Oneshots: A Benley Collection

Lower your Expectations

Life is a crazy thing. It is unpredictable. You are just expected to roll with the punches. Ben got up and brewed some coffee. It was a quiet day. His boys were asleep and his wife was asleep. It was rare they were all home together. He wanted to do something special for them. So he decided to arrange a family vacation. He knew his wife would fight him in it but he didn't care. He already talked to Richard, who was happy to arrange coverage for Miranda.

He even bought his family new luggage sets. He was so happy to see the looks on their faces. He was expecting thank yous and cheers and hugs and maybe even some kisses from his beautiful wife. This was going to be perfect

He sat on the couch and drank his coffee while watching the weather report. He knew they would want to sleep in so their flight was late. He thought about cooking breakfast but he knew that his family wouldn't wake up until about lunchtime. In the meantime, he did some household chores. His momma always told him that you shouldn't leave a dirty house when you leave for vacation. He did laundry, washed the dishes, swept, and vacuumed, and yet his family didn't even budge from their beds. He checked the time and it was already 2 pm.

He decided to be the wake-up call they all needed. He walked into his room first and laid on top of his wife. He planted many kisses on her until she hit him "I am sleeping"

"I know and you should be awake" Ben laughed

"Why" She groaned

"I have news and this family has slept long enough" He jumped up and walked into Tuck's room.

"William George on your feet" He hit his son's legs

"Bennnn" Tuck groaned "I was having a dream about being president"

"You know I wanted to be a president when I was kid, and here's the thing. The president doesn't sleep until 3 pm so get up future President Bailey Jones" Ben shook him again and he groaned. Ben walked into Joey's room.

"Joey my man, the world is going on around us and you are still in bed. You plan to get through med school with this sleep schedule" Ben shook him

"Ben, I was having the most amazing sleep of my life. Actually, any sleep I get in this house is amazing so please let me get back to it" Joey put a pillow over his head

"Joey get up" Ben took the pillow " But I'm glad you sleep so well here. Nice to hear son" He walked out and stood in the hallway " Everyone meet me in the kitchen. I have news for the family"

After waiting about 30 minutes his family finally joined him and by the looks on their faces, they were not amused. But he was as giddy as he could be because of his big announcement

"Mom, I was dreaming about being the president. What is going on" Tuck yawned

"If I knew buddy I would tell you" She sat on a stool at their kitchen island and stared at her husband. She loves this man but right now this man is interrupting much-needed sleep.

"After whatever you have going on can we go back to sleep" Joey rubbed his eyes out of tiredness and leaned against the fridge

"Once I tell you what I have to share. You won't even want sleep" Ben smiled "So this family has been through ALOT" He emphasized "And we have this life to live and I wanted us to celebrate it. "A bookshelf fell on Tuck as a kid and look at you now. Miranda, a gun was in your face but you walked away from that and you had a heart attack and walked away from that too, Joey you survived in the streets and look at you" Ben explained

"You had ball cancer"Tuck added

"Tuck" Miranda looked at him. He realized he said it out loud instead of in his head and sheepishly smiled

"Sorry" He cleared his throat

"And almost drowned" Joey added

"Okay so as I was saying we've survived a lot. I mean there's been many more than just the things we've named and I don't want to dwell but rather I want to say my good news"

"The miscarriage, covid, grandma died" Tuck listed more tragedies that happened to the family and everyone just looked at him

"Tuck, I just said we aren't going to keep going man" Ben rubbed his face

"Apologies again" He raised his hands "go on"

"Thank you" Ben sighed "anyway as I was saying we should celebrate and so I booked us a vacation" He smiled

"You woke us up for a vacation" Miranda rolled her eyes "couldn't that wait until we naturally woke up"

"I bought us new luggage" He smiled

"You woke us up for suitcases" Tuck groaned "I was the president, Ben"

"Both those things sound amazing but couldn't this wait until we were awake" Joey rubbed his face

"Are you guys not listening I got us a vacation and the luggage was just a bonus" He shook his head. Man, he never took his family as being ungrateful.

"Okay Ben where's the vacation too" Joey smiled

"I'm glad you asked. Pack your swim trunks, tank tops, and flip-flops. We're going to Punta Cana tonight and we should be there by tomorrow"

"By tomorrow how long is this flight Ben" Tuck looked at him like he had lost his mind.

"Okay so our first flight" He began to explain but his wife cut him off

"First flight" Miranda couldn't believe her ears. Her husband is one for crazy ideas but for a trip that could take that long she wondered why they hadn't already left. Why even let them sleep in at all?

"Yes, okay there is a layover so our first flight is 5 hours and we have a layover in Boston"

"And how long will we wandering around a Boston airport" Joey asked

"Almost 3 hours" Ben mumbled

"Almost 3 hours Ben" Miranda yelled

"So we sit on a plane for 5 hours, sit in an airport for nearly 3 hours, and at that point, we will just be in Massachusetts not even Punta Cana" Joey shook his head

"Right so after that then our second flight is 4 hours" Ben tried to still sound enthusiastic. But the way his family was acting was sucking all the fun out of his big announcement. He just put his hands on his hips and sighed " I just wanted to do something for us" He looked at his family.
They had apologetic looks on their faces. They hadn't realized how ungrateful they were sounding.

"Ben" Tuck sighed "I'm sorry man"

"A trip to Punta Cana sounds amazing" Joey perked up

"It was very thoughtful baby" Miranda kissed his cheek

"Our flight is at 10. I got us first class tickets. You're welcome family" Ben sighed and left the kitchen. High expectations can often lead to devastating disappointments. And right now Ben was devastatingly disappointed. He thought his family would he losing their minds over this trip instead they were grouchy. Well he did wake them up out of their sleep so maybe he could cut them an inch of slack. Besides they were going to Punta Cana. Even if they weren't excited yet they would be. He did a good thing and is tired, grouchy, semi ungrateful family wasn't going to ruin that.
This trip was going to be great. Or maybe he should proceed with caution when it comes to his expectations