Skylar woke up the next morning with a groan. She was positive someone was playing a beat on her head. She placed her hand on her forehead trying to stop the throbbing, but it kept on. She tried to recall why she was in pain, but it was so fuzzy that it was making her head hurt worst. She got out of bed and trudged down to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Skylar." Her mother said loudly.

Skylar winced and muttered a greeting back. Her mother turned from the stove to glance at her unusually quiet daughter.

"You came home pretty late last night." Her mother commented.

Skylar groaned in response as she searched through the medicine cabinet. Her mother grinned to herself enjoying the suffering Skylar was going through.

"How was your night?" her mother asked.

Skylar groaned slightly louder and longer than the first time as she pulled out the aspirin from the cabinet. She shook two into her hand then swallowed them dry.

"I cooked breakfast. Would you like some?" her mother asked.

"Mother, please." Skylar finally said.

"Please, what?" her mother feigned ignorance.

"I'm hungover. Can we please just be quieter?" she whined.

Her mother nodded then turned back to the food on the stove knowing it wasn't going to stay that way for long. Skylar took a seat at the circular wooden table. She rested her head on top and closed her eyes.

"Good morning, family." Her father bellowed as he stomped down the stairs.

Her mother snickered as Skylar moaned in pain while covering her ears. Her father also had an indiscreet smile on his face as he came closer to Skylar.

"Skylar, honey. Why do you look so down?" he said louder than normal, "You know what will help; my new tap dancing combo."

Skylar's father began to stomp around the kitchen in his thick sole boots. Her father added some scatting to make him even louder than before. Skylar squeezed her eyes.

"Will you guys be quiet?" she groaned.

The tap dancing stopped. She opened her eye the slightest bit to see her father's reaction. He looked dumbfounded.

"Monica, did your daughter tell me to be quiet?" he asked.

"Of course not, honey." Her mother patronized.

"It sounded like she said to be quiet." He said, "and she said it with an attitude."

"No, Nicky." Monica cooed pressing her body into his side, "She's just a little cranky."

"I don't care. It's my house. She don't tell me to be quiet." He said with a pout.

"Oh, my wittle baby." Monica stroked his bald head as he rested it on her chest.

"It hurt my feelings." He said like a toddler.

Monica pouted back at him before kissing his forehead. Meanwhile, Skylar had plopped back on her bed. The silence had made her eyes droopy and soon, she was snoring. It wasn't long before her phone startled her back awake. Frustrated, she snatched the phone off her side table.

"What?" she snapped.

"Is this a bad time?" Bennett asked nervously.

"Shit, sorry, Bennett. I'm so hungover, and my parents decided to torture me." She apologized, internally wishing she would have been a bit nicer when she answered the phone.

"Oh." He said awkwardly, "So I guess you wouldn't want to join me for breakfast then?"

"Oh," Skylar repeated. She was so shocked she had to sit up in her bed to process what he just said, "Um, yeah."

He let out a breath in relief, "Okay, cool."

His response put a smile on her face. For that second, he sounded like a regular young adult. Skylar giggled to herself.

"So... what time should I be ready?" she asked.

"Oh! Right." Bennett said flustered, "Be ready in about 30 minutes. Text me your address."

"Alright, see you then." She said before hanging up.

She squealed then darted up from the bed, her hangover was forgotten about. She ran around her room, gathering her essentials to go shower. She skipped past her father on the way to the shower. "I knew my dance would work." He said smugly to himself. Skylar quickly cleaned herself and sprinted to her room to do her makeup. She managed to do her eyebrows and a full face (along with contour and highlight) before the doorbell rang.

"Don't answer it." She yelled as she tripped trying to run and put on her shoes, "Don't answer it. I've got it."

Nicholas, her father, walked past her and opened the door anyway. Bennett stood there in a grey suit. He shifted his weight with an awkward expression. Nicholas, on the other hand, was not impressed. He crossed his hands over his chest.

"I'm guessing you're not here to sell me some girl scout cookies." Nicholas deadpanned.

"Um, no, sir." He said confused.

"Okay, Dad, thanks. I'll take it from here." Skylar pushed her father back, "Hi."

"Hey." Bennett gave her a faint smile, "You ready?"

"Yeah," Skylar said stepping out the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Bennett invited me for breakfast. Don't worry, I'll be back before nightfall."

"But your mother— "

"Tell her I'll be back soon. Love you, bye." She rushed out then closed the door on his confused face. "Okay, let's go before he comes to."

"I'd rather not get on your dad's bad side. He looked like he was going to knock me out and then hit me with a truck before reversing and driving back over me." Bennett said as he opened the passenger door for her.

"Geez, Bennett." She grimaced.

He realized that his statement was graphic and depressing then shot her an apologetic look. Once he was comfortable in the driver seat and was pulling away from the house, he decided to apologize.

"I'm not used to having a normal conversation with others." He said, "Please forgive me for that and all the future statements I'll say that's going to be similar."

"We'll work on it. What do you mean a normal conversation?" she asked.

He shrugged, "I don't really talk to anyone outside of my job unless it was with my therapist or psychiatrist."

"Are you serious? What do you do on the weekends?" she asked turning in her seat to face him.

"I stay at home and catch up work that I didn't complete at the office." He said nonchalantly, "I never had a need to go out or socialize more than I needed to."

Skylar was at a loss for words. He was really worse off than what she had expected. She shivered slightly when she remembered the past.

"Well, what changed?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked back.

"Well, you talk to me and you're taking me out to breakfast." She frowned.

"You wanted to help me. I'm not going to be a dick and ignore your efforts. I think that you wanting to help is very honorable." He said. He shifted in his seat uncomfortable about having to share his feelings.

Skylar smiled at him, "Thank you."

He glanced back at her then nodded.

The International House of Pancakes was crowded when Bennett and Skylar arrived. Women stared after Bennett in lust, and Skylar in disgust as they walked past.

That must be his secretary. They thought. She definitely couldn't snag a guy like that.

Skylar noticed the looks but shook them off. Nasty looks were the least of her worries. Bennett was having a hard time dealing with the sexual looks on all the women's faces. Skylar slipped her arm through his and kept a grasp on it to let him know that she was still near. The women's mouths dropped in shock at the bold gesture.

"Table for two." Bennett said.

The waitress melted at his voice but nodded. She led them to a table near her podium so she could gawk at him while she had downtime. She was seriously disappointed when he asked if he could get a table in the back for them to sit. She showed them a different table before stomping off muttering how life was unfair.

"Do you have work today?" Skylar asked after she found what she wanted.

"Yes. I was supposed to go in early this morning, but I woke up with a vicious headache. I knew you had drunk more than me, so I decided to offer you breakfast since it happened on my watch." He said as he rested his arms on his untouched menu.

"How thoughtful. Thank you." She smiled at him again, "It seems like I owe you twice."

"Twice?" he raised his eyebrows, "I don't think so. Last night was a diversion so you would stop asking questions and today is an apology getting you too drunk. That wasn't a part of the plan."

Skylar let out a loud laugh before covering her mouth. "And all this time I thought you were trying to woo me."

A smirk rose to his face, "Tomato, tomáto."

Skylar playfully rolled her eyes. They held a playful stare down until a waiter came to their table to put in their orders. Bennett had let Skylar order first before putting in his own order.

"Just a coffee please."

"Is that all?" she pursed her lips.

"I'm not really hungry." He informed.

"You're about to go to work. You should eat something to help you be more productive and give you more energy." She explained, "Bring him toast and some bacon along with that."

The waiter wrote that down then left with a smile.

"I really don't want anything to eat right now, Skylar." He said, mildly upset that she was changing his morning eating ritual. "I can eat something at lunch."

"Just like you ate something yesterday at lunch." She said, "It's only toast and bacon. Please just do it for me."

She pouted and widened her eyes. He let out a tired chuckled, "I guess I can."

"What are you doing for the rest of the week?" she asked placing her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Working on Friday, working on Saturday until noon, not working on Sunday." He listed.

"On Saturday night, do you wanna go to the bar? Great way to end the week." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

"I don't know." He said scratching his neck, "Can I get back to you on that one?"

"Sure," she chirped, "no pressure."

Their food came out quickly and they dug in as soon as the waiter left. It didn't take them long to eat since they ordered a small amount, but it did take them long to leave the restaurant due to an argument of who was going to pay. In the end, Skylar got her way of going half and half.

"Thanks for taking me to breakfast, Bennett." Skylar said as soon as they were settled in the car.

"No problem." He smiled. "It was my pleas— "

Bennett's phone rang. He looked at his Bluetooth caller ID on the radio in concern. It was his sister, Grace. She should have been in her college class. He apologized to Skylar before answering.

"Grace, cosa c'è di sbagliato? What's wrong?" Bennett asked worriedly.

"Ragazzo." the shrill voice rang through the car.

The joyful aura he had acclaimed through the morning immediately shattered and that insecure, sad man came back.

"Mamma." He replied in a submissive tone.

edited 8/18