Old Habits Die Soft

Chapter 2
Opportunity Answering

Chapter Description: Ben and Chris get offers they can't refuse.

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Ben’s eyes adjusted to the light inside the house, trying to figure out where Mrs. Heben had disappeared to. As he stumbled through the hallway, a voice shouted out from a nearby room.

“Ben?! Ben, is that you? I’m in here!” Chris’ voice issued from around the corner.

As Ben shambled into the room, he regained his composure and saw his friend sprawled out on a couch, watching the final moments of the football game that he had missed. Chris picked up the remote and the plasma screen TV clicked off.

“Don’t worry, no one you liked won,” he said with a grin.

“So, what the fuck did you want, dick? You call me up here in the middle of the night just to make me miss the game, or what?” he said, punching Chris in the arm, causing him to nearly drop the bowl of chips he was holding on his lap.

“Hey! C’mon, man, watch it,” he said, throwing a handful of Ruffles potato chips into his mouth, crunching on them noisily.

Chris stood up, still munching on the chips in his mouth. He took the remote from his hand and threw it casually on the couch before putting the bowl of chips down on the coffee table nearby. He brushed his greasy hand off on his jeans.

“Anyway, Ben, it wasn’t me that called you, actually,” he said, his mouth still smacking as he talked around the food in his mouth, “my mom was the one who wanted to give you the opportunity.”

“The opportunity?” Ben said, confused.

“That’s right, Ben,” Mrs. Heben said, walking into the room with a tray of shortbread cookies, “the opportunity. If you’re interested, of course.”

“What do you mean?” he inquired, glancing nervously between his smiling best friend and Mrs. Heben.

“I’d like to hire you,” she said, smiling.

“But I already have a job,” he interjected, “at the library, remember?”

“I don’t mean for the long-term. It’s just a short-term opportunity, to test a project that I’ve been working on. Chris is already on board, and we both figured that you’d be an excellent addition to the team.”

“That’s right,” Chris said, spitting bits of potato chip.

“Christopher, don’t talk with your mouth full,” she chided to her son.

“Well, I just figured I’d get my last one in,” he laughed and swallowed.

“Very funny. What Chris means, Ben, is that the new project will put an end to that annoying little habit of his.”

“You DO chew like a cow,” Ben said, smirking at his friend.

“Yeah, and you smoke like a chimney. Why do you think I called you over here? Mom’s going to fix both of us!”

“Fix us?” Ben said, looking over to Mrs. Heben.

“Treat you, more accurately. You remember how I worked with Pfizer pharmaceuticals before I became divorced, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, after I submitted my resignation, I came back here. I was bored. I really missed what I was doing, so, well, I’ve decided to start a new project to pitch to the board. I plan on stopping all negative behavioral habits.”

“Pretty cool, right?” Chris said, proud of his mother.

“Yeah, but how does it work? You can’t just undo years of addiction, I’ve been smoking since I was nineteen,” Ben remarked.

“Well, that’s the idea, actually. I found that if your hormones can regulate behavior, then surely, the answer lies in regulating those hormones. If we can denature the proteins that force your behavior, then we can change your behavior entirely! That’s the boiled down version,” she said, continuing, “the part that YOU need to hear is that, for volunteering for three sessions, not only will I stop your need to smoke, but I’ll cover your rent.”

“My rent? That’s almost seven hundred dollars!” Ben exclaimed.

“For as long as you’re in town,” she clarified.

Ben was flabbergasted. He had never had someone offer him something so expensive for so little. He did some quick math in his head. Even if he stayed in town for only a year, that was over 8,000 dollars! How could he refuse?

“Count me in,” Ben said.

“Wonderful,” Mrs. Heben said, smiling warmly at her son and his friend.