problems // ben tyler cook

Chapter Eighteen

"Emma!"

"Rose!"

We go running at each other, hugging tightly. For the two months that I was alone in New York without Ben, Emma and I hung out as much as possible. We'd go to the studio and dance, act like younger teenagers and have sleepovers, go out to lunch and dinner. She's truly become another sister to me.

Ben chuckles as we embrace, rolling his eyes. "Y'all are weird."

"Excuse me!" I snap, pulling away and pointing my finger at him. "Don't judge me just because I'm from Texas."

"Yeah." Emma backs me up, pointing her finger too.

"What did I get myself into?" Ben mumbles, shaking his head. "Can we go inside please?"

I grab Ben's hand again and we enter the restaurant. Emma walks ahead of us, then Ben pulls me to the side.

"What? What?" I ask quickly. "Your family is over there-"

"I know. Did you tell Emma about rehab?"

I shake my head. "No. Why?"

"Well, they all know you haven't been in the show for a little while. What are you gonna tell them?" Ben asks, squeezing my hand.

"Um, I don't know. I could just tell them that I was working on some other stuff that I had to leave the show for, but that I'm going back soon."

"And what do you say when they ask what you worked on?" Ben raises his eyebrows.

"It's a secret."

"This makes me nervous, Rose."

"I don't know why it's making you nervous. You're not the one who went to rehab." I snap in response.

"No, Rose. That's not what I meant." Ben sighs, leaning against the wall.

"Then what the hell did you mean?"

"I meant that I don't want this to go wrong!" Ben exclaims. "I want everyone to like you because I love you and I don't want them to fuck that up!"

"Hey, hey." I coo, placing my hands on his cheeks and leaning close to him. "Everything's gonna be fine, okay?" Ben sighs again, looking down as he places his hands on my waist. "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. You don't always have to worry about me."

"I want to-"

"Protect me, I know. And I love you for wanting to protect me. But this is your family, baby. You don't need to protect me from them." He finally locks eyes with me, and I smile. "I don't want you to be nervous around your own family. That should be my job right now."

"But you're not even nervous." Ben pouts.

"Well, no, not really. I don't see a point in getting nervous and stressing myself out even more." I shrug, wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Ben murmurs, kissing my temple. "Now let's go. I'm sure everyone's been watching us and I don't want them to suspect anything."

****

"Aww, look how cute you are!"

"I hate this."

"Little Benny as Billy Elliot!"

"This is awful. I'm so mad at you, Emma." Ben snaps, punching his sisters shoulder.

"I had to break out the photo albums, little bro."

"I'm five minutes older!" Ben exclaims, now pointing his finger at her. "Alright, I think you've had enough of this."

I pout as Ben pulls away the photo album and shuts it, setting it on the table. Glen and Jill were off in the kitchen while Nick and Conner sit on the other couch, me between Ben and Emma.

I've managed to mesh into Ben's family quite nicely, and dodged questions about where exactly I've been the past two months. I told them I was working, and they accepted that and told me they're excited to see what I'm doing.

They're all really nice and inviting, making lots of jokes and not treating me as though they've just met me (even though that is clearly not the case for Emma and I).

Ben wraps his arm around my waist and allows me to curl up against him, and he hums in response as I do. The room falls silent as we all tune back into the movie.

The rest of the night is quiet, just some subtle jokes and moments of eye contact between family members, obviously seeing how comfortable Ben and I are.

"Bye everyone." I hug Conner last, smiling at the Cook's before Ben drags me out.

"That went well." He breathes out as he drives off.

"Did you think it wouldn't?" I smile, leaning over the middle console to kiss his cheek.

"No, I thought it would go well. It just went really well. Everyone really likes you." Ben says, finding my hand and intertwining our fingers.

"Well, it makes me feel better that you think that too." I smile, kissing his cheek again. "Do you have a show tomorrow?"

"No, we don't have any more shows until after the Tony's."

"When even are the Tony's?" I ask, the topic being brought to my mind again.

"Two weeks." Ben tells me. "We actually got asked to perform since the tour is so successful. I think we're the first national tour to ever perform at the Tony's."

"Yay, that's awesome!" I grin, bouncing up and down in my seat.

"Also, Josh said he'd stay in Sky's room for as long as you're here which makes me wonder how long you're staying." Ben mentions as he pulls into the parking lot of the hotel.

"Um, probably just a few more days. I have to get back to Beauty and the Beast, especially if I'm nominated for a Tony."

"Makes sense." Ben nods, putting the car in park and pulling out the key. "Do you wanna go out tomorrow? I'd like to show you around."

"Of course, I'm here to spend time with you, aren't I?" I smile. "Can we go in now? I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, come on. Let's get to bed."