Page 35 of Beauty and the Nerd
Emma let out a sigh as she left her last class of the day. The sun was out and shining brightly but it was still a little chilly. March wasn’t as warm just yet even though Spring was just around the corner and her Spring Break officially began Monday, although it was easy to see how empty the campus was already becoming.
There was only one downside to them being at different schools they’d discovered. Columbia and NYU’s Spring Breaks weren’t on the same week. Neither were the beginning of the spring term and their final exams. Ben had to be back to classes a week before she had, but his exams were going to be done about a week before hers as well.
So, this week, Ben had mostly hung out at the apartment and next week, she was likely going to be doing the same. They’d both agreed they didn’t want to head back home for any of their respective time off after the mess Christmas turned out to be.
In fact, Ben wasn’t even talking to him mom because of it. She hated that she’d created a strain in their relationship, but she loved that Ben stood up for her. That he stood behind her entirely and wouldn’t let the woman put her down or primarily ignore her as she’d been doing since graduation any longer.
She got back to the apartment and smiled finding Ben on his laptop, his face serious making her body heat entirely. She loved that look on his face, but it was slightly surprising since he wasn’t wearing his glasses. “Hey,” she mused as he looked up at her with a smile as she shut and locked the door behind her.
“Hey baby, you look ready for a break.”
“I am, I just wish we would have had them off together,” she mused, settling in next to him on the couch, glancing at his screen before he set it onto the coffee table. “What are you looking at?”
“Summer class schedules and internship opportunities through the school that would let me stay in the dorm for the summer,” he answered, surprising and elating her all at the same time. “I don’t want to go home without you, and since everyone, including your therapist, has agreed that it’s better for you to stay here than risk another issue with Carter happening with going back for the summer, I need a way to keep my dorm room covered.”
“You’d do that to stay with me?” she asked, smiling when he nodded, his lips coming down on hers with a sweet kiss. “I love you, you know that?”
“I know, I love you too, Emmy. That’s never going to change,” he promised, holding her closer. “So, if I need to take more classes this summer or get a job to be able to stick close, that’s what I’m going to do.”
“I certainly won’t complain about you being here with me. But not to sound like a nag, but where are your glasses? I don’t want you straining your eyes or giving yourself a headache looking at the computer without them.”
“Well…I actually had an appointment with the eye doctor on Monday,” Ben said holding her gaze. “My eyesight is a little worse, and he suggested that instead of wearing the glasses for just reading, it might be better to wear them full time, to whichI ended up admitting that I did for the most part anyway for the convenience of it all. He just chuckled a bit at it and then asked if I’d ever tried contacts. I told him that my eye doctor back home never offered them since they were just ‘reading’ glasses. So, he asked me if I wanted to try some now since they weren’t just for reading any longer and I said why not. I went ahead and got a new pair of glasses as well, but I’ve been testing out the contacts this week, getting used to them. I guess I forgot about it because I’d only lasted a few hours each day with them, and my new frames look exactly like my old ones.”
“You’re not just trying them for me, are you?” she asked, holding his gaze. “I know I usually take them off while we…”
“I asked my mom for contacts during junior high when my glasses kept getting stolen, but she said that they weren’t covered and to just take better care of my glasses. That’s why I wore them all the time. So no, it’s not just for you, baby. I don’t like them on while we’re making out either,” he teased, nuzzling her ear sending a shiver fully through her. “The eye doctor said that I might want to look into Lasik as well, that it could get rid of the need for glasses and contacts entirely. If I get a decent paying job after school, I might do it for the extra convenience, so don’t worry. I know you’re not being vain. Don’t let my mom’s stupid issues get to you.”
“She thinks I’ve completely changed you,” Emma sighed closing her eyes as he ran his hand through her hair.
“Which is stupid. So-what if you got me to get a haircut before she knew we were together? The stuff with the clothes is total bullshit too. Why wouldn’t I wear what you got me? It’s not like you refused to go out in public with me unless I started dressing better and not like a junior high dweeb still. What did she expect to happen when I got out of college anyway? That I’d find a decent job that let me wear comic book t-shirts to work all the time? Sure, it might happen in some fields, but it’s not likelyto happen in finance or economics, which is what I’m leaning towards, and she knows it. Hell, she knows I’ve been leaning that way for the last two years, long before we even got together,” Ben stated, stopping any worries before they could begin. “What I wore in high school was going to have to change if I got a job at some financial firm and it’s not like I dress up for school every day. It was Christmas for Pete’s sake. I wanted to look nice for my girlfriend, who happens to be pretty damn amazing when it comes to picking out outfits. It’s not a federal offense to take advice from the woman you love or respect it more than your own parent’s opinion.”
Emma couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up, feeling him tense as he spoke, and she lifted her face to his, smiling at the irritation in his eyes. “Thank you, for always sticking up for me. I really wish your mom liked me. I mean…she raised an amazing son, and I appreciate that more than you can imagine.”
“Let’s forget about her for now,” Ben suggested, teasing her lips with his. “We have two full days before I have to be back at class, and you’ll have the whole week to relax. Your dad won’t be here until you’re back in classes. I want to spoil you completely. Whatever you want to do for the next week, baby.”
“That sounds amazing,” she sighed clinging to his shoulders. “Ashley asked if we wanted to go out tomorrow night with them on a double-date since everyone else was likely going to be out of town still. I said we probably could make it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling at the relief in his eyes. “I may not want to go to stupid parties when we don’t know most people there still, but I like Ashley and James, so I’m good going out with them.”
“I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want or aren’t ready for, especially not after what happened back home,” Ben told her and she nodded, giving him a soft kiss in return.
“You’re not. You’ve been amazing, giving me the time I needed. It wasn’t your fault,” she added seeing the look that crossed his face. “It should have been safe. It’s not like we were with strangers since we graduated with pretty much everyone there. Carter wasn’t invited, shouldn’t have been there. How or why, he showed up, I don’t know, but it didn’t do him any favors. At least this time there were witnesses and he couldn’t weasel his way out of a video recording of him trying to assault me.”
“I shouldn’t have let you go to the bathroom by yourself.”
“Ben,” she said, pulling his gaze back down to hers, her hand resting on his cheek. “None of us should have to worry about going to the bathroom alone, especially when we’re with friends or at least people we know. It wasn’t your fault. He didn’t even get as far as he did in the truck, thank god. With the cameras in the house, he had to plead guilty to a lesser charge to avoid jail time. At least he’s on a registry now and if he doesanythinglike that again to someone else, he’s bound to do jail time. Plus, we have the restraining order so if he would try to come after me again when we’re there, he’ll be in even more trouble.”
“I still hate that I wasn’t there to keep you safe from him. I’m just glad we’d already convinced you to talk to a therapist before that happened,” he added, holding her close. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself for keeping quiet if it’d sent you further inside yourself and away from me.”
“I am too, and that Shawna does online appointments because if we hadn’t been able to get hold of her after that I may have hidden inside the rest of the break. I know I wasn’t too happy with you calling my dad about it at first, but I realized quickly that it really was for my sake and not yours, and I love you for doing it. And because of that, I’m good with us having a double-date with Ashley and James, even if it’s somewhere we’ve never been.”
“I’ll see if they have any thoughts on it,” he stated, pulling her over his lap with a soft kiss that made her smile inside and out.
Their double-date was amazing, and it let her enjoy spending time out around others but still feel safe which soothed her immensely. Ashley was hilarious and had them laughing most of the evening, and she was glad they’d gone. She definitely enjoyed spending most of her time with just Ben, especially with them not having a ton of time together between classes, study groups, as well as being at different schools during the day. Most nights they had work to finish before they could simply relax on the couch—or her favorite—when he held her all night.
Feeling his body stretched out against hers was incredible and she’d spent the last few weeks trying to get Ben to go further. The most they’d gotten to now was around third base. Their petting beneath their clothes, usually their pajamas, was amazing and she wanted more. At least to start rounding it with something more like oral. She just didn’t know how to broach it with him just yet.
