Page 15 of Planning on Happily Ever After

Ben laughed and returned her smile, cheek muscles tight from disuse stretching as if they’d awoken from a long slumber. It was nice, both the feeling and having a reason to smile in the first place, something that seemed to be happening more and more around Holly. As he stared at her she stared back, a secretive expression on her face and something akin to awe flashing in her beautiful blue eyes.

Ben’s smile waned and he grabbed a napkin. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“No, you’re good. I just knew your smile would be a great one, and I’m happy to be right.” She stood up and walked toward the kitchen to deposit her plate in the sink before turning toward her bedroom. “Goodnight, Hen.” She leaned down to hug her brother and as she did, Holly looked over his shoulder and winked at Ben. “Goodnight, Benji.”

Ben watched her go, lamenting the loss of her company, but the smile she bestowed upon him as she closed the door would tide him over until he saw her again. When he faced the television again, he caught Henry staring at him and didn’t like the look he saw in his friend’s eye. “What?” The two siblings staring at him was really starting to make him feel self-conscious.

Henry shook his head with a sad smile. “Just don’t hurt her. Okay, man?”

Ben leaned back. “What do you mean?” Was it that obvious that he was into Holly? Perhaps Ben wasn’t as good at hiding his feelings as he thought he was.

Henry scoffed. “Look, you said you weren’t ready to talk about it, and I can respect that.” He pointed at his sister’s closed door and looked at Ben, his expression tight and voice low. Whether it was so Holly couldn’t hear him or to try and sound threatening to Ben, he wasn’t sure. “But if she is the person you’re interested in, just be careful. Holly feels things really deeply, and as much as she exudes joy, if she’s hurting, she experiences that pain pretty acutely. So don’t pursue anything unless you’re sure.”

“I won’t,” he promised. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt someone, especially someone as bright and shiny as Holly. Maybe he should just leave her alone. He wouldn’t want to lose his friendship with her brother, and Henry was definitely the type to take his sister’s side no matter what, not that Ben would blame him for doing so. Henry sat back and they said nothing more on the topic as they gamed for another hour before calling it a night.

As he drove home, Ben thought long and hard about what Henry had told him in regard to his sister. He knew he was possibly risking his friendship with Henry, one that he enjoyed and was starting to deepen with Ben’s willingness to be more talkative, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Holly and how her joy was a balm to his grumpy soul. Being his grouchy, silent self didn’t frighten her off, and he liked the person he was when she was around. With a smile and thoughts of Holly in his head, Ben decided he would take things one day at a time and wait until it felt right to make a more definitive move, hoping it happened soon. He was already preoccupied with visions of Holly on his couch at home, playing video games with him and making the nights all the more enjoyable simply because she was there, and he desperately wanted to make those visions a reality.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Ben

Ben glanced at theclock on the bottom right of his computer screen for the fiftieth time since the zoom meeting with his team started. He understood the necessity for teamwork and he thought he worked well with the other designers, but where they lost him was when the meeting devolved into everyone’s plans for the weekend or the latest office gossip. Ben just wanted to get back to coding so he could finish his work on time. He loved his job, but he also didn’t want that to be the only thing he lived for, at least, not anymore.

His life had fallen into a rut. It wasn’t the routine that bothered him, but the lack ofsomething more. Ben wasn’t a fool to think he could transform into a completely different person, an extrovert who embraced spontaneity, but he could try to go out more and be around other people. After going to the farm with his mom, he realized he’d been craving the company of others for longer than he thought.Or is it really Holly whose company you crave?Ben smiled as he remembered his time with the beautiful woman in her apartment, and while he could try to tell himself anyone would have made him feel the same, that would be a lie.

“Oh, it looks like Ben has some big plans for this weekend if that smile is anything to go by,” John said boisterously. His coworker’s comment pulled Ben from his reverie and back to the meeting.

“Yea,” Kelly, another programmer, added. “I think that’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him, and I was there on the day they announced he was designer of the month. What are your big plans, Ben?”

Ben shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with being the focus of the conversation. He scratched the back of his neck, the skin hot and tight. “Um, nothing really. Just the usual stuff.”

“Are you sure? It almost looked like you were planning to do something you might enjoy for once.” Ben scowled automatically at John’s comment and the man held up his hands in surrender. “Uh-oh, the frown is back. I was just teasing, man.”

Ben shook his head and tried to change the subject to anything that wasn’t related to him. “Anyway, do you guys know if the character development team for the expansion needs any help with their designs? I was talking to a friend, and she mentioned that it would be nice to have female characters be a little less damsel in distress and a little more warrior princess.” Ben hadn’t planned on bringing up Holly’s idea, but it had a lot of merit and she’d been on his mind so often over the last week that he felt compelled to do it.

“Don’t even get me started on that, Ben. I’ve been saying the same thing forever, but Camelot Games still refuses to acknowledge the presence of female gamers as a serious demographic,” Kelly griped before sighing heavily. “I think they’re already finished with all the character design for this expansion, but maybe next time.” Ben nodded his thanks and the conversation moved onto everyone’s assigned tasks and deadlines. As the meeting wrapped up, he got a chat message from Kelly.

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