Chance

Chapter 2 - The Plan

It took me two hours to finally muster up enough courage to reply to Ben's message. My heart tugged me against it but my mind had a plan and it had to be my sole focus. This was going to be worth it. I had to keep reminding myself of that just to stop myself from backing out.

Addison: Hello, Benjamin. I was not aware of that.

The unrelenting pain my heart felt was still as fresh as the day we had last spoken. My chest squeezed at the thought of what we used to be and how happy I was before it all came crashing down.

Ben: I'm really surprised that you even responded.

So was I, Ben... so was I. If only he knew how close I came to deleting the app and moving to another city.

Addison: Yeah, I was busy at the time.

This wasn't easy in any stretch of the imagination. Using the back of my hand, I wiped away the fallen tears and willed myself to get it together. As much as I hated it, the pain in my chest only intensified the longer I held onto my phone.

The most annoying part was that we lived near each other for most of our lives and I still saw him around every once in a while but never focused on him. It was as if he never existed. He wasn't worth it. That was the only way to protect myself. Ben tried reaching out to me a couple of months after our relationship ended and he never got a response, until today.

Ben: Look, I know things haven't been great between us. I haven't heard from you in what feels like forever. We both got the app and it matched us so maybe we should have an open mind and just give it a try. If it doesn't work then I won't bother you again.

Nope. This was a bad idea. He wanted to rope me in, untangle every web I'd spun to keep my happiness a priority then break me. Why did I think this was going to work? How stupid can one person be?

The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I was setting myself up for disaster. There was no possible way that this was going to lean in my favour. Ben was older, he had more experience and he was more guarded than I could ever dream of being.

Ben: Addi, please. I know you're sitting there overthinking it. Don't do that. Let's just meet up and I will show you that I'm not the same person you knew.

I stared blankly at the message. A minute went by then that minute turned into five. I flipped onto my back and made myself comfortable on my bed. Was I really going to do this?

Ben: Addi?

Yes, I was definitely going to do this.

Addison: Fine. We can meet but we have to set some ground rules for this.

He replied immediately. There was no doubt in my mind that he was clutching his phone, waiting for me to talk to him.

Ben: Sure, whatever you want.

Camila popped her head into my room, of course she didn't bother to knock. As usual. I shouldn't have expected anything different. She threw herself onto the bed beside me and peered at my phone, her braids hitting me in the face in the process.

"So how's it going?" She questioned while chewing some gum, her minty breath fanning across my cheek.

I attempted to shrug. I had no clue how it truly was going. "He seems eager to meet up with me. He's saying that I need to stop overthinking it and just give it a try. I don't know Cami, like, what if this is a huge mistake and I end up crying on my bedroom floor all over again?" My words tumbled over each other, all fighting to pass my lips at the same time, "I can't handle that again."

She kissed my temple and ran a hand through my faux locs, "I was there for you last time and I'm here for you now. Don't stress so much. I'll keep you grounded so if you ever feel like it's becoming too much, just tell me and I'll get you through or just force you to stop." She giggled and nudged me with her shoulder, "You know... whichever works best."

A smile instantly formed on my lips. She was always there whenever I needed her and I've never taken her for granted. Cami was the type of friend that one would have for a lifetime and that's exactly what I was planning to do.

"I love you, Cami."

She giggled softly beside me, "It's not like you had a choice. Now, respond to your little friend. I wanna see what he has to say" I nodded and tried to come up with something to say.

Addison: 1 - We're going to meet up at the park. 2 - I don't want any lies from you just be completely honest with me. I can handle it.

Ben: I never lied to you before so why would I start now?

I rolled my eyes, funny my finger along the edge of my phone case. He was always honest, maybe a little too honest sometimes. Cami shifted, giving herself a better view of the conversation. What was the best response for this?

"Oh I don't know... maybe you'd lie to get back into her good books again," Cami responded aloud with a snort of disbelief, "I still have no idea what you saw in him to begin with. He's an idiot"

I heard her speaking yet the words didn't register in my mind. What other ground rules did I want? Was this even smart? What was I doing?

Addison: 3. Don't tell your friends that we're meeting.

That last one wasn't a hard rule because if they knew, they'd probably want to show up just to see if I'd actually make an appearance. When Ben and I were together, his friends became my friends but after everything that happened, I cut all ties to him and them. It was childish to end my friendship with them. It was also too difficult to hang around them. They were trying to be loyal to both of us and I saw what it was doing to them so I made the decision for them.

Ben: Okay. May I add one more to the list?

The thought of him having a rule piqued my curiosity. He was more of a go with the flow type.

Addison: Go ahead.

Ben: 4 - I won't do anything that you don't want me to do. I'll wait for you to give me your permission.

I wasn't expecting that. I could almost hear Cami roll her eyes when the message came through. It was then that I realised the pain in my chest had subsided. This plan seemed like it was really going to work.

Addison: I like that. See you tomorrow at the park we used to go to.

Ben: See you.

This was the perfect time to do this. My vacation from work had just started, giving me all the time I need to make this a priority. Ben had my undivided attention. Nothing was going to steer me away from what I needed to do. Benjamin Cook was going to get a taste of his own medicine. 

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Going through this story after a year is so fun. I'm hoping to have this whole story edited within a few months. I'm mostly going through and trying to find spelling errors right now. If you see any that I missed, let me know :)

Chapter 2 of my entry for the Open Novella Contest 2020! 

Thank you for reading!