Ben got to his office soaking wet, his sneakers creating pools of water as he made his way into the place cursing out loud at how he was making the janitors work harder with this. "Is ok Ben I can follow you with the mop and everything will be fine don't worry about it."
Startle by Billy's voice Ben raised his head with an apologetic look in his eyes but found the janitor smiling at him. "I mean it Ben is ok. However, I think you should change, or you are going to get sick, and I gather for the fact that everyone is working late this couple of weeks that wouldn't be ok with the rest of the team."
Ben nodded and told Billy that he usually had a change of clothes in his office, so he was going to look for them and dry himself out. True to his word Billy followed Ben to his office cleaning behind him and telling him stories about his family, how his lovely wife kept making gluten-free and sugar-free desserts for him to try and how he would eat something sweet the second he made it at work because he missed sugar. Ben smiled at that feeling a little less sad; Billy continued his stories now with one of his son that was finally finishing college the next year and how proud he was that due to his grades he had managed to hold on to his scholarship for the entire four years. The boy made a mental note about talking to Billy more, he used to do it when he first started the magazine and moved into the building but their conversations got shorter with the time and since he started dating Mal none existence because he would always be in a hurry to go looking for her.
Once in his office, he started to look for his backpack but his clothes were nowhere to be found, Ben groaned at his misfortune. "I don't want to go home, Billy. I had a fight with Mal, and even though we don't live together and she is probably asleep by now, I can't go back to the building now knowing that she is there."
Billy felt terrible for the boy and wonder if there was a way he could help him. Taking out his cell phone Billy send a text to his son asking him if he could bring some of his clothes and sneakers for Ben, the boys were close to the same size. After his son answer that he was on his way with the clothes Billy got Ben a towel from his locker, and hot chocolate and some crackers from the vending machine. "Now tell me exactly what was this fight about Ben?
The boy sat on a towel on the floor and started to tell Billy everything from when he first met Mal and her friends until two hours ago in his building. Billy felt like he needed some time to understand everything that had transpired over those months between Ben and his girlfriend, but he knew that things could get out of control fast when one is still young. He remembered when Ben first told him about Mal, the smile the boy had on his face make Billy happy. Since the first time he met Ben he felt protective of the boy, he remembered how Ben was cleaning the desks of his floor trying to make everything ready for his employes which made Billy laugh because he was the one in charge of cleaning the office, but Ben wanted to do it himself and invited Billy to sit down so they could talk and get to meet one another. Soon they were friends, and their relationship only grew stronger to the that Billy felt like he had another son in Ben.
"Ben you need to stop creating scenarios in your head, your girlfriend is going to need more time to adjust to not having one of her friends close to her. Sure some part of her might try to take it out on you or other people, but in the end, she knows that none of you are at fault. With that said it wasn't wrong for you to make it clear that you didn't ignore her yesterday, just don't go ignoring her now or something like that."
The conversation was cut short when a boy's voice could be heard calling Billy. "That must be Tony. Come on Ben let's say hi to my kid."
The boy looked at Ben with a weird look, but Billy introduced them to each other and told Ben to take the bag with the clothes and go change. When Ben was ready, the three of them sat down to eat the soup that Billy had made his kid bought for Ben and them. "Well I only need to finish two more offices and then I'm going home. How about you two talk and then Tony and I go home."
Ben tried to tell Billy to go home already, no need to finish anything he had already cost him enough time but the older man told him that he liked to finish his work. The boys stay there and talk about a lot of things including Tony's studies. To Ben's joy he was completing journalism and was in need of an internship, and Ben hire him on the spot. Together they proofread the articles and Tony promised to send him a couple of original content that Ben would revise to see if it would go into the next issue depending on the quality of it.
When Billy came, change and ready to go home with his kid the boys were playing video games in Ben's office and having a good time. Ben said goodbye to both of them he had asked Tony to keep the secret of his hiring until he could tell both of his parents together. The boy continued to work alone for over an hour before someone came into the office which proved to be great for him, the knowledge that a new writer was going to be there soon to help him make his mood improved. By six am when his first meeting started he had managed to plan what he needed to do to straight his magazine up, he would hire freelance writers each day of the week to cover different subjects until he could find the perfect fit for his vision.
After his third meeting of the day, he finally went into his office and sat ready to checked some articles on his computer. That's when he noticed that it was close to two o'clock and he had failed to go looking for Mal for the second day in a row. Just then someone knocked on his door, he raised his eyes and found her looking at him with a couple of paper bags in her hands. "I thought we could eat something and talk."
Ben stood from his desk and nod. "There is a conference room that should be empty now. Come with me."
With that said he motioned her to follow him, he passed by her side showing her where the room was. Mal could feel everyone's eyes on her, she had only go to Ben's office once before, and it was at the beginning of their relationship when he had insisted on showing it to her. That morning when she called Evie to tell her about the fight with Ben her friend asked her if Mal ever asked Ben about his job or anything and the girl realized that she didn't. Now in his office, it was evident that she never did a lot for finding out about his life outside of their relationship and she felt guilty.
Ben opened the door for her and decided to leave it open, part of him felt trapped in a conversation that he was not ready to have so he was going to take any chance of getting out of it. Mal put the food on the table and soon both of them were eating in silence giving each other a chance to start the conversation but neither of them taking it. When Ben finished his meal, he stood to get something to drink, and Mal panicked. "Ben, please don't go. We need to talk."
"I´m just going to go for something to drink Mal. Do you want something?" Mal shook her head, and the boy went on his way, she felt sad, since the moment they meet Ben had always been caring and now she felt like the boy in front of her was cold and she didn't like it. Sure, Mal was aware that they weren't in good terms, but part of her hoped that just by going there things would magically fix themselves as absurd as it sounded. It was weird to see Ben and feel like he wasn't comfortable with her and she wondered if maybe she should have called him before going to his office.
Maybe he felt trapped with her just coming there; the girl groaned starting to think that she wouldn't have appreciated Ben doing something like that. With that in mind, she stood up and put away the leftovers making sure that the table was clean in case they have a meeting scheduled soon. Mal walked out of the room towards Ben office which was now empty but if possible with more paperwork waiting for the boy to go over than when she arrived. That also made her feel like she didn't really think about what she was doing by going there without asking him if he had time to meet her.
It took her a minute to find a pen and a post it to leave the boy a message. Mal put it on his screen the only place she was sure the boy was going to be able to look at it with no chance that someone was going to put more papers on top of it. Honestly poor Ben, the amount of paperwork he had over his desk made her dizzy without having anything to do anything about it. She took a photo of herself on his office pointing on his computer to send to Ben when she was in the elevator. There was a part of her that wished the boy would come walking by now so they could talk and fix things up but she decided that it was best just to go.
Mal walked out of his office and saw Ben standing in the opposite corner with two bottles of water in his hands surrounded by a couple of people that were showing him some things on their tablets. The boy seemed to be telling them something while trying to walk but they kept getting in his way. He really was doing his best to come back to her which made Mal smile, she turned and walked fast towards the exit and only slow down when the receptionist was able to see her.
"Well, that was a short visit." Mal smiled at the older woman, who had recognize her the second she walked out of the elevator and made her feel welcome.
"Yeah, Ben is busy and I don't want to take more of his time." The woman cut her off telling her that she was sure that Ben didn't mind spending time with her. She shared with Mal how the boy would always talk to her about Mal or asked her to help him find some beautiful places to take her in dates. The girl excused herself telling the woman that she was expected at her office but thank her for everything she did for Ben.
Once in the elevator, Mal teared up a little, before she had always thought that she had shown Ben how much she cared for him, but now she wondered if she ever did remembering their trip and some other instances where she was proved wrong about her assumptions. She got out of the elevator, and her phone rang displaying Ben's name was on her screen as she froze. Taking a deep breath, she answered trying to think what exactly she was going to tell Ben.
Ben´s voice came strong from the receiver asking her where she was and why she left. Mal panicked as a firetruck with its sirens blaring passed by the street alerting Ben that she was near his building. "Mal please tell me where you are. I'll get down there."
The girl could hear the boy making his way around the office while people were calling his name. "Ben stop. I left a note for you on your laptop; I'm aware now that it wasn't a good idea to come to your office."
He tried to cut her off, but she continued. "You have a lot of work to do, and we can talk later. Just call me when you get to the building, and I'll come up to your apartment."
Finally a taxi stop in front of her, she opened the door and was about to get in when a hand was on hers making her stop. Mal turned to see an out of breath Ben looking at her like a kid look at his favorite present under the Christmas tree. Without saying anything, both of them got into the taxi, and after giving their address to the driver, they settle in the cab in comfortable silence. Once at their building they walk into the elevator and Ben press his floor number, once there he opened the door for Mal.
While the girl sat on the couch, Ben went into the kitchen and brought back two bottles of water. "So you wanted to talk about something?"
The way the boy was acting made Mal feel a little uneasy, but she needed to apologize for what happened, so she moved on. " I wanted to apologize for what happened today. I shouldn't have assumed that you were ignoring me or anything like that, I was just stress and took it out on you which was wrong. Also, I wanted to tell you that I care about what goes on in your life and even though we usually talk about my work it is important that you feel free to share what is going on with yours."
Ben nodded but stay quiet making Mal more uneasy. "Mal, I hated the way you talk to me today, but I understand that you are not in the best state of mind with everything that is going on in your job. However, it is important that you understand that I would never ignore you on purpose."
"I know that now. Well, I think I've always known that but I forgot at the worst possible moment. Now, with that said I meant what I said when we were talking on the phone you have a lot of work, and we could have had this conversation later." Ben shooked his head and told her that there was no way he was going to be able to focus on anything without talking to her first.
"When I made it back to the conference room, and I didn't see you there I panicked. For a moment I thought you were in the ladies room, but Carly was getting out of there, so I asked her, and she said no. I went to my office looking for my phone and saw the post it where you said that you left and we could talk later and felt worst. I was making my way out when you answered, and the sound of the firetruck made me realized you were close to the office which gave me hope to be able to get to you. So when I saw you open the door of the taxi I was relieved that we could talk so with that said I want to say something too." Until this point, Ben had said everything without taking even a break for air and Mal was worry he was going to past out.
"Look when I saw you at my door I honestly felt ambushed and if someone would have walk in and said something about having to talk to me I would have used that opportunity to get out of that situation." Ben saw how the girls face betrayed how sad she felt about his confession, but he needed to be honest about his feelings.
"When we saw each other last you were unfair to me. However, I think I have some fault in the matter too. I should have told you about what was going on in the magazine so you would know that it was possible that something like this could happen at some point but I didn't want you to worry about me with everything you already had on your plate. Still, I need to share if I want you to understand where I'm coming from when we talk, Jay says that if we want us to work, we need to be more open about what's going on in our lives." Mal agreed and told Ben that Evie said the same thing to her, but she also added that even though he needed to share more, he also needed to call her out if she was self-centered.
Ben told her that she was not like that, but Mal cut him off asking him to do her that favor and the boy nodded. "Now I think you should go back to work Ben. You must have a lot of things to do."
The boy told her that he wasn't going back, Mal tried to change his mind thinking that it was because he wanted to spend more time with her, but in the end, she was wrong. "Mal I didn't sleep at all last night, so I'm going to call and tell them that I'll be there tomorrow morning, but for now I just want to sleep."
Mal felt dumb, of course, he was tired she saw him leave the building an hour after their fight. She stood wishing him a good night sleep as she made her way to the door when he took her hand making her stop. Then he turned her towards him and looked her straight in the eyes. "We are going to be fine, right?"
The girl smiled politely at him and nodded. "Yeah, we just need time Ben. Now go, call your office before you fall asleep".
Mal had only slept a few hours, but after leaving Ben's apartment, she went back to her office ready to tackle some paperwork. She stayed there past ten and finally accepted that waiting for Jane to come back to work wasn't working for anyone. With that in mind, she picked her cell phone up looking into her contacts until she found Jay's number. The boy was surprised that she called him, but when Mal explained that she was calling to get Carrie's number the boy seemed even more shocked. After giving it to her, he told Mal that Carrie was back in Chicago, but he was sure the girl would be happy to hear from her. Mal didn't lose anytime before calling her; she was glad that Carrie was easy to talk to and without even realizing it Mal was setting a date with her for the next day.
While talking to Carrie, she went to her computer and purchased a plane ticket for the next day at 6:39 am. Carrie told Mal that she could stay at her apartment and even though it wasn't something Mal would typically do the girl accepted the offer. Mal wasn't sure if it was going to be a good idea just to meet Carrie for a day and come back so she decided to write some emails to vendors in Chicago so that she could see the girl in action, with that in mind she bought a one-way ticket and hoped for the best. Mal arrived at her apartment a little after midnight and managed to pack a small suitcase before collapsing on her bed. It felt like she only slept a couple of minutes when her alarm woke her up and the concierge called her telling Mal that her car was waiting for her. She put a comfortable sweater and sweatpants on, grabbed her suitcase and run to the elevator. It was then that she remembered that she never send Ben a text about her plans.
Before getting into the car, she noticed her phone was dying and decided to save the battery in case Carrie wasn't at the airport. Turning to the concierge, Mal asked the older man to please tell Ben that she had to go out of town and that she was going to call him later to tell him about it.
Mal barely made to the airport in time and was happy when she finally got to sleep on the flight. Soon though she arrived in Charlotte and had two hours to kill, she noticed then that her charger was still back home on her nightstand and sighed. Instead of panicking Mal decided to get something to eat and then search for a charger and maybe a little souvenir to take back home and then it hit her. She should get something for Carrie as a thank you for letting her stayed in her house, armed with a plan Mal went on with her day.
Meanwhile, in New York, Ben had woke up later than normal feeling rested and decided to asked Mal to have breakfast with him so they could continue to talk about what needed to change between them. Giving her some extra time to sleep he showered and got ready before going to her apartment looking for her. Ben decided against calling her instead he took the stairs to her floor and stood there ringing her doorbell for ten minutes without an answer and wonder if she was still mad at him and now was avoiding him.
A little defeated he decided that it was best if he just went to his office and then call the girl to see if they could meet for lunch or dinner. As he made his way out of the building, he heard the concierge calling his name. "Sorry to bother you Ben but Mal asked me to tell you that she had the leave town and she will call you later."
That took Ben by surprise, he tried to remember if Mal had any schedule traveled on her calendar, but nothing came to mind."When did she tell you that?" Ben asked trying his best to think of a reason why she would leave town. Was she going to visit Evie? He knew that Evie was Mal's lifesaver whenever the girl felt like the world was against her. Ben hoped that it wasn't the case, he thought that their talk yesterday had meant that they were going to be more open with one another but it seemed that Mal was thinking differently.
"This morning around four when she left for the airport. Mal arrived at midnight and told me that a car was going to pick her up and to please called until she answered the phone. Poor girl, she looked exhausted I bet she fell asleep the second she sat on the plane." Another tenant arrived and the concierge excuse himself to help with the door.
Ben was confused, he arrived at his office and soon the day to day hustle overtook his thoughts and helped him get on with his work leaving his doubts about Mal in the back of his mind. He went to a lunch meeting and came back to the office around 5 when most of the people were starting to clear out, suddenly Jay appeared in front of him and asked him if he had talked to Mal today. That's when Ben remembered everything that happened in the morning and told Jay about it in response his friend told him about the call she had made to him last night.
Suddenly Ben's phone was vibrating showing Mal's name on the screen. Finally, he was going to get some answers from her.
Notes
Thoughts?