𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter seventy eight.

Days after the essay incident, Ben tried his best to keep Claudia distracted from thinking it was her fault. He took her out to eat, slept over at the Donovan house and even helped her organize her classroom posters and all the other decorations she had put up during the school year. She found it funny that he had taken down her Harry Potter poster after hearing so many times from Lucy that Ben was the fancast of a young Sirius Black as declared by the internet.

Claudia was currently in her living room drinking her morning coffee in her pajamas. She sat at the dinner table scrolling on her laptop. She decided it was finally time to visit London after many years of wanting to go. She had only been out of the country a few times, twice for a college trip.

Just as she noticed her coffee mug was almost empty, Ben came into the kitchen shirtless. He was still tired, Claudia could easily tell. The night before for Ben was spent doing interviews and last minute filming for an HBO show that was coming out soon. Ben walked to the coffee machine and grabbed the pot.

"Saved me a seat?" Ben joked, walking to the dinner table and sitting next to Claudia. He filled up her mug and noticed that there was an extra coffee mug beside hers.

"Always. Even brought you one," she pushed the cup towards him. "i still haven't told my mom about London. I have a feeling it'll go well. She loves you."

Ben filled his mug then set the pot on the table. "I'm loved by everyone, of course she does. But I only care about Claudia Donovan." He yawned.

"You only care about who now, English?"

Ben was fully awake now. Janis had entered the kitchen in her scrubs and grocery bags in her hands. Of course Janis had heard Ben's comment.

"Janis, Hey! I was just telling your daughter that I don't care about her. But you? You have my heart." Ben nodded at her. Claudia looked at her mom, waiting for a reaction.

"Sounds fake, but okay. It boosts my ego," Janis smiled and began to put away groceries. "anything fun happening this weekend, lonely sad kids? Not that I don't like having you two around, but it does get depressing watching you two cuddle on my couch while one of you reads a book."

"Are you jealous?" Claudia laughed.

"No, because everyone in this room knows that Edward and I take the top spot of being the superior couple. You two are way below us." Janis said, putting away cereal boxes.

"Okay, then please share your order of superior couples." Claudia closed her laptop now that she was more interested in the conversation that was happening.

"Edward and me, everyone else, you two then Nate's parents and mine," Janis grinned. She walked over to the table and sat across the couple, "how's Nate? I suppose I should check up on him and Lara every now and then. They might have been asshole to me at one point, but I can tell you're starting to care about them."

Ben knew how deep the conversation was for both of them so he grabbed his mug and excused himself. On his way out, he forgot to give his girl a kiss on the cheek so he walked back to Claudia and placed a kiss on her cheek. Janis cleared her throat and sat up, waiting for Ben to do the same.

"Right. I can't forget about my number one girl." Ben laughed and kissed Janis' cheek. He excused himself once again and walked to the living room where he turned on the tv to watch whatever was interesting.

Claudia sighed. Nate was still living in some shitty apartments, along with Lara as a neighbor. It wasn't the best, but that was all he could afford at the moment. He talked with April several nights ago and explained everything to her. For now, Phil was running the bar. Surprisingly, Phil was good with numbers and arguing with people so he was a great fit for the bar.

Nate would go into town and ask for job opportunities. Most businesses turned him down, but he had a job interview for a part time dishwasher at a diner. Lara, on the other hand, she had no success in finding a part time job. She had other things in mind like finding out if her dad was getting out of jail anytime soon.

"He's fine, I think, I haven't spoken to him in a day. Lara is busy, I don't know what's she doing, but they're fine for now. I was actually going to invite them out to eat tonight. Is that okay?" Claudia asked, hoping Janis wouldnt overreact.

And she didn't. Janis understood what was happening, Claudia wanted to know her dad and aunt. Janis didn't think that day would come, but it did and she just had to accept it after everything she heard.

Then Janis started thinking about the childhood Claudia could've had if Nate's and her parents weren't assholes.

"Ma?" Claudia called out. "You okay?"

Janis blinked several times and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, totally, um if that's what you want and if you're comfortable then it's okay. Take them out."

"Why do I have a feeling your definition of taking them out is very different from mine?" Claudia asked.

"Do you wanna know?"

"Is this a trick question?"

All Janis did was laugh and stood up with the coffee pot. She walked to the cabinets, opened it and grabbed her pokemon mug Edward got her on their first date. As she poured her morning coffee, Claudia asked a question that had Janis confused and curious.

"Where's Grandma Donna and Grandpa Brad?" The blonde woman asked.

If Janis was being honest, she couldn't answer the question. Mainly because she didn't know the answer. After Janis got pregnant, it was like she was disowned by her only family so she was on her own most of the time.

Donna and Brad Donovan never cared for their daughter, so Janis never bothered to find them after so many years. She didn't know if they were dead or asking for money on street corners, all that was unknown to her. Did she want to find out? Unknown too. Part of her wanted to face her parents, telling them all the milestones she achieved without them.

But mainly, she wanted to show her mom how much better of a mom she is. That was one of the main reasons Janis never considered an abortion. She wanted to give her kid a better childhood than she ever had.

"I don't know, sweets, and I don't care. They are not my parents anymore, they never were. And don't feel like shit for asking, at least you know where they might be." Janis turned around to face Claudia as she drank from her mug.

"What? Where?"

"Funeral home or probably in another state. One time Brad woke up in Alaska."

An:

me: idk when I'll end this story :(
also me: end it at 100 chapters and don't do a sequel
me: but no