for, liar

Chapter 80

Ben isn't smart enough to come up with some maniacal plan to get to my father's house for Thanksgiving. This is all surely just a coincidence. I'd be wasting my time trying to question him. I would also probably look like an idiot.

Around 8:30, me and the step monster finished the breakfast feast we prepared together. I'm really impressed with myself that I managed to help her cook everything without spilling milk or dropping the carton of eggs on the floor.

I get the plates out for everyone, presenting the food to look even better than last night's dinner.

My dad walks downstairs, his mouth nearly dropping to the floor when he sees the setup. "Oh, wow! What is all this?" He exclaims, examining the huge stack of waffles in the center of the table.

"We made breakfast." Lily answers with pride, as she should.

He smiles and makes his way over to her to place a passionate kiss on her cheek. I've never seen her blush so hard.

"This is amazing. You ladies are just...incredible. Thank you." He walks over and pulls me in for a hug. I chuckle and wrap my arms around his torso.

Derek and Natalie walk in with Lily's parents and they express the same gratitude towards us for the full table.

"I'm going to go find Miles." I whisper to dad and walk out of the dining room.

I turn the corner to head up the staircase and walk down the hall back to my old bedroom.  Miles is lying face down on the pillow.

I giggle softly and lean down next to his face. "Miles?" I whisper.

He doesn't move an inch so I try again. "Milessss." I say soothingly, running my hand through his thick brown hair.

He groans into the pillow and turns his head to look at me.

"Come on, sleepy head. We made breakfast." I say.

He smiles and sits up. I straighten my back to stand as he reaches over to grab me by my waist. I squeal as he pulls me down on top of him and rolls us both on our sides.

"I cannot get back in bed. We just made a whole feast. Let's go eat."

He still can't be convinced. He just doesn't want to budge and get his ass out of bed this morning for some reason.

"Or we could just stay like this for the rest of the day." He suggests with a cunning smile.

I bite my lip and clear the hair out of my face. "As nice as that sounds, we did come here for the holidays and definitely overstayed our welcome already thanks to the storm."

He shrugs and pulls me closer to him. He's still undressed and tightly tucked under the covers. His eyes scan my body for a split second and move up to meet mine. He starts to lean over but I stop him before he can get anywhere.

"Miles! This isn't helping. Get out of bed and meet me downstairs."

I jump off the bed and toss him his boxers from the floor. They land on his face and he laughs as he pulls them down with his hands. "Fine. I'll be down in a few."

He pushes the sheets off his body and my eyes are glued.
Holy fuck, I can't stop staring at him. It's nice to have this newly found comfort I wouldn't have thought would happen just months ago. He would barely take his shirt off in front of me and now he's completely fine with letting me watch him get dressed. I smile at the irony and leave the room.

Ben opens the door of his guest room as I shut mine. He looks at me, grimacing my way. I'm not feeling confrontational so I brush it off and decide to be the bigger person.

"Good morning."

"Morning." He answers flatly.

"Did you sleep okay?" I ask.

He shrugs and walks down the hall. I sigh and follow behind him to the staircase. He makes his way down with me, still right behind each step.

"Ben, wait."

I don't know what came over me at this moment but I really hate the way things are right now. Maybe my dad was right and it's time to make amends.

He turns around to face me. We're still out of sight from the dining room. I'm surprised my dad hasn't called me asking what's taking so long.

"I'm sorry about last night. It was childish and immature. Neither one of us deserved that."

He shrugs again and crosses his arms. The shrugging is getting on my last nerve. Why won't he just talk to me? I'm trying to be the bigger person here.

"Do you want to say anything...?" I ask.

He keeps staring at me.It's clear he wants to say something. I can see it on his face.

"No, but you don't have to go around parading your new relationship around just to get back at me."

I don't know where he got the idea that I was doing anything to intentionally mess with him. I'm not that petty. I wouldn't even do that if I wasn't over him.

"I'm not parading anything, Ben. I'm sorry if you're taking it that way but in case you didn't notice, I'm actually happy."

He snorts and rolls his eyes. He's practically throwing a fit over nothing.

"What is your problem?"

"You." He steps down the last step and turns around to continue. "Also, just so you know, you've never been quiet in bed." he mutters, walking off with his childlike pout.

My cheeks flush with anger and slight embarrassment.

Miles walks down the stairs and grabs my hand and I'm hoping to God that he didn't hear any of that. "Hey, is everything alright?"

I confidently tell him everything's fine. We need to go eat breakfast before it gets cold and all my hardwork goes to waste. I'll just do what I've been doing best for the past few years and ignore Ben.

It's clear that making amends just wasn't going to work out this year. Maybe someday, but not right now. He's got his unresolved feelings towards me and whether they are love or hate may be the deciding factor on if we could ever be friends.

"Everything turned out amazing. This Thanksgiving has definitely been one of my favorites." My dad beams.

That was a stretch there, dad. This wouldn't even be in the top twenty for me. I'm glad he's happy though and at least I got quality time away from everyone. My mother wouldn't have left us alone at all. I told Miles she would be fine with him staying over but I'm sure she would have made a big deal about it. It would have been an even bigger deal if she knew what we would have ended up doing.

"I'm going to call mom." I excuse myself and step out of the dining room.

I take a peek outside to make sure I can finally see the roads. They don't look too bad and luckily enough, me and Miles may be able to head out of here pronto.

Revised;