Roommates // Ben Hardy

Chapter Sixteen

It was a week later and you were all on the plane to LA. Of course you were going as Joe's date, but that didn't stop you from sharing a first class booth with Ben. You got your own bed and TV in your own privacy with glasses of wine. After everything that had happened, you couldn't help but indulge in the buzz from the wine, the edge slowly being taken off, taking your mind off the break-in.

You really loved planes, you didn't know why. You assumed it was something to do with the lack of access to social media which was relaxing, plus you loved how fast the plane went before taking off.

"I can't believe you didn't find another date to take with you" you said to Ben, taking your eyes off 'Bohemian Rhapsody' for a moment.

"I couldn't find anyone on such short notice" he simply stated, his eyes stuck on the screen.

"come on, Ben" you groaned. "you could literally pick up a girl on your way to the bins" you laughed.

"I don't know, I guess I just wanted to go alone" he shrugged, looking at you with his big, innocent, green eyes.

You squinted your eyes at him. "alright, muscles" you said, jokingly poking his biceps, making him chuckle in response.

Of course Ben couldn't tell you the real reason that he hadn't invited anyone was because he was in love with you. As much as he wanted to tell you, he couldn't.

12 hours later, when you all got off the plane in LA, you all headed to Joe's apartment. He was nice enough to let you, Gwil and Ben stay at his, while Rami and Lucy stayed at Rami's place.

Before you parted ways with Rami and Lucy, Lucy quickly added "remember y/n, our appointment is at 3:00pm" before waving to all of you, and taking her stuff to Rami's.

By the time you had unpacked your stuff it was nearing 3:00pm and you had to go and meet Lucy for your hair/makeup appointment, but Ben appeared in the doorway.

"are you heading to your appointment now?" he asked.

"yeah Joe is driving me" you said, throwing on an old hoodie and tying your hair up into a loose bun.

"right I'll be quick then. I just came here to let you know that me, Gwil and Joe will be arriving at the Oscars together, and since your Joe's date, you're probably best to come with us" he said.

"okay, that's fine. Is that all?" you said, grabbing your bag.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and hesitated before saying "yeah I'll see you after your appointment"

He really wanted to tell you how beautiful you looked when you had no makeup on with your messy hair, but he knew that would be inappropriate.

You met Lucy at the hair/makeup salon and decided to get your hair curled, so the hairdressers put your hair up into pin curls. The makeup artist insisted she had the perfect look to match your dress, so you allowed her to do what she wanted since you didn't have that much sense or coordination when it came to makeup.

After two hours of your hair being tugged and your face getting pampered, you were finally finished. The makeup artist was right though – you're makeup looked absolutely flawless. She had created a red smoky eye that perfectly matched your dress. Lucy was already finished by the time you had finished, probably because her hair was a lot shorter than yours, and you texted Joe to come and pick you up, and Lucy texted Rami.

You both sat at the entrance waiting. "so what is the deal with you and Ben recently?" she asked.

"what do you mean?" you responded, innocently.

"It's just that...well since the 'incident' he's been acting differently around you" she said. She knew damn well that Ben was in love with you. In fact, she'd known for longer than Ben knew himself. And she knew you felt the same way but had never admitted it to yourself. She was sick of the two of you always just missing each other.

"I think he's just adjusting to what happened" you said, dismissing the thought.

"no it's more than that, I can tell. Plus Joe and I have been talking about you guys being a couple...and it's just kinda...perfect, don't you think?" she suggested, desperately trying to put thoughts in your head. At this point, she cared for your relationship than hers.

"I don't know, I've never really thought about him that way before. Well I mean obviously I have, but it was always just a fantasy in my mind, I never really believed it could be anything more." You said.

"if he did have feelings for you, would you be able to return those feelings?" she asked. Joe had definitely told her about his conversations with Ben but, of course, you didn't know that.

"yeah, I-I think so" you responded, smiling to yourself, fiddling with the hem of your hoodie.

"then why don't you?" she asked excitedly and proudly.

"I don't actually have any clue if he has these feelings for me, and if he doesn't then our friendship will be ruined, and I l...I can't lose him" you said. By this point that line felt like the story of your life, and you were sick of it.

"well shouldn't you find out?" she asked, interrupted by her phone and standing up. "that's Rami here. I'll see you in like an hour!" she exclaimed before running out the salon, leaving you deep in thought about Ben, which she knew she'd done.