"Once at the airport, Ben took Mal's hand and asked her if she wanted to walk around for a bit or to have something to eat. She was hungry, but sitting in front of Ben while having all these different thoughts in her head didn't sound like the best option for her, so reluctantly Mal told him that they should walk a little. Ben seemed taken aback by what she said but nodded and went on to get into some stores all of them mostly filed with t-shirts aimed at tourist which he didn't find appealing, Mal wondered to the magazine side of the store and stared at them looking for hers. When Ben turned at saw her standing there, the memory of how he failed to buy her the subscription came back, making him feel horrible; still, he knew that it wouldn't have the same impact if he did it now. Suddenly a magnet with the map of the city caught his eyes, and he smiled at the idea that came to him, quickly he picked it up and went to pay for it, only stopping to pick some chocolates for Mal.
The girl turned and saw him paying for something and walked his way, wanting to know what exactly was Ben buying; however, she didn't make it before Ben put whatever he purchased in his pocket and then turned towards her giving her a bag of chocolates. Mal smiled and thanked him but went on to asked him what else did he get signaling his pocket only for Ben to rolled his eyes, telling her that it was always impossible to surprise her. At the mention of a surprise, Mal smiled brighter, making Ben chuckled, then he took out the magnet and showed it to her. "I was planning to put this on my fridge with an X as close to your apartment as I can find and sent you one from Seattle with an x on the closest place to mine. You know, like a cute reminder of each other, now that I say it aloud, it sounds kind of lame, sorry.
"Is not lame, is cute. Give it to me so I can put the x; was this the biggest one?" Mal took it from him and searched around the store to make sure that there wasn't another one where her apartment could be in a better position. She missed the smile on Ben's face; the boy was happy to see Mal acting like herself. Since there ride to the airport, he could feel her getting lost in thought, and he couldn't help but worry about what was going on in her mind. Suddenly he felt Mal pulling him out of the store and into the next one just in case there was another magnet, in the end, Mal decided that cutting a page of one the guides of the city would be better. So they looked for a place so Ben could eat something while Mal cut a page and mark her apartment. The second the boy's food came, Mal looked at his plate and then at Ben batting her eyelashes in the most innocent way, making him laugh. The boy put his plate in the middle and asked for some extra fries and nuggets so they could eat together, making Mal smiled at him. Ben looked at her and noticed that as more time passed of him staring at her, she started to blush, taking that as a good sign he moved his chair closer to her and then leaned in to kiss her. The kiss was slow, and the boy lost himself in the feeling of Mal's lips; it was weird to finally be able to have this type of contact with Mal. The memory of the kisses they share the night before made him nervous; Ben knew that they were both drunk when that happened and wondered if that was the reason they felt so free to show the other how much they wanted the other. However, since then, he was the one initiating the kisses, and even though it didn't bother him, Ben worry if maybe he was pushing the situation too much.
The waiter cleared his throat making the couple stop kissing, and Ben decided to move his chair back to the original spot after the food was on the table the waiter excused himself and went on his way. Mal started eating, and the thought that he was making her uncomfortable hit Ben harder, so he just focus on his food, not paying attention to anything else. The alarm on his clock came on a couple of minutes later, announcing that it was time for him to go search for his gate. The boy stood and went to look for the waiter and paid the bill when he came back to the table Mal was standing ready to go.
This time he didn't search for her hand and instead walked a little in front of her out of the restaurant and then next to Mal until they were in front of the securities lines. Before he went in, Ben turned and went to hugged Mal goodbye, promising her that he would call her when he was back in Seattle; when he tried to let go of her, he noticed that she hold him harder. "I'm going to miss you. Can we facetime tomorrow night?
Ben hugged her harder and told her that he would call her the second he got out of his office, and maybe they could eat together while they talked. Mal nodded and said to him that it would be their first date, after that, she let go of him and putting her hand on his neck, she lowered his lips to her and kissed him. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until Ben's second alarm broke the moment, alerting the boy that he needed to get inside before he missed his flight. Mal let go of Ben, and both of them smiled at each other before saying goodbye. The second he went through security Ben ran to his gate, barely making it, but the boy kept smiling, thinking back to their last kiss. When he made it to Seattle, he sent a text to Mal not wanting to disturb her in case she was already asleep, but was glad to see a response a second later asking him to call her once he made it home. The moment he made it home, he facetime Mal and his heart felt warm watching the girl with a sleepy expression waving hello to him from her bed. They talked for a couple of minutes, both them tired after not sleeping the entire night before, although happy that they did it too. Finally, Ben stretch, making a face that made Mal giggle, and he couldn't help but stare at his phone while telling her how much he wished he could be kissing her then; soon, the girl was blushing and sharing with him that she would like that too. The realization that they wouldn't be able to do that at least for the next month hit both of them at the same time, dampening their mood.
"Hey, we should go to sleep, or we are not going to be able to do any work tomorrow. Don't forget to call me after work so we can eat together." Ben nodded sad that they needed to end the call in low spirits and assuring Mal that there was no chance of him forgetting to call her. Once the call was over, he laid in bed, thinking about how much things change in a matter of hours for them and what needed to do for him to prove to Mal that they could work. In the end, Ben felt asleep hours later and was late to the office; when he arrived, everyone there looked at him and immediately asked him if he was ok because he looked terrible. Ben would have felt horrible about the continuos comments, but the fact that he slept maybe 3 hours in two days make him understand why people kept saying that.
By lunch, the boy fell asleep on his desk and woke up because Azis kept pushing him gently, calling his name. "Ben is almost 7. You need to go home and call Mal." At the mention of her name, Ben stood fast, almost falling back into the chair out of shock. He tried to pick his thing up, but he wasn't awake enough to be coordinated, so Azis told him to stop and helped him gather his stuff while telling him that he was going to take him home. "Calm down; I'll send a text to Mal telling her that I'm taking you home and that you will call her once you are there."
On their way to Ben's place, they talked, and the boy was able to share why he didn't get to sleep the night before. Azis told him to relax; he didn't want to push the situation; sure, Mal and Ben knew each other for decades now, but that didn't mean that they were ready to jump in a long-distance relationship like they had dated all this time. Ben was acting as they had dated before, and Mal has given him another chance, which was not the case at all; so as nice as he could, Azis told the boy to relax a little and just let the relationship grow. "Stop trying to prove to her that you are good enough, if she thought that you weren't, you wouldn't be in this situation."
Ben said his goodbyes and went into his apartment, ready to call Mal; he set up his computer and facetime the girl. The nap he took made him feel better temporarily, but he was still tired; however, the second Mal answered he felt a new surge of energy invade him. There she was looking beautiful in her room, smiling at him until in soft light that seemed to come from her side, making it look like she was glowing. Suddenly he noticed that a worried look appeared in her eyes, and the next moment she was asking him if he was feeling ok. "You look tired. You didn't sleep well last night?"
"I wasn't able to fall asleep until late, but I took a nap in the office." The second Ben said that Mal raised an eyebrow and asked him if he fell asleep in the office without meaning too. "Well, yes, but I feel very rested now."
Mal shook her head smiling a little and told Ben to go to sleep, and that they could reschedule their call for another day, tomorrow she was going to work late, but they find a day that works for both of them. The boy tried to protest, but Mal put her foot down and told him that she was not going to change her mind, she wanted him to rest. After wishing him a good night, she said her goodbyes and hang up; Mal closed the computer and turned to blow the candles she had set up on her desk. Mal had made a little romantic candlelight atmosphere to show Ben so that he could see how excited she was about their first date. She stood and opened the door and went out to the kitchen, taking her plates and went back for the wine she took into her room when she was getting out Ryder came into the kitchen and asked what happened to her date. Mal exhaled sadly and told him what happened, and Ryder nodded, telling her that she did the right thing. "Do you want to eat something with me while we watch something?"
The girl nodded, thankful not to be alone at that moment; she had made a special dinner that night while waiting for Ben to call her, and when Azis sent her that text, she had decided to move her decorations to her room to make it more private for them. Sure, Ryder promised to stay in his room, but she thought it would make it more special if she put everything in there. Mal had planned to ask Ben to let their phones on while there sleep so they could listen to each other first thing in the morning. Ryder nudged her telling her again that she would have another chance to prepare a nice dinner with Ben and all the other plans she had to come true.
The next day Mal went to work early, ready for a heavy day at the office she was tempted to send a text to Ben, but she didn't because she wanted Ben to rest as much as possible. As always the moment she was about to enter a meeting Mal turned her phone off, but this time she didn't turn it on until the end of the day which happened at ten pm. Then the girl turned her phone to call for a taxi and suddenly alerts of text and lost calls from Ben came at once, she opened the texts first but then her phone started ringing startling her to the point that she almost dropped her phone. The moment she answered, the boy asked her if she was ok and then why she was ignoring him.
"Ben, you know I usually turned my phone off when I'm in meetings because people here hate it when a random phone rings or people are distracted by their phone. I just finished working, and I turned it on because I'm calling a taxi so I can go home and sleep." The boy was silent, but Mal could hear him sighed after that he apologized and told her that he was just worried about her, he knew that she was working, but it was late. "I know, but sometimes I stayed this late when we are finishing the layout."
While she talked, Mal opened her taxi application and searched for a taxi, and to her relief, one was three minutes away. Without hanging up, she picked her stuff and walked out of the building, feeling the cold air of the night hit her. Ben asked her to stayed on the line, so he didn't worry about her making it home, and Mal agreed happy to have someone to talk to her, or she probably would fall asleep. When she finally made it home, Ryder was waiting for her at the kitchen with a warm plate of food, so Mal told Ben that she would text him tomorrow and ended the call.
Ryder told her that she didn't need to do that, but Mal went on to share with him that Ben was acting weird. In the ride home after she put her airpods on, she started to read his texts, and Mal saw how Ben was freaking out, thinking she was ignoring him because he felt asleep the night before, which was insane. However, what got her in a bad mood was the fact that Ben thought she would that to him, and that's what she told Ryder asking him his opinion on the situation. "Well, I understand why you feel like that, but right now, you just hang up on him instead of talking to him about it. So maybe he is afraid that the same thing happened yesterday, sure you told him to go to sleep, but the guy was almost asleep at that point so his memory might be playing games on him about the attitude you had yesterday. Look, Ben is afraid to mess up, and that is going to play against him, so give him a break and talked to him."
Mal nodded and went on to eat her food while thinking about what she was going to tell Ben the next day; she needed for them to work because losing Ben was not an option.