The Butler and I (BWWM)✔

26

"Jake, hurry up, twenty more minutes," I say opening Jake's door. I, unfortunately, had to take him to school today because Juan is busy or something. Driving him to school requires me to wake earlier than usual because his school is on opposite side of town from the hospital. 

"I'll be down in a sec for breakfast," Jake replies. I nod my head and make my way down the stairs. As I'm walking, Christopher runs down passing past me. The air almost made me fall.

"Sorry Christy," Toph apologizes when he reaches the front door. "First day of college," he says. I nod my head understanding. "Do you get in trouble for being late?" He asks me. "Because I am officially late," he says looking at his watch.

"Toph, it's college. They really don't care," I tell him. "It's your money, the professor gets paid regardless," I add.

"Okay," he says taking a deep breath. "I can't believe I'm going to school," he says rubbing his forehead.

"Yeah," I reply. "Have fun," I tell him. 

"Yes," he says. "Have a good day," he opens the front door and I can literally hear him running in the driveway. I smile, my big brother was going back to school. I walk into the kitchen and grab a cup pouring myself some coffee. 

I walk back to the living room by the stairs to see if Jake was around, "ten more minutes!" I yell to him. 

"It's only been two minutes!" He yells back. I chuckle, after a few seconds, I hear the water running. Oh great, he didn't even shower yet. 

The front door opens and Luke walks in, he pauses for a moment when he sees me. I check my watch for the time, he came back from his run really late this morning. I guess everyone was running late. He gives me a slight nod and makes his way to his room. "Luke," I call him. He turns around and looks at me. "I'm book smart," I tell him. He raises his eyebrow wondering why I was telling him this. "I understand facts, science, math, but I, unfortunately, do not understand emotions very well."

"So, are you mad at me because of what happened with Juan?" I asked him. We were having a great moment until Juan showed up. If he's not mad about that, he's probably mad because of my sex experience which he clearly said he was fine with. 

He bites his bottom lip and looks around her for a moment, "Christine, I-I," he says. 

"The truth, Luke," I say before he tries to lie to me. 

"Part of that," he says. "I'm not mad at you, I just realized something," he simply says.

"Which is?" I asked him. 

"I'm your butler," he says. "And you deserve so much better than that," he adds.

I nod my head, "I don't care about you being a butler," I say honestly. I've never cared about that, he's a butler, so what? I don't care about his profession, I care about him. He's a sweet guy, caring guy and that's all I care about. 

"You might not now, but-"

"But what, Luke?" I ask him. "I'll change my mind, later on, I'm sorry you think this low of me," I say getting frustrated. I approach him, I look him in the eye waiting for what he has to say. "I don't care," I tell shrugging my shoulders. 

He smiles and shakes his head, "you're crazy, you know that right?" He asks.

"Some have mentioned it once or twice," I say laughing. 

He grabs my cheeks and rubs his hands on them. He chuckles and kisses my lips gently, "mom," I hear Jake say behind me. Luke pulls away slowly, I freeze not daring to turn around and look at him. Luke mouths me sorry, I smile awkwardly. How the heck do you explain to a ten-year-old what's happening right now? "Mom," Jake says again. I take a deep breath and turn around looking at him, he looks at both Luke and I and sighs. "So, are you guys dating?" He asks. 

I stand not knowing how to answer his question, were Luke and I dating? We've never even been on a date, "Jake," I say trying to start the awkward conversation. 

"Mom, I'm ten, not stupid. You can just tell me the truth," he says. 

"I'm well aware," I say sarcastically. I was there when he was born after all and he did get his brain from his intelligent mama. "No, we're not," I tell him the truth.

"But," he starts. He pauses for a moment and looks at us both again, "okay," he answers. I stare at him wondering what he thinking. Is he old enough to understand complicated relationships? Maybe he understands that Luke and I are sleeping together. He gives me a small smile grabbing his bookbag from the sofa."I'm ready to go," he says.

"Okay," I answer him. "Your dad's picking you up from school today and you'll be spending the weekend with him," I reminded Jake. I grab my bag and search for my keys so we can get out of here. 

"Oh," Jake says. "Dad called earlier, he had a late minute trip to California," he says. "I'm all yours this weekend," he adds with a smile.

"I have an eighteen-hour shift tomorrow, Jake," I frown. I can't believe Juan didn't call me to tell me about this. I sigh, this means I'll have to leave work to go pick him up. "How would you feel about hanging out in the hospital with me after school?" I ask Jake.

"Last time I was there, I almost starved to death," he says exaggerating as usual.

"Stop exaggerating," I order him. The hospital's food is not that bad. "I can't drive for half an hour to pick you up and another half to drop you off here," I say. "Blame your sperm donor," he huffs. 

"I can pick him up," Luke says out of nowhere. I turn to look at him, it is so nice of him to want to help out, but it is not his job to pick up Jake from school, that's Juan's.

"Thank you, but I wouldn't want to impose," I tell him as nicely as possible.

"No, it's no problem," he says shrugging his shoulder. 

"Luke," I tell him. "You don-"

"Christine," he calls my name also. "I want to."

I sigh and look at him. I do need to extra help, "Jake, what do you think?" I ask him. 

"Cool with me," Jake says. "Maybe I'll learn a little bit more about you," he says to Jake. 

"Thank you so much," I tell Luke. "I'll text you the address, school ends at two," I tell him.

"I got it."

"Thank you again," I say as I open the door and leave the house.

'''''

I take a seat on the round table opening the salad I just bought, my feet are killing me from all that work. I take my fork and dig in into my salad. I take my phone out of my pocket, I see a message from Jake saying he was fine, he also texted a picture of him and Luke. I chuckle, I start to dial Juan's number. I have to give him a piece of my mind again. After the third ring, he answers the phone. "California Juan, California!" I practically yell into the phone.

"Chill, Chris," he says. "What's wrong with California?" He asks me in his innocent voice. 

"Why are you in California? And why would just travel across the country without telling me?" I ask him.

"I'm not in California," he says. "I have a business meeting there, but that's two weeks from now."

"Wait, where are you?" I ask him. Why would Jake lie about him being in California? 

"I'm currently at work in Chicago," he says focusing on Chicago. "Who told you I was in California?"

"Jake," I answer him. I can't believe I let a ten-year-old lie to me. He's smarter than I thought. "Why weren't you able to pick him up from school?" I ask him.

"Jake called me and said that you were off this weekend and he wanted to spend it with you. I've been lied to by a ten-year-old, haven't I?" He asks.

"Yep," I say shaking my head even though he couldn't see me. "I'll take care of it," I tell him.

"K, I'll pick him up later," he says. 

"Yeah," I hang up the phone. My phone vibrates and Jake sends me a picture of him and Luke playing cards. Why would he lie about this?

AN

Thanks for reading...

Au Revoir...