I Choose You

I Can't Forget About Her

"You need to call her," Adam told Ben, as he looked over the neatly written phone number on a pumpkin napkin. Ben sighed and told him, "I don't know. I'm not really interested right now." Adam laughed, "Not interested? Ben, you've been interested since you first set your eyes on Cassie."

"Yeah, that's because I'm not interested in anyone except Cassie," Ben snapped. "I mean, how can I go out with this girl with another girl constantly on my mind and constantly invading my heart, my every goddamn sense? How will it be fair to either of us?"

Adam set down the napkin and said, "You're right. You are, but you need to get out there, Ben. Cassie and Tom are in love. They've only been saying it to each other for the past two weeks. And this poor girl has been waiting for your call for that long, as well. If it happens, it happens. If not, then oh well. What's the worst that can happen? You like this girl, you go out for a while and forget about your American girl?"

Ben chuckled and shook his head. "That's the thing, I can't forget about her. I'm so in love, Adam. And it sucks." Adam let out a light laugh and patted him on the back. "I hate seeing you like this, mate," he told him sincerely. "I want nothing more than for you and Cassie to get together because you two would be perfect. Honestly, your kids would be...wow, I hope to be the Godfather of them."

Ben laughed and looked down at the phone number. "I guess I can...I can give it a shot, right? I didn't stutter like an idiot around her." Adam hummed in thought, before saying, "I think that's a bad thing to be honest with you...but, hey! You never know!" He gave him a big slap on the back, then walked into his room.

Sighing, Ben picked up the phone and stared at the number. He made a few noises to himself and kept sighing over and over again. He tapped the phone against the counter, against his arm, hand, head, until he finally just dialed the number.

He waited quite impatiently as it kept ringing, and then a voice picked up, saying, "Hello?" Ben let out a nervous breath and said, "Olivia, hi...um, it's Benedict from the party and from theater." It took a moment, but she eventually said, "Oh, hi! How are you? I've been waiting for your call." He chuckled a bit and said, "Yeah, sorry. I've haven't seen you in class, so I wasn't able to talk to you then." There you go lying again, he told himself. Best if she doesn't know I've been avoiding her. What is it with me avoiding women who want to talk to me?

"Anyways," he said, bringing himself out of his thoughts, "I was, um...I was wondering if you might want to go out tonight?" He bit his lip as he waited for her answer. "Um...I would say yes, but it's raining out and I can't stand the rain."

He looked outside and saw it was coming down pretty hard. He didn't mind the rain. As a matter of fact, he remember about a week into school when he and Cassie walked to their classes in the rain, splashing each other and getting soaked to the bone, but it was one of the best days of his life. Everyday with her is the best day.

"Um, Benedict? You there?" Ben shook his head and answered, "Y-Yes. Well, you can just come over to my place, then? We can order Italian and don't have to worry about going out or dressing up...or the rain." She laughed and told him, "That sounds lovely! I'll be over around six?" He smiled and said, "Sounds great, I'll see you then." He gave her the address, before hanging up and letting out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding.

After a moment, Tom and Cassie walked in. Tom was as dry as the Sahara desert, but Cassie looked like she had just jumped into a swimming pool. "You are going to get a cold," Tom playfully chastised. She giggled and told him, "Totally worth it! Besides, you will just have to take care of me won't you?"

He smiled and leaned down and kissed her. "Of course I would, darling. And I am going to start by demanding you taking a warm shower before you actually do get a cold." She saluted him and said, "Yes, sir. I'm going to borrow your sweatshirt, okay?"