Mal looked in the mirror one more time before exiting the bathroom; she arrived at Ben's apartment over an hour ago, and they hadn't left each other side until he suggested to her that maybe she should take a bath and change clothes before they went to bed. At first, she said no and just continued to cuddle with the boy making him kissed the top of her head, telling her that she should go on while he prepared something for them to eat and then go to rest. "You said you are staying until Monday morning, so we still have today and tomorrow to talk."
Reluctantly the girl made her way to the bathroom, but once there, she took advantage of the hot water and solitude to let herself relax. In the end, Mal stayed in there for an hour, and now out of the shower and fully dressed in an oversize hoodie and sweat pants courtesy of Ben, she looked at her reflection. Mal could see how tired she looked, which didn't shock her because even though she hated it, all of her coworkers had asked her if she wasn't sleeping well lately. Still, she also saw a little smile on her lips, and that was definitely something she hadn't see on her face for a couple of months now. A knocked alerted her that it was time for her to leave the bathroom, she opened the door and Ben was standing there with a worry expression on his face. "I thought you fell asleep in there. I was going to get you a pillow and blanket and bring it here."
Mal rolled her eyes at the boy and told him that she was ready for bed now. "Hey, you need to eat first, I was slaving at the kitchen for you to have a nutritious meal before resting, and now you don't want to eat it?".
The girl laughed and taking his hand they walked to the kitchen counter where a single peanut butter and jelly sandwich awaited for them; Mal turned to look at Ben, and the boy did everything he could to avoid her eyes while a small smile appeared on his face. "You slave yourself in the kitchen for an hour to make a peanut butter sandwich?"
"It also has jelly, and I made two, but you took so long that ate mine; before you asked, I finished the pizza you brought and don't look at me like that; it was only two slices. I told you I didn't have any food here when you came." Mal laughed and kissed his cheek; after that, she picked up the sandwich and proceeded to eat it while making her way back to Ben's room, where the boy left her suitcase when she arrived. Ben offered to sleep on the couch, but the girl laughed at the suggestion, they had shared a bed when they were younger and even though that stop after they got older today she needed to feel her friend close to her.
The couple laid on the bed, and Mal snuggled close to Ben, while the boy rubbed her back slowly telling her a dumb story to soothe her until she fell asleep. It took Ben longer to fall asleep while her mind replayed all that Mal shared with him since she came into her place; apparently, the girl had finally had it with Harry's behavior and confronted him. The argument escalated quickly, and the boy finally confessed that he was angry at Mal because he had planned to ask her to marry him. Still, he now was sure that she was going to say no to him, his confession shocked her, and while he continued to shout out all of his frustrations, Mal realized that he was not wrong.
After sharing that, the girl told Ben that she tried to apologize to Harry, but the boy wasn't having any of it, and finally, he told her that she needed to move out of the apartment. Ben was a little shocked to hear that part because Mal was the one that found that apartment for them to move in, but she told him that she didn't want to fight for it. The fight ended with Harry getting out of the apartment, asking her to please stay somewhere else that night. That's when she went to her computer and wrote an email to HR informing them that she was going to take a personal day the next day and then rented an Airbnb. Mal packed a few things and left a note for Harry, telling him that she would be getting her stuff out of the apartment the next morning.
That night she went to stay at Evie's, and without much explanation, Mal shared with her friend that Harry and she were broken up. Evie wanted to tell her friend that she knew about the proposal, but she decided that it wasn't the right time for her to share that. Together they planned the next day and then went on to sleep, well Evie went to sleep, and Mal stayed up all night. By five am, Mal decided that she needed to see Ben, so she booked herself a ticket to visit the boy the next day. She was leaving on the last flight giving her a chance to at least try to see a couple of apartments.
They always talked about visiting each other, but in the beginning, both of them couldn't afford to travel later on they didn't have time. It was insane to think that Mal hadn't seen the boy for four years when she was younger a week felt like an eternity away from him. When Evie woke up, Mal told her about the ticket, and the girl smiled at her friend, knowing that this was the best move for her. They made it to her place and moved some of her stuff out into the Airbnb and some into Evie's home. Then both girls went on to look at a couple of places, by the time Mal went on her way to the airport, Evie had made several appointments for the weekend to look at apartments. "Don't worry about it; I'll pick some places, and when you come back, we can take a look at them."
When Mal finished telling everything to Ben, the boy felt sad for the girl whose life changed suddenly, and he realized that he needed to make more of an effort to be there for her at this time.
The couple woke up at noon and smiled both of them content with staying in bed resting and talking, but Ben wanted to give Mal a tour of the city that he called home. With that in mind, the boy stood bringing Mal with him and announced that they needed to change so they could go out for lunch; that was the start of their weekend that was full of laughter and memorable times. At some point, Mal took a picture of them and was about to post it just for Ben to stop her asking her if she was sure about it. For the first time since the day started, she remembered why she was there and agreed; however, the fact that she had spent an entire day without thinking of what happened was strange.
The weekend flew by, and Monday morning found the friends hugging goodbye at the airport. Ben promising Mal to call her that night so they could talk and thank her for coming to visit him.
"It is weird to think that this is what it took for me to come to visit you, I'm going to be having more expenses now, but I'll try to come visit you soon, Ben." Mal hugged her friend and went on her way, leaving the boy thinking about what she said. They talk that night, and every night for the next three weeks in their last conversation, Mal shared with the boy that she was finally moving into her new apartment. It was a studio apartment on the upper east side; she was going to donate or sell most of her stuff and find some second-hand furniture that fit the space.
Evie and Doug were supposed to help her, but in the end, the boy was scheduled to work that weekend, so Evie was going to be the only one available. That was going to make it difficult for them to finish everything they needed to do in one day, but Mal wanted to get out of the Airbnb as soon as possible. "I just want to have a home again, so tomorrow I'm going to get out of the office early and rest so that on Saturday, I'm ready to move. I promised I'll call you to show everything to you on Saturday night, but I also wanted to tell you that I'm not going to be able to talk tomorrow."
Ben wished her luck and ended the call, a second after he was calling Azis and Jay asking the boys if they would be available to travel to New York to help Mal he would cover all the expenses, so they didn't need to worry about that. Both boys knew by now that Mal and Harry broke up and that the girl was practically friendless now that all their mutual friends, who were friends of the boy first, had sided with Harry and ended contact with her. Sure, she still had her friends from the office, but Mal wasn't close to any of them because she always spent her time off with Harry and "their" friends.
By the end of their conversation, Ben had secured that both of his friends and Lonnie were taking the last flight to New York the next day; there they would be staying in a hotel and on Saturday would be ready to help Mal. After talking to everyone and booking the tickets, the friends agree to take care of their accommodations in NY by themselves, Ben called Evie and told her about his plan. On Friday night the four of them arrived in NY, Jay and Lonnie went on to their hotel while Azis went to visit a friend that he promised Ben would join them the next day. After everyone left, Ben made his way to Mal's Airbnb, ready to surprise; he called her, and the sleepy voice of the girl telling him that she was already sleeping made him smiled. "Then hurry up and open the door so we can go back to sleep."
It took her a minute to understand what he was saying, and then the door open, and Mal jumped on the boy, almost making him fall backward. Ben laughed out loud, and the door from the right to them opened, and a very annoyed girl told them to be quiet because she was watching a movie. The couple said sorry and got into the apartment and then laughing at the situation after that, Ben explained what he was doing there and how Jay, Lonnie, and Azis were joining them to help her. Mal couldn't help the tears that scape her eyes while she shared with Ben how touch she was with the entire situation.
The next day everyone met at the girl's apartment with five new faces coming as a surprise, Azi's friend, Ryder, managed to get together some of his friends and they all were they ready to help Mal.
What was supposed to be a day where the girls were sure to fail to do everything they needed ended up being a great one. With the help of everyone, tasks were assigned, and the group went in different directions, Mal wanted to go with Ben, but she soon realized that it wasn't the best idea to meet the goal of ending everything. Evie and most of the guys were in charge of getting Mal's things to the apartment and getting the new furniture and arranging them. Mal and the rest were in charge of taking care of the things she was going to sell and the ones she was going to donate.
By six pm, the group was sitting in Mal's place eating pizza, courtesy of Ben. Mal tried to pay for the pizzas, but the boy told her that it was a celebration for her making her smile again, while the rest of the people cheer for the girl's new home. That night everyone stayed until 10 pm talking and sharing stories; the latest additions to the group soon were inviting Mal and Evie to go out with them next week. Azis suggested that they all met the next day to have lunch so that they could finalize their plans, and everyone could say their goodbyes. Mal and Ben share a look, they were hoping to spend the next day together before the boy went back home, but they also knew that it was important for Mal to have this chance to meet more people, so the friends agreed with everyone and plans were finalized.
That night they were exhausted, so they felt asleep quickly and woke up to Mal's phone ringing announcing that they were running late for lunch. They spent the rest of the day with Azis's friends, and Mal loved how funny they were and how welcome she felt with them. When they finally made their way back to the apartment, Mal order some food for them and took out a bottle of wine, so they enjoyed it together. Sitting on the floor, they cheered for Mal's place and talked about the weekend. "You know that you are my hero now, right?"
Ben shook his head and told her that he was just his best friend. "You don't need a hero. We both know that you are capable of overcoming anything that the world throws at you. I'm just your personal cheerleader."
They continue to talk, and Ben shared with her how, since she started dating Harry, he felt like there was no need for him to give her the extra support he usually did. Mal agreed that Harry was kind to her when they were together, except for the last months of their relationship, but she was glad to have Ben back in all his amazing self. Monday morning came, and Ben was gone making the girl sad to not have him with her anymore; still, Mal was a little happy that she managed to steal the hoddie he was planning to wear to the airport. When Evie came that night, Mal was still wearing the hoodie, and she couldn't help but smile at her friend. When Mal asked her why she was looking at her like that, Evie just told her that she was happy that they managed to make her home a reality.
Mal nodded and went on to talk about how amazing Ben was for helping her, and with every minute, the girl shared how much he meant to her; Evie could see that finally, her hopes for her friends to be together were closer to be a reality.