Page 176 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“We could go somewhere,” Selah suggested. “There’s a quiet bar down the street with smoking hot waitresses.”
Samuel snagged another beer from the fridge. “I’m good with that. Definitely in the mood for hard liquor tonight.”
Ben heaved out a sigh at his two short-sighted sons. “We are not taking Jamison into a bar.”
“Then let’s take her shopping,” Samuel said. “Nothing makes Jamison happier than trying to spend several thousand dollars in a single night.”
Selah smirked. “And it makes her tired. So tired, she won’t want to have a movie marathon.”
“Shopping it is.” Tapping the neck of his bottle against his sons’ bottles, Ben raised a toast to them. “We have a plan.”
A loud boom of thunder came directly after his statement, followed promptly by torrential rain pounding on the villa’s roof. “Never mind.” Ben took a long pull from his beer. “Any other ideas?”
“Okay,” Jamison shouted from the living room. “I’m off the phone and putting on my pajamas. You guys have to put yours on, too. That way, we can watch the movies in a row and straight until dawn.”
Selah groaned. “When did this become a slumber party?”
“Do we have food?” Samuel went for the fridge. “I’m getting drunk if I’m watching teenage vampires, and food will be mandatory.”
“Consuela left a bunch of stuff,” Ben said, bending down to peer into the fridge with Samuel. “There are dips, beef for nachos with all the fixings, and she pre-made empanadas.”
“God bless Consuela.” Selah finished off his beer and smacked the bottle on the granite countertop. “Let’s put on our pajamas and start this vampire slumber party. Sammy, do I get to braid your hair?”
Samuel shut the fridge door without looking at him. “If you touch me, I will break your hand.”
“If you do, I’ll tell Evie, and she’ll come here to defend my honor.”
“You’re so not funny.” Samuel looked almost serious, like the threat of Evie coming to Mexico was worse than a vampire slumber party. “At all.”
Selah blew his brother a kiss as he left the kitchen, and Ben eyeballed his broodiest kid. Not that he faulted Samuel for the bad attitude. He could remember behaving the same way at his age.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” Samuel opened his third beer, somehow having already downed the second one before anyone realized it. “Hearing about Evie—”
Ben wanted to roll his eyes but wouldn’t, sparing them yet another battle regarding Evie. “I know you hate her.”
“I don’t.” The words came out in a rush, and Samuel focused on opening the bottle. “I don’t hate her. I worry about her.”
Samuel stumbled over the last part, revealing the piece of himself people were never allowed to see. Miranda would say that their son was a sensitive soul, and Ben would forever agree with that fact. Samuel's tough attitude stemmed from learning that, as a Fairweather, it was best to harden one's heart, because when you allowed it to show, the world wasn’t always kind.
“She’s doing well at school, and you were right. I had no idea Evie was a mathematical genius. I’m proud that she’s majoring in accounting,” Bentold him, knowing damn well Samuel was aware of Evie’s major since he kept close tabs on her. “A boyfriend—a first boyfriend—going into Political Science is a good meshing of the minds for her to explore.”
“Meshing of the minds.” Samuel looked appropriately disgusted by the term, and Ben couldn’t blame him. The whole meshing of the minds comment came off as pretentious, reminding him of something his shrink might say. “You sound like an asshole, Dad.”
“Yeah, I do.” With a sigh, Ben finished off his first beer of the night. “Now, let’s go. I want to get my vampire watching over with.”
Samuel smirked at him. “You know these things sparkle, right?”
“What things?”
“The vampires.”
Ben blinked at his son, who usually made more sense. “We’re watching a movie with sparkling vampires?”
“Notamovie, Dad. There are two movies, and she brought them both.” Samuel returned to the fridge to grab yet another beer to hand him. “That means we’re looking at about four and a half hours of sparkly vampires.”
“Sweet mother of Jesus.”
