I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS.
THE LAST CHAPTER OF GUILTY PLEASURE.
OH MY GOD.
***
“So, wait. I did win the bet in the end, right?”
“Nope.”
“No? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Oh, come on.”
“See? That right there is one of the reasons why you didn’t win.”
“What? Because I’m right?”
“Because you’re arrogant.” I smirked. Ben had driven me from school and we’d ended up in our little patch of grass at the park as usual. We were lying on the grass side by side, his hand lightly tracing patterns up and down my arm.
Ben’s mouth flew open. “Me? Arrogant? Come on, Elle – I’m handsome, funny, sweet, and practically perfect, but not arrogant.”
I laughed. “You’ll have to keep working harder, I guess.”
He propped himself up on one shoulder, ducking down quickly to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Will I?”
I breathed in sharply, my cheek tingling and undoubtedly turning crimson. “Yeah. You will.”
He leaned forward again to kiss my other cheek, his lips lingering on my skin for a mere second more. “You sure?”
I hated the fact that I already felt slightly breathless. “Uh-huh.”
“Completely sure?” This time, his lips landed on mine, pressing against them for a brief second before he pulled up again, smirking at my clearly flustered expression.
Before I managed to respond, his lips were on mine again, but this time for more than a second. I closed my eyes and melted against him, smiling at the feeling. He pulled back slightly to adjust his position before kissing me again.
Not long after, I pulled back suddenly, gasping. Ben flinched back as well, furrowing his eyebrows. “Elle? Is everything okay?”
I sat up, my thoughts still slightly muddled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that.”
“Then what happened?”
I blushed. “It’s just…we’re in public. There are kids here.”
He chuckled. “And you’re embarrassed? That didn’t stop you last time.”
Ben winked, making me blush even more. “I didn’t think of it last time, or I wouldn’t have done it either.”
“You were too distracted with how amazing I am – further proving that I did win the bet.”
I sighed, chuckling. “You already got to ask me to do something, why are you so insistent on me telling you that you won?”
He shrugged. “I could say it’s just because of pride, but it’s mostly because I don’t want to think I read all those romance novels in vain.”
I laughed. “Oh, come on, Ben. We both know that you enjoyed those books a lot more than you like to admit. I wouldn’t be surprised if you start reading romances for fun in your spare time now.”
He shook his head, grinning. “I’ll admit that they were a lot better than I thought they would be – if not, I wouldn’t have read anything after the first one – but I still wouldn’t pick up romance novels to read for fun. Besides, feeling depressed thanks to fictional characters isn’t one of my favorite pastimes.”
“I really don’t understand why. And it’s not just the fact that you get sad or scared or anything – it’s how amazing the author has to be to make you feel those things. And besides, you started out with The Fault In Our Stars – there’s no way you can go wrong with John Green. He made you cry, after all.”
“Only slightly – but we’re going to ignore that part. He is a pretty good writer, though.”
“The best. I know you probably won’t want any more book recommendations from me for a while, but you should really read Looking For Alaska – I actually think you’d enjoy it.”
He sighed. “I don’t know, Elle. I mean, I’d probably have a lot more motivation if I knew reading the other books had done me any good. In fact –“
“Oh my goodness.” I shook my head in exasperation, unable to hold back a laugh. “You’re pathetic, you know that? Fine. You won the freaking bet. Happy?”
He was grinning, looking happier than I’d ever seen him. “Yes, happy.”
“You’re like a little kid.”
He shrugged, still smiling. “I’m not going to deny that. I don’t even care about the actual bet that much, I just wanted you to say I won – I’m already dating you, after all. Besides, you still have to do something for me.”
“That’s totally not fair. I already –“
“Take a walk with me.”
“What?”
He stood up, brushing himself off and reaching his hand down to pull me up. “Take a walk with me. That’s all I want.”
I frowned. “I feel like there’s a catch to this.”
“There’s no catch.” He rolled his eyes. “Just take a walk with me, come on. It’s still early, and I’m tired of sitting or lying down.”
I took his hand to lift myself up, and purposefully didn’t let go as we made our way through the trees into the emptier parts of the park. Feeling my grip on his hand, he squeezed mine once, looking over to smile at me. When I smiled back shyly, he ducked down to give me another quick peck on the cheek. My cheeks bursting into flames should have been no surprise, but that didn’t stop him from chuckling at my expression.
“Oh, shut up.”
“I’m not saying anything!”
We walked for a couple of minutes in silence, allowing me to relish the feeling of having our hands entwined and not having to worry about whether or not he was just hanging around me for a hook up. Now that I’d gotten through the terrifying part – confronting him about my feelings and setting myself up to potentially get hurt – it seemed obvious that his intentions had always been good.
“By the way,” Ben broke the silence, chuckling to himself. “Do you remember when you thought I was going after Annie?”
I frowned, remembering how sure I was that he was only using me to get to her like so many guys had done before. “Yes.”
“I never told you the actual reason why we were talking.”
“And that is?”
He squeezed my hand, turning to grin at me. “I was having her help me get together with you.”
I blinked, surprised at what I was hearing. It was not uncommon for a guy to be asking around for tips on how to get with Annie, but to hear that a guy had gone to enough trouble to ask my best friend what was the best way to get to me was surprising – and quite flattering.
I recalled Annie’s excitement at anything to do with me and Ben, and the way she’d pushed me to go out with him even when I still wasn’t sure myself – she’d clearly realized he was a good guy from before, and I was glad that she’d pushed me toward him. Without her, I knew that I very easily could’ve chickened out and missed out on something amazing.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I told you, Elle – I really was scared you’d reject me.”
I giggled. “Wow. I’m curious, though. What did Annie say?”
He rolled his eyes. “She wasn’t too helpful.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, in the first place, she was so excited about the prospect of us getting together, that she spent most of the time talking about how adorable it was going to be when we finally started dating instead of helping make it happen. And second, the advice she was giving me wasn’t really the most useful advice. I didn’t know how to interpret things like, she just likes really cheesy and romantic things. Like, just be really sweet with her and act all romantic.”
I laughed. “It’s nice to know what Annie thinks of me.”
“You can’t say it isn’t true! Just look at all the books you had me read – I don’t think you understand how high I felt the bar was set. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to pass it, although reading those books was a lot more useful than anything Annie could say.”
“See? I trained you well. You should be proud of yourself, though – I won’t deny it, the bar was set so high it was borderline ridiculous. I’d honestly managed to convince myself that if I ever found a really good guy, it would probably just be a really nice dream.”
“So you’re saying I’m as good as a ‘really nice dream?’ I can deal with that.”
I shrugged. “Something like that, I guess.”
Better than just a really nice dream.
We’d walked a little further into the trees, and Ben suddenly pulled us both to a quick stop. He turned so he was completely facing me and smiled. “You have no idea how glad I am about that.”
Before I had a chance to answer him, he cradled my face in his hands and hesitantly leaned down to kiss me. I moved toward him as well, but halted at the last second.
“I promise you there are no kids around to watch us here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
I smiled up at him, biting my lip in anticipation. Closing my eyes and gathering all the courage I could, I leaned forward myself, meeting his lips with my own in a passionate kiss. We moved our arms around each other and stayed in that position for a while, relishing the feeling of being in each other’s arms.
Without pulling back completely, Ben suddenly spoke against my lips. “Remind me again.”
“Mm?”
“Why do you read so many romance novels?”
“I don’t know,” I murmured. “I told you, they’re my guilty pleasure.”
He grinned against my lips. “And you’re mine.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.” I giggled. “Cheeseball.”
“What can I say?” He pulled back a little further to wink at me before leaning forward again. “You’ve rubbed off oh me.”
“Clearly.” I giggled.
“I really hope that’s a good thing.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” I looked up at his handsome face, unable to fathom how I’d gotten so lucky with him. “It is.”
He beamed back at me. “So – what’s the final verdict? Am I worthy enough to be a character in a novel that will make girls like you swoon?”
I tilted my head to the side teasingly, humming slightly as though there were something I was debating. “You’re close, but…not quite.”
“It’s better than nothing.” He shrugged. “I imagine there are plenty of more books out there for me to keep reading if I really have to.”
Could he be any more perfect?
Turning toward me again, he smiled. “But are you sure I’m not there yet, or are you just doing this to further torture me?”
I could tell he was joking, and I was seriously considering teasing him again with a comment about how he should keep trying harder. However, the butterflies in my stomach wouldn’t stop stirring, making all my real feelings bubble up, begging to be released. For the first time, it was me that reached up to give him a small peck on the lips and he grinned, looking pleasantly surprised.
“Ben, if you’re talking about being romance novel worthy…I think you got there a long time ago.”
He smiled at me fondly, leaning over to pull me into a tight hug. I relaxed in his arms, feeling his warm breath tickle my ear. A couple of seconds later he spoke, his voice a low whisper but still loud enough for me to understand clearly. “Good. Because that’s where I’m planning to stay.”
***
Can you guys even believe this because I freaking can't.
PLEASE READ THIS NOTE - THERE ARE SOME THINGS I'D LIKE TO SAY.
First, you have no idea how grateful I am for every one of you who has read this. I remember when I had one chapter up and less than 100 reads and now the story is over and I'm almost at 30K reads.
WHAT?
I especially want to thank those of you who have taken the time to vote and comment. Some of your comments have literally made my day, and the fact that you guys take the time to write them means more than you know.
In case anybody was wondering, there is NOT GOING TO BE A SEQUEL. However, I am in the process of writing a SPIN-OFF featuring James and Annie :D Thoughts? I am 95% sure I will be posting it soon. The only reason I wouldn't post it is if I realize the plot is going nowhere, but I'm pretty sure that will not be the case. I'll notify you as soon as it's posted!
Also, I am aware that this is longer than the average short story. However, I am keeping it under the Short Story category because 70 pages is not long enough to be a complete novel. I'm thinking it's more of a novella, which is why it's staying where it is.
And once again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. You don't know how much I love you guys. Seriously. You're the best. Thank you.
I couldn't have done this without you.
<3