I Get A Kick Out of You

Chapter 2

"Dinner, buddy!" Cillian came running downstairs and slid into the kitchen on the freshly waxed hardwood floors. "Another great landing," Ben told him as he set a plate in front of his son. "Bangers and mash!" Cillian excitedly shouted before digging in. Ben smiled as he sat down with his own plate of food and said, "Figured we needed a bit of home with us today."

Cillian stuffed his face and chewed as, what Ben assumed was, an agreement. "When will mum be home?" His son asked with his mouth full. He looked to the clock, then said, "Hopefully soon. She had a big meeting today." After washing down his food with water, Cillian said, "She always has a big meeting. She missed tryouts, dad."

Ben sighed, then told him, "She's sorry she couldn't make it." Cillian basically rolled his eyes. "You always say she's sorry, but she never says it," he pointed out. Damn, Ben thought, this kid is catching up on me. "Look, pal, your mum is very busy with work. That's the reason we moved here, remember? She got a very good promotion which requires her to work a little more than usual. It'll only be a little longer, I'm sure, then she'll be home to tuck you in again."

Cillian picked at his food for a few minutes, then started slowly eating it. "Homework done?" Ben asked. Cillian only nodded. "What do you say we have a boys night and watch some movies?" That got him to smile a bit. "Won't mum be mad?" He asked. Ben shrugged, then told him, "We'll tell her you couldn't sleep. Only condition is you have to take a shower beforehand. You're all smelly from basketball."

They both laughed, then finished their dinner. While Ben got the dishes, Cillian took his shower. By the time he was done, Ben set out some movies for him to pick. "Why can't I watch a rated R movie?" Cillian innocently asked. Ben smirked a bit and shook his head. His son was his weakness and if he wanted to do something, it was hard to deny him.

"Oh, go on and pick one," he said, gesturing to where the rated R movies were. Cillian jumped for joy and went over to the DVD rack. It didn't take him more than a minute to pick out Saw. "Oh, bloody hell, kid," Ben chuckled. "Alright, pop it in and you cannot tell your mum about this. Promise?"

"I promise, dad!"

Two hours later, Ben was regretting everything that led up to letting his eleven year old watch Saw. Cillian was so freaked out, he begged Ben to let him sleep in their bed. "No more scary movies until you're seventeen," Ben told him as he tucked him in the middle of his and his wife's king size bed. "Imagine your friends finding out you have to sleep in your parents bed after watching one."

Cillian sighed as he said, "I don't have any friends. Not here, anyways." Ben frowned at him, then asked, "What about Ethan? He was incredibly kind to you today." Cillian shrugged. "He was only helping because I'm a loser when it comes to sports. I'm sure he doesn't want to be my friend."

Ben's heart was breaking at this. "You two were talking, weren't you? Engaging in conversation, expressing common interests?" Cillian merely nodded. "Then, I would say you both are friends. He put his arm around you, gave you a fist bump. Come on, that's pretty friendly." Cillian started to slowly smile. "You really think he wants to be my friend?" He asked.

"I really do," Ben told him. "The only way we're going to find out is if you get to sleep and get to school tomorrow."

Both of them knocked out pretty quickly, but the next time Ben woke up was at three in the morning. He heard something shuffling around in the room and when his eyes adjusted, he could see it was his wife that was making the noise. "You're home late. Like, really late." She gave him an apologetic smile and whispered, "Sorry! Everything ran so late and I couldn't get out of there."

She gently kissed Cillian's head, then barely gave Ben a peck on the lips. "Why is he in here?" She asked as she got into her pajamas. Ben was dangerously close to telling her the truth because his sleepy mind didn't think about the repercussions he would face. "Bad dream," he told her.

She got into bed and snuggled against her son as Ben watched her. "You missed his tryouts," he stated. She sighed, then sleepily said, "Sorry. Next time, I promise." He turned his back to her and sighed. He wanted to get back to sleep, but he couldn't help wondering...what would keep her from coming home until three in the morning?