A/N: Please forgive me for taking so long to update! Is Ben acting too nice for his character? Cause I feel like he is. Dedicated to WhatAngelsWrite for her really cute banner :)
Chapter 12: Sour as a Kumquat (Ben)
Over the next few days, I saw more of Lottie than I ever thought I could've handled before. I wouldn't call us friends because she still annoyed me. But I was slowly becoming used to her peppy self. Queenie loved her too, but I suspected that was more due to the fact that Lottie always brought her something from the bakery.
"Can we visit Charlie today?" Queenie begged. I was babysitting her again, because her mum apparently had some 'urgent, unavoidable meeting' or some shit like that. Personally, I figured she just wanted to get a facial or pedicure or something.
I groaned at the little girl. "I'm too tired," I tried to say, because I really didn't want to see Lottie. Christ, whenever I saw her, I realised I didn't know what to say or do. I had to hold my tongue, because even though she took my horrid temper like a champ, I knew I'd feel like absolute crap if I swore at her or called her names. She didn't deserve my shite personality, honestly.
But then I wondered why I second-guessed myself around her when I didn't care to do that around anyone else.
"Come on, please?" Queenie pleaded, skipping over to where I lay on my sofa. She patted my face, reminding me that I hadn't shaved yet and probably looked like homeless man.
I grabbed her hand to stop her from feeling the beginnings of my beard. "Go away," I said gruffly.
"Benjy," she whined, her already high voice going up like five octaves. I winced.
"I don't want to," I said, crossing my arms. You'd think that as the one in charge, I could say something and have her listen, but then you would be wrong. Because the truth was, that girl knew exactly what to do to make me agree to her demands.
Clark entered the room at that minute and laughed at my annoyed expression. "Just go," he told me while he walked over to the kitchen. "Stop being lazy."
"You take her, then" I said, scowling at him.
"Am I the one who desperately wants to see my lover? No."
"She is not my lover!" I snapped, struggling to rein in the plethora of insults that wanted to stream out of my mouth. Censoring myself for Queenie's benefit was exhausting. "And I don't desperately want to see her!"
Clark smirked knowingly at me. I knew that look, and it made me even more irritated. "Yeah? Is that right, Benjy?"
"Stop psycho-analysing me, freak."
"I'm not taking Queenie," he said, ignoring me.
Queenie, who had perked up upon hearing her name, pouted. "Oh, come on!" she squeaked. "I wanna see Charlie!"
Who didn't? Besides me, of course.
Of course.
"Ben will take you," Clark said. He winked at me and sprinted away before I could leap up and throttle him.
I rubbed my hand all over my face in defeat. "Fine, let's go," I muttered, standing up and grabbing my keys and wallet off the table. Lottie would just have to deal with my trashy appearance, because I wasn't changing my clothes for her.
I paused and then quickly sprayed on some cologne that was lying around before Queenie could notice.
"Yay!" Queenie squealed. I may have been frustrated, but the sound of her happiness as she scrambled to put on her shoes made my angry face smooth out. When she was ready, I ushered her into my car and drove off to Lottie's bakery.
When I unlocked the doors and helped her cross the street to the kerb, Queenie pelted head-on inside. I grimaced at her enthusiasm as I trudged along behind her. I didn't know why I'd conceded when I felt so weird coming here. It wasn't even like it was our first time visiting Lottie in the past few days.
I pushed open the entrance door, and the first thing I noticed was Queenie sitting on the floor, her mouth downturned and her arms crossed. "What are you doing?" I asked, bewildered.
"Charlie's not here," she said and pouted even harder, practically curling into a ball. I glanced up and wasn't too sure of the disappointed flutter I felt upon seeing that Lottie wasn't standing behind the counter to greet us with her bright smile. A brunette girl was there instead and she looked immensely bored, but when she saw me, her eyes lit up in recognition.
"Hey! You're Charlie's friend, right? I'm Ginny - her best friend."
I furrowed my eyebrows at her challenging tone. "Er...good for you," I said, feeling a bit annoyed that she was talking to me. I'd come all this way for Queenie to see Lottie, and all we got was her?
"Charlie should be here soon. Her shift starts in fifteen minutes," the girl told me, seemingly peeved by my abrupt tone. I didn't know why she was mad, it wasn't even like I knew her. Christ.
"Whatever," I said, and turned away to help Queenie off the floor. "Let's just go, Queenie. Lottie's not here."
"Lottie?" the girl interrupted. "That's such a cute nickname for her. I can almost overlook your asshole-ness!"
I glared at her and her loud mouth, and was about to give her a piece of my mind when I felt something soft rest against my forearm. It was too big to be Queenie, so I opened my mouth to hiss at the person when I realised it was Lottie. She stared at me, a calming smile on her face, her eyes asking me to stop being so rude. As quickly as my hackles raised, I deflated.
The girl at the counter smirked at me, and I tried to ignore the knowing look she had on. I was calmer now, thanks to Lottie. She didn't even have to use words.
"Hey Ginny," Lottie grinned, and then jumped in surprise when she felt Queenie attach herself to her leg. "Oh my! Hello, princess."
Queenie grinned adoringly at her. "Charlie!" she said. "Did you make that special thing for me you promised you would make?"
I groaned at her shamelessness. "Queenie-"
"Yes I did, little lady," Lottie cut in, and gave her a kind smile. "Did you bring the payment?"
I was admittedly amused when Queenie brought out a mini packet of M&M's and handed them to Lottie, whose eyes sparkled happily. I almost smiled.
"Good girl!" Lottie exclaimed, bending over to pat Queenie on the head. "Let me go change into my uniform and I'll bring out that special something." She winked at me and I looked away, forcing myself to breathe as she hugged the so-called Ginny hello and disappeared into the back room.
I was too busy staring at the floor to notice Ginny smirking at me until I heard her clear her throat obnoxiously. "What was that little scene?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.
I scowled and crossed my arms. "What scene?"
Her devilish smirk widened. "Y'know, the goo-goo eyes you were giving my best friend."
"I was not giving her goo-goo eyes," I snapped. Was I? Oh god, I hoped I wasn't, because that would be so fucking embarrassing.
"Oh, sure you weren't."
"You're obnoxious."
"And you're rude, so we're even."
I would've said more, but Lottie entered right then, a pan of something in her hands. She looked excited and beckoned for me and Queenie to sit at one of the tables. She followed us and set the pan down. When I glanced inside, there was just a batch of unassuming mini vanilla cakes. They were nothing special, to be honest, but Lottie looked fit to burst. "What are these?" I asked slowly, not really wanting to hurt her feelings.
She grinned at me, and took out a box of sprinkles and a can of chocolate frosting from her apron pocket. "I've been experimenting," she started enthusiastically. "We sell sweet and savoury things here, but I wanted to make something for people who only like a little bit of sweet, not too much!"
"But I like a lot of sweet!" Queenie interrupted, pouting.
"I know, princess," Lottie said patiently. "That's why I brought the frosting and sprinkles. I want you two to be my first tasters - besides Ginny and I!" Her eyes twinkled cheerily; she seemed eager to please, eager to make something we would like. "Try them!"
I looked at her cautiously. I really wasn't the biggest fan of sweet things, and she knew that. But she made something that was only very slightly sweet. Did she...do that for me?
I forced myself to not be so full of myself and picked up a cake while Lottie slathered Queenie's with frosting and sprinkles. It was innocent-looking, spongey to touch and golden brown, and when I broke it open, the inside was fluffy and smelt like vanilla.
"Try it," Lottie urged. "I promise, it's not that sweet."
For some reason, I trusted her, be it because of her wide, honest eyes or her smile. So I stuffed the whole damn thing into my mouth. It was still slightly warm and it was almost like it was melting in my mouth. And Lottie was right - it wasn't that sweet. I could taste the vanilla and a little bit of sugar, but it was the right amount for someone so adverse to it like me.
"Do you like it?" Lottie tried to mask it, but I could see how hopeful she was under her steady smile. Like she really, really wanted me to like what she made.
All I knew was that as soon as I heard her hesitancy and saw the careful look in her eyes, I was done in. "It's pretty good," I acknowledged, trying to appear nonchalant. I could hear Ginny scoff somewhere behind us, but I ignored her.
The way Lottie's face lit up joyfully would make you think that those cakes of hers had won a Nobel Peace Prize. "Pretty good? That's a big step up from 'not bad'!"
I felt bad for always brushing her off. Her words just reminded me of how much she seemed to treasure anything pleasant I had to say to her. But it made me feel like I needed to do a lot better, which was such a foreign feeling to me, especially towards someone I didn't know that well.
"I like it too!" Queenie said, chocolate frosting smeared all over her fingers and mouth.
"How do you know you liked it when it's all over your face and not in your mouth?" I asked, her.
Queenie laughed as Lottie reached into her apron pocket again. "Here, Princess," she said, pulling a packet of wet wipes out. "Let's clean you up."
"Okay, Charlie!" Ginny suddenly said from the front counter. "Enough socialising, now come get your cute bum over here!"
"But there's nobody here," Lottie said, frowning slightly. I frowned too before I realised what I was doing.
"Diana texted me and said she would be here soon, so I suggest you stop flirting and come here before she whips your hide."
Lottie laughed, but gathered up her things and moved next to Ginny. "I'll miss you, Benny," she teased. "You too, princess."
"Yeah, you're too far away," I said. She smiled at me and disappeared into the back room to put the cakes away.
I stood up suddenly, knowing that this was my chance. I strode up to the front counter and extracted my wallet. "How much?" I asked, knowing that Lottie would refuse my money the second she came back.
"She didn't slave over those things for you to make you pay," Ginny scoffed.
My chest did this weird seizing thing before I cleared my throat. So she did make them for me. "How. Much?" I repeated, glaring.
For a moment, she just scrutinised me. "Two pounds fifty pence, but just put it in her tip jar. Charlie does the till counting at the end of the day and she'll know you paid."
I nodded and shoved a five pound note into Charlie's tip jar, which was marked with her name. "Thanks," I said.
She smiled, even though I'd been kind of a jerk. "You're a rude guy, but you seem to Charlie kindly and that's all I care about."
"We're not dating," I hissed, in case Lottie managed to overhear.
Ginny shrugged. "You don't have to date someone to care about them, but you hear what you want to mister!" I ignored her and went back to my seat to sit down, and by then, Lottie had returned. Upon seeing that Queenie and I were still there, she smiled and blew me a kiss.
And I realised that maybe Ginny was right.