Can't Turn Back Now, I'm Haunted (A Ben Willbond Rom Com)

Chapter Fourteen | London Bridge is Falling Down

"This isn't real," I muttered, pressing my fingers against my temples. "You're not really here — because if you were here that would mean that you have actually gone insane."

"Maggie, I wanna talk to you."

I looked up into his amber eyes in disbelief. For so long, every time I looked into those eyes it was with deep affection — love, even. Now, it was like I was looking into the eyes of a stranger.

"What could you possibly want to talk about, Jason?"

"I made a mistake!"

His voice was too loud. I grabbed his jacket sleeve and dragged him through the crowd to the edge of the room. Finally, I rounded on him and looked up at him with wild eyes.

"... Ya think?"

"I know, I know," he groaned. "I was selfish and stupid and I should've had my shit together."

"The understatement of the year," I scoffed under my breath.

"I'm saying, I should've broken up with Talia the second I met you."

I looked back up at him, bewildered. He was staring down at me, his eyes shining, his forehead creased with feeling. He was so handsome — movie star handsome, my friends and I always said. He had chiseled features and warm hazel eyes and broad shoulders, topped off with a boyish, playful demeanor that always put everyone at ease. It had been so easy to fall in love with him, working together side by side every day.

But I was also struck, for the first time, by how very LA he looked. How young Hollywood. His face had traces of a sunburn — from hiking in Malibu, I instantly surmised — that made him look even younger. His curly hair was brushed forward in a trendy way that I found myself looking up at with distaste. It didn't look bad — on the contrary, he looked like a million bucks. But I felt a step removed now.

"What are you talking about, Jason?" I said wearily.

"I'm saying that I'm in love with you," he said, stepping closer to me. A huff of air escaped my lips — part scoff, part laugh, part sob. "I'm saying I fucked up, but it wasn't being with you, it was being with her."

"You can't be serious," I stammered after a moment of confused silence.

"I was confused," he pined, putting a large hand on my arm and searching my face, trying to force eye contact. "I wasn't thinking, I didn't mean for any of it to happen. I was with Talia because I felt like I was supposed to be, and I had no idea I was going to meet you and have my entire world turned upside down."

"My vagina's not magic, Jason," I deadpanned, opting for humor to corral the quaking feelings in my chest. "I didn't put a fucking spell on you, you made the choice to cheat and not tell me or her about it."

"I know," he said, a chuckle escaping him as he processed my joke. "I know, it's my fault. All of it."

He rubbed his face wearily, and as I looked up at him I saw a glimpse of my old friend.

"It is," I said with a sigh. "But if you came all this way to apologize, then I appreciate it."

He looked back down at me seriously, his eyes full of emotion.

"I didn't just come to apologize," he murmured. "I came to get you back."

"No," I said instantly, the word spilling out of me in an incredulous laugh.

"Maggie, I'm still in love with you." He wrapped his hands around my arms. I looked up at him, nonplussed. "The biggest mistake I ever made in my entire life was messing it up with you, and I want to spend the rest of my life devoted to fixing it."