Sweet as a Strawberry

17 ~ Sweet as a Biscuit

A/N: Thank you thank you thank you for all the sour foods! I was really running out of them lol. Dedicated to blue_clouds29 for the lovely cover she made for me :)

Chapter 17: Sweet as a Biscuit

Right as I spotted that completely adorable red flush on Ben's cheeks, my phone began to sing the theme song of Dragon Ball Z Kai.

He raised his eyebrows and shot me a pointed look. "Dragon Ball? Really?" I could tell he was mentally replacing how old I was with how old I should be.

"You're the one who recognises it," I said cheekily.

Ben's mouth opened, but he had no words to say. He simply rolled his eyes and went back to his maths homework.

I looked at my phone and then at Ben. He stared at me blankly. "Can I answer it?" I asked, not wanting to be rude.

Ben nodded. "By all means." I beamed at him. I didn't care what anyone said, including himself - he was a nice person.

"Hello!" I greeted into the phone.

"Charlie!"

My grin widened until my face almost split in two at the sound of the familiar voice. "Papa! You haven't called me in so long!" Ben was now staring at me in curiosity, but this time I wasn't fazed, because I was talking to one of my favourite men in the entire world.

"Ah-ah," he scolded, "it doesn't work that way, poppet. You can't just make up some excuse about how you're busy with college work, so I should always be one to call. It makes me feel like you don't wanna talk to your old man!"

I laughed. Man, I missed him so much, and I didn't even realise how much until now. "Don't be absurd, Papa," I said, amused. "How's Husky?" Husky was my dad's best friend's...husky. But I loved the beautiful puppy like she was my own, since our little house was too small for a big dog like her and I was never allowed any pets. 

"She's great," my dad said in his hearty voice, the kind that filled up a room whether you wanted to hear it or not. "I taught her how to pee outside, so she doesn't use her water bowl to empty out that humongous bladder anymore."

I paused to breathe out a silent laugh. I loved my dad, but sometimes he gave out too much information. Way too much, to be clear. "That's...good," I choked out. He laughed his big belly laugh, and I could just picture him and his slight pot belly jiggling from the force of it. I took a deep breath and then said, "So how's Delia?"

Delia was my...nothing, as of yet. I knew my dad wanted to court her, but was still hung up over my mother. It was so tragic, and I was so proud of my dad for chugging along and not letting himself fall into any sort of trouble.

I guess Delia was nice enough. I'd known her for about a year, but was usually at uni during that time. She made my dad smile though, so I wasn't complaining. Much.

"Delia's great!" he said enthusiastically. He sounded so happy. "She's great."

"Er..." I trailed off, sounding extremely unintelligent. "I, er...good. That's good. Tell her I said hello."

"Of course, poppet. She's coming over for dinner, so I'll tell her then."

I felt my stomach drop to my shoes. She was coming over to dinner? I mean, of course she was allowed to, I just...I don't know. Maybe I was being selfish or something. "Well, my class starts in ten minutes, so I've gotta go, Papa," I said, not as reluctantly had I not brought Delia up. Now I was eager to get off the phone. "I'll come home for the Christmas holidays."

"You better, Charlie."

"Okay, Papa. Cheers!"

"Cheers, poppet."