Worth the wait

Chapter Twenty-Six

The three were sat at a table in the restaurant eating their breakfast and talking about the days plans. Ellie and Adam pulled chairs out and placed their food down. Followed shortly by William, Tasha, Mary and Peter.

"Wheres Stevie?" Rosie asked her Aunt.

"He's feeling a little rough this morning baby girl, so he's just finishing in the shower before he comes over." His misfortune had amused Ben no end causing him to let out a short loud laugh. When he had got back last night Adam told Ellie what had happened to cause Ben to call it a night early. It didn't surprise her because she knew her brother was like a dog with a bone when he got an idea in his head.

"Speak of the devil." Ben muttered in to his juice as Steve made his way over with a coffee.

Charlotte gave him a glance, discreetly placing a hand on his knee under the table. "What happened?" She whispered but he just shook his head.

"Morning everyone." He said sitting between his wife and mum. "Morning mardy arse!" He directed at Ben.

"Dont start Ste!" Adam scolded his brother in law. Ben moved Charlottes hand and stood up from the table.

"Oh! Thats it. Skulk off! Its what you're good at recently, eh!" Steve smirked at his friend.

Sighing he turned back around and looked Steve in the eye. "Forgive me for not really wanting to be around you right now mate." Narrowing his eyes to punctuate just how pissed off he was with the man. The others all looking between the pair, all seeing Ben's nostrils flare and his temper rising.

"You need to lighten up mate! Try and do your best pal a favour and it gets thrown back at your face!" Steve verbally poking him.

"Steven, thats enough! Stop trying to wind..." Tasha started to tell him.

Slamming his hand down on the table, causing a few of the group to jump slightly. He bent over to be closer to his friend "I dont want, nor do I need your help in finding a woman! Mate! Perfectly fucking happy with the way things are in my life!" Standing up straight "Like I repeatedly told you last night whenever you tried forcing me to talk to women!" He stormed off after hearing Charlotte let out a quiet gasp.

"I really dont see what his bloody problem is!" Shaking his head as he took a sip of his drink.

"You! You are his bloody problem. Why would you do that to him?" Charlotte hissed at her brother earning a smirk from a couple of the others. "Come on Rosie. Lets go find the mermaids!" She smiled at her.

"Is Ben still coming to mum? He said he would." She asked as she stood from the table.

"I'm not so sure now sweetie. We'll see. Say bye to everyone." She did and they headed off to change in to something more suited for their adventure.
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They had been following the suggested path for about an hour now, Rosie walking ahead of the pair while she spoke animatedly about her love of mermaids and how much she couldn't wait to find one.

Taking a hold of his hand and stepping closer to him "Why didn't you tell me what he did?" She asked as they continued on their walk.

"I didn't want to put you in the middle. Wouldn't be fair to you." Looking down at her and giving her a tight-lipped smile.

"I appreciate that but he shouldn't have done it Ben! Especially after you asked him not to! I'll be bloody well telling him that too now I've calmed down."

"Calmed down? Lott...you didn't fight with him did you?"
"No. Just told him he had no right doing what he did! We left before I actually voiced how I felt about how bloody idiotic he is!"