Falling Slowly

Pt.3|Ch.13

"Mhm. Sure."

I rolled my eyes, resolving to humor him. "I love you, Benjamin."

He shot me a glare. "Prove it!"

"Fine." I pressed a kiss to his cheek. "How's that?"

He shrugged. "You have my attention."

Rolling my eyes at him yet again, I placed my lips against his, letting my hand come to rest on the back of his neck.

"Convinced yet?"

"Maybe you should do that again, just to make sure—"

I scoffed and pushed him away from me. "That was your plan all along, wasn't it?"

He gave me an innocent shrug. "The thought may have crossed my mind."

"I might have known." I mumbled in indignation, moving to sit on the opposite side of the couch.

"No," he stretched his hand out, his fingertips barely grazing my shoulder. "Come back."

I shook my head, scooting closer to the armrest.

He crawled across the couch to where I sat, and lightly kissed my temple. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not."

"Okay, fine, but can you still forgive me?"

"Absolutely not."

He sighed and turned around before leaning back and laying his head in my lap, staring up at me with pleading puppy-dog eyes. "Please?"

I failed at holding back a laugh. "You're ridiculous."

"You keep telling me that."

"You keep proving it."

A short, bell-like melody came from the front door, alerting us of the arrival of a visitor.

"I'll get it." Ben sat up.

"One second," I said before he could leave.

He looked back at me. "What?"

I leaned in and pressed one more kiss to his lips, before again kissing his cheek. "Okay. Now you can go."

He stood up, his ears dusted a light shade of pink, and let out an irritated groan before making his way to the front door. "You made me blush!"

Josh suddenly rushed into the living room. "Quick, Austyn, how do you feel about Monopoly?"

I blinked, caught off-guard. "Um,"

"Quick, woman, quick!"

"I'm fine with it!" I hurriedly gave an answer. "But I thought Aiden was gonna choose a game that would cause the least amount of emotional damage?"

He waved my comment off with his hand. "Pssh, who cares about damaged friendships?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Or future marriages?"

His jaw dropped. "You and Ben are—"

"For Sky and Aiden!" I corrected him before he could finish his sentence. "Seriously, Josh, you need to stop doing that!"

"What else am I here for?" He smirked, before returning to where Sky and Aiden could be heard debating over which game to choose.

When Josh had disappeared into the boys' bedroom, I heard Ben clear his throat. "Austyn,"

I looked over at where he stood, finding him awkwardly rubbing his arm with a troubled expression on his face.

I frowned. "What's the matter?"