(no subject)
I asked for prompts...
"You wanted to meet here?" Claudia says, barely managing to keep the amusement out of her voice as she tries for irritation instead. "An ice cream shop?"
"Yep." Ben sounds absolutely smug and - sort of like he has his mouth full. Claudia's eyes flicker up to the giant ice cream cone shaped sign above them.
She takes that as confirmation that she's in the right place and gets out of the car, swiping her finger to end the call when she spots him sitting in a window. He's got a huge grin on his face and he's licking at a towering ice cream cone. When she walks in, he gets up and moves to a booth more in the back.
"Miss Claudia," he says, pulling out that drawn. "I do believe you are looking better than ever."
"You look like..." She muses over the exact words. "Like you've been stranded on an island where the only natural resources available to you are small woodland creatures and an abundance of plaid."
Ben winces. "That bad?"
"If you're going to let your hair get so ridiculously shaggy at least invest in some conditioner. You do have a teenage daughter, right? She can teach you of these things."
Ben pouts. "She's tried. She's leaving in a few more weeks, anyway."
Claudia's sympathy is a little more genuine this time. She thinks of her own boys, right in the midst of their childhood, and feels fiercely protective and never wants them to grow up.
He holds his ice cream cone out to her. "Have some."
She shakes her head tightly at it. "I'd never allow my boys..."
"Funny, I don't see them here." Ben looks around. "I won't tell. Promise."
It is awfully warm outside and it does look tasty... "Strawberry?"
"Yep." He can tell he's winning. "Come on. It won't kill you."
"No, just the zip on my pants," she shoots him one tiny little grumpy glare and then reaches out and takes the ice cream gone away. There's a dip in the smooth surface where he's licked it and she lets her tongue lap right over the same place, stealing a touch of intimacy that she knows he notices. His eyes go a little darker watching her eat the ice cream and she keeps at it a little longer than is strictly necessarily just to hold that attention a little bit longer.
It backfires, though - she gasps and winces and thrusts the ice cream back over to him, pain stabbing at her head. "Ow!"
Ben, the absolute bastard, laughs at her. "Cold headache? Poor girl," he says, reaching out to rub a finger across her temple, pushing her hair back from her face a bit while he's got the chance. "It'll go away in a second."
Her tightly clenched eyes slowly open and she looks at him like it's his fault - which, really, it is. "You're mean," she sulks.
"Here, let me avenge you." He twists around behind him and spots a trash bin, dropping the half eaten cone in before he gets to his feet. He holds his hand out to her and she takes it, letting him pull her up. She stumbles a bit (mostly on accident) and he catches her, hands lower on her waist than they should be (mostly by accident). She looks up at him, hands on his chest, and she can feel the warmth of his breath and the tickly feeling of the mustache and she's struck by the thought of what it would be like to kiss him with it.
She doesn't approve, she doesn't like the look of it at all, but it could be... interesting.
"So," Ben says. Their lips brush in a not-kiss that tastes like strawberry. "Why don't we go some place a little less dangerous?"
She feels that breathless exhilaration that always accompanies this affair, somehow. Affair? Is that even the word for it? She's been with Ben longer than she's been with her husband, but the lines are drawn and they have to steal what they can get, so she nods and follows him out.
---
It's sort of a guilty pleasure.
Ben doesn't know if Francesca knows, but judging by the way she never comes into the gaming room he thinks she at least has made a conscious decision not to find out. She never mentions it, never asks what he's playing when he isn't playing with Milo.
She doesn't ask, so he doesn't feel bad. Ignorance is bliss at it's finest play. He can settle in front of the tv, enjoy the fact that the room is soundproofed, and just play.
He doesn't even like some of the games. Some he's only made it halfway through. At a certain point, when he realizes a character's story had come to an end, he'd just move on to another one. Some of them he genuinely does like; some he's on his third or fourth time playing through.
She's keeping him busy lately. One or two new games a month. It's summer and the kids are busy, always busy - off on a two week trip now. He spends more and more time in the room.
When Francesca says she's going for a weekend away with some friends, he hopes she can't see the fact that he's happy about it; that he's already making plans. There's a new game, in a bag tucked under the seat of his car. He hasn't even cracked the plastic over it yet. A weekend to play - no interruptions, just him and Claudia.
"You wanted to meet here?" Claudia says, barely managing to keep the amusement out of her voice as she tries for irritation instead. "An ice cream shop?"
"Yep." Ben sounds absolutely smug and - sort of like he has his mouth full. Claudia's eyes flicker up to the giant ice cream cone shaped sign above them.
She takes that as confirmation that she's in the right place and gets out of the car, swiping her finger to end the call when she spots him sitting in a window. He's got a huge grin on his face and he's licking at a towering ice cream cone. When she walks in, he gets up and moves to a booth more in the back.
"Miss Claudia," he says, pulling out that drawn. "I do believe you are looking better than ever."
"You look like..." She muses over the exact words. "Like you've been stranded on an island where the only natural resources available to you are small woodland creatures and an abundance of plaid."
Ben winces. "That bad?"
"If you're going to let your hair get so ridiculously shaggy at least invest in some conditioner. You do have a teenage daughter, right? She can teach you of these things."
Ben pouts. "She's tried. She's leaving in a few more weeks, anyway."
Claudia's sympathy is a little more genuine this time. She thinks of her own boys, right in the midst of their childhood, and feels fiercely protective and never wants them to grow up.
He holds his ice cream cone out to her. "Have some."
She shakes her head tightly at it. "I'd never allow my boys..."
"Funny, I don't see them here." Ben looks around. "I won't tell. Promise."
It is awfully warm outside and it does look tasty... "Strawberry?"
"Yep." He can tell he's winning. "Come on. It won't kill you."
"No, just the zip on my pants," she shoots him one tiny little grumpy glare and then reaches out and takes the ice cream gone away. There's a dip in the smooth surface where he's licked it and she lets her tongue lap right over the same place, stealing a touch of intimacy that she knows he notices. His eyes go a little darker watching her eat the ice cream and she keeps at it a little longer than is strictly necessarily just to hold that attention a little bit longer.
It backfires, though - she gasps and winces and thrusts the ice cream back over to him, pain stabbing at her head. "Ow!"
Ben, the absolute bastard, laughs at her. "Cold headache? Poor girl," he says, reaching out to rub a finger across her temple, pushing her hair back from her face a bit while he's got the chance. "It'll go away in a second."
Her tightly clenched eyes slowly open and she looks at him like it's his fault - which, really, it is. "You're mean," she sulks.
"Here, let me avenge you." He twists around behind him and spots a trash bin, dropping the half eaten cone in before he gets to his feet. He holds his hand out to her and she takes it, letting him pull her up. She stumbles a bit (mostly on accident) and he catches her, hands lower on her waist than they should be (mostly by accident). She looks up at him, hands on his chest, and she can feel the warmth of his breath and the tickly feeling of the mustache and she's struck by the thought of what it would be like to kiss him with it.
She doesn't approve, she doesn't like the look of it at all, but it could be... interesting.
"So," Ben says. Their lips brush in a not-kiss that tastes like strawberry. "Why don't we go some place a little less dangerous?"
She feels that breathless exhilaration that always accompanies this affair, somehow. Affair? Is that even the word for it? She's been with Ben longer than she's been with her husband, but the lines are drawn and they have to steal what they can get, so she nods and follows him out.
---
It's sort of a guilty pleasure.
Ben doesn't know if Francesca knows, but judging by the way she never comes into the gaming room he thinks she at least has made a conscious decision not to find out. She never mentions it, never asks what he's playing when he isn't playing with Milo.
She doesn't ask, so he doesn't feel bad. Ignorance is bliss at it's finest play. He can settle in front of the tv, enjoy the fact that the room is soundproofed, and just play.
He doesn't even like some of the games. Some he's only made it halfway through. At a certain point, when he realizes a character's story had come to an end, he'd just move on to another one. Some of them he genuinely does like; some he's on his third or fourth time playing through.
She's keeping him busy lately. One or two new games a month. It's summer and the kids are busy, always busy - off on a two week trip now. He spends more and more time in the room.
When Francesca says she's going for a weekend away with some friends, he hopes she can't see the fact that he's happy about it; that he's already making plans. There's a new game, in a bag tucked under the seat of his car. He hasn't even cracked the plastic over it yet. A weekend to play - no interruptions, just him and Claudia.