Roommates // Ben Hardy

Chapter Ten

*y/n's POV*

You were sitting on your bed, laptop on your lap, as you searched online for dresses fancy enough to wear to the Oscars. You got a text through on your phone from Megan - your old best friend. You hadn't heard from Megan in years, not since she moved to Scotland.

It read 'hey! I'm in town and wondered if you had any time to meet me? I've missed you so much.'

You suddenly perked up, and your fight with Ben was the last thing on your mind right now.

'of course! When do you want to meet?' you replied.

'well, I'm free now if you're available' she replied back.

You didn't have anything to do and you most definitely weren't sitting through dinner with Ben, so you were desperate to meet her. Once you guys had worked out the details of your meeting, you quickly threw on a pair on skinny jeans and a woolly, knitted, burgundy jumper that you tucked into your jeans, and you left your room, hoping Ben had gone to his room or just anything that you could avoid him.

You walked to the entrance of the apartment, passing Ben in the kitchen.
As you went to grab your keys you heard him say "where are you going?"

"out" you quickly replied, shutting the door behind you. You would deal with Ben later, but right now you were excited to go and see your best friend.

You sat at the table you got for you and Megan, bouncing your leg in anticipation of her arrival. You were so excited to catch up with her. You hadn't seen her for years – not since she decided to take up journalism and move to Scotland.

Honestly, this was exactly what you needed after a fight with Ben. To see your old friend, to distract yourself. Lucy and Joe were your closest friends besides Ben, and even then it was sometimes hard to talk to Joe about Ben since the two of them were pretty much inseparable. Of course you were close with Gwil and Rami too, but you and Lucy had the connection of being the only two girls surrounded by four guys, and you and Joe instantly had a connection as if you were the same person.

"y/n?" you heard, bringing your thoughts to an abrupt halt. You looked up to see a pair of icy blue eyes with brown, wavy hair surrounding them. It was definitely Megan.

"Megan!" you exclaimed, jumping up to give her a long hug. "you look amazing!" you continued, releasing each other from your hug, scanning her high-end clothing and perfect hair.

"so do you, but you always did. You were always the one attracting all the guys and even the girls" she laughed, and you both took a seat.

"Yes, but you were the one who slept with most of them" you exclaimed, and you both laughed. It felt as if nothing had changed between the two of you – almost as if you were just picking up where you left off.

The two of you reminisced for about 10 minutes before she changed the topic onto Ben. She seemed to be quite interested in your life with Ben. "so I've heard you're not doing to bad yourself, living with the sex symbol that is Ben Hardy" she said, and usually that would've offended you – you hated when people referred to him as that, because you know how much he disliked it – but you and Ben weren't on good terms at that point in time and you were too mad at him.

"yeah, he doesn't like to be referred to as that, but yes we did move in together – purely platonic though" you said, hoping she wouldn't talk about Ben for too long, since after all part of the reason you came was to distract yourself from your fight.

You didn't know why this fight had such an impact on you. Usually when you and Ben would fight about something, you had already forgotten about it within the hour, or in some worse cases by the end of the day, but this time it was different. You felt betrayed and you were hurt, and he was acting like he didn't care..like it was your fault.

Your thoughts were, again, interrupted by Megan. "so you're telling me that you've lived together all these years and you haven' slept together?" she asked, eyebrows almost in her hairline.

"yes that's exactly what I'm telling you." You laughed dryly, staring into your coffee.

"y/n, are you okay?" she asked, placing a hand on your wrist.

"hmm? oh yeah, no it's um...it's just Ben and I are in a bit of a fight right now" you said, with a tight-lipped smile.

"oh I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up" she said, rubbing your arm, supportively.

"no don't be silly – you didn't know" you laughed. "so how's your job going? I know you were pretty excited about it before you left" you asked, swiftly changing the subject.

She told you all about how she had been promoted many times until she was finally the head journalist in her company.

Eventually, your conversation wound down and you were starting to get hungry.
"do you want to come back to mine?" you asked. "I can cook us both something for dinner, if you're hungry. Plus I don't think Ben will be in tonight so we'll have the place to ourselves." You continued, hoping she would agree.

"yeah, that sounds great, let's go" she responded, giving you a warm smile.

You both drove back to yours, giggling the whole journey about the time you got pulled over for driving too slowly.

When you arrived, Ben was no where to be found, much to your relief, and you made a stir fry for the both of you paired with a glass of wine. You put on an episode of friends, and within the next hour you were very tipsy.

"so have you never even had the slightest feelings for Ben?" she asked.

"well I mean obviously I have, I mean you've seen him, plus he's been my by my side for the better part of a decade. I know everything about him and he knows everything about me. I just don't want to risk everything. Our friendship means the world to me. He's been by my side for all the ups and downs of my life and if I ever lost him I just...I don't know what I'd do. I mean he's the one who gives me a shoulder to cry on through my breakups and if we broke up on bad terms, I wouldn't know who to turn to" you said, even though you were too drunk for this conversation.

"well, what if he told you that he had feelings for you? Would that change things?" she asked, and you paused. You didn't know what you would do if he told you he had feelings for you. You had always secretly thought that you and Ben would make the perfect couple. You always had the tiniest bit of hope that you two might end up finding your way to each other.