golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter fifty-nine

     eliana was still wide awake at midnight, her eyes glued to some ridiculous late night soap opera. she hadn't been able to stop her tears for hours and she gave up trying. she stared over at her phone, considering calling sky, or maybe texting dan or josh. it was late, though. even later for them in california. she turned back to the television.

ben checked the address in his hand for the fourth time. this was the building, he was sure of it. lola's apartment was on the fourth floor. ben raced up the flights of stairs and walked up the hallway. apartment 4h. there it was, at the end of the hall on the right.
ben hesitated for a minute. it was late. she might not even be here. but, he wouldn't know unless he knocked.
before he could think about it too much, ben rapped his knuckles against the door softly.
minutes passed.

     she barely thought she heard it. eliana could've sworn someone knocked on the door, but it was almost one in the morning. who would be coming to see lola at this hour?
then, she heard it again. a soft knock, but it was a knock.
she throw the blanket off of her and padded through the little hallway to the door. without even thinking about whether it might be an axe murderer or some other form of criminal, eliana just opened it. at this point, what did she have to lose?

ben wasn't really expecting the door to open at all. and he really didn't expect to see eliana standing in front of him.
her eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks looked wet, like she'd been crying. she was still wearing the braids from her rehearsal earlier and a sweatshirt that went well past the shorts ben knew she was wearing.
her eyes started to water and her lip started to tremble as she looked up at ben.
"don't cry, please." he whispered.
eliana blinked a few times and crossed her arms. she looked around and wiped a tear away from her cheek. "what are you doing here?"
"explaining myself. groveling. begging you to forgive me." he said with a sad laugh.
"did you ever think that i just wanted to get away from you?"
"did you ever think that i wouldn't follow you anywhere?"
the smallest ghost of a smile twitched at the corner of her mouth.
"you said you were here to explain. so, explain."
ben took a deep breath, and went through his entire story.
"ellie, i swear, she told me you were friends. i didn't think to ask you, because...i-i don't know, but-i am so, so sorry."
eliana chewed on her bottom lip and cracked her knuckles.
"ellie..." ben said softly.
"i really want to believe you ben, but i don't know if i should." she said.
"please. i-ellie, you have to believe me." he pleaded. "i came all this way because you're the one thing i can't lose. i am so in love with you, eliana dempsey."
she let her lip go from in between her teeth, and let out a breathy sigh as tears fell from her eyes.
"i love you." she said, and threw her arms around his neck. ben breathed in and buried his face in her hair as he effortlessly lifted her off her feet.

a/n: i wrote this while listening to two songs and they were: hurricane by bridget mendler and it will rain by bruno mars. what am i doing