Chapter 96: Phil the best dad. (Part 1)

[Edward POV]

"NOOO!!!" I lunged at Luke, trying to stop him from destroying the Iron Man helmet. However, he stopped his baton at the last minute and swerved to avoid me, making me pass by him. I stumbled and almost crashed into the wall, but my martial artist instinct saved me, or maybe now I'm just prank proof.

Using the inertia, I stepped on the wall, breaking it a little, and unconsciously did a backflip to handle the excess momentum before landing next to Luke. I glared at him and took the helmet off while he was stunned, and walked away to put the helmet away at a safe place before dealing with the kid.

Luke and Phil looked at each other with an amazed expression, but I ignored them.

[Phil and Luke's commentary]

"THAT! WAS! AWESOME!!" Phil and Luke shouted at the same time, completely forgetting Luke's earlier transgression and blasphemous action toward the Iron Man legacy.

[Commentary ends]

"Luke. What do you have to say for yourself?" I said in a cold voice and expression as I slowly folded my sleeves and took off my watch. I vowed to beat up the kid today, even if I had to do it in front of his father.

Luke gulped his saliva and confessed quickly, "I-I-I wasn't really going to hit it. I just want to punish you for punishing me! I won't do it! SERIOUSLY!"

"How should I know…'THAT' is not an excuse?" I said as I walked menacingly to Luke. He backstepped quickly and said, "I swear! I SWEAR IT ON MY DAD'S LIFE!"

"That isn't worth much Luke. I still can't believe you." I said.

"Hey." Phil interjected, hurt by my statement. I turned to him and said, "Sorry" before turning to Luke again.

"Calm down Ed. He even used a rubber baton." Phil said as he presented me the 'evidence' to get Luke out of his punishment. I took a look at the toy baton and sighed in relief.

Luke and Phil also breathed in relief. However, before Luke could look back up, I knocked his head with my fist.

"OWW!" Luke exclaimed and grabbed his hurting head quickly. He got angry and snapped, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"For making a mess." I said with a sly smirk before changing the subject, "You guys can use all the facilities downstairs when you want to play, you can even take some time at the pool. The room next to mine is also under my name, so you can use it to change cl0thes and all."

Phil was confused, "Why did you book two rooms?"

"Well one was for my dad. But he's not coming over yet."

"But…Your house is…ready?" Phil said with a weird questioning inflection as he got confused by my action. "I'm sure you already knew about that. So why do you want to waste your money?"

I shook my head and said, "I'm not coming home today. I still have a lot of work to be done here. Also…I like it here. I'm not ready to go home yet."

Phil caught my change in expression at the last sentence. He said reassuringly, "Okay… I guess I will go and change over there…Even though this suite is so big."

I chuckled a bit and slid them the room key for the other suit.

"Wait. You're not coming?" Phil said in disbelief.

Luke added, "If you're not coming, can we still play?"

I nodded at Luke and said, "Yeah. You can use everything, even without me."

Phil interjected quickly, "No that's not the point. If we come here, and only play by OURSELVES…then that means we're taking advantage of you."

"Nah. I don't see it that way, and I paid a lot for a room here. Might as well let you guys enjoy it." I said with a cocky smirk. Phil was in disbelief and turned to Luke, not wanting to go play without me. But as he saw Luke's expecting face, he had to relent and said, "Okay. We'll go play, but only for half an hour!"

I waved them goodbye as they reluctantly went to enjoy themselves. I put a [Do Not Disturb] sign on the door and before I could close it, Haley and Abby appeared on the floor – coming out of the elevator and waved at me.

"Hello there." I said as I channeled my inner jedi again.

Haley rolled her eyes and channeled her inner Grievous before saying, "General Kenobi- Okay I can't do that."

My heart skipped a beat as she got the reference and I couldn't help but grin widely as I saw her embarrassed face. Abby's eyes darted between looking at each of us before becoming wary of her friend.

"How did you know?" I asked.

She said in displeasure, "Dad made that joke about that for a year. I'm sick of it."

'I guess Phil was the original memer.' I thought gleefully. Abby rolled her eyes and gave me the files I asked her to take from the concierge. "They will deliver the rest later on. Their printer ran out of ink." She explained.

"Okay. Thanks. You guys want to use the hot tub right?" I said before giving them the room key for the other room. Their eyes lit up as they accepted the key.

"Go stay there. I need to work here, so I'm not joining you."

"Huuhh??!"" X2

Both of the girls were confused and I shoved them to the other room for them to enjoy their time without involving me. I have a lot of work to do today, and I have only a little time to do it.

"I still need to call Pepper and Harvey. Hmm…I need that Singles report now." I muttered before ignoring the girls and went to work instead.

[General POV]

"Isn't this weird? We're both…pretty girls. And we're willing to join him in the hot tub." Haley said while Abby blushed. They had entered the hot tub after trying to tempt Ed for a while, but he didn't change his decision at all.

"Maybe something will happen, maybe it won't. But as a young man, isn't he filled with hormones and begging to join us when we are only wearing our bikinis?" Haley said as she pulled her triangular shape, golden color bikini to fix its position.

Abby, who wore the white, almost-translucent-when-it-got-wet bikini, face's turned bright red and she whispered to Haley, "You said we were coming here to hang out. Why is this suddenly turning lewd?"

Taken aback, Haley's eyes darted a few times before she decided to bulldoze through it. "Think Abby. Think! It's not normal, right?"

Abby thought for a while before sighing. "Yeah. I thought he would be excited to see us. But he couldn't care less." She said with a dejected tone.

"See. Something is wrong with him. Do you think it got something to do with the dinner before? Is he still depressed from the grandma who passed away?" Haley asked.

Abby shook her head and replied, "I'm not sure… Also, this is boring."

Haley rolled her eyes and turned on the bubbles feature of the hot tub and said, "If you find the right angle at the water jets…it won't be so boring anymore."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You're right." Abby said blushingly as she made herself comfortable.

Down at the hotel lobby, Phil almost forgot the suspicions he had as he exited the hotel lobby with Luke. Both of them were gleefully playing around as they moved towards the pool, however, both stopped in horror as they saw the person standing in front of them at the hotel lobby.

"C-Claire?" Phil said in a shaky voice.

"Mom?" Luke was horrified and hid behind his dad quickly. "Wait. We didn't do anything wrong." He said in realization before bravely standing beside Phil again.

"Where's Haley?" Claire asked with gritted teeth.

"Huh? Haley is here?" Phil asked in confusion.

"You don't know? She followed you all the way from home!" Claire said angrily. "I called you MULTIPLE times! Why didn't you answer me?"

Phil was shocked and he took out his phone to check, only to find 29 missed calls, notifications from Claire's number and numerous text messages. "Oh. I accidentally put it in silent mode." Phil said casually.

Claire was fuming mad, and lunged at Phil before angrily checking out his pockets. She found the room key and asked, "Which room are they in?"

"Claire. Why are you…already mad?"

"It's highly inappropriate to come to a hotel on her own, Phil! Not to mention dangerous! She needs to know that this type of behavior…is not okay!" Claire snapped. She huffed to the elevator while Phil thought about the matter.

"Are you coming?" Claire turned back to ask Phil as he was still in his initial position.

"Well…" Phil muttered reluctantly as he glanced at the pool and Luke. Claire rolled her eyes and said, "Forget it!" She walked away alone to scold her daughter and drag her home.

"Ahh. This is bliss." Haley muttered as she enjoyed the hot tub, not knowing a calamity was walking in her direction.

[Edward POV]

*Knock Knock*

"Hmm? I put on the "do not disturb" right?" I muttered as I heard someone urgently knocking on the door.

"Haley I know you're in there!" Claire shouted from outside the room. I was confused and went to open the door. Before I could greet her, Claire barged into the room looking for Haley and Abby.

"Where are they?" She asked after checking the closet, the toilet, and even inside the hot tub – fearing that they were hiding under the water.

"Who?" I asked while faking my confusion.

Claire raised one of her eyebrows and said, "Don't lie to me! I know Haley and Abby are here!"

"But…they are not?" I acted again, trying to help the two girls. However at the same time, Haley and Abby opened their hotel room door as they wanted to persuade me again and show me what I was 'missing', but froze as they saw Claire from afar.

Luckily Claire hasn't noticed them yet. "Claire. Do you want to see the new company restructuring that I made? I could use your opinion." I pointed at my laptop, making Claire turn her head away from catching the girls, and gestured to the girls to move back inside the room quickly as before Claire turned her head back to face me.

"What?" Claire said in confusion as she saw a glimpse of my weird expression.

"Nothing. Let's talk-"

"Wait. I need to call the kids." Claire said and took out her phone. She immediately called Haley again, wanting to know her location right now.

[General POV]

"Oh MY GOD OH MY GOD. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?" Abby was freaked out as it was her first time to get into trouble with a parental figure before. Despite her goth girl persona, she was actually quite polite to the adults.

"No. Don't worry. Search for nature's sound right now!" Haley ordered as her phone rang. "Do it. QUICK!" She urged Abby before picking up the call.

Haley mimicked a panting breath and said, "Hey mom…*Huff Huff*"

"Haley. Where are you?!" Claire asked angrily. "Why didn't you pick up my call?"

"Huh? I told you I was going Hiking with Abby. I must have lost connection on the hill. I just got your call right now." Haley said, faking her confusion.

Abby played the youtube video of the nature sound, making Claire hear some birds squawking from the other line. She subconsciously relaxed and thought, 'Did I see wrong? I'm sure she got to the hotel?'

"Haley! Don't lie! I saw you at the Hotel with Abby." Claire said.

"I told you. They never came." Edward added. "Shhh-" Claire shushed Ed hurriedly.

"Huh? Mom, are you with Ed? Why did you go there?"

"Yeah Mrs Dunphy. It's pretty weird to visit a 15 years old kid at a hotel early in the morning." Abby added, making both of the girls giggle pretty hard as they gaslight Claire.

"Wha- No! I followed you guys!"

"Really mom? You followed us? Are you even sure that was us? Or did you follow some random girl somewhere? If you really don't believe me, I can give the phone to Abby's mom. You can talk to her and see if we were lying."

Claire was flabbergasted and started to question her memory, "Wait. Desiree's there?"

"Yeah mom. I told you we're hiking with her today." Haley said before urging Abby to play along. Abby made her most accurate impersonation of Desiree and said, "Haley. Abby. Hurry up. I want to take a steam shower with him. The sweats are pooling at some weird places."

Haley mouthed, 'What the fuc-'

Abby replied silently, 'Sorry. I panicked.'

"Do you want me to run down the hill now?" Haley said with a hint of anger, making Claire feel abashed and said, "No dear. Don't run down the hill. It isn't safe. You know what. I trust you. Be safe, and watch out for coyote-"

Before Claire could finish, she heard the flappy bird advertisement sound coming from the other line.

Pewdiepie Ads: Hey what's up guys. Today we're going to review the popular game Flappy Bird-

"What was that?" She asked in suspicion. Ed nodded in satisfaction as he heard the ads and said, "My money is being put to good use."

Inside the next room, both Abby and Haley were baffled by the sudden advertisement popping out on the nature video and tried to shut it down quickly.

"Uhh…Abby is playing Ed's mobile game. She misses him." Haley said quickly. Abby slapped her arm and mouthed, 'What the hell?'

'Sorry. I panicked.'

Claire looked at Ed suddenly and sighed, "Tell her it's going to be okay. I'll let you go now."

"Okay~!" Haley replied gleefully before cutting the call. Both of the girls slumped on the floor as they breathed in relief after managing to fool Claire.

"Umm…Sorry you got to see that Ed." Claire said apologetically as she realized she had misunderstood the situation.

[Edward POV]

"You should be more sorry that you barged into my room." I said teasingly before saying, "NOW. Can I please get back to work?"

"Ah. Sure. I will go back now. I'm so embarrassed." Claire said perfunctorily without feeling that much remorse. She then asked, "When are you going back home? Are you going back with Phil or your dad?"

"Nah. I'm planning on staying here for a while." I said.

Claire was a bit taken aback and she asked, "Why?"

"It's closer to the Decathlon venue from here." I lied about my excuse and chased her away. "Anyway. I will be emailing you the arrangements for the company that you need to implement next week. Don't try to do it all in one day, and plan your workload properly. I'm sick of Alex texting me, complaining about you."

Claire was flabbergasted and said, "I didn't work that much."

"Dinner is a time for family, Claire." I said lazily before ushering her out of the room.

Claire held the door before I could close it and said, "I'll prepare lunch for you tomorrow. You cannot cook here right? Do you have any requests?"

"Just a sandwich will be enough." I said before closing the door.

…

As Claire finally went away, I breathed in relief and opened the door again before walking to the next room.

Haley and Abby were still in shock about the matter as I walked in. "She's gone." I said.

"I'm still in disbelief that you guys managed to get away with it." I added with a grin before helping both of them get up from sitting on the floor.

"Most of it is thanks to luck." Abby said.

"Hey! My flawless execution is the thing that sold it." Haley said angrily.

I laughed before Haley stumbled and fell towards me. I caught her by wrapping my hand around her body, making her wet robe pressed right on my body.

"Uh. Sorry." Haley said bashfully before sliding her stray hair behind her ears. Abby pouted and did the same thing, but at the same time pressing her massive tiddies on my chest.

"Sorry." Abby said with a sly smile. Haley widened her eyes in disbelief before pressing her chest on my body too. I rolled my eyes at both of them and said, "You guys should leave before Phil comes back up. After all, I gave him the key to THIS hotel room."

"Ugh!" Haley groaned in frustration before saying, "It's boring anyway. All work and no play have made you a very boring boy."

I coughed twice and said, "I…have responsibilities."

"You're 15. Enjoy life a little." Abby said before leaning forward and whispered to my ear. "You know, if you had come sooner. I don't know…maybe Haley and I would've shown you something good." She blew gently into my ears, turning me on. However, she took a step back and said normally, "Too bad we're going to leave now."

"We're leaving?" Haley asked in confusion.

"Yeah. He's not joining us-"

"Wait. I just couldn't join you…before. I finished my work for the morning." I blurted out.

Haley and Abby had a sly smirk on their faces and said, "TOO LATE!"

…

During lunch, Phil, Luke, and I went to the hotel restaurant and enjoyed the food together before he decided to ask me one more time.

"Why don't you join us to play tennis after this?" Phil said.

"Are you really playing? Do you even know how to play?" I asked while taking a sip of the cold cola.

Phil scratched his cheek and said, "I used too. Oh boy. Haha. In college, me and my roommate always went and visited various clubs. We would pretend to be members to get in… it was a good stress reliever you know, two guys just playing around."

His tone was happy, but his eyes were filled with suspicions. I creased my eyebrows as I thought about where he was going with this 'story'.

"You know Ed. People relax in different ways. Like me and my roommate. Some went on vacations. Some meet new people. Some do…drugs."

His gaze turned sharp as he wanted to study the change in my expressions, but as I had no change, he turned his gaze into a kind man again and said, "You know. Staying in the hotel for so long isn't that relaxing. If you want to stay in a room, you can just go back home."

"Oh no. I like it here. I'm not ready to go back home yet." I said as I cut the steak in front of me and ate it.

"Hmm?" Phil was confused by my reactions, but he shrugged and didn't think deeply about it until he got home later in the day.

The duo waved goodbye to me after lunch, and I went back to my room to work. My dad called to say he was fixing the house and I could return today, but I wasn't going to waste my money as I had already prolonged my stay over there – with his consent before this.

It wasn't until later that night, someone knocked on my door. I saw Phil when I opened it, and he asked me directly, "So Ed. Why are you avoiding going back home?"