Skylar's heels clicked against the clean tile floor. Her arms were crossed and one eyebrow was raised. Bennett looked over his shoulder to see her expression when he noticed she wasn't rambling like he knew her to do in the short period of time they've known each other.

"What?" he asked as he grabbed two bottles of water.

"You cleaned up before I got here, so I wouldn't see what a mess it was." She accused.

Bennett stared at her impassively. She jutted her head forward which said, "Well, answer me". A smile unconsciously rose to his face.

"Normally, women would be thrilled that a man cleaned up for them." He informed.

She rolled her hazel eyes. "This isn't a normal situation. I'm not here to be wooed."

Bennett shrugged with the small smile still intact. She walked over to the kitchen sink and looked inside then checked the garbage can then the nearest bathroom. She huffed in exasperation.

"How am I supposed to help if you are hiding from me?" she nearly stomped her foot.

He shrugged once again. Skylar groaned in frustration.

"Fine then." She said, "Let's go sit."

Bennett raised his eyebrow but followed her to his living room. She was seated on one end of the black leather couch. Her heels were on the floor, but her feet were tucked under her body. Bennett took a seat on the opposite end of the couch. He put on an arm on the back of the couch as he turned towards her.

"What's the interrogation today?" Bennett asked.

She rolled her eyes, "What time did you go to sleep last night?"

He scratched the back of his neck as he scrunched up his face trying to think. "I went to bed at 10:30, but didn't actually fall asleep until, like, 2."

"How was your day at work? Besides the wonderful five minutes, you spent on the phone with me." She said cheekily.

"Fine," he said, "I gotten through some financial plans I've been working hard on and that felt good."

"Really?" she perked up, "How long does it take to finish one?"

"It varies, really. This company was really easy to work with. The CFO knew what he wanted and it was easy to write up the plan, have him look it over then correct it. That took about three months. My boss was impressed as well. I had a meeting with him this morning and he said that the CFO had nothing but good things to say about me. Told me he was proud of me and to keep up the good work."

Skylar smiled at him, "I'm proud of you too. Numbers aren't my forte."

A blush spread across his cheeks and he gave her a shrug.

"Did you eat lunch?" she asked.

His eyebrows furrowed, "I don't think so. I was so busy I forgot to eat."

"No breakfast or lunch. Are you gonna eat dinner?" she frowned.

"I had breakfast." He rebutted, "I had— "

"A bagel with cream cheese? No, you didn't. You took a bit out of it and left it on the table out in the foyer. I saw it as I was coming in." she said.

He pursed his lips and stared into the distance trying to recall that morning's events. He remembered putting the cream cheese on the bagel and biting, but not setting it down. How did he even overlook that when he was cleaning?

"It doesn't matter now." She said fanning her hand, "Let's have dinner. Should I cook?"

He shook his head. "I don't have groceries. Let's order in."

He leaned back to grab the pamphlets for multiple take out places. Skylar looked at him in slight disgust. He gave her a questioning look as he handed them to her.

"You live on take-out food?" she asked but it came out more as a statement.

"I don't like to cook. Take out is quick and easy." He informed.

Skylar scrunched her nose up as she glanced through the pamphlets. Chinese, Thai, pizza, barbecue, Hawaiian, Mexican, soul and many more. Through her disgust, she narrowed down the pamphlets to Chinese or pizza. She slid the two over to Bennett.

"Good choices." He commented.

"You're gonna order both?" she asked confused.

"Yeah, why not?" he shrugged as he unlocked his cell phone.

"No, just order one. I won't be able to eat that much."

"Anything specific you would like?"

"Surprise me."

It was a quick process since Bennett ordered often. Skylar listened as he chatted comfortably with the person on the other end of the phone. His body was relaxed and he easily made jokes. He hung up with the promise of a tip if they didn't trip on his rug. Skylar guessed it was an inside joke.

"Chinese should be here in fifteen. Should we pick out a movie to watch?" he asked.

"Still trying to woo me, Mr. Carolos." She teased, "I suppose I'll give in this time."

Skylar's breath hitched when Bennett gave her a heart-stopping smile. His ocean colored eyes were sparkling and white teeth glistened. Skylar wondered momentarily how could anyone hate such a beautiful man. She found her breath then returned the smile, but then remember that his mother was too full of hatred, from something that didn't have anything to do with him, to even recognize him as a person let alone her son.

Bennett turned on his plasma flat screen that was mounted about an electric fireplace. He switched from regular TV to Apple TV. He pulled up the genres of movies then looked over at Skylar expectantly. She shrugged her shoulders and Bennett responded with a nod. He chose the comedy genre hoping to lighten his aura. He felt that Skylar felt that he was a depressed, self-loathing, antisocial man that didn't know how to have fun, and he thought she pitied him. He was a depressed, self-loathing, antisocial man, but she didn't need to know that.

He had purchased Central Intelligence to watch. Skylar was thrilled that he had chosen a Kevin Hart/Dwayne Johnson movie. Guys, she knew, thought The Rock should just stick to wrestling and stopped dabbling in the movie business. Her father and brother were also negative towards Kevin Hart saying that he wasn't funny (even after they were both in tears from his jokes).

"Would you like a glass of white wine?" he offered.

"White wine with Chinese?" she mused, "Sounds good."

Bennett blessed her again with a smile before getting up to get the bottle and glasses.

Skylar glanced around the room and noticed it lacked personality. The furniture was black and the walls were white. A grey rug was anchored down by the dark furniture. There were generic pictures on the wall like painted fruit bowls. The environment he was living in could very well be a possibility to his depression as well. Perhaps, he would let her brighten up his home as well. Skylar jumped when she caught movement in her peripheral, but it was only Bennett coming back with the wine bottle and two wine glasses.

"The food should be here any minute." He glanced at his watch, "How was your day today?"

Bennett never came across as the sociable type, so it shocked Skylar that he had asked but didn't let the shock register on her face. "It was fine. Thanks for asking."

"You never said what you did besides working at your dad's business." He said. Once again, it shocked her that he remembered that she had mentioned that she worked for her father. "Don't look so shocked. I do listen."

She flushed, "Sorry. People usually don't remember those small details I say. I'm the marketing 'department' for my dad."

"Why the quotations?" he asked as he poured wine into the two glasses.

"Because it's not a department. It's just me." She laughed, "I feel more official when I say marketing department."

He handed her a glass. "I think you should start saying your head of the marketing department instead. It will give a sense of authority as well."

"Oh, good idea." She nodded in approval, "Skylar Woodwork, head of marketing. It has a nice ring to it."

"I think so." He agreed while suppressing a smile.

There was a knock at the door and Bennett quickly got up to answer it. After a quick conversation, the door closed and he reappeared with a bag with a Chinese mark on it.

"I got my favorite: noodle stir-fry and sweet and sour jumbo shrimp." He said as he unpacked the back. "I also order a cart of General Tsao's chicken just in case you were allergic."

"Thank you." She said.

He started the movie, and the pair fell into a comfortable silence. Bennett was highly aware of Skylar. Maybe too aware of her. He wanted to pay attention to the movie, but she was distracting in a good way. He noticed how she would snort Kevin Hart's jokes, how she would slightly moan when she placed more food in her mouth, how she pushed back her curly hair from her face every so often. However, the self-deprecating part of him wondered why she wanted to help him. He didn't feel like he was worth the time of such a beautiful woman.

Skylar felt his mood taking a nose dive, so she nudged him with his elbow. When she got his attention, she gave him a smile. He noticed her efforts and gave her a smile back. It wasn't that breathtaking smile, but it was enough to show her that he was trying to have a good time. Satisfied with his response, she turned her attention back to the movie.

He shook the thoughts out of his head to focus on the movie. He wanted to finish "wooing" Skylar as she called it. He refused for the thoughts to damper his mood. For the first time in a very long while, he wanted to spend the rest of the night on a good note.

edited 7/18