Falling Slowly

Pt.2|Ch.5

"And..." he moved me another step to the right. "Look up."

Smiling, I wasted no time in lifting my eyes to the sky, tracing the lines of tiny lights strung through the dark.

"So?" Ben inquired, his bright blue eyes gazing at me expectantly.

I breathed a laugh. "You've astounded me once again."

He returned my grin, gesturing to the ledge.

I sat down next to him, leaning back against the cold concrete.

"Here," he slipped his arm behind my shoulders so that I could lay against him rather than the hard surface.

"Didn't you have a song you wanted to show me?" I asked, resting my head against his chest as I continued to stare up at the stars.

"Yeah," he pulled out his phone and set it on the ground, selecting the track and letting it play through.

"So, I noticed Aiden looked a little shaken up after lunch today." He commented as we listened to the soft piano melody.

I shrugged innocently. "We were just admiring her ring, that's all."

"Oh," he laughed. "Yeah, we've been giving Sky a hard time about that too."

"I swear he's scared to death of her."

Ben nodded. "He is. But she loves him, and I think that helps a bit."

We were silent for a minute or so as the song drew to a soft close. There were no lyrics, just music and vocalizations, and then silence.

"My mom says he's thinking about marrying her." I said, lowering my voice to just above a whisper.

"I hope he is, because he's gonna regret it if he doesn't."

I cleared my throat, shifting and folding my hands in my lap. "I know of someone else who's getting married pretty soon."

He looked down at me. "Why does that sound suspicious?"

I met his eyes, unable to hold back a smile. "Because I meant for it to."

He sat up, turning to face me from the front. "Alright, who's getting married?"

"You know how Stephanie Styles has that family friend that had been engaged since August?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think I've heard her mention that."

"Well, they finally chose a wedding date, but they live in South Dakota."

His eyes narrowed. "So, she'll be..."

"In South Dakota for about a week." I nodded, watching him click the puzzle pieces together.

"We won't have anyone to play Katherine..." a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You have to go on as Katherine, don't you?"

I nodded again, biting my lip. "She messaged me yesterday to ask if I could take her place next week."

His little grin spread into a wide smile. "You're gonna love it! The songs are fun, the choreo's fun, the costumes are fun—"

I breathed a laugh, cutting his rambling short. "Is there anything that isn't fun?"

"Not a single second!" He insisted. "And Josh, Sky, and I will be there the entire time if you ever get nervous, but you're gonna blow us all away, so you shouldn't be nervous..." he trailed off, like he'd just remembered something. "Oh, you have to kiss Dan."

I pursed my lips. "I forgot."

He frowned. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Yeah, neither am I." I laughed.