✦ twenty-eight ✦

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( later that night )

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( later that night )


ben and rylee spent the night curled up on her small sofa, her favorite movie- which just so happened to be his- playing on the tv. halfway through harry potter and the sorcerer's stone, rylee's head lolled onto ben's shoulder and she began to snooze.

he tensed his biceps when he felt her fall against his side. ben waited to hear her breathing slow and he relaxed his arms. he carefully wrapped one around her back, pulling her closer to him. rylee unconsciously dropped her arm across his stomach.

ben smiled to himself, glancing around the room as the movie went on. frank lay in his dog bed by the tv, eyeing the two of them.

"what?" ben whispered, reaching out his free hand for frank's fur.

frank got up gladly and trotted under ben's fingertips. he lay his head on ben's knee, staring intently into ben's eyes.

ben, who was deliriously tired and feeling all sorts of emotions, tilted his head to the side with confusion written all over his face.

"what?"

frank did nothing but continue to stare at him.

"what? what do i even say to her?" ben was aware that frank didn't even know anything about human emotions, but he was letting his own thoughts be played out by a dog.

"seriously? what do i say?" ben continued, "oh, hey, rylee, best friend, girl who everyone is saying loves me like i love her but is in the same position as myself: scared shitless. will you let your guard down and tell me that you love me? cause i sure as hell love you."

frank whined a little bit before removing his head from ben's lap and trotting back over to his bed. ben sighed and ran a hand through his dirty hair. he needed to get home, to get a shower.

so, he carefully stood up from the couch and picked up rylee. he carefully set her down on her bed. ben sat down beside her as she wriggled around a bit.

her hand flopped down on top of hers and she unconsciously grabbed it. she continued sleeping while ben's chest lit up in flames.

he was tired of this back and forth between them. it had been happening since the start of their friendship and he was sick of it. he just needed to let her know as soon as he could.

but he knew that there was nothing he could do now, so he put on his shoes, and went home.

naive | ben tyler cookWhere stories live. Discover now