Page 19 of Because of You
Ben
I may have read one or two in my day. Had to see what all the fuss was about.
I knew he was reading my books! I grin at the thought.
Ben
So have you eaten all the Cheez-Its? If you run out, can I convince you to put your book down and do something? Jeremy’s at the bar tonight and I have the night off.
Me
I’ve been on the couch for hours and I have, sadly, eaten all the Cheez-Its. Will have to go shopping before tomorrow’s Couch Time. But it’s fine because I’m meeting the girls in a couple hours for some super-secret surprise shopping trip. Dresses for the gala.
Super-secret surprise?
Molly.
Say no more. Send dress pictures.
Huh? You want pictures of the dresses I try on?
I mean, yeah. Maybe you want a guy’s opinion.
Or not.
You don’t have to.
Kidding.
I was just kidding.
No dress pictures necessary.
Have fun with the girls.
Bye!
I stare at my phone, a laugh bubbling up in my chest. Is Ben high? He rarely ever even sends two texts in a row…but eight? And asking for dress pictures and then backtracking like a psycho? Weird. It makes me feel better about the whole Benji Boy thing. Clearly we are off our game today. Shrugging, I file it away to make fun of him for it the next time I see him and jump in the shower, resolving to find the weirdest dresses in the store to try on and send him pictures of.
An hour later, showered and dressed, I run downstairs to clean up my nest in the living room before I head out. As I’m folding all my blankets, the doorbell rings. When I open the door, there is a box on the stoop from a local grocery store filled with six boxes of Cheez-Its and a case of Diet Pepsi. An Instacart receipt sits on top with a message on it:
Now you won’t have to go shopping before tomorrow’s couch time.
Have fun with the girls.
Ben
Ben Parker is just too good for this world. With a grin at the thought of him ordering my favorite snacks to save me a trip to the grocery store, I put the box on my kitchen counter and go meet the girls to hunt for the perfect gala dress.
Chapter Fourteen
Ben
Send dress pictures?
What the actual fuck was I thinking? Am I an idiot? It’s like I blacked out and my fingers just did their own thing for a minute there. I drop my head in my hands and groan. Nothing I can do about it now. I hope the snacks I sent to Hallie before she left distracted her enough not to think too deeply about why I was asking her for dressing room pictures like a pervert. Dressing room pictures.
Jesus fuck, Ben.
