what if it's us fanfiction

two

arthur's pov

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"Do you remember the summer you spent in my city?" Ben acts as if I don't remember him or the hours I spent holding him. "I mean—" he blurts, making the phone echo with static.

"You mean the summer I spent in New York? Yes Ben, I think I do," I tease, hoping it's coming off as teasing and not ridicule. He let's out a breathy laugh that does things to my heart.

"Well—" he's flustered. I can tell by the shortness of his breath and the way he's pausing while talking. Sure we were together for around a month, but how could I ever forget about Ben? One of the best guys I've ever dated. "Iwannagetbacktogether," he blurts, making what he says sound like one big word.

Did I just imagine what he said? Did I black out? Does Ben really want to get back together with me? Or is this some kind of joke? Im all the sudden completely nervous. And to think I called him to talk about how he was doing in college. I had no idea he still liked me, let alone remembered me.

"Like, together together?" I move the phone from my left ear to my right. I hope i'm not imagining this, I really hope I'm not.

"Wh— yeah," he breathes, doing his signature breathy giggle that he must have picked up on. I don't ever remember him doing that when I dated him, even though I kinda do love it. "Yeah, I mean like together, as in boyfriends," the word stings me.

"Yeah. I mean— why did we break up again?" I walk over to my bed. Maybe the party one of my friends was going to drag me to "meet hot guys" can wait. I already have who I want. 20,000-some miles away.

"I don't remember, I mean long distance can't be that hard? Can it?" he whispers under his breath, I catch it reminding myself on how hard long distance really is.

"I mean we can give it a shot," I offer. Holding my breath, to see what he says next. I never noticed how intimate phone calls were. You can hear every breath, noise, and sound the other person makes. It's pretty wild.

"I mean if you want to," Ben sighs from the other side of my phone. "Look I'll have to call you later, tonight? Maybe?"

"Of course," I grinned from ear to ear. Of course, he can't see me, but I haven't felt this happy in what feels like forever. "Call you tonight," I hang up and throw myself onto my bed. Clutching the iPhone over my heart, which is beating so fast it feels like I just ran a race.

I guess I'm just going to call my boyfriend later tonight...

Ha.

Boyfriend.

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