Ben Affleck | The Square Affair

(to) get to know each other

"Do you always go out of your way to impress your one-night stands?" (YN) teased and quickly hid behind her coffee cup. She decided it was best to initiate the unavoidable topic lightly. Ben laughed and reached over the table to pull the item away from her face. "You're calling yourself a one-night stand?" he asked with his head tilted to the side, clearly amused.

"Doesn't matter. Just answer the question," she said with a smile and swatted his hand away. Ben chuckled, leaned back in his chair and propped up an elbow on the armrest, his chin resting on his palm. He looked at her for a while with an unreadable expression.

"Only if I want them not to be a one-night stand," he finally said, taking her by surprise. "You want to do this again?" (YN) asked incredulously, but the smile on her face grew bigger. That was an answer she had least expected.

"I do. Tonight actually," Ben said, seemingly sincere, risking to suffer a rebuff. Her eyes widened. He was staring at her intensely, making her bite her lip and fidget around on the chair.

"I don't even know you," (YN) blurted out. "That didn't stop you from getting into my car last night," he reminded her, a smirk plastered across his face, his eyebrows raised.

"Okay, yeah, but I was drunk."

"Oh, so that's your excuse?"

"No, but the reason I came here with you."

Ben let out a sigh. "So you want me to take you home then?"

"I didn't say that... I mean... I wouldn't mind knowing a little more about you," she admitted, her voice fading. All (YN) knew about him was that he was going through a divorce-- the reasons still unbeknownst, but she didn't really care. The whole thing was none of her business anyway.

"Then get to know me. Ask me anything you want."

"How old are you?" she asked like a bullet being shot, causing him to cackle. She couldn't help it, it was the first thing that came to her mind. Actually, that question had never left her mind in the first place.

"My age?" Ben looked at her with a crooked smile, entertaining the idea of making her guess-- just like she had made him do. "43." He'd decided against it.

"43," she quietly repeated and took a sip of her coffee. They were quite a few years apart. Then again, who cared? Besides, he didn't look that old-- not that 43 was considered old anyway. (YN) was tired of running after men, boys even, that were younger than her and didn't know what they wanted, too afraid to make things official, too afraid to call things as they were. The man sitting across from her seemed confident enough to tell her he just wanted to fuck, and she for once didn't mind.

"Does that bother you?"

"No." A little pause. "What about you?"

Ben slowly shook his head.

After their confessions, they looked deeply into each other's eyes for quite a while. A knock sounded at the front door, interrupting their intimate moment. Ben cleared his throat and excused himself from the table. (YN)'s eyes followed his steps. She admired his broad, buff shoulders before staring shamelessly at his ass. He - of course - turned around to look back at (YN), catching her red-handed. He sent her one of his crooked smiles and she flushed a deep red, quickly turning her head away.

Ben quietly laughed to himself and opened the door.

"Where you been, man?" the visitor said and pushed past Ben to get inside his house. "Good morning to you, too, Casey."

His brother rolled his eyes at him. "Yeah yeah, morning. So... Who was that chick you ran off with last night? Didn't really look like our age band, but whatever," mocked his brother. "Keep it down, all right," Ben said in a hushed voice. "She's still here."

Casey's eyes popped out of his head. "Excuse me, brother, but she's what?" "Still here. What's the big deal?" he growled. "Well," Casey started and peeked around the corner to catch a glimpse of (YN) who was flicking through the paper. "For one thing, she's young. For another thing, you took her here. Aren't you worried she could divulge... I don't know... Some of your secrets, maybe?"

Ben raised his eyebrows. "Secrets? Like what? The tabloids revealed where I live years ago. What else is there to tell?" Casey placed a hand on his big brother's shoulder. "Oh, Ben," he said and shook his head. "She was that good, huh?"

Ben groaned and shook Casey's hand off. "Look, she doesn't even know who I am, let alone what I do. It's fine." "Right, until she figures it out," the younger man scoffed. "I doubt it," Ben defended (YN). "Go out there and meet her."

"All right," came from Casey and he made his way to the patio, Ben following behind.

(YN) looked up from the paper when she heard more than one pair of footsteps approaching her. A man who looked very similar to Ben stepped outside with his hand extended towards her. "Hi," he beamed. "I'm Casey. Ben's younger brother."

(YN) quickly covered her bare legs with the paper, aware that she was only in her panties and Ben's shirt. "Hi! I'm (YN). Nice to meet you," said she and shook his hand. "You too. Mind if I sit?" She looked at Ben in a baffled way, surprised that she had been asked. He just shrugged his shoulders and took his old seat. "No, please, go ahead."

"So (YN), how old are you?" Ben kicked the younger Affleck in the shin, but it went unnoticed by her. "Please excuse my brother, he doesn't have any manners." Casey turned to look at his older brother with a scowl.

(YN) frowned and straightened her back. "It's fine. I'm 24," she answered. Casey was giving her an uneasy feeling and she didn't like the way he grinned at her.

"Mind if I borrow your knife?" the younger man asked while reaching for a bagel. (YN) was still taken aback. "No, here you go," she said evenly and handed him the desired piece of silverware.

"What are you doing here, Casey?" Ben asked his younger brother to draw the attention away from (YN).

"Hm? Oh me? My hookup kicked me out," he explained and shot (YN) a wink. "Said she had to work. Bummer. I really wanted breakfast. But--" he took a bite of his bagel. "This works just fine. What are you guys up to?" Casey asked and looked between the two.

(YN)'s and Ben's eyes met, both smirking at each other.

"We are spending the day together, which is why you have to go now," Ben explained. "But please, take that bagel with you," he said and stood up.

"Not you too, Ben! You're kicking me out? I just got here!" Casey complained with his mouth full.

"Like you said... Bummer. Get up."

Ben nudged his younger brother inside. He quickly turned his head. "See ya!" (YN) waved him goodbye with a small smile dancing on her lips, glad that Casey was already leaving.

Ben came back and stood in the patio door, rubbing his head. "Sorry about that." The girl chortled. "Don't worry about it. I know the feeling. Got some siblings myself."

"You do? How many you got?"

"Two older brothers, but I don't see 'em that often. They live in New York."

Ben laughed. "Yeah, well, Casey lives in LA, but he has a beach house on Tybee."

"LA?" (YN) asked curiously.

"He's involved with movie making," Ben elaborated.

"And what do you do?" she asked, hoping he would reveal some more information about himself. To her dismay, he just looked at her with that crooked smile she had already gotten fond of. "Tell you what," he started. "Why don't you let me clear the table while you go exploring the house. When I'm done, I'll tell you everything you want to know."

(YN) crossed her arms. "Why don't you tell me all about yourself while I'm helping you with the dishes?" she suggested with a smirk of her own.

"Because you're my guest. And because I make the rules," he said mischievously, making her perk her eyebrows up.

"Fair enough," she said and rose from her chair.

"Hey (YN)?" Ben made her spin around right before disappearing inside. "Yeah?"

"I like that shirt on you."