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‘Mmmmm,’ Benji said, his sleepy eyes opening as he stretched his arms up and out from his body. ‘How long was I asleep for that time?’
‘Only about forty-five minutes,’ Harrison said, chuckling and pleased that Benji didn’t seem to have heard his misstep. ‘Something tells me that I might need to dig my old alarm clock out from storage. You’ll be getting enough sleep with me, but there’s no way I’m allowing you to spend all your time snoozing in bed!’
Benji smiled and picked up his half-full juice box and took a long sip on it.
‘Wow! Is this… your house?’ Benji said, his eyes now fully open as Harrison turned off the tree-lined road and pulled up into his driveway. ‘It’s… big.’
Harrison looked at Benji and saw that he was blushing.
‘Well, yes it certainly is big,’ Harrison chuckled. ‘But don’t be too impressed. It’s owned by the college. As a big draw for the university I get to stay there rent free. I’ve even tried to buy it from them a couple of times, but something’s always got in the way.’
‘I don’t care who owns it,’ Benji giggled. ‘I can’t believe I get to stay here with you!’
Harrison put his hand on Benji’s knee and smiled warmly. It felt good to see how enthusiastic and positive Benji was being. They hadn’t even stepped foot inside the house yet, but Harrison could see that Benji was already feeling more relaxed and tension-free than at any point since they had met.
All that was left now was getting Benji inside and settled down.
‘Come on, I’ll give you the full tour,’ Harrison said, smiling as he watched Benji running and jumping into a big pile of Fall leaves that had been swept up together. ‘Careful, you’ll have Mr. Saul from next door after you if you make too much of a mess!’
‘But I love it so much!’ Benji squealed. ‘Tree lined streets, big comfy houses, gardens, I love it all! It’s like a dream!’
God damn, he’s cute.
He’s as sweet as pumpkin pie and probably twice as naughty.
I need to keep my urges under control…
‘Inside, now. That’s an order!’ Harrison said, putting on his gruffest voice.
With that, Benji hopped to attention and followed Harrison in through the old oak door and inside the house.
‘Well, this is the entrance hall. Obviously,’ Harrison said, standing in the open plan area and proceeding to point Benji in the direction of each room. ‘We’ve got the main living room, the rumpus room, the kitchen, my study. Then upstairs we’ve got the usual bedroom and bathrooms. You’ll have your own bathroom and bedroom of course.’
Benji nodded along, but Harrison could see that Benji’s attention span was struggling to keep up with all the information. Benji had a look of pure Little delight on his face and it came as no surprise when Benji took his stuffie Zozo out of his backpack…
‘Zozo! Look! This is our home for the next few weeks!’ Benji squealed with joy. ‘Please can I go up and guess which my room is? Please? Pretty-pretty-pretty-super-cherry on top please?’
Harrison let out a big laugh that echoed around the entrance hall.
‘Of course you can,’ Harrison said. ‘The whole house is yours. Well, apart from my study. You don’t go in there unless it’s with me, got it?’
‘Got it!’ Benji said, his slender body already half-way up the curved, hand-carved staircase. ‘Waah! This is soooo exciting!’
Harrison listened as he heard Benji discover the guestroom.
With the sound of Benji excitedly jumping up and down on his bed, Harrison thought it best to allow Benji some time to get fully acquainted with his new surroundings. As far as Harrison was concerned, it had been a long journey and after the mediocre coffee on the road, he was more than ready for some of his own specialty coffee.
Harrison sipped the last drops out of his second triple espresso. He was starting to feel hungry too but decided to wait for Benji to come down before planning what to eat.
The kitchen looked nice and clean and tidy, just how Harrison had left it. The only difference being that the campus cleaning lady had stacked up Harrison’s mail on the large kitchen table.
‘Urgh. That can wait,’ Harrison said, not remotely interested in reading any of the mixture of junk, bills, and campus news that had landed on his mail mat in his absence.
Far more interesting to Harrison was the message that had just flashed up on his cell phone screen from his Daddy friend, Zane…
Yo! Mr. Hawk. Tell me what’s new. I NEED to hear more about this boy. And before you say anything - yes I do need to know if you’ve got your hands on him yet. I know you play your cards close to that damn chest of yours, but you need to open up and let me live vicariously through you! Still good for climbing tomorrow? Z.
Harrison smiled wryly. He loved and cherished his relationship with Zane. Zane was a retired race car driver who was the very definition of a risk taker – as the scar on his cheek from a high-speed crash testified.
