#ftem

Ben looked behind him and, sure enough, there was Hal with his tongue down his girlfriend’s throat.

“I mean, they’re aware that we only get twenty minutes, right?” Sam continued, scrunching her face up in disgust as Ben turned back to face her.

“I’m pretty sure cherry chapstick doesn’t taste as good as lasagne, anyway,” Ben muttered, pushing his food around his plate.

Sam scoffed. “And how do you know it’s cherry?”

“Because Hal doesn’t have a great filter. I know a lot of things that I really wish I didn’t.”

Sam snickered but it was quickly followed by a groan. “It’s so uncomfortable to watch.”

“So don’t.”

“Jealous that Rita’s getting some Mason action, Sam?” Nick teased, sitting down and pulling out a squashed sandwich all but smothered in cling film. Ben rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but notice the faint blush spreading across Sam’s cheeks. Did she…? No. No way. Sam was practically in love with some guy from Teen Wolf (Ben usually stopped paying attention at that point).

“Why would I be jealous? It’s Hal. He’s a dumb jock who I heard lost his v-card in the back of Macy Servino’s mom’s stationwagon.”

“He didn’t. Macy started that rumour,” Ben responded automatically. “But, yeah, he is a dumb jock.”

*

“Who’s the match against on Saturday?” Hal asked as he looked for his math textbook in his locker.

“All you guys ever talk about is lacrosse,” Rita whined. “Can’t we talk about, I don’t know, anything else?”

“Winthrop Vikings,” Alex replied. “I was going to set you up with one of my friends there, but you seem to have rekindled things,” he continued, raising an eyebrow at Rita before looking back at Hal. “Remember that conversation, bro?”

“Yeah, I remember. The blond cheerleader you were telling me about. Carrie? Caroline? Kate?”

“Kar-”

“Well, it doesn’t matter because here I am and we’re back together and we’re going to be late for Math,” Rita interrupted before stalking away.

Hal rolled his eyes and followed.

His sons stood in a line, all with the arms folded and smiles on their faces. Matt tried to hold back his laughter as part of the pole flipped up and hit Tom in the face. Finally, Ben caved and went to help his father.

“Oh, so you come and help me now?” he asked, his tone teasing.

“Watching you started to get painful,” Ben jested back as he picked up a collapsed pole and began to put it together.

“Imagine if you had ten minutes to put a tent up or you’d die from, like, radiation poison or something,” Matt piped up.

“When would that ever happen?” Hal asked as he pulled a water bottle out of his backpack.

“I don’t know,” Matt shrugged, “maybe if, like, aliens invaded or something.”

Rebecca snorted. “How did I end up with three boys?”

Eventually, the tent became an actual tent standing proudly at the edge of the almost empty campsite. There were two large sleeping compartments – one for the parents and one for the kids – with a hallway down the middle. The food and cooking equipment was all in the trunk of the car and the boys were going in and out of the tent with rucksacks and sleeping bags whilst Tom and Rebecca watched.

“I’m glad you could drag yourself away from grading papers to enjoy this weekend,” Rebecca said softly.

“What makes you think I didn’t bring some with me?” Tom responded. Rebecca narrowed her eyes up at him menacingly and Tom shrank back a little in terror. “I didn’t, I swear.”

-

“Ben, put the book down at join in!” Matt begged. “Please?”

Ben lifted his head from the book he had been absorbed in and pushed his glasses up his nose.  The rest of the family were setting up a The Simpsons themed Monopoly board, all looking happy and excited except for Hal who kept checking his cell phone for messages.

“Only if I can be the alien,” Ben bargained with his little brother. Matt nodded his head in affirmation of the deal and Ben marked his place in his book and set it aside on the grass.

“Did you manage to get your project with Nick finished before we left?” Rebecca asked as she dealt the money to each family member.

“Yeah, Nick’s editing it this weekend and then we present it on Tuesday and-”

“If Ben’s the alien then I’m the donut!” Hal interrupted as he leaned over the board to take his piece from the box.

-

“Aw, man!” Matt whined as he moved his to the jail square.

“It’s probably the best place for you,” Tom told him somewhat gleefully. “Ben and I own most of the board.”

Matt glared at him across the board as Ben took his go.

“Free parking!” Ben exclaimed happily. He took the money from under the square and began counting it. “$1,015. Thanks, guys.” If looks could kill, Matt’s glare would have had Ben six feet under but Ben just smiled.

The daylight was fading and Rebecca had lit lanterns that hung from metal poles stuck into the ground around the board. Despite the artificial light, Tom looked at the horizon dubiously. “We should probably move this game inside,” he announced, the light of the lanterns painting his skin a pale orange in the oncoming darkness.

“We could just give up,” Rebecca pointed out. “I reckon Ben’s won. Again.”

“If you weren’t going to come home then you could’ve had the decency to answer my calls! Hal Mason, don’t you dare walk away from me! Hal!”

There was thumping as Hal made his way up the stairs… followed by a second pair. In a moment of panic, Ben threw himself from the bed and hid behind Matt’s open bedroom door before the angry pair came past.

“After school you come straight home! You are grounded, do you hear?” Rebecca yelled. “Benjamin, get out of bed! You’re going to be late.”

Hal’s bedroom door slammed shut and Rebecca’s footsteps retreated down the stairs. Ben darted out from behind the door and made his way to his bedroom to get dressed before going downstairs. His little brother sat at the kitchen table concentrating on his corn flakes in an attempt to block out Rebecca’s ranting. She was dressed in her black leggings and pink sports top, the ones she wore when she was training. A pair of pink trainers sat on the kitchen table, the ones that Tom had bought her when her old ones were beginning to get too worn.

“I can’t believe he’d do that. He’s never done this before. What on earth was so important that he couldn’t phone us or answer my calls? If he even dares- oh, shit!” There was a small thump as the milk carton fell onto its side causing the white liquid to spill over the counter and drip onto the floor.

Matt’s head shot up as he gasped. “Mom said a rude word!” he said, clearly appalled that his mother could say such a thing.

“No she didn’t,” Ben attempted to cover as he sat opposite his little brother at the table. “She said ‘shoot’ because Mom knows that swearing is bad.”

“Really?” Matt asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. “Because I thought it sounded like she said-”

“Well, she didn’t,” Ben snapped as he gave his brother the ‘shut up if you know what’s good for you’ look.

-

Hal came straight home from school. If anyone asked him, it was because he was tired and not because he was actually listening to his mother. What sixteen-year-old listens to their mother? He found his father sitting at the table on his laptop trying to rewrite one of his lectures on the American Civil War.

“And where were you last night?” he asked his eldest son without looking up from his work.

“Out.”

“Your mother and I were worried, Hal,” he said, finally looking up. “You didn’t even tell us you were going out, let alone that you’d be gone all night.”

In some ways, getting told off by his father was worse than by his mother. Rebecca would scream and shout and make her point known; Tom, on the other hand, acted so disappointed that your insides squirmed with guilt and shame. He would never raise his voice. Tom Mason showing true anger would mean aliens had invaded.

And that was never going to happen.

-