Going back to New York was bittersweet for Mal; she missed her apartment, her conversations with Ryder and the city in general, but not being able to have Ben near made her nostalgic for Seattle. Soon work was consuming most of her days and her calls with Ben her nights, they decided that talking every night for a little amount of time was the way to go, but soon realized that they were unable to hang up on each other. The issue with that was that short calls would end up lasting several hours and only end when one of them or both fell asleep. After two weeks of that, Ben told the girl that they needed to stop; he was worry about how tired she looked. "I know I look tired too, but you know that Azis and Jay would not make a fuzz of me taking a day off to rest. You don't have that luxury Mal, so as much as we like talking to each other daily, I think we can text and call once a week as we used too."
The girl didn't like the idea, but at least for the moment, she agreed because of how tired she felt. It was weird talking to Ben gave her an odd burst of energy that made her forget how tired she felt during the day, however, when she wasn't talking to him, all this extra energy went away, and Mal would spend most of her days tired. So the next couple of weeks, they texted until 10 pm, and then Ben would tell her that it was time for her to go to sleep and wouldn't answer any text until the next day. When Ben traveled to Los Angeles, the boy was extremely busy, so they barely text and had no opportunity to talk on the phone, which was making the girl extremely annoyed with him. By September, Mal was trying to hold on to hope that they would work out; After Los Angeles, Ben had to join in a new project with Jay and once again didn't have a lot of time for Mal. He would make sure to text her, and they talk once a week like they used too before they started dating, and even though Ben tried to come up with time, the girl was growing frustrated with the situation while continued to remind herself that he was worth it. Two weeks passed, and the boy managed to call her twice a week the rest of the month, which made Mal feel better, but still, she wondered if that was going to last or soon enough he was going to go back to his crazy schedules. Sure, the girl understood that all that meant that the boy's company was growing, and she should be happy, but barely having contact with Ben, especially at this stage of their relationship, made her sad. October came, and Ben managed to continue to call the girl twice a week, and to text her, the boy could sense how distance was making Mal feel.
On the other hand, Mal's friends were doing there best to help distract the girl, and Ryder would have long conversations with her about how the couple was still finding their rhythm. One Saturday afternoon Ryder was asking Mal if she wanted to do anything special for her birthday, they still had two weeks to plan for it, but the boy was trying to give the girl something to focus instead of her relationship. Mal agreed to have a small party at their apartment, and for the rest of the day, they made a list of things they would need to buy and who did she want to invite. When Ben called her that night she shared with him her plans and the boy seemed excited about the party, Mal was confused at first until she understood that the boy was planning to fly to see her for her birthday and she found herself full of excitement. That day they talk until she went to sleep, and the next day Mal woke up and told Ryder about Ben coming to the party. "Do you still want to have a party with everyone? Maybe you two just want to spend that day together."
Mal thought about it but decided to have a small party with her closes friends so that Ben could see them and they could meet Ben. She wanted people to know him and to understand why even though their relationship wasn't easy, Ben made her want to fight for it. The next day she woke up ready to go to her office excited for the time to fly so she could be closer to see Ben face to face; when she arrived, the receptionist told her that she had flowers waiting for her and Mal's heart beat faster. When she made it to her desk, a beautiful vase with flowers was there waiting for her, but before she could read the card, Elliot was at her side asking her who sent her that. The girl picked the card and read the simple message that Ben put there and smile at how he could make her feel so loved. Elliot cleared his throat next to her, and the girl told him that Ben was the one sending the flowers, the boy relaxed he still thought that Mal and Ben were just friends even though Carly said to him that she was sure they were a couple. After the incident in the restaurant, Carly never asked Mal about Ben again, but she could see the girl mentioning the boy sometimes with a dreamy look in her eyes.
"Oh, that's nice; you two have been friends since you were little, right? That's cool; I think my oldest friend is from high school." Elliot went on to ramble how Ben was like a brother for Mal, while the girl listened completely confused as to what exactly was the boy trying to get at with all those comments. Sure, she didn't talk about Ben in the office, but maybe she should make a point to make it clear that they were a couple. When Elliot said once again that Ben was a good friend, a voice came from behind them, correcting him.
"I'm her boyfriend, not just her friend." Mal turned to find Ben standing at her door with an annoyed expression staring Elliot down, but it softened when she said his name while making his way towards him. She hugged Ben, and he went on to kiss her while Elliot tried to process what was happening. After the couple decided to paid attention to the boy that kept clearing his throat, Elliot asked Mal since when was she dating Ben. However, Ben was the one that answers explaining that they were together since March, and Mal smiled, thinking back to the kiss that started it all.
"But I remember you saying you weren't together when Calry asked you on the phone." Ben could see a faint expression of sadness when Mal heard him say that and told Elliot that he never said that he wasn't with Mal, so he was remember it wrong. After that Ben turned to Mal and asked her if she wanted to have dinner with him that day, he just arrived at the city, and he had a hotel room nearby for a week while he worked. Mal turned to Elliot, telling him that she was going to grab a coffee with Ben at the break room, but she would be back in five for their meeting. Without waiting for an answer, she took Ben's hand and walked straight out of her office and then continue until they were on the street. Once there, she turned and kissed Ben happy to have him with her, and the boy reciprocated instantly, bringing her as close as possible to him while moving them to rest against the building wall to avoid being hit but the people making their way to work.
When they stopped kissing, Mal asked Ben to move with her instead of staying in the hotel room, but the boy told her that he needed to stay in the hotel for one week because he was going to be having lots of late nights. "We are implementing a new update at the job we did a couple of months ago, most of the group is back in Seattle, but a couple of us are working from here to make it faster. I need to stay at the hotel for the rest of this week because is closer, but I'm staying in New York for another week and a half so you should ask Ryder if I can stay with you guys or we can keep my room at the hotel, and you can come live with me. We can celebrate your birthday with your friends, and then I thought we could have a weekend getaway in Boston; you don't need to decide right now."
The girl kissed him then preventing Ben from continued to speak and only stop when her phone started ringing, remembering her that she was supposed to be working instead of making out with her boyfriend outside her job. Reluctantly the couple stop and the boy told Mal to call him after she was done with work to see if he could sneak out to grab something to eat before getting back to the office. Mal agreed, and after kissing him again, she made her way to her office and tried as hard as she could to concentrate on her meetings; still, her mind kept going back to Ben and the fact that he was in the same city that she was. Finally, at lunch, instead of grabbing something to eat, Mal made her way to her apartment and packed a small suitcase with enough clothes for a week and then went back to her office. The receptionist looked at Mal with a knowing smile and asked her if Ben was staying in a hotel while in the city; the girl blushed and nodded, asking her if she could keep her suitcase there with her. At the end of the day, Mal text Ben asking him if he was free, but the boy told her that he was still at the office, so he wasn't going to be able to have dinner with her that night. Mal nodded, deciding that she was going to go ahead with her plan and then asked the boy where was he staying; with the hope that he was reading the situation correctly, Ben went on and gave her the information and also told her that he was five minutes away from there. Mal smiled at that and told him that she would be there in 20; when they met in front of the hotel, Ben's smile was brighter than any Mal ever saw on him.
They live in the hotel for the first week; most nights, Ben would arrive after Mal was asleep, but just going to sleep with the girl being the last thing person he saw and waking up together brought them joy. Sure, some nights, he would wake her up also eager to spend more time with her, and both of them started to think more about how their lives would be if they worked in the same city. By the end of the week, they decided to go back to Mal's apartment, and then the girl would usually return home to find dinner ready and the boys on the couch playing videogames. The relationship between the boys bloomed in this time, and soon, Ryder was telling Ben that he was going to visit him at some point during the year so he could show him Seattle. The day before Mal's birthday, the three had a lovely dinner in the girl's favorite restaurant and after made their way to the apartment. There Ryder went to say goodbye to the couple, but Ben asked him to stay with them so they could all wait for midnight together. After talking more with Ryder since he moved into the apartment, Ben realized that the boy honestly cared for Mal as a friend, and with each conversation, he began to get closer to the boy; both of them had a lot of things in common, even the field they work in. Mal smiled when Ben asked Ryder to stay, and she went to their kitchen to pick some champagne so they could toast at midnight. The trio ended up staying up way past midnight talking, eating, and drinking celebrating the girl's birthday. Ben ended up carrying Mal to bed after she fell asleep on the couch; he laid next to her, smiling and caressing her face slowly, thinking how much their life change in a year.
The rest of the time, Ben spent there, Mal made a point to have lunch with him, and when they went to Boston, the girl didn't take her phone but only her camera so she could take pictures of them choosing to disconnect herself entirely of the world. She knew that the time they spent together was precious, and she wanted to focus on the moment they were living and how Ben made her feel. Sure, he had always made her feel love since they were kids, it was hard to think of being with Ben and not feeling good or at least supported, but now those feelings had exponentially stronger. When the boy went back to Seattle, they promised each other to spent the holidays together and to take the opportunity to share with the boy's parents that they were together.