I Choose You : A New Chapter

Graduation Day

This was it. This is what they've all been waiting for. It's getting to the final speeches of the graduation ceremony and in a few minutes...they'll be out of here, graduated from college! Cassie was bored out of her mind with all of these speeches, but always found amusement when she looked over to Ben. 

They weren't sitting together, but could see each other fairly clearly from across the aisle. He would make funny faces at her and she would try and stifle her giggles. At one point, he pretended to point a gun at his head and shoot himself. 

Unfortunately for him, Wanda was directly behind him and smacked his head with the graduation program. That caused Cassie to full on laugh, which earned her some glares from nearby students, Wanda, Tim, and her parents.

She cleared her throat and quietly apologized. 

Finally, after several tedious minutes, the speeches came to an end and the Dean came up and deemed them the graduating class of 1998. They all stood and cheered and threw their caps in the air, even though they were told not to. 

Ben and Cassie found each other after all the chaos and kissed passionately in the middle of the graduation crowd. "Do I get a kiss like that?" Adam asked from beside them. Ben pulled away and playfully told him, "Go kiss your own girlfriend."

Adam shrugged and said, "I wasn't talking about a kiss from Cassie." 

All the graduated made their way out of the hall and outside to where all the parents were waiting. Ben and Cassie spotted their parents almost immediately. "Congrats, you guys!" Jenna happily said, as she brought her daughter in for a hug. 

"I wasn't so sure if this was graduation for children or adults with the way you two were acting," Wanda told them. Ben chuckled, "Mum, we were bored! Besides, you'll only have to deal with that once more when I get out of LAMDA." 

Wanda rolled her eyes, but brought her son into a loving hug. In the meantime, Cassie was getting hugged the life out of by Mark and Jordan. "I'm so glad you guys could make it," she said. Mark kissed her head and said, "We wouldn't have missed it for the world, Richie."

He let go of the hug, but Jordan didn't. "Can you come home now?" He asked. Cassie tsk'd, then knelt down in front of him. Eleven years old and he's still almost as short as he was a few years ago. "I'm going to be staying here with Ben," she told him. "We're moving to London."

Jordan's head hung low. Ben knelt down next to Cassie after seeing this and said, "You're more than welcome to visit us anytime you want. I'm sure we'll have a couch big enough for you." Jordan nodded and sniffled. 

"Besides," Cassie said, "you're staying a couple more days and Ben and I are flying back home with you, so we'll be spending plenty of time with each other. Okay?" He nodded and said, "Okay. Can I stay with you, though?"

Ben and Cassie looked to each other. "I think that can be arranged," Ben said. "As long as it's fine with your parents."

Mark and Jenna put their hands up and said, "Please, by all means." Jordan smiled widely and said, "Yes! We're going to have so much fun!" Ben and Cassie both laughed, then stood up. "Alright you two," Tim said, while holding up a disposable camera, "smile!"

**

That night, both Ben and Cassie's family went out to dinner. Ben's sister Tracy even came with Emily. Since Emily and Jordan were around the same age, they were preoccupied with each other and ignoring the adult conversations. 

After dinner was over and they had their coffee and chatted a little more, they all decided to head separate ways. Ben's and Cassie's parents were heading off to the hotel, while Ben and Cassie went back home with Jordan. 

"This is going to be awesome!" Jordan excitedly said, as he bounced up and down in front of the door. Ben chuckled and unlocked it. "Wow," Jordan breathed out as soon as he walked in and saw the place. "This is so cool."

While Cassie gave him the grand tour, Ben's phone had rang and he picked it up to Martin. "We're all going out to celebrate tonight and we want you and Cass to join," Martin told him. He looked over to where Cassie was setting up her computer for Jordan to play on, then said, "Yeah, we can't tonight. Cassie's little brother is staying with us and I wouldn't feel right leaving him alone."

Martin understood, then asked, "Well, what about tomorrow night? We can all go grab something to eat and do something after." Ben nodded and said, "We would love that! Call tomorrow with all the details, yeah?"

"I will. Hey, can I ask you something?" Ben started pacing the room as he said, "Sure. Shoot." He smiled when Cassie started getting into a tickle fight with Jordan. "I know you're going to ask Cassie to marry you in a few days, but I was just wondering if you two were...alright."

Ben stopped his pacing and looked confused. "Erm...yeah, we're perfect," he said. "Why?" Martin sighed, "Well, you did split up for a few months." Ben closed his eyes and tried to shake that memory away. 

Last year....they broke up. 

It was only for a few months, but it seemed like forever. They got into an argument, said some things that shouldn't have been said and decided a break was in order. Ben was absolutely devastated and wound up rooming with James, since he and Alice had split up and he was living alone.

During that time, they saw other people, but it just wasn't the same. 

"We took a break," he told Martin, "we did not split up. Besides, we've been stronger than ever since then. I love her Martin and can never let her go." The thought of letting her go again sent shivers down his spine.

"Alright," Martin said, "but my point for bringing this up is....look, getting married is about trust. I'm just afraid that Cassie is going to find out about you and...you know who." That was another thing Ben tried to shake from his head!

He ran his hand over his face and said, "That was nothing, it meant nothing. I don't love her, I love Cassie. Besides, if Cass knew...bloody hell, it would break her. And then she would break me, and then she'll never marry me."

He started to nervously chew on his nails at the thought. "I can't tell her, Martin," he continued. "Maybe it'll come up in a few years, but I can't tell her now. She still thinks she's the only woman I've ever slept with."