Page 7 of Planning on Happily Ever After

Wonderful. The woman who hit him was the chatty type. “Me, I guess,” Ben muttered as he straightened up and turned to face the cause of his current woes.

When he caught sight of the other driver, his jaw nearly hit the asphalt. His mind spun at the sight of the same woman who had rammed into him the other day. His eyes widened at the coincidence, but he schooled his features before she could notice anything about him.

The woman’s sky-blue eyes grew as well, her dark brows raising up so high they almost touched her hairline. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it’s you,” she exclaimed, playfully punching his shoulder. “Grumpy no sweets guy, right?”

The light contact might as well have been a full blow to the head for how much it rattled him, his brain already struggling with what to say, what to do when confronted with the very same woman he’d been thinking about all week. He tried to focus on her words, not liking that his bad attitude was the first thing she remembered about him, but he supposed he hadn’t given her much else to work with.

“Uh, yeah. I guess that’s me.” As he continued to stare dumbly, he let his eyes wander taking in her appearance. She was dressed more casually today, wearing torn jeans and a faded, Boston Red Sox sweatshirt beneath her camel-colored overcoat while her hair rested atop her head in a sloppy bun, a few stray wisps of hair coming free and surrounding her face. Ben stuffed both hands in his pockets to help him resist the urge to tuck the wayward strands back behind her ear. He cleared his throat. “So. You always this accident prone?”

Her smile faded a bit, but not completely, like the sun passing behind a low cloud, still there, just not quite as bright. “Nope, I guess there’s just something about you that brings it out in me.” Her smile grew again and Ben found himself wanting to do or say whatever it took to keep it there so he could bask in its splendor.Splendor?What was this woman doing to him?

Instead of making a real effort to be different, he did what he always ended up doing, saying the exact wrong thing. “Well, you should really be more careful. Luckily, neither of our cars have any damage, but it could have been a lot worse. Someone could have been seriously injured,” he scolded.

The woman’s smile fell away altogether and she looked a little put off. “I didn’t do it on purpose, it was an accident. That’s why they call themaccidents.” She sighed and her brow furrowed as she touched her hand to his forearm, her expression far less annoyed than he expected for how he’d just spoken to her. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

Ben shook his head, touched by her concern for him. “No.” He wanted to say something that would be a little more reassuring, but like always, he just couldn’t get the words out.

Even as her expression filled with relief, her teeth snagged on her plump bottom lip as she looked at him, her eyes searching his. “Are you sure? I mean, maybe we should take you to urgent care or...” She exhaled slowly. Was her hand holding him more firmly? Or was that his inner desires playing tricks on him. “Or I could take you out for coffee. You know, my way of saying sorry.”

“I’m good.” The reply was automatic, an almost knee jerk reaction to anyone asking him to take part in anything outside of his comfort zone. Being around this woman for even a second longer definitely qualified as that, but as he watched her face fall again, he wished he could snatch the words back, push himself like his therapist always recommended, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Right.” She laughed uncomfortably, glancing at their respective bumpers. “Well, no worries. I mean, if you’re not hurt and the cars aren’t damaged, I guess we’re good here, yea?” Ben nodded and her hand dropped away from him as she turned to leave. Even through his wool coat he had felt the warmth from her body transferring to his, and he already missed it. “I really am sorry about all this. Oh, and for the last time I suppose.”

Despite his inability to form words and his strong desire to get home, Ben felt compelled to call her back, follow her, do anything to keep her around, but his lips remained sealed and his feet firmly rooted to the ground. That wasn’t the kind of thing he was good at though, so he held up a hand in goodbye and watched as the woman pulled back onto the small street, disappearing from his life once more. Ben hopped back into his car, but he didn’t pull away just yet. An ache flared in his chest and he swallowed down the lump that clogged his throat. It had been a long time since Ben had wished he was better with people, but the beautiful, sunny woman had affected him, and Ben couldn’t help but replay their interactions and how much differently things could have gone if he’d actually put himself out there.

In another life, he would have asked for her name, and she would have given it to him. They would have laughed at the coincidence of running into one another again, and he would have taken her up on her offer of coffee. It could have turned into a dinner where they would have a wonderful time and make plans to do it again, spending more and more time together until finally, the aching loneliness Ben felt at night would go away completely. Alas, that was not to be because he was completely inept when it came to dealing with others, especially beautiful women who were far more hopeful than he could ever be.

***

“You’re quieter thanusual tonight,” Henry remarked as the two of them stormed into a dragon’s cave to steal the golden egg.

Ben grunted as he typed commands to his level 98 knight, not enjoying being called out on his less than stellar mood. He was used to stewing alone, but apparently, he’d made the inquisition inevitable by letting the day’s events continue to affect him. “Just focus on the campaign.”

Henry chuckled through the mic on his headphones, the sound welcome despite it being at his expense. “Okay, man. Whatever you say.”

Ben appreciated the reprieve, having already revisited the cause of his discontent enough for the two of them. Even getting back to his place and slipping into his favorite sweats and college shirt couldn’t get the fact that he’d blown it with the beautiful stranger, not once, but twice. Three times if you counted his turning her down for what probably would have been a date, which he absolutely did. The mistake was like a weight on his shoulders, and no amount of Junior Mints or gaming could lighten the load.

“Why do all the female characters have gigantic chests? Like, was there something in the water in the village, or is it just because the character designers were super horny when they made this?” The faint voice of a female that came through his headphones sounded vaguely familiar, but Ben couldn’t be sure and shook off the sense of déjà vu.

“Probably the later, Holls,” Henry mumbled, and Ben finally placed the voice.

Henry’s sister could sometimes be heard in the background when he gamed with Henry, often making comments about the characters or how boring the game was. Ben honestly hadn’t paid much attention to her in the past, but there was something different about tonight. Maybe it was because he’d missed an opportunity to be more talkative earlier, but he felt compelled to respond.

Ben snorted as her query echoed in his mind. “As someone who worked on this exact game, I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

He and Henry continued to fight off attackers and Holly could be heard in the background giving a running commentary of the action. “What? This looks fun. Why don’t you play more of these missions when I’m around? I only ever see you doing the ones where you have to take someone from one place to another. So, lame.”

“Escort missions,” he said out loud as his character swung his sword. Again, why Ben felt the need to explain a basic tenet of gaming to a stranger was beyond him, but the words had flown out before he could reel them back in. It was the exact opposite situation as earlier when he couldn’t force the words out of his mouth, a strange occurrence he was writing off as a result of his fatigue.

“What did he say?” Holly asked and after some shuffling on the other end, her cheery voice came in a little clearer. “What did you say? This is Holly by the way.”

Ben stumbled over his words for a moment, not expecting to talk to her directly. “Um...” He was used to talking to Henry over the game call, but he had never actually met or spoken to his sister, Holly. Cursing himself for speaking up in the first place, Ben struggled to speak again, worried he’d made a mistake by agreeing to game in the first place.

After too long of a pause, Holly spoke to her brother. “I think I broke him, Henry.” Ben heard something in the background that sounded a lot like “that’s just how he is,” and tried not to take it personally.

That harsh truth brought him back to the moment at hand, and while Ben wasn’t confident when it came to socializing, when it came to gaming or anything else he knew a great deal about, the words always came a little easier. “I’m going to ignore that little jab from your brother because I am, in fact, like that. To your question though, I said escort missions. That’s what it’s called when you have to take someone from one point in the game to the next.”

“Interesting,” Holly said into the headphones. Ben scanned her voice for sarcasm and found none. He was shocked she wasn’t making fun of him when no one else ever found details like this worth discussing. “And why are there so many of those? They are crazy boring.”

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