Benjamin sighed and shook his head as he sat down at his kitchen counter, drinking his coffee and regretting that he had gone to open the door of his room, or else, Lulu wouldn't have been able to get in here to trouble him like this.
"Hey what sort of friend are you? Won't you offer your guest and also friend something to drink?" asked Lulu as she looked at Benjamin who looked at her and didn't say anything as he just sighed, stood up and made Lulu a cup of coffee.
Benjamin was busy cursing himself internally, he really was delirious this evening, or maybe it was the lack of sleep that was causing him to just allow Lulu literally do anything she wanted.
"Thanks you Benny, you're the best" said Lulu happily with a bright smile on her face as Benjamin handed her a cup of coffee as he sat down on the couch across her.
"Mhmm this tastes so good, or maybe it's because I'm so hungry, I haven't eaten since lunch" said Lulu as she drank her coffee and Benjamin stared at her.
"Well it's almost time for dinner, how about you go and eat and come back later?" asked Benjamin as he knew he was testing his luck here, you don't know how high he would have jumped for Joy if Lulu actually agreed to leave.
He wouldn't waste any time at all, he would let her leave and then lock his door and go to sleep with headphones on, so that way he wouldn't hear her violently knocking on his door.
"No, there is no point in that, I have lots of work to do over here with planning this event, and besides, I am watching my weight, I need to be lighter so I can train better" said Lulu as she knew what Benjamin was thinking.
Benjamin on the other hand sighed in frustration, well at least he had tried.
"Your weight doesn't affect your training" said Benjamin.
"Oh that's really sweet of you trainer, but I feel it does" said Lulu as she smiled.
"Besides, I know you Ben, and I am sure that once I leave you are going to lock your door and put on headphones so when I knock you won't hear" said Lulu as Benjamin stared at her with wide eyes, was she a mind reader or what?
"What makes you think that I would do exactly that?" asked Benjamin.
"I don't know, it seems like something you would do after all, and also the hopeful look on your face gave it away" said Lulu as she laughed and Benjamin drank more coffee, it was going to be a long night.
"Anyway put away that sad look on your face and help me" said Lulu as she smiled and Benjamin said nothing.
"What's your favourite colour?" asked Lulu.
"Why do you want to know?" asked Benjamin.
"Just answer the question, what's your favourite colour?" asked Lulu as Benjamin sighed.
"Blue" he replied.
"Oooh nice choice, that's going to be the colour for the theme of the event" said Lulu.
"I can see it now, the theme will be under the sea, and the colour will obviously be blue" said Lulu as she laughed and looked at Benjamin who had a funny look on his face.
"What?" she asked as she wondered why he looked like that.
"You can't be serious right?" asked Benjamin as he looked at her.
"Serious about what?" asked Lulu.
"Serious about this whole theme under the sea blue thing just because I said so?" asked Benjamin in disbelief.
"Well yes, that's my job, I am planning this thing" said Lulu as Benjamin looked horrified, if she was making decisions all willy nilly like this, then he wasn't sure that this event would be planned well.
"I'm worried for the event" said Benjamin.
"Oh well don't be, it's going to be fineeee, my mom is going to be helping me plan this too, but first I want to get the theme down, and the colours" said Lulu.
"It's going to be the company's 50th Anniversary, and to top it all off, it's also going to be celebrating the new building, so this needs to be perfect, no pressure" said Lulu happily.
"Right, just don't tell anyone that I had anything to do with this" said Benjamin as he didn't want to be the one to blame when the event probably failed.
"Not a chance my friend, not a chance, we are in this together" said Lulu as she laughed and Benjamin shook his head.
"Now, choose between aquamarine and cyan, and please make it quick" said Lulu as Benjamin sighed and Lulu turned her laptop screen to him so he could see the different shades of blue on her screen.
"Cyan" he replied.
"Alright, cyan or turquoise?" asked Lulu.
"Cyan" he replied.
"Okay, navy blue or sky blue?" asked Lulu.
"Navy blue" replied Benjamin.
"Why navy blue?" asked Lulu.
"It's darker" replied Benjamin as he drank his coffee.
"Alright then, navy blue or royal blue?" asked Lulu.
"Royal blue" replied Benjamin.
"Okay, okay, so royal blue or midnight blue?" asked Lulu.
"Midnight blue" replied Benjamin.
"Got it, thanks Benny" said Lulu as she smiled.
"The main colours for the event are cyan, midnight blue and cobalt blue, that way it really feels like we are under the sea" said Lulu as she smiled.
"Oooh and now that we have the main colours, the dress code will be either those three blues, or red, orange, yellow and green" said Lulu.
"Red, orange, yellow and green are odd colours" said Benjamin as he just wanted to point that out to her.
"No they aren't, remember, the theme is under the sea, and what do we have under the sea?" asked Lulu.
"What?" asked Benjamin.
"Gosh, we have beautiful, colourful, vibrant coral under the sea, we have colourful fishes under the sea, we have green seaweed under the sea, it's still all within the theme" said Lulu.
"Alright then" said Benjamin as he stood up to get more coffee, even though he felt tired, but he just felt uneasy about leaving Lulu in his room all alone to snoop around while he went to sleep, he would rest easy if he was watching her.
"Yes, yes, now let me go look for an event location" said Lulu.
"Isn't it for the company, wouldn't it be better to have the event at the company?" asked Benjamin.
"Yes it would, but this is impromptu, it's going to affect the work balance we currently have there if we were to use it as the location sight" said Lulu.
"Alright" said Benjamin.
"Yes, and please get me more coffee, you make it so good" said Lulu as she smiled and Benjamin just looked at her and scoffed.
...
Natasha frowned as she looked at the time on her phone, it was past ten and Lulu was nowhere to be found, she was worried.
Natasha got out of bed as she dialed Lulu's number for the second time, but it went straight to voicemail, which was odd, Lulu's phone was never usually switched off.
Natasha was worried, she hadn't seen Lulu since this morning, and it was late now and she still wasn't back.
Natasha walked out of her bedroom down the stairs to check if maybe Lulu had already returned and she just didn't know.
Natasha was on her way to the kitchen when she saw that the lights in the living room where on, she went there thinking that maybe it was Lulu in there, but she was sorely disappointed when she saw that it was only Dom that was there, sitting on the couch with his laptop.
"Is something wrong Natasha?" asked Dom as he saw Natasha enter the room.
"Have you seen Lulu? She didn't come home for dinner, and it's past ten, her phone is switched off and I haven't been able to reach her" said Natasha as Dom frowned.
"That's odd, she left the office at 5pm, I thought she was home" said Dom with a frown as he looked at the time, it was almost 10:30pm, and it was awfully late for Lulu to be out.
"Well she's not home, and I don't know where she is, if she wasn't going to come home tonight she would have called me to tell me, it's almost 10:30 and I don't know where she is" said Natasha with a frown, she was obviously worried, not knowing where Lulu could be was very worrying.
"She also didn't mention to me that she would be going somewhere" said Dom.
"Are you sure? She didn't mention staying out late with her friends or something?" asked Natasha as Dom shook his head.
"Not at all" said Dom as he stood up and placed his laptop on the coffee table and brought out his phone as he dialed Lulu's number.
"Straight to voicemail" he said as he ended the call.
"That's what I said, her phone is switched off" said Natasha as Dom could see the worry in her eyes, he didn't want to overreact, but it truly was too late for them not to know where Lulu was.
"That's weird, her phone is usually never switched off" said Dom.
"Where could she be? Do you know the numbers of any of her friends?" asked Natasha as Dom shook his head.
"Not really, the only number I have is for one of her friends who is currently out of town, so she can't be with her" said Dom.
"And what about you? Do you have any numbers for her friends?" asked Dom as Natasha shook her head.
"I wouldn't be asking you if I did" said Natasha as Dom dialed Nine's number.
"Hi Nine, sorry to disturb you, have you seen Lulu?" asked Dom as soon as Nine answered his call.
"No, not since she left the office" replied Nine.
"Alright, thanks" said Dom.
"Is there anything wrong?" asked Nine.
"Not really, it's just that we don't know where she is, and her phone is switched off" said Dom.
"That's weird, but last time I checked her car is parked in the driveway" said Nine.
"Oh yeah, it is, thanks Nine" said Dom as he ended the call.
"Has Nine seen her?" asked Natasha.
"No he hasn't, but he just reminded me that her car is parked in the driveway" said Dom.
"Really?" asked Natasha as Dom nodded.
"Then it means that she's home" said Natasha as she shook her head and brought out her phone.
"Who are you calling?" asked Dom.
"Just wait" said Natasha as her call was answered.
"Hi Benjamin, I know it's late, but have you seen Lulu?" asked Natasha as Benjamin answered her call.
"Well yes Natasha, she's right here" said Benjamin as he looked at Lulu who was busy typing away on her laptop.
Natasha sighed in relief as she knew that maybe she had overreacted with worrying too much.
"You know where she is?" asked Dom as Natasha nodded.
"She's with Benjamin" said Natasha.
"Well can you tell her that I've been trying to reach her but her phone is switched off" said Natasha.
"Hey Natasha has been trying to call you, but your phone is off" said Benjamin as Lulu looked at him and her eyes went wide.
"Oh my goodness, what time is it?? It's super late, I lost track of time" said Lulu as she grabbed her phone and tried to switch it on.
"My phone died" said Lulu.
"She said her phone died" said Benjamin.
"Here" said Benjamin as he handed Lulu his phone.
"Oh my lord Natasha, I'm so sorry, my phone died and I didn't even notice" said Lulu.
"It's fine Lulu, I'm just relieved that you are alright, I was starting to get worried" said Natasha.
"I'm sorry for making you worry, I'm over at Benjamin's he's helping with some few things" said Lulu.
"Not willingly" added Benjamin as Lulu scoffed at him.
"It's alright, as long as you are safe" said Natasha.
"Wait hold on a second, how long has she been there?" asked Dom as Lulu could hear his faint voice in the background.
"I've been here for four hours I think" replied Lulu as Benjamin walked into his bedroom to get something.
"Lulu come home right now, it's late, how could you be there for four hours?? doing what exactly?" asked Dom as he didn't sound pleased at all, sure of course he was relieved that they knew where she was, but he wasn't pleased that she was in a guy's house this late.
She might have been an adult, but that didn't mean that she wasn't still his little sister, he wanted her back home.
"He's helping me out with something Dom, and don't be like that, I know what you are thinking" said Lulu as Natasha put her phone on speaker.
"If you know what I'm thinking then come home" said Dom.
"There's no way you're sleeping over there" said Dom.
"Who said anything about sleeping over here?" asked Lulu in disbelief.
"I'm not sleeping here, I will be back home in thirty minutes, besides, Benjamin isn't like that, he's just a friend, and also stop blowing it out of proportion, you make it sound like I'm miles away from home, meanwhile I'm just in the backyard" said Lulu with a scoff.
"Backyard or not you have to be back in this house before 11" said Dom as Lulu scoffed.
"Natasha do you hear your husband right now?? He's unbelievable" said Lulu.
"That he is, she's just fine where she is" said Natasha as Dom frowned.
"That might be so, but I don't care, what would mom, dad or Grandfather think?" asked Dom.
"Mom, Dad, and Grandfather know that I am a good girl, and I am over here doing business, I will be back home before 11:30, if you can't accept that, then you are more than welcome to come over here and carry me out if you want" said Lulu as Natasha let out a snicker.
"Louise Annalise White, don't make me come over there" said Dom.
"Dominic overreactor White, relax and let me think, gosh, I will be home before you know it" said Lulu as she scoffed.
"I'll see you later Natasha, bye" said Lulu.
"Bye" replied Natasha as Lulu ended the call.
"That annoying brother of mine" said Lulu with a scoff as Benjamin walked out of his bedroom as she handed him back his phone.
"I agree with him though, I wouldn't want my little sister out at this time" said Benjamin.
"Right... anyway, let me finish sending this letter and be on my way before he blows an unnecessary fuse" said Lulu as she drank her coffee and scoffed.
"You know, you are overreacting, she isn't a child" said Natasha as she looked at Dom.
"And that's exactly why I'm worried, she isn't a child, but she also isn't acceptably responsible as well" said Dom.
"You are saying nonsense, Benjamin is just her friend, and he's also your worker, and a good person, do you really think that he would misbehave with his boss's sister?" asked Natasha as Dom scoffed.
"I trust him and vouch for him, if anything Lulu's safer there than out who knows where" said Natasha.
"I'm going to bed, I suggest you do the same and don't make Lulu any more angry with you, because I'm not stepping in to mediate in your sibling quarrel" said Natasha with a scoff as she left the room and Dom scoffed, obviously still annoyed.