I Love You, Danielle.

Chapter 1: The Kiss

It was a live taping day for another Girl Meets World episode: Girl Meets Cory and Topanga, one of the most highly anticipated episodes of all time.

Ben walked in to work and saw that Danielle was already in hair and makeup.
"She looks so beautiful", he thought.
He stood outside the door watching her get her makeup done with bug curlers on her hair. After a few seconds, Danielle saw Ben through the mirror and smiled at him.
"Ben! How long have you been standing there for?", she giggled.
"Oh, not very long. I just got here.", he replied, "you look very beautiful today."
"Why thank you. I might even keep it like this all day!", she exclaimed flaunting her hair around curlers.

Ben walked off with a smile on his face and let out a big sigh. Today is a big day. Not only the fact that he's directing the episode, but also there's supposedly a Cory and Topanga kiss to be witnessed by the cast, crew and audience after so long. He was feeling a bit nervous about how it might go, but that didn't bother as much since he kissed her countless times back when they taped Boy Meets World.

The cast has a pre-show ritual that they do before every live taping. They all meet in Ben's dressing room and pep talk each other and talk about the nerves and excitement that they have about the episode that they were working on that week. Prior to walking to the set where the audience are, they all put their hands in the middle, raise it up scream as loud as they can at the same time to release some energy and know that they're all on the same page.

It was time for Ben and Danielle's scene, where they did the famous laundry basket basketball scene in reference to Boy Meets World. She placed the sock gently on the basket, like Topanga did back in 1993.
"You never missed since the day we met.", Ben said as Cory, leaning in for a kiss.
At that moment, they kissed for the first time in ages and he felt sparks flying and butterflies in his stomach.
The audience were cheering and screaming in the background, but Ben was so caught up in the moment that as soon as they stopped, he saw Danielle smiling at him and found himself still staring at her for a couple more seconds.
Throughout the duration on the taping, it looked like he was so focused on the episode with directing and acting in it, but he couldn't stop thinking about that moment in particular.

Danielle left as soon as the curtain call concluded that Ben didn't get the chance to talk to her, despite running after her. But it was quite a long day and he understood. They'll see each other the next day anyway.

That night, while Ben was driving home, he still couldn't get the scene out of his head. He thought, why do I feel like this? I've kissed her so many times. How is this different?
It didn't take him very long to realize that maybe, he's developing feelings for Danielle.
"But it can't be!", he whispered, "she said we had a date and I didn't know it was a date so I screwed up! Since then we've always thought of each other as brother and sister. She's married too! This isn't right."

When he got home, he still couldn't get the thought of the kiss out of his head. He felt like he was going insane. He wanted to send Danielle a text, but he doesn't think it'd be right to tell her, especially that her husband is always around. Somehow what happened made him start to feel nervous about her.

As he laid down to go to sleep after a long day, he couldn't find a comfortable position. He was so tired but he couldn't sleep. Ben walked out of his room to lie down on the couch in his living room. He turned on the television, thinking that maybe it would help him fall asleep, but then he saw that Boy Meets World was on, and it was Cory's Alternative Friends. As he watched, childhood memories with Danielle began flooding back to him.

He woke up the next day and realized he was almost late for work. He rushed as he got ready but then the thought of Danielle crossed his mind again. Should I call in sick? He thought. But then again, he needs to make things look professional and have these feelings out of the way otherwise it would ruin everything.
He walked out the door and felt butterflies in his stomach again and his hands began to tremble.
"Are these feelings?", he asked himself as he ran out to head off to work.