Will You Love Me?: Something Beautiful

Chapter 10

"Ben, do you have the tickets?" You asked as you gathered up your bag. You could hear him roll his eyes from the other room. "Yes, I've got the bloody tickets," he grumbled. The one time he forgot tickets, the one time and he still thinks you haven't let him live it down. 

And you haven't! A few years back, he had taken you on a trip to New York and bought you tickets to see Hamilton. Well, he ended up leaving the tickets - not in the hotel room - but at home in England. With someone who's constantly on his phone, you'd think he'd like to have the tickets kept on there. 

But he didn't! As a matter of fact, he bought them so far in advance that he couldn't find the email with the confirmation code. He also ended up losing his credit card a few months later and had to replace it, so they couldn't search for it with that number because it was officially invalid. 

It's because of that incident you double and even triple check to make sure he does have them. To double check, you peaked your head into the bedroom and asked with a sly smile, "You sure?"

He turned and gave you a sharp look. "Oh relax," you giggled, "you know I can't let you live down New York. I was mad at you at the time, but now it's just hilarious!" He scowled at you and shook his head. 

Rolling your eyes, you went up to him and hugged him around his waist. "Why are you so stressed?" You asked. "We're going on a semi-vacation to California. Once Nate's art show is done, it's you, me and the beach, baby."

That got him to smile. He loves the beach, but he especially loves it with you because you usually wear a bikini. Of course, you haven't worn one in years, but he still gets his hopes up. "It's also a private beach," he reminded, "so no clothing is required."

She whacked his chest with a smile, then went back to the other room. You passed Conner's room where you saw your son pouting over his homework. He was not happy that he couldn't go with you both, but he had school. He was also especially upset that his Uncle Tom was going to come over and watch him. 

"You know, your face is going to stay like that," you told him, fully knowing that was a terrible mom joke. He shot a glance over to you, then said, "I would be perfectly fine staying here if I would be alone. It's not fair that Uncle Tom is going to be here! What, do you guys not trust me?"

Sighing, you stepped into his room as you said, "It's not that. You've never been alone like this before. You usually have Em, or Nate, or both you and Scar are here. If it were for a night or two, we would be fine with it and not when we're across the world. You're only fifteen, hun. We'll talk more about this when you hit...sixteen and a half."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Ben came in a moment later with a curious look on his face. "What's going on?" He asked. You looked to Conner to explain. "I don't want to be babysat by Uncle Tom," he complained. Ben crossed his arms and thought for a moment. 

"Well, your sister isn't available and we're going to see Nate, so..." Cassie hit his arm because she knew Conner was not in the mood for this. Sighing, Ben continued, "I mean...look, being home alone when we're half a world away is different than being alone when we go out for dinner, or a premier. If something happens to you, we can't just hop in a car and be home in thirty minutes. It's not that we don't trust you, okay? We don't trust the situation, not yet."

Conner continued to shake his head. Ben glanced over to you, then back to Conner. "Fine," he said, "how about we compromise? You can be home alone for the last two days. The rest, Uncle Tom has to be here."

You gave Ben a double take. 

Conner perked up as he excitedly said, "Deal!" Ben nodded, then said, "Good. That's settled." He walked out of the room and you followed closely behind. "Uh, no," you told him as you continued to follow him downstairs, "this is not settled. What the hell, you didn't think to talk to me first?"