New Year's Eve found the couple snuggling with Ben kissing Mal's bare shoulder making the girl smile lazily while waking up, the night before Adam and Belle sent them a text telling them that they were not going to be able to fly to Seattle, but they would instead be spending New Years with some friends that were in the city. With the confirmation that Ben's parents were not coming to joined them, the couple made plans to spent it alone happy to have a chance to enjoyed their time together.
Before flying to Seattle, Mal asked Carly to please helped her connect to the meeting they were going to have on New Year's Eve via Zoom; she knew most of the editors were going to join that way even though they were all supposed to be there for a celebration. When she booked her flight to Seattle on Christmas day, Mal wasn't sure she was going to use the ticket, but seeing Ben alone in the city, she felt the need to have a backup plan in case something happened. After booking her flight, Mal decided not to tell his parents, part of her not wanting Belle to make a big deal of the situation, but mostly because she wanted to have the chance to be alone with the boy. Ben's lips on her neck made the girl lost her train of thought and focused on how amazing he felt against her.
Suddenly her alarm broke the moment, and Mal was reminded that she was supposed to be getting ready for a 9:30 am meeting. Ben looked confused when she moved to get out of bed and pulled Mal towards him, asking her why she was getting up so early when it was only a few minutes past six in Seattle. Without giving Mal a chance to answer, Ben went on to kiss her again, bringing her as close to him as possible and moving his body to lay on top of the girl's. It took Mal a couple of seconds to stop the kiss wishing there was a way to stay in bed with him instead of attending the meeting. When she gently pushed Ben away, she explained that the time difference meant that her meeting was about to start, and she needed to get ready. Ben turned towards a watch on his side of the bed and nodded, that's when she noticed that the clock had New Yorks time on it. The boy stood up quickly and went to his closet, taking out a pair of sweats and a hoodie he got dressed while Mal smile at the clock, wondering since when he had that clock there. Ben found her staring at the clock and putting a hand through his hair the boy explained that he liked having the clock there, so when he woke up, he would know what she was doing by looking at the time.
Looking at the boy standing in front of her, Mal wondered what the repercussions of ignoring the meeting entirely and asking him to join her in bed would be. Ben walked to the bed and gave her a quick kiss warning her that if she continued to look at him, that way, he was going to do his best to convinced her to forget the meeting. After that, he turned and walking out of the room he asked the girl where her laptop was so he could set a place for her in the living room. Mal answered him while running into the bathroom getting the quickest shower of her life and walking into the room again she put one of Ben's jeans and a shirt tying it on her waist so that it fit her better. Drying her hair with a towel, she made her way to the living room where the boy had already put her laptop on his desk, turning it so that it would face the wall where all the pictures she took on the museum were hanging.
"There you can sit here and not worry about me walking by. I think Carly sent you a message with the link already so you can connect to them. Hey, your hair is going to wet your back, come here." Mal walked towards him, dropping the towel on the sofa. Mal sat down on the chair that he prepared for her, and the boy came to stand behind her. Soon Ben was braiding her hair like he used to do when they were younger whenever she asked him too. After it was done, Ben kissed the top of her head, telling her that he was going to prepared something for her to eat and that she should get into her meeting. Mal smiled at Ben and thanked him, a minute later she was on her meeting saying hello to her coworkers, most of them were shocked that she too was on Zoom. The girl went on to shared her presentation, ignoring Elliot's comments on how it would be easier to work on everyone's notes if she was back in the office. Carly rolled her eyes and texted Mal that the boy was just annoyed that she managed to see Ben and to not paid attention to him. Mal assured the boy that she would be able to finish all the changes with Carly's help in a couple of hours, so there was no need for him to worry about it.
Ben wasn't able to listen to what the people on the meeting were saying, but just listening to Mal, he understood that Elliot was getting on the girl's nerves. He finished her breakfast and put it next to her mouthing that he was going to get ready, leaving the girl to continued her meeting alone. When he came back to the living ready to go, Ben saw how tense Mal looked and texted her if something was wrong, she realized then that he was there and looked up at him shaking her head and forcing a smile on her face. The boy raised an eyebrow at her making it clear that he didn't believe her, Mal then muted her microphone and stood making her way to him. "They are just making a lot of comments about a presentation that was supposed to be finished by today. I ran it by everyone before, but suddenly now everybody wants me to change things about it and is just stressing me out."
The boy nodded and asked her if he could help her in any way, but Mal shook her head, assuring Ben that if she needed him, he would call him. Ben nodded and kissed her promising to be home as soon as possible. "Before I go, can I see them? I want to meet more people from your work; maybe give them a dirty look for being mean to you?."
Mal laughed at that, and after making him promised that he was not going to give any dirty looks, she agreed to show him, everyone. She went on to sit down and turned on her sound, then Mal cleared her throat and announced to everyone on the call that Ben wanted to say hello. Aside from Elliot everyone smile and nodded excitedly to meet Mal's famous boyfriend, a lot of them saw him the one time Ben visit the office but didn't have a chance to say hello to the boy. Ben made a funny face at Mal before he was in everyone's view and then politely said hello to the group while each of them introduced themselves to him. The boy smiled politely, seating next to Mal and answer the questions they had about his job while rubbing the girls back unable to be so close to her without touching her.
After a couple of minutes, Ben looked at his phone and notice that it was almost 7:30 and he needed to be on his way to his office, saying that to the group he said goodbye to everyone and kissed Mal. After he disappeared Elliot made a comment about how Ben took advantage of being a boss to arrive at 10 while he was sure the rest of his office arrived earlier. Before Mal could reply ,someone said that Seattle was 3 hours back so Ben was actually going to work before eight earlier than they usually came into the office shutting Elliot up. A text from Carly telling Mal to breathe helped the girl calm down, she honestly was going to say something to the boy if he ever tried to say something mean about Ben.
The meeting went on and after a while, Mal's stomach started to grumble so, after silencing her mic sh,e stood in search of food. At the kitchen she saw that Ben left a couple of sandwiches and other snacks for her with a note that had several numbers of deliveries in case she wanted to order food. When Mal appeared on camera with her snacks Carly, comment how quickly she made them making everyone chuckle. The girl shared that Ben left several snacks and drinks for her before leaving and most of the people took at least a couple of seconds to give their camera's a knowing look. By four, when he made his way back to his apartment, Mal was seating on the couch happy after sending her presentation with all the changes that were asked of her. The boy asked her if she wanted to go grab something to eat before starting their movie marathon celebration.
Hand in hand they made their way into the street and even though it was early, they could sense how people were excited for what the night was bringing. At the restaurant, Mal shared with Ben everything that happened on her meeting even Elliot's comment which the boy only rolled his eyes at. After they finished eating, they walked around for a while Ben talked to her about his day and his plans for the next couple of weeks. When they crossed a park near Ben's apartment, a couple came and said hello to the boy and then looked at Mal with a curious look. Ben introduced Mal as his girlfriend, and the couple smiled politely, but she could see they were a little shocked. They exchange a few words until the man invited the couple to drink a coffee with them, Ben tried to decline, but they just ignore him, and together the four of them went.
Instead of going to a coffee shop they made their way to a beautiful house in a quiet neighborhood; Ben told the couple that Mal lived in New York at they spent the entire walk sharing facts about Seattle. Ben turned to her with an apologetic look but realized that Mal was enjoying the stories and smile. Once at the house, the couple went on to tell her stories about the house and how it was a fixer-upper. Time flew by and before they realized it was already 9 pm, the couple asked them if they wanted to stay for dinner but Ben mention that it was New Year Eve. Mal could see that they were happy to have them there and, both looked hopeful when they issue the invitation so ,she decided that she wanted to stay.
"I have an idea. How about we order something and if you don't mind we ,can wait for midnight here so we can celebrate together. The couple smiled and Ben looked shocked, but he managed to nod when they turned to him." They tried to order, but deliveries were not answering so Mal and Ben said they were going to change and bring food while the couple prepared something for them to have at midnight. Once outside the house, Ben turned to Mal asking her why she did that and the girl shared how they seemed to be alone. "They look so happy to have us there with, I just can't imagine leaving them alone when they obviously wanted to have company. We can celebrate alone when we go back home, please don't be mad at me."
The boy kissed her and told Mal that she was right, it was going to be nice to spend some time with them. Mal then went to ask him how he knew the couple and reluctantly Ben shared how when he was dating Veronica, they looked at houses and even though he never thought about moving in with her he ,did love the idea of having a place that was his. The house of the James's was Ben's favorite he even went on and made an offered but, they declined it because it was below their asking price. The boy wasn't mad about it, if he had more money he would have offered more for it, the house was beautiful and, the neighborhood was perfect. Before, he could rethink making another offer things he started dating Mal, and things related to the house stop being part of his life. Mal was a little shocked with all the information and remained quiet while Ben continued to tell her about all the houses he saw. They made it to the restaurant and put their order in, knowing that it was going to take a lot of time the couple made their way to the apartment and change into warmer clothes.
After picking up the food they made their way to the James's house and on the way, Ben asked Mal if she was mad at him or just shocked about the house. "I never thought you were going to buy a house without telling me about it. I guess it makes sense because you rented the same apartment for over three years now, but just hearing you talk about it is different. The house is beautiful though so I completely understand why you would choose it."
Ben nodded, and before they got in the house, he turned towards Mal. "Look, don't worry about me buying a house. I have no issues moving to New York if it's better for you, so please don't think about it anymore, and let's enjoy tonight, ok?"
Mal nodded and kissed the boy assuring him that she was ok and that they should move along before the food got cold. They rang the bell, and Sean opened the door with a bright smile, telling them they were worried they wouldn't be coming back. Mal turned quickly at Ben with an adorable face telling him that the man was the cutest. They celebrated the New Year with the couple and made plans for having lunch with them the next day. By two Mal and Ben said their goodbyes and made their way back to the apartment, talking about the stories the couple told them and how happy they were to have them as their friends now.
Once at the apartment, they snuggle in bed and fell asleep happy with the way they spent the last moments of their year together.