Ben smiled as his fingers ran through his cropped hair, loving how he doesn't have to deal with his long locks anymore. He had to grow his hair out for his final play of college, but since it is the last day of school, he decided to get it cut. Of course, when he came home, Cassie complained about how she liked it long.
He didn't care. It was starting to get hotter anyways and he hated that the heat would go straight to his head. At least with this, he would be a lot cooler this summer.
After a moment of admiring his new look, he brushed his teeth, then washed his face. "Alright, I'm heading to the pub," he announced, as he walked out of the bathroom and into his and Cassie's apartment of two years.
It was a very nice place, especially compared to their first one, where it was basically a box with a bed. They were determined to save their money and get a bigger place and they pulled through with this one, which they got a deal on as well.
Cassie was sitting at the dining room table with her new Windows '98 laptop her parents had gotten her. All she did was sit and type away at those things, creating a new world after the other. Ben wished she had a proper desk to sit at, but there wasn't any space left between the couch and the T.V. that took up pretty much all the room.
They've spent many nights at that table eating and studying, but mostly studying. They've been doing that for the past month with finals coming up. Luckily, they both passed with flying colors and were set to graduate tomorrow.
Ben went up to Cassie at asked, "Did you hear me?" She jumped a bit and looked up at him. "Oh, sorry, no," she said, while pushing her glasses up her nose. He chuckled, then told her, "I said I was going to head to the pub. You sure you don't want to join?"
She nodded and told him, "Yeah, I want to finish this up. If I send it in early enough, I'm hoping I'll have a better chance of getting this job." She was typing up a portion of a book she had written in her notebook recently and was going to send it into a publishing firm in London, where she's hoping to either get published or become an editor.
Ben kissed her head, then told her, "You'll get it, I know you will. If you want to stop by when your done, just call me and I'll order you something so it'll be there by the time you are." She smiled and said, "Thanks, but I think I'll just go to bed early. I'm still exhausted from last night."
Last night was her birthday party. Ben had set it up at some night club and they partied and drank until their livers decided it was enough. They and the boys and a few other friends went into their last exams this morning with hangovers.
"Right," he said, "well, I'll get going then. Love you." As he walked out, he smiled when he heard her say, "Love you, too, babe." He made his way down into the lobby of the apartment and out into the parking lot to his car.
It only took him a few minutes to get to the bar and he was greeted by Martin, Ben, Adam, and Tom at their usual booth. James was already back in London for a small concert gig he was offered. "How did your's and Cassie's exams go?" Adam asked after Ben got settled. He nodded and said, "Great, actually. We both passed with straight A's, which is great for my scholarship at LAMDA and Cassie is just being overwhelmingly supportive with it."
Rather than trying to get a job right out of college, he decided to continue his acting studies in London and earn his Masters. Cassie was very encouraging in his decision making and was supporting him like no other. That's why she was trying to get a job in London, too.
"You're a lucky man, mate," Martin said. "Amanda and I are moving to London, too. We're hoping to pick up some acting gigs there, but we'll see how that goes." Adam piped in and said, "Yeah, Janie and I are hoping to move to London, but money's a little tight right now. We're planning to be there by next Christmas."
Tom sat in silence for a moment, before saying, "I'll be moving back in with Mum." He and Olivia broke up about seven months ago. He realized how tight of a leash she was keeping him on and couldn't stand it anymore, so he ended it.
"Just until I can get out on my own obviously," he continued. They ordered more drinks and talked about this and that, just life in general. After about an hour and when Ben was feeling the alcohol course through him, he cleared his throat and said, "I have some big news."
The guys stopped their talking and looked to him. They could see he was nervous and he clearly was. He almost shaking. "What's up?" Adam curiously asked. Ben took a swig of his beer, then said, "Well...this is something I've been thinking about for a while now...a long while, actually and, um..."
He took a deep breath. "I'm going to ask Cassie to marry me." All of the boys looked shocked, but then they started clapping. "Alright, Benny boy!" Adam shouted, while Martin and Tom whistled. "Next round is on me!"
After Adam ordered them their drinks, Tom excitedly asked, "So when are you going to do it? Do you have a ring yet?" Ben dug into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. When he opened it, he pulled out a small engagement ring.
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The boys leaned in to get a better look at it. "Wow, Ben," Martin chuckled. "How much did that cost?" He put it back in his wallet and told them, "Around four hundred pounds. I plan to ask her when we go and visit her family this week. I know it would be important to her for them to be apart of this."
He took another deep breath, then said, "Bloody hell, I'm getting married. Probably. Hopefully. God, I hope she says yes." He took a swig of his drink and Adam patted his back. "She will, mate," he said. "That girl is fucking crazy about you! Did you ask her dad for permission yet?"
Ben smiled as he nodded. "Yeah," he said, "a couple of days ago while Cass had a study group with her friends at school. He was skeptical because, hell, she's just turned twenty-four. We're still young, but he told me that he already sees me as a son and that he wouldn't want to give his daughter away to anyone else. I actually teared up at that."
Tom let out a light laugh and told him, "That's great! So, this week?" Ben nodded and told him, "This week."
**
It was around eleven o'clock when Ben came home to a dark apartment. He wasn't drunk or hardly even tipsy, so he was very quiet when walking in. He gently set his keys down on the dining room table and put his jacket over the chair.
After kicking off his shoes and jeans, he carefully climbed the short stairs to the bed. He gently crawled into the bed, feeling around so he could know where Cassie was. Once he felt her leg, he climbed further up and settled down beside her.
A few moments later, he felt her shift, and then felt her hand glide over his chest and her head rest on his shoulder. He turned his head just enough to breath a kiss to her head, then took her hand and ran his thumb over her empty ring finger.
He smiled at thinking how it could be occupied with that ring in just a few days. This was going to be the start of a new chapter.
