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

Chapter 20: Ben and Leslie

At Leslie's House:

"Do you want eggs or bacon with your pancakes?" Ben yells from the kitchen.

"I want whip cream!" Leslie replies off camera from the bedroom.

"That wasn't in the choices, but sure..." Ben mumbles to himself, shaking his head at Leslie's obsession with whip cream.

His Star Wars themed ringtone blares suddenly and he sets the pan down to quickly grab his phone from the dining table. He sees Chris's name pop up on the caller ID and answers it.

"Hey, Chris. What's up?"

"Ben Wyatt?"

"Yup."

"Why do you have Leslie's phone?"

Ben's blood drains as he realizes that he answered Leslie's phone. He blanks out and looks wide-eyed at Leslie who just entered the kitchen. Leslie seeing her phone on Ben's hand gives him a confused look.

"Uh, well, Chris... I..." Ben stammers on the phone and Leslie panics as she finally understands what Ben has done. Her jaw falls open and she's staring at Ben as he struggles to find an answer. Her gut feels like it's filled with rocks, and she's thinking that this is it. This is how they get found out. Chris would see the clues and put two and two together.

"Leslie, uh, left it in the car yesterday from our trip back!" Ben quickly answers, looking proud of his clever excuse. Leslie sighs a breath of relief as it sounds plausible. "Yes, I'll relay that message to her." Ben hangs up and throws the phone to Leslie. "Change your damn ring-tone, Leslie. That was really close!"

"Gaahhh! I'm so so so sorry!" Leslie fiddles with her phone as she changes the settings. Her heart rate is starting to come down. "What did Chris want?"

"He wanted to set a meeting with you around 10 this morning." Ben takes the pan from the stove and transfers the pancakes on her plate. He opens the can of whip cream and sprays the pancake surface completely, swirling his hand until he reaches a height that he knew Leslie preferred.

"Thank you! I love when you prepare breakfast." She kisses Ben lightly on the lips before she sits and starts devouring her food. Ben sits beside her and eats his bacon and eggs.

They were back in Pawnee, back to hiding how they felt about each other in public. Leslie shouldn't complain really. She has an amazing boyfriend that she's dating in secret. She got to spend a wonderful week with him in Muncie. One glorious week where the universe ceased to exist outside of them. Sweet, fun and sexy hot moments that she replayed in her mind. She's thinking all this while licking the whip cream from her fork.

"Good Lord. Stop that. I'm getting really jealous of that fork." Ben teases her. He sees how distracted she is this morning and he knows what she's feeling. He's feeling the exact same thing. The trip to Muncie made him realize that he wants them to be a real couple. Do things real couples do without the fear of getting fired. Leslie smiles back and he reaches out and tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. She leans her face on his big hand and then turns to kiss his palm. It's such a short and sweet exchange that Ben feels the urge to skip work and just spend the whole day with her. But he knows that Leslie would never skip work, not even when the world was ending.

"So, I guess it's back to normal then in the office? I'll try not to stare at your butt all the time and you'll try not to call me babe in one of our meetings?" Her smile doesn't reach her eyes.

Ben wants to cheer her up and comes up with an idea. "Alright, how about this. Let's go out tonight, I'll figure out a place that I know no one from work goes to." He feels heavy in his heart when Leslie sighs and nods her head softly. It's the best he can give her for now, until he figures out a way around Chris' rule.