𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter sixty nine.

Claudia stared at her home from inside Ben's car. They had finally arrived, but Claudia was nervous. The only reason she stayed with Ben was because she was too afraid to confront Janis, now she had to do it, no excuses. Ben could tell she was having a moment, so he grabbed her hand and kissed it letting her know he wasn't planning on leaving.

But finally Claudia got the courage to get out of the car with Ben following behind her. It was going good, she was confident that she could talk to the three adults without something going wrong, but she was wrong. Right as she opened the door, a vase was thrown right by her. Ben quickly grabbed her, and shielded her from the broken glass that flew their way.

"Oh my god, Claudia," Janis gasped when she realized what she had done.

"Mom, it's fine," Claudia fixed her hair as Ben stepped aside.

"No it's not, you could've gotten hurt." Janis quickly ran over to her daughter and inspected her face for cuts.

"Okay, I'm fine, Ben was right beside me. But, uh, where's Nate and Lara? Edward called and said there was something going on here and I can tell you weren't sleeping." Claudia looked around the living room to see pillows, papers and shoes scattered around the floor.

"Traitors are in the kitchen, my lover is in the bathroom," Janis crossed her arms over her chest. "Honestly, we are completely fine." She turned around and walked back to the kitchen.

Ben looked at Claudia. "She calls this fine?"

"She doesn't surprise me anymore," Claudia sighed and took Ben's hand, walking to the kitchen with him. There she saw Lara holding a pack of frozen pizza rolls to her temple. "What did you do?" She asked Janis.

Janis held her hands up in defense. "Me? Why do you always assume it's me? She's a clumsy person, maybe she accidentally ran into the wall and made a small hole the size of a quarter and completely destroyed the frames picture i took of you during your high school graduation."

Ben snorted. He received a few stares so he mumbled a 'sorry' and waited for the conversation to continue.

"Very specific, mom. But please don't hurt anyone anymore. You can't go to jail again." Claudia shook her head.

"Again?" Ben asked surprised.

"Twice actually. Cops are my main enemy. Unless it's the BAU specifically Aaron Hotchner, in that case he can gladly arrest me any day of the week." Janis said.

"Mom, not now." Claudia warned.

"You have a wild imagination," Nate shook his head as he sat down across from Lara at the small table.

"Thank you. That gives me more ideas on how to make your life miserable. I got it! What do you like better the oven of my fridge?" Janis pointed at the appliances.

"What for?"

"So I can throw it at you and hope you never come back from that." Janis smiled innocently.

Lara watched Nate's lips turn into a frown. "You really walked into that one, dumbass, what did you expect?"

"Shut the fuck up, dipshit." Nate replied and kicked Lara's foot with his.

"Okay, you're all acting like little kids. My kids act better than this and they're high schoolers. Can we just talk without hurting and insulting each other? Please?" Claudia stepped in.

Janis looked down at her nails. "I will if they do."

Nate scoffed silently. "Shouldn't we be saying that? I'm just saying."

"Listen deadbeat, you're in my house. My house, my rules. That means I say whatever I want when I want to whoever I want. I don't care if you're the one who I loved at one point." Janis glared at Nate. Before Claudia could say anything, Janis left the kitchen to go look for Edward.

From the kitchen table, Nate sat back kn his seat. "I never did know when to shut up. My dad always told me that. I guess he was right."

Claudia leaned against the kitchen counter and sighed once again. "What am I going to do? This is all my fault. I can't get her to listen."

"She'll listen when she wants, that's Janis for you," Lara put down the bag of pizza rolls. "Are you going to eat these?" She pointed at the bag.

"Go ahead," Claudia said. She excused herself and walked away from the kitchen, Ben following her. In the hallway, she saw the picture from her high school graduation on the floor surrounded by a broken frame and glass.

Ben crouched down and grabbed the picture, admiring it. He smiled at the sight of a happy Claudia in her cap and gown. "Your hair was short. It looks nice." He said.

"Believe it or not, that was an accident. I fell asleep with gum in my mouth the night before graduation. When I woke up, the gum was stuck to my hair. I cut it before mom had the chance to see what I did." Claudia explained.

"Well you look beautiful," Ben stood up, holding up the picture next to Claudia. "how many synonyms are there for the word beautiful?"

Claudia chuckled, looking down at the floor, not wanting Ben to know that she was blushing. "If I'm being honest, I can't remember. You're making me forget stuff I should know."

Ben laughed. "Me? What am I doing that could possibly make you forget?"

"Just you in general, I suppose." Claudia said.

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked.

"No, not at all. But why did you want to know the synonyms for beautiful?" Claudia questioned, having an idea why he asked.

"Because you're every single one of them."

An: we have reached the funny number as my ten year old cousin calls it. 69696969696969🤪😩😏😏❗

anyways this is literally ben when he saw lucy and claudia together