Roommates with Benefits [18+ only]

50. Love is hard

TARA

"Why did I get a furious call from mom?" Kelly laughed before I could say hi. "I didn't even understand what happened, she was ranting so fast, I barely caught the words outrageous, rude, and who does he think he is."

I bit my lips, well aware that Lukas' outburst was only the beginning. My mother isn't the type to forgive and forget, and because she won't see him again, I'm going to be the one caught in the crossfire, being submitted to her wrath every time. It was worth it, though. On one side, watching my mother's face go through all the shades of red known to humans was satisfying and at the same time frightening. On the other ... Lukas standing up for me made me feel like all the misunderstandings, the doubts, the disagreements of the past few weeks amounted to nothing if compared to one simple fact. He cares.

Nobody in their right mind would face Hera Baker like that, shout at her like that without a good reason. It's true that Lukas is already used to defying his father, who's probably a lot worse than my mom, but still. The way he supported me and stood up for me, defended me ... it was heartwarming. That's why I decided I should do something in return.

"She was being impossible, as usual," I mentioned while walking, earphones plugged in to talk to my sister and have my hands free at the same time.

"And ...?"

"And ..." I bit my lips, "Lukas gave her ... a piece of his mind."

Predictably, Kelly gasped. "Wait, you're telling me Fuckboy actually talked back to our mother? Like, he legit yelled at her?"

I rolled my eyes at the nickname. "You need to stop calling him that."

"I'll stop calling him fuckboy when I'll be able to start calling him brother-in-law ..."

I blushed, my eyes widening. "It's ... not like that, I told you."

"Taz, this guy legit faced that spitfire that is Hera Adelaide Baker in your name, for your sake." Kelly pointed out. "You don't just do something like that for a random fuck buddy. Hell, for a simple fuck buddy you don't do half of the things he does for you."

"We're friends, we ..." I felt my breaths hitching, as if being slammed face first into it made me feel like I had no air left.

"Ok, tell me this," my sister insisted, "when you're done, what does he do?"

"Huh?"

"When you have sex, Taz." She laughed. "Once you're done, once you're both naked in bed after he's fucked your brains out, what does he do?"

"There's no need to be so explicit ..." I complained, feeling awkward about talking out loud about my sexual life, even with my sister. Granted that every single sensation is written down on my diary, but that's for my eyes only.

"Just answer me." Kelly insisted more. "Does he leave you there naked? Does he turn to the other side to sleep on his own? Hell, does he kick you out of his bed?" Before I could reply, she went on: "Because that's what a proper fuck buddy does, Taz. That's what such an arrangement is for."

"You seem to speak out of experience." I tried to move the focus on her rather than on me, because I did not want to think about the reasons behind Lukas' kindness. Couldn't be he nice just because that's how he is? I mean, I've met his friends, they all like him, they all say he's an awesome guy that's always there when you need him. So ... couldn't that be more or less the same thing? He knows about Jason, maybe he just doesn't want me to feel used.

"Nice try," Kelly scoffed, "we're talking about you, not me. But for the record, yes, I've had a fuck buddy or two, and I know for a fact that they don't remain there cuddling you through the night and sure as hell they don't cook for you."