Loving Benjamin

"They Are Such Girls."

Who has a special night without any pictures?

Not wanting to miss the magical moment, my mom came along with me to take pictures at a butterfly garden close to home.

As my mom pulls into a parking space, I see the guys paying for parking; Paul, Howard, Ian, and Alex, but not Ben. I scurry out of the car full of excitement and see Dara walking towards the guys too. "Dara!" Running over to her in my three-inch heels and she in her two-inches, we embrace each other squealing. "Are you all ready to go?"

We walk out of the underground parking structure and head for the garden dressed to the nines. Arriving to our destination, Dara pouts, "The butterfly garden is closed." Looking at each other not knowing what to do next, all of us continue walking around the park looking for another place to have our photoshoot. "Oh, look! There's a Japanese Tea Garden! We can go there." Dara exclaims pointing her finger towards the direction of the tea garden.

An oriental wooden fence encompasses the small garden. There are shrubs, plants, and trees surrounding the open pathway. A bridge in the middle of the garden hovers over the murky water full of koi fish, turtles and ducks catches my attention. I cannot contain my happiness. Looking around, there are so many places to take beautiful shots. "Ooh! Let's take a picture on that!"

"Shouldn't you wait for Ben to get here?" My mom reminds me that my date is not even here. "He has the corsage and the boutonniere, it'll look better in pictures." Fifteen minutes later, my phone vibrates inside my black crossbody purse. It's Ben. I tell him that we are waiting for him and he replies by saying he will be there in a few.

For the past week, we were discussing what he should wear in order to match with me. I already bought my dress weeks in advance meaning that he had to search for a burgundy tie. "But I want to wear a bowtie."

"Why? I don't like bowties."

"Ok, I'll try to find a burgundy tie. But if I don't, will you be okay if I wear a bowtie?"

"Only if you can't find one." I finished.

He ended up only finding a burgundy bowtie. But as he walks through the gates with that bowtie, I fall for him ten times harder. No one--not even Zac Efron --could have looked better in a bowtie than Ben. Within the first five seconds, I get slightly light-headed but brush it off with a wide smile. His calm composure makes it hard for me to keep cool. "Hi, I'm Ashley's mom." Ben's mom came along with him and the parents introduce themselves.

Ben walks over to me with an equally wide smile after meeting my mom. "Hi. I have your corsage, do you want to put it on?" I nod my head. "I also have my boutonniere so you can put on it on me," he adds after slipping the flower wristlet through my right hand and handing the single rose to me.

"Sorry if I poke you." I whisper quietly. "Can you hold the other pin for me?" He does as I ask while I work the flower onto his blazer with the first one. I spend a good five minutes trying to make it hold but it just flops down. Thank goodness the others ran off deeper into the garden to take their own pictures. Why am I so awkward. My mom sees me struggling and tells me how to pin at an angle. A few mistakes and no poking later, I finally pin it securely onto his jacket. "Ok! Let's take pictures!" I start walking through the garden and we sit a white cement bench. We sit next to each other and... CHEESE!

"Why are you two so formal?" Ben's mom asks, giggling. "Do something fun!" Ben and I look at each other searching for 'fun' ideas. "Why don't you stick your tongue out at Ben, Ashley?" I do as she says and she snaps a photo.

Ben turns to me, "Can we take a picture with our backs facing the camera with the sun setting in the background?" My face lights up at the idea. He actually put thought into the types of pictures he wanted to take. Cute.

After we finish our mini photoshoot, we go to find the others. Paul, Dara, and I stay back knowing that we should start wrapping up and heading to the dance, but the boys were having too much fun. Alex and Ian take a picture together in starfish position hanging off a light post as Ben runs to join them. Dara starts to get annoyed since she already warned the boys that we have to go soon. "Guys! Are you done yet?" She shouts at the boys who are twenty feet away. She turns to me, "Oh my gosh, they are such girls. How can they enjoy taking pictures more than me and you, Ashley?" I just giggle.