Roommates with Benefits [18+ only]

17. Keep dreaming, Bennet

LUKAS

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I would have wondered who it was, but I set a specific ringtone for him – as much as I hate Star Wars, no other sound could have possibly conveyed the same things as Darth Vader's 'Luke, I am your father'. I wanted to ignore it, but you don't send Larry Bennet to voicemail unless you have a death wish. Grudgingly, I blindly reached for my phone, and picked up the call. "Yeah?"

"Were you sleeping?" Was his first question.

I rolled over on the bed with a grunt, ending up lying on my back. "Yes, father, it's ..." I checked the time, "it's 4 am."

"Ah, I forgot you're on Boston time zone."

"Last I checked, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts were in the same time zone." I pointed out, because maybe I do have an unconscious death wish, that's why I keep contradicting him every chance I get.

"I'm in Geneva, Switzerland." My dad corrected.

That made more sense, because it meant he didn't forget the time difference at all, he just woke me up on purpose. Sighing, I sat up, well aware that if he called me from Europe at this hour, it meant one thing and one only. When my eyes fell on the calendar, I inwardly groaned, recalling what day it was. My dad and I, we don't have the greatest relationship, but once a month we have lunch together. He says it's 1 hour during which I have his full attention and he can catch up on my life, but the truth is, he just spends it reminding me why am I a failure.

"My flight is just about to take off," he informed me, "I will be in Boston by your 2 pm. Do you have classes today?"

"Uh ..." I raked a hand over my face, still drowsy. "Yeah, in the morning, then at 4 pm."

"Good." His gruff voice in my ears was like nails on a blackboard. "I will text you the address." More like, his assistant will. "Be punctual."

"Yes, dad." And with that, he hung up. No goodbye, no how are you, no go back to sleep. Nothing.

I groaned, flopping back onto the bed. He successfully spoiled my mood for the whole day with a simple call. And this is the first time we see each other since I moved in with Tara, if he found out about the early termination fees I paid for the bachelor pad I was supposed to live in, I'm never gonna hear the end of it. Technically, it's not even his money, it's my trust fund, set up by my mom when I was 4, but he has to get a saying in every single detail of my life. It's his way of being there for his only son.

Since there was no way I was going to fall back asleep, and because I get up at 5 am to go jogging anyway, I decided to simply anticipate everything. Besides, a run might be exactly what I need to shrug off the stress that is even such a short phone call with my dad.

🔥🔥🔥

Did I prepare breakfast again even though I knew full well Tara wasn't going to eat it? Yes. Did I risk the most idiotic death ever by making strawberry muffins for her even though I'm fatally allergic to strawberries? Yes. Am I a complete moron because we haven't even made the whole deal official yet and I'm already showing dangerous signs of attachment? Hell, yes.

But was I happy when she grinned at the sight of the muffins? Ashamedly ... yes. She didn't touch anything else, merely accepted the muffins, how could I not be glad? For someone that claims she cannot eat in the morning, she ate not one, but two pieces. Then again, I know she loves strawberries. How do I know, that's probably a question she wouldn't want an answer to. Same goes for how I know she's allergic to garlic and hates onions.

Okay, I may have watched her a bit too closely in high school. I guess I can't blame Sheila for bordering on obsession when I pretty much stalked Tara back in the day. In my defense, she would never talk to me, the only chance I had was observing her from afar. It wasn't even voluntary, my gaze just ... wandered off every time.