Spy School: Life After Graduation

Chapter 4: Ben's Graduation

I need sleep, so this will be the last chapter for tonight.

Erica's House
Erica's Bedroom
8:30 AM
Friday
June 12th

Erica's POV:
I woke up at 8:30, anxious for the important day ahead. I tried to calm down and decided I was going to make some breakfast. My mom went home last night around 9:00. She texted me saying, "I love you! Don't worry about Ben, it will be fine. We both love you and don't be afraid to share your feelings with him!" 

I replied with, "Thanks! Wish me luck!" 

Her reply was "Good luck! Not that you'll need it!" 

I laughed and decided to take a nap to pass the time. I woke up around 1:00, got ready, and made myself a small salad for lunch. At around 2:30 I got in my green Mustang, I chose green because it reminded me of Ben, not that I'd tell him that, and drove to Spy School. 

At 2:45 I parked and walked inside. I wandered around a little but I made sure Ben, Mike, and Zoe didn't see me. At around 2:55 I entered the auditorium where the ceremony was being held and sat near the middle of the right edge of the seats and blended in with the people around me. Someone that I didn't recognize had a super boring long speech. To be completely honest, I didn't hear most of what he said because I was busy thinking about how I would tell Ben. After what felt like forever, the graduates started walking up onto the stage to get their "diploma" of sorts. It said that they successfully graduated from St. Smithens, which was the alias for the Academy of Espionage. I was scanning the crowd, searching for Ben or his friends. 

"Where is he?" I muttered. 

And then I saw him. He was walking with Mike and Zoe, no surprise there. The stage lights made his hair glow and I could see he had a tight suit, a lot like the ones my father always wore but with an emerald green shirt that made his eyes pop, with a black blazer and tie instead of Alexander's white shirt, red tie, and black blazer. Just looking at him my heart fluttered. I watched him walk up with his goofy grin, shake the principal's hand, and receive his diploma. He then saw me smiling at him, and his big grin got even bigger. He stared at me amazed but I could tell from the excitement in those gorgeous, green eyes, that he was truly happy to see me. Mike had waited for Zoe to get her diploma, and didn't notice Ben had stopped and ran right into him, knocking him over. All I could do was giggle as he realized he was falling, his look of excitement instantly changing into a look or surprise. Mike helped Ben up, realizing that I was there. Zoe saw me not long after that and smiled, clearly glad that I hadn't forgotten them. I walked over to them and Zoe hugged me. 

"You came! Wait, don't you have work?" 

"Not today, I just got back from Brazil and requested a few days off to come see your graduation." 

Mike smiled at me and said, "It's nice to see you. Thanks for coming!" 

Ben just stared, clearly confused. "Nice to see you too Mike." I looked at Ben expectantly and he still just stared like he was trying to figure something out. "Wow Ben, feeling awfully talkative today I see." I said jokingly while laughing. He looked like he was about to say something, but paused, thought a little, and did something I didn't expect. He took a step forward and hugged me, while shaking a little. He wrapped his hands around my waist, pulling me closer.  Wait, was he crying? 

"Ben, are you okay? Why are you crying?" I hugged him back and smelt something I had longed to smell for a while, vanilla and gunpowder. I smiled and hugged him harder waiting for a response. 

He pulled away from me and looked down at me, "Yeah, I'm fine now." He stopped and looked at me again and hugged me again still shaking. I looked at him and said "What's wrong?" 

He said while hugging me, "I thought you forgot about me or didn't wanna talk to me." He paused, taking a deep breath. "But you are here, you came and you even took days off to see us!" He hugged me tighter and said, "You don't understand how much I missed you! Why didn't you answer my texts? I was so worried about you!" He frowned at me, clearly upset. 

"Hardly anyone has my number so I forgot to check my text messages. I had my phone on silent because of the constant missions." I said sheepishly. "I just saw them Wednesday and figured I should explain in person." I looked over to see Mike with his arm around Zoe, the two of them staring into each other' eyes. The entire time we had been talking, they were just staring at each other. "I'm assuming those two are a couple now, considering that." I said to Ben, jerking by thumb over to point at them. 

"Yup. Ever since me and Zoe broke up they've been together, and I've been alone most of the time." I was confused, Mike and Zoe were together, but Ben was alone? Ben? 

"Alone like single or third wheel?" I asked. 

"Both." He grumbled. 

"You've been single for the past 4 years?" 

"Yup." He grumbled again. 

"Why?" I asked. He thought about it, clearly unsure about how to answer. 

"Can I tell you in private?" He asked. 

"Of course. Mike, Zoe, it was great to see you guys but I'm gonna head home." 

"Ok, see you later." They replied almost in unison. 

"Wait, where are we going, my car's at home since I've been living here." Ben was again, confused. 

"We're going in my car." I answered. 

"And we're going to my house." Ben looked, you guessed it, confused. 

When we got to my car his eyes widened, "That's your car, why green?" He asked. 

I waited until we were in the car to say, "Because it reminded me of you." I said with a smile. "But if you tell anyone..." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll find me and kill me. After all these years, you didn't get a new catchphrase? Bummer." He said, bursting into laughter.

"So, now that we're in the car, why did you stay single? Did no one else like you?" I said, changing the subject. 

He looked uncomfortable, but said, "No, they did. In fact a lot of girls did, but they all had one issue." He paused, taking a deep breath. 

"Aaaand..." I said, "that was..." 

He took another deep breath and said, "They weren't you." He mumbled. 

"What? I didn't hear you." 

"They weren't you, all right!" He immediately looked down blushing. 

As we pulled into my driveway, I said, "Ben, look at me!" 

He looked up ashamed, "What?" 

I looked into his beautiful green eyes and whispered, "I love you." And I leaned in and kissed him. I wrapped my hands around his head and ran them through his hair. When we pulled away, we were both blushing. 

We got out of the car and I walked over, slipping my hand into his and he put his arm around me, leaned in and whispered, "I love you too. I always have and always will. I know before you said we couldn't be in a relationship, but it's been a while. I know it's really fast and soon but will you be my girlfriend?"

Ok, little bit of a cliff-hanger but I'll probably update tomorrow, so don't get too upset.