Ben's Ex-Girlfriend (Parks and Rec | Ben and Leslie)

Chapter 11: The Sound of Silence

At the City Hall Courtyard:

Leslie is sitting at one of the tables near the corner of the courtyard. She is holding a fork on one hand and a pen on the other, writing notes on a post it in one of the pages of the binder she has in front of her. Ben enters the courtyard and sees her. He beelines to her table determined to get Leslie to talk to him.

"Hey." Ben says as he sits down in front of Leslie but she doesn't look up at all. "Leslie..." Ben tries again to catch her attention. Leslie remains silent, continuing to read her binder. "Look, I know yesterday we had that argument and I'm sorry. Can we talk about it so we can make up and make out? I miss you..." Ben says, sounding miserable.

Leslie continues to ignore him. She takes a stab at her mac and cheese and eats a forkful. Ben starts to get annoyed with how stubborn Leslie is. He hardly got any sleep last night trying to figure out how to get Leslie to talk to him. She didn't reply to any of his texts and he ended up leaving a dozen voicemails when she wouldn't answer his calls.

"Are we on a break?" Ben asks, his voice hesitant and filled with fear. Leslie pauses from chewing her food and he feels hopeful. But she continues to chew after a few seconds. "Leslie, I swear to God, I'm going to grab your face and kiss you here in public." Ben tries to threaten her. Still nothing. Good Lord, my girlfriend is stubborn.

"Fine, you won't talk to me as your boyfriend? Then you can talk to me as your boss." Ben declares, mentally praising himself for thinking about this.

Leslie puts her fork down, tightens her grip on her pen and puts on a fake smile as she turns her head to face Ben. "What can I help you with, Ben?" Ben's heart gets heavy, suddenly regretting his move. He really hated that Leslie was angry at him. But his hands are tied behind his back. What she wanted was not something that could easily be done without hurting an innocent person. He wanted her to realize it but she was too stubborn to see it.

"Do you have the budget proposal for the Pawnee Kite Competition?" It was the first thing Ben could think of that was work related.

"That's not until three months from now."

"Well... I want to see the budget proposal by the end of the day." Ben says. taking his anger out on this request. Leslie stares at him with flared nostrils. She knows Ben is trying to get a rise out of her. But she made up her mind that she wouldn't engage until he admits that she is right and that he is wrong.

"Fine. I'll have it on your desk by the end of the day." She slams her binder close, stands up and with one last angry glare, she turns her back and leaves him sitting alone. Ben stares after her, watching her walk away. It took every ounce of his self-control not to run after her. Angry Leslie was turning him on a little bit and he was half afraid that if he chased after her, he would try to kiss her in public. He sighs heavily thinking that this is not how he planned this conversation would go. He is so upset that he doesn't even notice that he has started eating Leslie's leftover mac and cheese.

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Cut to One-on-One with Leslie:

"Ben is a doodoohead!"

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Cut to One-on-One with Ben:

"She called me a what?"

-END SCENE-