Hi guys and welcome back to Business Intern. So this story is slowly coming to a close, with only 4 chapters left after this one. I want to apologise if there are any typos in this chapter. When I read back over it, I realised that there was a lot of mistakes in this chapter. I corrected the ones I saw, but I apologise for any I missed.
I hope you are all enjoying the story so far, and let's crack on!
Carlos POV-Sunday:
It wasn't until this morning that I clicked into what was happening. I had agreed to meet Ben's parents. Belle and Beast, well to me it would be Mr and Mrs Adams as I want to be professional, were the owners of AuraTech and one of the richest couples in the whole of Auradon. They have so much influence and power, but they are also so caring and generous. I spent the whole day panicking, pacing around my room hoping to pick out something to wear. Luckily mum was home with me all day trying to help me prepare for the meal, but it wasn't helping. She kept reassuring me that Belle and Beast were lovely people, and that they saw me when I was first born, but that didn't help at all. My anxiety was playing up massively, flashing between each and every bad thing that could happen. Me slipping my drink all over Belle's dress, me eating my food loud and messily, me tripping over as I walk into the restaurant, me tripping over a waiter in the restaurant, me throwing my food down myself, and the list continues.
It wasn't until I got a reminder text from Ben, saying that they were picking me up in an hours time that I finally snapped out of my thoughts, now increasing the speed of my pacing and nail biting. "CARLOS! For God sakes sit down!" My mum yelled, trying to be comforting and authoritative. I looked up at her, before planting myself on the edge of my bed, my legs now swaying from side to side, left leg going left, right leg going right, before meeting in the middle. The nail biting still continued as she spoke up again.
"You need to calm down. I know that it's scary, but things are more likely to go wrong if you keep panicking. Just wear your suit, and be the kind loving young boy that you are, and everything will be fine. And besides, Ben is absolutely in love with you, so he will defend you to his dying breath" she finished with a little chuckle, which caused me to smile as well. "Now, stop pacing around, and go get in the shower. I'll make sure that the suit is perfect, and once you're dressed, I'll help you with your hair" she basically commanded me, throwing a clean towel at me, before pointing to the bathroom door.
I gave her a quick nod, and a small smile before making my way to the bathroom. The shower itself was refreshing, allowing me to just stand and forget about everything, feeling the water hit my skin, and trail its way down my body. I took about 15 minutes, before drying myself off for about 5 minutes and walking back into my bedroom. My suit was perfectly displayed on a hanger, but by the looks of it, my mum had made a few alterations to the outfit. Instead of wearing my formal trousers, she had placed some black skinny jeans which always make me more comfortable. Along with that was just my usual white shirt and black blazer. This time, instead of having a red tie, my mum had placed a red handkerchief into the top pocket of the blazer, making the whole outfit look formal, yet comfy as well.
After getting changed, I made my way downstairs, to greet my mum, who was waiting in the living room. She got out all my usual hair products, and styled my hair, making sure it was perfect. To be perfectly honest with you, I had no clue what she had done with it, but it looked really good, so I was happy. Looking at the time, I saw that Ben would be arriving shortly, and the nerve built up again. I proceeded to fiddle with the sleeves on my blazer, bite my nails and of course sway my legs in and out. Mum decided it was best to put on some TV, turning it onto a sitcom I love, and it managed to calm my nerves. Well, that was until I heard the front doorbell go. I let out a small yelp, as my mum made her way over to the door and opened it, revealing a very dashing looking Ben.
"Good Evening Ms De Vil" Ben ever so politely said, causing her to chuckle.
"Ben, it's so lovely to see you." She replied pulling him into a hug, which he graciously took. While her head was over his shoulder, she noticed something and let out a light squeal. "Oh, can I go and say Hello to your folks? I haven't seen them in ages!" she said, both of them pulling out of the hug, and Ben chuckled before extending his arm over to the car, allowing her to leave. I finally picked up the courage to walk over to the front door, seeing all three of them, Belle, Beast and Mum, chatting by the back of the car like it was nothing. Ben pulled me into a hug, and I swallowed the rather large lump in my throat as I rested my head on his chest.
"Don't worry C, it'll be fine. Just be you're usual charming, amazing self, and everything will be ok" Ben said, in an attempt to settle my nerves. I'm all fairness, it did help slightly but that could also have been due to his hand rubbing my back constantly. I nodded into his chest, before looking up and staring into his eyes. He placed a small kiss onto my forehead before pulling out completely and lacing his hands into mine as he led me down to the car. My mum was chatting away like no tomorrow, but that quickly ceased when Ben and I joined them. "Mum, Dad, this is Carlos" Ben said, causing me to blush slightly, and wave with my free hand.
"Hello Mr and Mrs Adams, it's so nice to meet you" I said, which caused Belle to pull me into a hug.
"You've grown up so much! The last time I saw you, you were tiny" she joked, and I chuckled as she pulled out of the hug. I shook Beast's hand with my free one, before Ben finally spoke up.
"Right, we should be on our way. The reservation is in 20 minutes" causing everyone to exchange goodbyes with my Mum. I gave her a small kiss, and she whispered some inspirating things into my ear, before I got into the passenger side of the car. Belle gave her one last hug, before stating that they should catch up at some point, which my mum agreed to. Before long, we were on our way to the restaurant.
To say the drive to the restaurant was awkward would be an understatement. It consisted of Belle and Beast sat in the back of the car telling Ben about people I didn't know. "Did you hear that Jordan had a daughter! She's called Jade" or "You know Harry from Secondary school? Well, his grandfather has just passed" and this didn't leave me much room for conversation. Ben tried to soothe me, by interlocking our fingers as he drove and drawing small circles on the outside of my hand and to some extent it did work.
We eventually made it to the restaurant, after what left like a 3-hour drive (It only lasted 10 minutes) and we were welcomed into the restaurant with open arms with the manager of the restaurant himself being our waiter. 'Obviously he wants a big tip' I thought to myself, trying to stay as professional as possible. He asked what we wanted for our drinks, handing Belle and Beast a wine menu. I decided not to speak up, waiting to see that they would order. "Ah, can we have a bottle of 'Cheval Blanc'" Beast asked, as my confusion grew. All I knew is that I have no clue what it was. To me there is red or white wine, but I decided to play along anyway. "Is that alright with everyone" Beast asked, and both Ben and I nodded, but mine was a rather sceptical nod. A little later, the man came back out with a bucket, containing said wine bottle and poured everyone a glass.
Everyone else seemed to like it, but to me it was red and tasted a funny. From that moment onwards, I decided that drinking was no longer an option tonight. Let's just hope the food menu is better. Once they were passed around, conversation picked up, and this time it focused on me. "So, Carlos, what do you do?" Beast asked, taking a sip of this wine after, which only made it more intimidating.
"Um, at the moment I'm an intern at your company, but once that is over, I'm going to the University of Auradon to study computer science." I replied, glancing between Belle, Beast and the menu.
"UoA? You must be intelligent. Only the best get in!" he replied, and I blushed, before nodding. "So, are you enjoying the internship so far? Ben says he's very impressed with your work." He continues with the questions.
"Yes, it's been an amazing experience" I replied, as I felt Ben place his hand on my knee, and he squeezes it gently.
"And I hear that you are developing a new product. A watch is it?" he asks, and I nod, not saying anything. "Well, that is very impressive." He replied, as I feel Ben squeeze my knee once more. Suffice to say, the menu wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, and half the stuff I had no clue what the hell it was. When the waiter came over, Belle and Beast were the first to order.
"I'll have the Crispy Daurade with Caramelised Endives and Guanciale" Belle ordered, followed my Beast's "Braised Veal Cheek with Candied Shallots", and for both of those ordered, I had no clue what those words meant. Ben helped calmed my nerves when he ordered "Chicken and Mushroom Penne", so I understood all of those words, and that left me with the most basic thing out of everyone.
"Can I just have the homemade Lasagna please?" I asked, as I handed the menu to said waiter/manager before conversation began again.
"So, if you only just going to university, then you must be 18?" Beast asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah, I turned 18 a couple weeks ago now" I responded, causing an eyebrow raise from Beast. "I was able to skip a year in school, so I graduated a year early" I clarified, and he nodded.
"And why was that?" he asked, now entering very dangerous territory, my past. I hated talking about my past, although I'm guessing everyone knows that by now.
"Um. The school just said it was a good idea" I said, trying not to go into too much detail, but my voice was riddled with nervousness and fear, which was obviously picked up by everyone. Ben luckily broke the ice, and started to ask his parents about their recent holiday, which I was grateful off. They spoke about how they visited the Good Queen's Kingdom which I was quite interested about, only due to my close connection to Evie. I spent a lot of time in her Kingdom, so I was able to talk to them about it a lot, which was nice as it made me forget about the awkward moment I had just faced.
Before long the food had arrived, and everyone dove in, Belle and Beast commenting about how good their meals were. Looking on their plate, I didn't know what most of the stuff was, but to be honest most of it looked kinda weird. Belle looked like she had some kind of fish, which was huge, and Beast had what essentially looked like a steak which I could get my head around, but the rest of it was weird vegetables or meat adding to the main dish.
Of course, I thought that I had just ordered a regular lasagna, but due to the fanciness of this restaurant, that wasn't the case. Along with the mince, it had spinach which was gross, and mushroom which I could appreciate. I spent most of the meal picking out said spinach while still avoiding drinking anything cause the wine was also gross. Beast still kept asking me questions after questions, like what grades did I when I graduated, or what I plan to do after university and I was really starting to feel the pressure setting in. With a full glass of wine, and a quarter eaten lasagna, I decided to excuse myself from the table, before essentially fast walking into the toilet. I got into the closest stall locked the door and dialled a familiar number.
"Hello" Evie's voice said through the phone providing me with a lot of comfort.
"Oh, thank god." I breathed out, as I held my head in my hands trying to recover from this disaster of a meal. "Evie, I need your help. Remember how I said I'm meeting Ben's parents. Well, I'm at dinner with them now, and it's so awkward! We're at some really posh restaurant, with a glass of some real gross wine while Ben's dad interrogates me! Then, I ordered a lasagna, cause it was the most normal thing on the menu, and it was spinach in it! Who puts spinach in a lasagna!" I raved to her, hearing her chuckle from the other end of the phone. "Evie, please help me" I sighed out, and her chuckle quickly turned into sound advice.
"Just be honest with them Carlos. Tell them that this isn't for you. Just tell them that you prefer to sit and eat a cheeseburger with some chips instead of a spinach lasagna. Be honest, and they'll probably respect that" she said back, but I panicked even more.
"Evie, this is Belle and Beast, basically the two most successful people in the entire Kingdom! I can't be honest with them, and tell them how much of a tramp I am!" I snapped back, and she chuckled.
"Fine, then spend the rest of the meal eating that strange lasagna, and drinking gross wine. If it makes you feel any better, I'm currently snuggled up with a bag of crisps watching a movie" and that statement made me…reconsider things.
"Fine, I'll tell them. Thanks E, you're the least helpful person in the world" I joked back, before exchanging goodbyes and hanging up. I made my way back to the table, to find everyone still eating and chatting, smiles plastered over their faces.
"Oh, there you are Carlos. We thought you fell down the toilet" Belle joked, causing me to chuckle slightly.
"I apologise for that, but I have to be honest with you. This is all a bit too much for me. While I appreciate the gesture, I'm not cut out for this kind of poshness?" I said the last word as more of a question, as I didn't know if it existed. "What I mean to say is that I'm more comfortable with a cheeseburger and a Pepsi than a weird spinach lasagna and some fancy wine that I don't like the taste of. Umm, so thank you for the meal, but I must take my leave." I finished, pulling out my wallet and placing a £50 on the table, hoping that would cover my meal. Before I could leave however, I heard Belle speak up.
"Carlos wait" she said at first, causing me to turn around and I waited for her response. "Thank you for being honest with us, and to be honest back, I wasn't really enjoying my meal either. Ben, you do over prepare sometimes" she joked, causing Ben to mock gasp at the statement.
"Please, we'll get the waiter over for the bill, and we can get something else" Beast finally spoke, obviously in agreement with his wife. I sat back down next to Ben, a massive smile on his face.
Let's just say from that moment onwards was one of the best nights ever. Ben drove us back to his house, where we all decided to order a couple of pizzas in while we chatted some more. This time, it felt less like an interrogation as I was talking about subjects I enjoyed. I told them about where my love for technology and programming came from, the different holidays I've been on with my friends and family as well as the work I've been doing for their company. When I told them my side of the story about the watch, they seemed highly interested, which only encouraged me to talk more.
The pizza was ideal as well, containing ingredients I knew that I would eat and enjoy. There's nothing better than chicken, bacon, mushroom and pepperoni on a pizza, delicious. We sat and watched a movie together, which resulted in me staying the night once again. Belle and Beast were visiting the company tomorrow anyway, so we were told that we would all commute in together. I told Ben how I didn't have any clothes with me, but he wasn't too concerned, instead saying how we would stop at my house before work, allowing Belle and my mum to have another quick catch-up. That night, I fell asleep in Ben's arms, happy and grateful that I had made a good impression with his parents.
So, there we go, the meal with Ben's parents. I hope you enjoyed it, and I have to admit, I had a fun time trying to come up with fancy sounding meals. Google is not helpful in that respect.
Thank you to White Collar Black Wolf for the review, and I'll see you guys on Monday for Water Under the Bridge.
Until then, TTFN :D