The walk back to my place takes no time at all, and before I know it, I’m looking up at Talia’s window. Her light is on, which means she’s likely awake and reading or hopefully working on our project. Even though I have the job offer, I still want to win the competition.
I take the steps two at a time, hurrying until my closed fist is poised to knock on her door. I feel like I’ve done something wrong by kissing Elle tonight, and in hindsight, I suppose I had considered kissing Talia on a few occasions before we were interrupted. I don’t expect Talia to understand or forgive me, but I’m going to apologize to her and pray she doesn’t slap me in the face, although, I deserve an ass beating.
After a few minutes of silence, the locks start to disengage. She opens her door but leaves the chain attached, preventing me or anyone else for that matter, from stepping into her apartment.
“Can we talk?”
“It’s late,” she says.
“I know. I’m sorry, but I want to explain what happened tonight.” Talia closes the door, removes the chain, and reopens it quickly. She steps aside and allows me to walk into her studio. Her apartment is different from mine. Whereas my walls are bare, she’s put up tapestry and placed scarves over lamp shades to give her a place a homey feel. I guess I didn’t care that much or didn’t want to get attached. I can easily say I won’t live in this block when I come back for the job, that’s if I take it.
“Do you want something to drink or eat? We have all that Chinese food left.” My stomach does a little flip and starts to gurgle at the thought of food. I’m hungry, but I don’t feel right eating here. I’m not sure Elle would understand, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, I can’t keep secrets from her.
“I’m good but thank you. Mind if I sit down?”
Talia nods. I take the chair, leaving the couch for her. I don’t want to give out the wrong impression by sitting on the sofa. When she comes into the room, I try to smile, but it feels forced, so I stop. “So… how do you know Elle?”
“I’m sort of curious how you know her, honestly.”
“I’m a huge fan of 4225 West. I’ve followed them forever. I don’t know why I didn’t pick up on it sooner, but I’ve seen your pictures. You’re sometimes with the band. As soon as I figured out who she was, I went and double-checked, and sure enough, there you are, with Elle.”
I’ve heard of fans knowing everything about the band, but have never encountered one. What are the odds? “We’ve been best friends since our freshman year in high school.”
“Best friends, huh? You looked a little closer than BFF status.”
“Yeah, that’s what I want to explain. You see, before I came here, Elle and I…” I pause and clear my throat. “Things changed between us and neither of us took the change very well. We both made rash decisions and hurt each other in the process.”
“I see,” Talia says. She pulls her legs up underneath her and spreads a blanket over her lap.
“This is pretty hard for me because I’m not this type of guy. The thing is, I like you, Talia or I wouldn’t have kissed you, but I’m in love with Elle, and it wouldn’t be fair to you if I were always thinking about her.”
Talia looks away. Her fingers play with the frayed end of her sofa. “I wish you had told me from the beginning.”
“I didn’t know how Elle felt, and honestly I was trying to get over her and move on.”
“But she showed up here?”
“I didn’t know she was coming, Talia. If I had—”
“You wouldn’t have kissed me,” she states.
I nod. The kiss was nothing more than a peck but had the potential to be more. Although, I don’t know how far I would’ve taken things with her. She’s still my co-worker, and the last thing I want is to be involved with someone from work.
“Well, I guess I can’t compete with Elle James, I mean just look at her.” Elle is beautiful, but it’s not right for Talia to put herself down like this.
“Talia, you’re a beautiful woman. Please don’t put yourself down. My life before I came here was complicated and it probably still is. Elle and I have this history and-”
“Well, thanks for telling me. I appreciate it.” Talia interrupts me. She stands and goes to the door, and opens it, giving me my cue to leave.
“I’ll see you Monday?”
“Sure,” she says, shutting the door instantly. I stand in the hall, making sure Talia locks the door before I retreat into my apartment. It’s cold and lonely inside these walls, and I’m tempted to go back to Elle, but I don’t want to cross the line again until we’re both sure we can make this work.
* * *
I’m up well before I know Elle will be awake, but I can’t wait any longer. I’m not even bothered by my lack of sleep or the fact that I’m starving. On my way to Elle’s hotel, I stop at one of the vendor carts and pick her up a bagel. In my opinion, you haven’t lived until you’ve spent a considerable amount of time eating street food and New York City has some of the best.
I knock on her door while simultaneously taking a bite of breakfast burrito. It takes her a minute or two, but when she finally opens it, I smile. Not because Elle is standing in front of me, but because it’s the Elle I’ve missed so much. The one who isn’t put together, whose hair is in complete disarray, whose eyes are barely open and has makeup smudges on her face. This is my Elle, the one no one, aside from her family, ever gets to see. I lean through the door and kiss her quickly before stepping inside.
“It’s so early.”
“I know, but we have a busy day. I figured we only have today, right?”
“Yeah.” She yawns. “I have class on Monday, so I’m flying back tomorrow.”
I hand her the tin foiled wrapped bagel. “What’s this?” she asks.
“Breakfast.”
“I could’ve called us room service.” She takes the package from my hand and slowly opens it. I follow her to the couch and sit next to her, waiting for her to take a bite. “Oh, this is good.”
I can’t help but smile at her reaction. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“The street vendor,” I tell her.
She closes her eyes. “I love food truck food. It’s the best.” Elle knows I’m not going to argue with her. This one time, we went to Malibu to go surfing and drove all over, looking for the right taco truck. Once we found it, we gorged ourselves until well past sundown.
“Do you remember that time in Malibu?”
I lean over and kiss her cheek. “I was just thinking about that trip. We should go back this sum…” I let my words trail off.
“What is it?”
“I was offered a job here, at Omni, after graduation.”
Elle looks up and smiles. “You should take it.”
“What?”
“Seriously, take it. You deserve it, Ben. I know how hard you’ve worked.”
“Yeah, but—”
“No buts.” Elle turns to face me and reaches for my hand. A sense of dread washes over me. I knew last night was too good to be true. She’s going to tell me she’s changed her mind and that we’ll never work. “The night before I flew out here, Quinn took me to see this band he likes, and I like them. As soon as I graduate, I’m going to sign them, along with Quinn. I thought long and hard about what to do. My options are to start at the bottom somewhere or go out on my own. I like the idea of being out on my own, however, if I come to an agency with a strong core of talent under me, I think I have a better chance at being taken seriously.”
“That’s great, Elle. But what does this have to do with me living here?”
“Don’t you see?” she says, cupping my face. “There’s so much untapped talent here. I can be here with you, working and discovering the hidden gems. I’ll have to travel, but New York can be my home.”
“What about your parents?”
She looks at me oddly. “What about them?”
“I don’t know, I just thought…”
“Peyton and Noah aren’t going to live in California. She wants to work for ESPN, and I think they’re out of Connecticut or someplace over here. Besides…” Elle reaches for my hand and threads our fingers together. “It doesn’t matter where we live, as long as we’re together.”
I couldn’t agree more, but graduation is approaching, and I don’t know if we’ll be at the stage of living together by the time I start my job here, although knowing Elle’s in the city and not living next to me won’t sit very well. I’ve grown far too accustomed to having her within a few feet of me.
“And you want to live with me?”
“Ben, I meant what I said last night. I want to try. I’m jumping with both feet into a Ben and Elle relationship, complete with cheesy selfies on my Instagram, Facebook relationship status change and ridiculous text messages throughout the day telling you how much I miss you and can’t wait for you to come back to California.”
I roll my eyes, but the grin I have on my face tells her I’m only kidding with her. “I should run for the hills. You already seem clingy.”
“I am clingy, and you should totally run. I have so much to make up for. It’s not even funny. What I’ve done to you, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“I like your kind of clingy.” Without pause, I pull her to me and kiss her lips. Elle responds immediately, pushing me back into the sofa. For a swanky hotel, this couch is incredibly uncomfortable, but the girl I love is laid out on top of me, making me not care about a potential backache.
Elle and I make out like two horny high school kids whose parents aren’t home. This is what I’ve wanted, to be in her presence this way, to know her intimately and be the man she calls hers.
When we part, her lips are red and swollen, and her hair is even more messed up than before. “You’re so beautiful,” I tell her. “How’d I get so lucky?”
“You sat down and saw the real me, not the one our classmates saw, the who has a famous family. The fame, it never mattered to you, and I was always just your Elle, your best friend. It’s not a case of how you got lucky, but more so of how I got so lucky. You’re the best thing to ever happen to me, Benjamin. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t remember the first day we met.”
“Me neither,” I tell her and promptly go back to kissing her.
29
Elle
There’s nothing like kissing Ben. And to think I would’ve never fully experienced the act if my sister hadn’t opened my closed-off mind to the possibility of Ben being the one for me. I wish I could go back, months or even years, and stand outside of the relationship Ben and I have, and really take a look at what we were doing. So much wasted time has gone by. No, it wasn’t lost in a sense we weren’t together, but we could’ve been so much more.
Kissing your best friend is not awkward, at all. I thought it would be, which is probably the most significant part of my hesitation in believing Ben could be the one for me. Yet, I can't imagine anyone else making me feel the way I do. The warm and fuzzy sensation coursing through my body is everything a first love is supposed to be. It just sucks that we've waited so long. Well, mostly me. I have no doubt Ben would’ve jumped at the opportunity if it had presented itself much earlier.
However, we’re here now, and we're going to try, and I'm going to do my damnedest to make things work, which is why I told him I’d come with him to New York. Without a doubt, I’ll move anywhere he's going to be because building a relationship thousands of miles away from each other isn't the right way to start off. I told him, both feet in, and I mean it. There's no going back, only moving forward.
"I'm going to take a quick shower," I tell him, except his arms tighten around my waist, pinning me to his body. "Bennnn..." I draw out his name in exaggeration.
"Stay," he says. His voice is raspy, sexy. I want to stay, but Ben's right, sex complicates things, and as much as I'd love to stay locked up in this hotel room, being outside with him and touring the city where we're going to live is important to me.
"You promised me a date," I remind him, looking deep into his eyes. "And cheesy pictures to decorate my social media with." I wink, but he knows it's true.
Ben groans and closes his eyes. He's the one who knocked on my door at seven a.m. with breakfast. Mind you. It's one of the best bagels I've ever had. I would've never thought a grilled bagel could be so delicious.
I finally peel myself away from Ben. Our combined body warmth dissipates too quickly for my liking. Inside the bathroom, I take a look at myself. My lips are swollen, and there's a slight rash forming from Ben's whiskers. My finger brushes along my mouth as a smile breaks out until my eyes land on my hair. "My God, Elle, next time look in the mirror before you answer the door for your boyfriend."
Boyfriend.
I love the sound of calling Ben, my boyfriend.
What's even better, is Ben doesn't care what I look like in the morning. He's seen me at best, and certainly at my worst. There are no secrets between us.
I take a quick shower, just as I promised Ben I would. When I step out of the bathroom, he's hunched over, alternating between writing on a pad of hotel issued paper and searching on his phone.
"What're you doing?" I ask, keeping my distance from him. I'm naked under my robe, and the last thing I want to do is to start touching him. I won't stop because I'm eager to be with him again and be fully aware of everything going on between us.
"Mapping out our day."
I roll my eyes. Ben's a planner, always has been. It's not a bad thing, but sometimes you have to just go with the flow. "Don't want to be spontaneous?"
Ben sets his pen down and looks at me. His eyes travel down the front of the fluffy white robe I'm wearing before turning back toward the paper. He clears his throat. "I thought if you're going to move here, we'd hit the neighborhoods and decide where we're going to live."
"I heard Tribeca is a nice place."
Ben shakes his head. He stands and comes to me. I expect him to keep a sizable distance between us, but he doesn't. His fingers start to play with the wet strands of my hair, while his other hand rests on my hip. "It's expensive there and out of my price range. My starting salary is nice, but I don't want to struggle. I want us to have a life and do things."
"Ben—"
He holds his hand up, cutting me off. I have a feeling he knew what I was about to say. "Can we try to make it on our own? If we have a place that I can afford, anything you earn from your business will be butter. I know you can easily buy any home you want, but I'd really like the opportunity to take care of you."
"But you don't have to. You know that, right?"
"I know, Elle. I know you have a trust fund and two parents who will do anything for you, but this is a pride thing for me."
I nod, conceding an early defeat. I'm not going to argue with Ben because this seems important to him. "So what areas are we visiting today?"
Ben’s serious expression turns to one of elation. "I thought we'd visit Nolita, Murray Hill, and Brooklyn Heights, mostly because I know how much you love the townhouses."
"With those massive wrought iron railings?"
Ben nods, and I clasp my hands together. "I'm going to get dressed and do my girly stuff. I'll rush so we can go." I go to step around Ben, but he traps me. When I look at him, the happiness he was showing a few seconds ago, seems to be gone. "Ben?"
"Are we really doing this, Elle? Looking for a place for us, as a couple?"
“It only makes sense, at least to me. We’ve known each other for eight years, Ben. We’ve seen each other at our best, and worst. I think if we’re living apart from each other, we’ll end up together, wasting money on a place neither of us will use.”
“Okay,” he says, but he looks reserved.
My hand cups his face, and I use what little strength I have to pull him down for a kiss. When we part, I can't keep the smile off my face. I feel sorry for Quinn right now because I'm on cloud nine with the amount of happiness I feel. "Unless y
ou tell me we're not."
"I'll never," Ben whispers. “Being with you, it means everything. I don’t want to spend a single minute away from you.”
"Then I guess you have your answer." This time Ben does let me go so I can get ready for our day. As promised, I work quickly to get prepared, opting for a lighter look with my makeup. Thankfully, I brought along a beanie along with me so doing my hair, other than blow-drying, isn't needed.
In the main room, I find Ben relaxed, watching the news. I stand there for a second before he turns his gaze to me. "Ready?"
"I am," he says, turning off the television. "We're going to cram as much as we can into today," he tells me as he opens the door. "And eat so much food."
"Let me guess, New York has an app to locate food trucks?"
Ben chuckles. "Actually, I don't know. I'm not sure one is needed since every corner has a vendor on it."
The air is brisk, but the sun is shining. I'm going to have to get used to the colder temperatures and the snow, which doesn't make me happy, but I'll survive. Ben and I will have to take a lot of mini vacations south of the equator or at least fly home to see my parents.
Ben takes us to the subway and tells me to be careful as we descend the steep stairs. The tunnel reeks, and I try not to let it bother me. I don't know if public transportation will be my thing or not. It's not something I've ever had to use. Growing up, my parents, grandfather or any one of my aunts and uncles, would drive us everywhere until we were old enough to drive ourselves. My siblings and I are spoiled, and our needs are catered for.
"Is this how you get to work?"
"Yeah."
"What are you going to do with your car?"
Ben sighs. "Probably leave it with Brad for a bit, while I make sure this is where I want to be. If we decide to stay, I'll sell it."
I lean into Ben and hold onto his arm while we wait for the train. He tried showing me the map of the system and explaining things, but it looks so complicated. Too many trains to choose from, and different lines, not to mention if you take the wrong exit, you end up on the wrong side of where you want to be.
My Unexpected Love: The Beaumont Series: Next Generation Page 18