Ben Simmons: When Two Worlds Become One

Is This A Game?

Ben was sleeping in, finally catching up on well deserved rest. When he isn't working on rehabilitation or with the team, he's home taking care of me and getting ready for the baby. Finally though, his body pushed past its internal alarm clock and let him sleep past nine.

I decided to be a super good fiancé and make him breakfast in bed. I walked into our kitchen and made a cup of coffee (decaf) and grabbed everything to make a vegetable omelet and bacon for breakfast. While everything finished cooking, I scanned through the bridal magazines that had found a permanent home on out counter top. Our wedding isn't too far off, but there's so much to plan, as we've discovered. Breakfast was almost done cooking when I heard a vibrate. It wasn't my phone, which was sitting next to me. Must be Ben's. I walked over to the living room and found it on the coffee table.

It was a text message from someone named Ashley. The only person I knew named Ashley was an old ex of Ben, but why would she be texting him? Being nosey, I typed in his password and went to the messages. More than I imagined popped up on the screen. The latest one read 'Loved talking to you last night. You make me feel so good.' and the kissing emoji. Immediately, anger filled me from head to toe. I was almost shaking. What the fuck, Ben? Everything told me not to keep reading, but I did. Tons of messages, hundreds, scanned across the screen. Flirty messages with heart emojis and a call log that showed he spent hours talking to her. After everything that happened with Johnny, we had just gotten to a place where we were both happy and looking forward to marriage and our baby. The bacon and omelet were burning so I hurried over and pulled them off the stove.

I grabbed Ben's phone and walked into our shared bedroom, without breakfast, passing the arrangement of pictures on the wall in our hallway from some of our fondest memories - visiting Australia, on the sidelines of a Cowboys game, the night he was drafted, and many more. He was still fast asleep shirtless in bed. I turned the light on and pulled the covers off his body. He woke up, confused. "What the hell, Sara?" He asked as his eyes adjusted to the light.

I threw the phone at him and he winced. "What the hell is this, Ben? Why are you cheating on me with your ex? Did you think I wouldn't find out?" I yelled. "Sara, I can explain..." he tried to think of something to say, but he couldn't. He knew what he had done, and knew there was no way to cover it up. "How long has it been going on?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "A month, maybe more. But I swear I wasn't cheating. We weren't hooking up or sending anything." As if that made things better. "That doesn't matter! You were calling her beautiful and telling her how amazing she is and how much she meant to you. You were on the phone with her instead of spending time with me and your baby!" He sat up now, facing me with his legs on the side of the bed. "I don't like her, I don't even want to be with her. I love you, only you." He said, trying to reach for my hand but I slapped his away. "And to think, I've been with you through everything. Your injury, the surgery, helping you handle your emotions, everything. And this is how you repay me. You cheat."

I walked to the closet and began throwing clothes into a suitcase. "Sara, don't do that. Don't leave," he pleaded. I turned around, "You knew damn well what you were doing. You knew damn well who you were breaking."

I lugged the suitcase to the door and grabbed my keys and my phone. "Can we please talk about this?" He asked, standing in the doorframe of our garage shivering because the cold Philadelphia air was now hitting his bare chest.

"Don't you dare call me." After throwing everything into the car, I told him one last thing before driving away. "Call Ashley."

I never thought we would have to go through this. I never thought I would be eight months pregnant in Philadelphia speeding away from a man I thought I never deserved. The first man to truly love me and show me that he cares, the man I planned to spend the rest of my life with.

We've both cheated, in one way or another. Maybe this is what finally needed to happen to show me we aren't meant to be together.

Maybe we were just playing each other all along.