, Benjamin." She called back, sticking her tongue out at me.

Sky set the Chipotle bag on the kitchen counter. "Had to make a detour and pick Austyn up, but we made it."

My ears colored at the sound of Austyn's name, almost making me groan aloud in irritation.

Really?

It was bad enough talking to her one-on-one, but if I couldn't even behave normally when she was in the same room as me, this was going to get a lot more difficult.

"Glad she could." Aiden said with a smile in her voice.

"I would've come earlier to help you out, like I said I would." Austyn's voice made me color even more deeply. "But I had to work on an essay, and my mom left before I could ask for a ride."

"That's fine." Aiden dismissed her apology with a wave of her hand. "Did Sky pick you up in time to get you anything to eat?"

Austyn nodded. "Yeah, he did."

"Great, well, we're probably gonna eat here in a few minutes. Do you want to help me set everything up? The boys can watch a movie for a few minutes or something in the meantime."

"Oh, um," Sky shoved his hands into his pockets, a light blush painting his cheeks. He looked up at Aiden with pleading brown eyes. "Can I choose the movie?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"Yes," He whispered triumphantly. "Where is it?"

"By the DVD player." She rubbed her eyes. "You'll have to see if it still works, or if you've worked it to death."