I Never Planned On You

40- I Love...

One month later-

"I can't believe tonight is your last show." I sigh. Ben and I got to the theatre really early so we could just hang out before his final show. We're sitting at the edge of the stage, our legs dangling over the orchestra pit, my head on his shoulder.

"I know. I'm going to miss everything and everyone so much. Especially you." Ben says, squeezing my hand.

"It will be so weird without you here." I say, glancing down at our hands.

All of the sudden, Ben springs up and runs to the center tower of the set, running up the stairs.

"What are you doing?" I ask, confused.

"Come up here!" He calls down from the highest platform.

I stand up and make my way up the tower and stand in front of Ben, who is leaning back against the side of the tower that is farther away from the audience.

"Okay, what are you doing, you weirdo?" I laugh.

"Just chillin'" He shrugs.

"Soooo, what do you want to do?" I ask.

"I just, I want to spend time with you in person before I don't get to for two months." Ben says, standing up straight.

I wrap my arms around his torso as his arms come up to hold me around my shoulders.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

"I would like to say something!" Josh says, standing up on a table. "Okay, so Ben is one of the few people here that has been with this production since the beginning, and we've been friends for over a year and a half. It has been really awesome getting so close with you, buddy, and I'm gonna miss you a lot. Love you, brother, have fun on Broadway!" Josh jumps off the table and does a weird guy hug with Ben.

I grab a piece of cake and walk over to a random chair in the room. As I lift the fork up to my mouth, I see Ben walking towards me. When he is standing in front of me, I tilt my head up to him.

"Hellooo!" I say, before eating another bite of my cake.

"Hey, can we talk for a second?" He asks, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, what's up?" I ask, motioning for Ben to sit in the chair next to me.

Ben looks around for a second, "Can we go somewhere that isn't here? It's a little loud." He says.

"Um, okay, sure." I smile, standing up and walking out of the room next to Ben. "Where do you want to go?" I ask.

He pauses for a moment, "Come with me." He grabs my hand, nearly knocking my plate out of my hand. He takes me up to the very top row of seats in the entire theatre and has me sit down.

"So, what's up with you? You're kinda weirding me out."

"I just want to talk for a little bit." He says, sitting down and wiping his palms against his pants. "So, I'm leaving, and I know that long distance is hard. You deserve a relationship where both people are near each other. So, I think-"

"Are you breaking up with me?" I ask quietly, fidgeting my fork with my icing.

"What? No! Not at all!" Ben says, sounding confused by my question.

"Then what are you saying?" I ask, not picking up what he's putting down.

"I want you to move to New York with me." He says simply, making my heart stop.

"Ben...You know I can't do that." I sigh.

"Why not? You can leave the tour and we can move in together." Ben suggests.

"You're moving a little fast, Ben." I warn, "I mean, first of all, I have an eight month contract with this show, I can't just leave. Secondly, we've only been dating for, what, two months? Don't you think that's a little soon to be moving in together?"

"No, I don't think that's too soon! You said yourself that your parents got married after knowing each other for only six months!" Ben argues.

"Woah, married?! I don't want to get married!" I insist.

"I'm not suggesting that we get married right now, but if I was, would it really be that bad of an idea?" He asks.

"Yes! It would be a very bad idea! I'm only seventeen! Are you high or something?!"

"No, I'm just gonna miss you!"

"I'll miss you too, but that doesn't mean we should get married!"

Ben is quiet for a minute, "You're right, I-I'm sorry. I don't know what I was saying." He calms down.

"It's alright, let's just not talk about this, okay?" I tell Ben, putting my hand over his.

"Listen, can we just forget I ever said any of that?" Ben asks, twisting his wrist so that his hand wrapped around mine.

"Forget about what?"

"Andie, we had this conversation literally two seconds ag-OHH I get it!"

I laugh and stab my fork into my final, pretty big, bite of cake. As I bite down on the chocolate, Ben just looks at me, "I love you."

My head snaps up to look at him, my mouth still full of cake, "What?" I ask, but it sounded more muffled.

"I love you, Andie." Ben smiles.

"I love cake." I say, my voice still muffled by the large chunk in my mouth. Oh my gosh. Ben just told me he loves me and I told him I love cake.