A/N: Alright Chapter 5..whooohooo, right? So I know it has been slow, but the words aren't flowing as I planned. I have started chapter 6, but who knows when I will actually finish it. I have ideas for the next 3 chapters, and for the whole story really, but I have to find a way to get them all to come together. Anyway...enjoy! AND please don't forget to review...it keeps my spirits up :)
Disclaimer: I only own the soundtracks and movie, nothing too special.

Chapter 5 – Mimi calls

Benny woke up to Maureen snuggled against his chest like a child to a beloved security blanket. Blinking a few times to get his eyes into focus, he squinted to see the time on the clock above the T.V. It told him that it was about 3:30 p.m. He tried to stretch, but found it quite difficult due to the extra body that held on to him. Deciding that he should wake up Maureen to see if she was feeling well enough to get out of the apartment, he began tracing his fingers up and down her arm, getting goose bumps to arise on her flesh. He got his mouth merely inches away from her ear before whispering for her to wake up.

"Maureen, rise and shine sleepyhead."

She let out a groan in protest, but the corners of her mouth could not hold back the smile that threatened to show. Her eyelids broke open, only to be closed again in pain of the light that shone into them.

"Why?" she whined, keeping her eyes closed.

Benny laughed at her childish mannerism, admitting to himself that he found it quite cute.

"Because it's 3:30 and the beautiful day is wasting away," he told her, beginning to run his fingers through her delicate curls.

"You're going to put me back to sleep doing that," she warned, a smile spread on her face as she talked.

Benny abruptly stopped what he was doing, just to test her.

"I didn't say stop!" she screamed playfully, as she rolled over on her back, her head moving down to lay on his lap.

He let out a laugh, and continued his rummaging through her hair. Just as Maureen closed her eyes, her phone began ringing in the kitchen.

She grumbled as she lifted her head off his lap to go attend to the ringing phone.

"People stop calling me!" she yelled as she jogged to the kitchen to catch the phone before it stopped ringing.

"Hello?" she chimed, sounding as if she was ever so happy to receive the call. "Oh hey Mimi, what's up?" Maureen twisted a strand of hair around her finger as she stood there. "Yeah, that sounds good, but make it for four I'm going to bring someone." She smiled as she looked at Benny, who eyed her suspiciously. "Alright see you later."

She hung up the phone as she walked over to the couch again.

"I take it you are feeling a little better," Benny said playfully.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better, and I think it had to do with my lovable caretaker," she said as she sat on his lap.

Benny just smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist. "So where are dragging me?"

"Who said I was talking about you?" Maureen teased, not able to lie very well.

"Oh I see how it is."

Maureen nodded her head and ended up falling into pits of laughter.

"Mimi asked me if I wanted to meet up with her and Roger at the cafe down the street and you are going with me," she told him, the smile on her face growing with every word.

"Am I?"

She just nodded her head again to try and control the laughter that threatened to burst out.

Benny let out a deep sigh, "Okay, I'll go." A smile could no longer cease from his face, demonstrating that his distress was in fact false.

"Thank you."

They both inched their faces closer and closer until there was no space left and dark lips met pink ones. Maureen felt Benny's tongue slid over her bottom lip before hers followed suit. Maureen broke the kiss a few seconds later and laid her head on his shoulder, so comfortable that she wasn't sure she ever wanted to move.

"We are supposed to meet them at 4:30," she said, her eyes looking at the clock that read 3:45. "So, I should probably go get ready and get out of these clothes."

Slowly getting off Benny's lap, she went to her bedroom to change, leaving him alone with the TV as his only company. A few moments later she came back out, in the process of pulling her curls back into a ponytail, leaving a few to fall and frame her face. Maureen had on a red graphic tee and a pair of slim fitting jeans. To match her shirt, she had on her beloved red converse sneakers.

"What time is it, Benny?" Maureen asked, going to the kitchen to get a drink of water to ease her cottonmouth feeling.

"Four."

Maureen groaned inwardly as she walked toward him with two glasses of water. Time was crawling, and she was excited to tell Mimi and Roger about her and Benny. She knew for a fact that they would be happy for her; it would be Mark and Collins that would be the toughest out of the group. Mark was still not over her and everyone knew it, but there was nothing Maureen could do about it. She didn't feel anything toward Mark anymore, and she couldn't go on pretending. Collins acted like Maureen's big brother, and in his eyes nobody was good enough for her. He also still held a slight grudge toward Benny, but it was easing with time, especially after Benny paid for Angel's funeral. That was when Collins knew that Benny had changed and could be accepted back into their big family.

Handing one of the glasses to Benny and putting hers on the table, Maureen unceremoniously plopped on the couch.

"Thanks," Benny told her, smirking as she sat on the couch, "So what time do you think that we should head over there?"

"Well," Maureen started, taking a glance at the clock, even though she was just told the time, "I was thinking if we left in about 15 minutes we should get there by 4:30."

Boredom washing over her body, Maureen decided to do something to pass the time, she just didn't know what. Her eyes traveled around the apartment in search of something that could occupy her time for the next 15 minutes, when her eyes landed on the dishes that were piled in her sink from the lunch she received earlier. Maureen got up and made her way toward the kitchen, feeling Benny's eyes follow her. She started moving the dirty dishes to the counter when she noticed that there was an awful lot of silverware in the sink for just her.

"Benny?" she asked, turning around to see his glace land upon her, "Why is there so much silverware in the sink?"

He started to chuckle to himself before answering. "Well, when I was making the soup today, I didn't realize that your drawers don't stop on there own and I dropped the whole drawer on the floor."

Maureen laughed at his clumsiness and wondered how on earth she slept through that as she turned around to face the mound of dishes that were still piled in front of her. She finally got all the dishes to the counter when she started filling half the sink with hot soapy water. Putting the silverware in first to let it soak, she soon put the glasses in and let the rest of the water fill the sink. She turned off the faucet and swiveled it to the other side where she would rinse the dishes off. She got ready to wash a plastic pink cup when she felt two arms wrap around her waist. A smile instantly formed on her face when the familiar scent of sandalwood filled her nose. Maureen leaned into him, dropping the cup and rag back into the sink and instantly forgetting all about the dishes.

"You know, you don't have to do this by yourself, after all, I did have a part in the mess," Benny whispered in her ear, sending shivers racing up her spine.

Maureen had to take a deep breath in order to keep her strength and not have her knees give out on her.

"I know, but you made the mess on account of me, so the least I can do is clean it up. After all it is my apartment," she told him, trying to get back to doing the dishing, but finding in increasingly difficult with his arms still tightly wrapped around her abdomen.

"You were sick," he simply replied, letting go of her waist and allowing himself to get a towel and dry the dishes Maureen had just finished washing.

They finished washing the dishes and decided that they should get ready to go, seeing that the clock told them that it was 4:17. Maureen quickly grabbed her purse as Benny shut off the TV and they met at the door, glancing around the apartment to make sure everything was turned off. Seeing that everything was as it should be, Benny grabbed Maureen's hand and let her lead him out of the building toward the café where they were to meet Roger and Mimi.