Picky Eater

Ch 7: First time?

Ben looked down at the box. "I know."

"And has that changed?"

"No," Ben said, and he really meant it.

Martin Robinson, Ben's father, was a drug addict, and a failed con artist. He did jail time for possession and couldn't find a job. When the jobs stopped coming, he attempted every white-collar crime under the book and usually ended up more in debt than ever. Any money they had was spent on fast food meals or more meth. Usually, it was a one stop shop. Growing up, Ben lived in cars, squatted in houses, and shelters.

Nino Ventura's offer of a free apartment was too good to be true.

"Nino isn't the stable guy who's going to give you your white picket fence fantasy."

"I know."

They walked into the apartment, and Lincoln backed up the stairwell. "After this summer, even if you do him this favor, things are just going to go back to the way they were. I bet he's not even going to thank you—"

"Lincoln," Ben snapped, unable to take one more kick while he was down. "I know. I know. You don't have to remind me."

Lincoln nodded, and they spent the rest of the journey to Evie's room, grunting and huffing and cursing. Setting the box on the ground finally, Lincoln sighed and dropped his hands on his hips. "Okay. I'm not caffeinated enough for this."

"You already want to take a break?" Ben asked, watching Lincoln go back downstairs.

"Yep!"

Sighing, Ben turned to follow but made an abrupt stop before he slammed right into Nino. Nino ran his hand through his hair. "Sorry about that. I'm ready to help."

Ben laughed. "Help? I expect you to carry all the weight. I'm going to pretend to be helping."

Nino grinned. "Don't worry, Mr. Robinson, I'll be sure to make you look very cool and very strong in front of your friend."

"Is that gonna cost me extra?"

"For you? It's on the house, but I am open to tips—" Nino said in his usual flirty way, realizing it a moment too late. It made the conversation slam to a halt and Nino opened his mouth to recover, but he already deflated Ben. He'd rather Nino not saying anything at all. The more he talked, the more he just upset Ben. It was a no-win scenario. Nino would never say what Ben really wanted to hear.

At least Nino was honest.

"You're out of coffee, you animal! How do you live?!" Lincoln shouted from the kitchen and Ben breezed past Nino.

"I haven't been able to go to the store this weekend," Ben said, checking his pockets for his phone and his wallet. "I'll go grab us some coffee and breakfast! I'm starving anyway!" He glanced at Nino, still at the top of the stairwell. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Um, sorry," Nino said.

"For what?" Ben asked for a twinge of hope that it was about their relationship, but of course, it wasn't.

"You didn't eat much yesterday, right?"

"Well, we were busy."

"I know, but still..." Nino sighed. "I'm sorry. I swear the last time I lived with a human, I was much better than this. I'll try to fix that."

Ben swallowed a lump of misery. He thought about laughing so he wouldn't cry. "You mentioned that before. It's super interesting," Ben grumbled the last part and ran into the street, figuring he'd decide to join traffic or not when he got there.

"It was just for a few months," Nino explained, following Ben right out of the house. Ben whirled around, trying to appear unbothered, but interested. He wanted to know. He hated how much he wanted to know, even if the facts cut like a knife. Ben was so good at telling Nino just where to hit him, where it hurts.