The time Mal spent there flew by and without even realizing it was time for the couple to said their goodbyes, there next plan to see each other on their anniversary. Ben would flight to New York in March and spent the weekend with her there, although he promised that he would try his best to stay for a week he wasn't sure that he was going to be able to do it. They continued to text and do video calls as frequently as possible, but there were still weeks when they weren't able to talk and those were hard times for both of them. When Ben made his way to New York to see Mal on March he managed to stay for more than a weekend due to some meetings he was taking in the city that the girl assumed had to do with a project he was working on however every time she asked him about them the boy would change the subject. Finally, on their anniversary they went out to eat at one of her favorite restaurants with Ryder and a couple of friends, the place was usually booked weeks in advanced that's why Mal was completely shocked when they told her that they planned this outing for a month. What started as a beautiful night with her friends to celebrated her relationship with Ben ended up turning into their first fight.
Once in the restaurant, everyone took a turn to make a toast to the couple when they finished Ben stood to thank everyone but the second he did a male voice came from the door calling him, they all turned and saw and man older than them standing there with a girl younger than them. They turned to asked Ben who was the guy, but the man had suddenly made his way towards them and was offering his hand to the boy saying what a coincidence it was to find him there. The hostess came after the man telling him that he needed a reservation to eat there because they were full, just for the man to turned telling her that he was seating with them and to just bring two chairs for him and his date. The girl appeared next to them waving nervously to them while the man asked the group to make space so he and his date could sit, Mal stood up to move her chair when the man took it from her telling her that he was going to sit next to Ben. Ryder stood pushing the man and told Mal to sit there while they bring more chairs, she did but was shocked that Ben didn't make a comment about what happened even though it was obvious he was not happy about it by the way he was looking at the man. Finally, they brought to more chairs and Mal sat between her friends on the other side of the table of Ben and the couple. Carly who was shocked by the scene asked the new arrivals exactly how they knew Ben, the man looked at her a little annoyed and went on with a long explanation of how he owned a big company and Ben was one of the many candidates that dreamed to join his IT department. From that moment on he went on to brag about his many accomplishments and how rich he was, from time to time he would assure everyone that Ben would be very lucky to be one of his employees. "Sure, he might be interviewing for Chief of the IT department but in reality, I'm the only one that calls the shots in the company. So basically Ben would just have to do what I tell him too."
The man was obviously trying to impress his date, which seemed to be more interested in trying to catch Ben's attention. When it was time for the food to come the man decided that he was unhappy about his plate and told the waited to take everything back and bring the rest of the plates whenever his order was done correctly. Mal couldn't take it anymore so standing from her seat she asked Ben to please met her outside so they could have a conversation. After that she made her way outside, not waiting for the boy to say anything and avoiding hearing whatever the man would comment on her actions. The girl could feel anger running through her; she needed to know what exactly was happening between Ben and that obnoxious character.
With her arms crossed in front of her, she waited for a few seconds before Ben appeared in front of her apologizing for how the night was going. "I promised you I didn't know Jeffree was going to come here, and especially that he was as horrible as he is. I've only talked to him in the office, and even though he was obnoxious there, it doesn't come close to how he is acting here."
Mal raised her hand, making the boy stopped talking and asked him point-blank what exactly was the guy referring when he said Ben was going to work with him. Ben told her to forget about it and went on to offered Mal to take her and their friends to another place to celebrate and tried to salvage the night, but Mal was too tired to let the boy deflect the situation. Shaking her head, Mal told him to explain to her the situation, Ben looked annoyed but then shared with the girl that he was indeed looking into working for Jeffree. When the girl asked him why Ben looked mad. "You want to know why? Because I want to live near you. I want to be able to see you every day and start planning a future where we can live together, and I don't have to spend months without kissing you. It might not be important to you, but it is to me, ok? and if I have to work for Jeffree to make it happened, I can deal with that."
"So, the only way to live together is you working for that trash? And what happens when you realized that you made a mistake leaving your dream behind for moving here. Don't put that on me, Ben, if the distance is making things harder for you we can talk about it, but you taking decisions without us talking is not going to make our relationship better." Ben got angrier with that last comment but instead of saying something to the girl he just turned around and walked away, leaving Mal standing in the street wanting to cry. Taking a deep breath she took her phone out and call Ryder telling the boy that she needed him. A couple of minutes later all her friends were outside, Ryder made her way to her while the rest stood at the restaurant door waiting for the boy to tell them what they were going to do.
Mal cleaned a few tears from her face and told Ryder that they needed to pay for the food and then go home. "Please apologized to everyone on my behalf, but I can't face them right now."
"Don't worry, we already pay for everything, and Carly even went on to tell the guy that he was eating for free, so no need to keep talking about how much money he had. I'll tell them that we are leaving, just wait here for me." Ryder made his way to the group, and after he said something to them, all of them nodded and waved to Mal while making their way away from her. Ryder came to her side quickly, and the girl couldn't hold on anymore and broke down crying, sharing with the boy the conversation she had with Ben.
They made their way to the apartment and after the girl cried a little more, a message from Ben came into Ryder's phone telling the boy that he was going to stay in a hotel that night. Mal read the message and got mad with the boy for not texting her instead of Ryder, she was ready to call Ben and give him a piece of her mind but her friend stopped her. Mal and Ryder spent the night on the couch talking about the situation, the girl shocked that Ben was having such a hard time with their relationship but never shared it with Mal.
"It is scary to think that he felt this way and even made a plan about it without me realizing this. I don't know what else is Ben hiding from me." Ryder looked at the girl while she rambled about all the things that Ben could be thinking or feeling without her knowing. Then she started to cry harder asking Ryder if she was so self-absorbed that maybe Ben tried to tell her everything but she just didn't realize it until now.
Hours past and when the sun came out they were still on the couch, but Mal was sleeping after crying for several hours. Ryder stood up and making his way into his room he called Ben sure that the boy wasn't sleeping. After the second ring, Ben answered his voice raspy and Ryder wondered if maybe they boy and Mal spent the night doing exactly the same. "We need to talk, you should come to the apartment."
"I know. I can't face her now, is she still mad?" Ryder chuckled annoyed with the boy and went on to tell Ben that Mal spent her night and most of the first hours of the day crying. Ben cursed and told Ryder that he was on his way to the apartment.
When Ben chose not to go back to the apartment that night, he was hoping that Mal would calm down but he completely misread the situation. Sure, Mal was angry but she also felt like he had kept a huge thing from her and that made her insecure about their relationship. He chose not to check out of the hotel in case Mal decided that she needed space while they worked things about but Ben decided then that he was not leaving New York before working things out with the girl. Standing outside the building Ben called Ryder and the boy buzzed him in, telling him that he needed to go to his job and that Mal was asleep on the couch.
Ben sat down next to her and his heart broke to see how puffy her eyes look even while asleep. Slowly he started playing with her hair and the girl moved towards him without even realizing what she was doing in her sleep. "I love you so much Mal. I know that I ruined things last night, but I want to be near you and be able to be there for you whenever you need me. I keep dreaming of how our life is going to be when we managed to be together all the time and sometimes I get nervous that you are going like having me away because it is easier."
Mal opened her eyes slowly and looked at Ben, the boy still had his hand on her hair and didn't know if he should move it away. However, when he started to move it away Mal took it in hers pulling the boy towards her. Ben leaned slowly making sure that he was understanding the situation, but once their lips touch the boy shut his brain down. They kissed for a while enjoying the moment knowing well that after the kiss ended they needed to talk about what happened the night before.
The lack of air forced them to stop so after they managed to get their breathing to a normal pace Ben asked the girl if she heard what he said. Mal nodded and told him that she didn't like him thinking that she enjoyed having him far from her. "I would love for you to live here with me, but not at the expense of having you work for someone horrible when you have worked so hard with the guys to be where you are. I've been thinking about it and I wouldn't mind moving to Seattle eventually. "
Ben was shocked to hear her said that. "No Mal. I would never let you give up your dream job, look you are right Jeffree is horrible but there are other places I can look for a job."
Mal shook her head and again said to the boy that they could talk about it but he didn't have to take it on himself to change. For the time being neither of them was going to search for another job or tried to move out of states. Ben kissed the top of her head while the girl cuddled against him. "I didn't like that you walk away from me. If we fight are you going to do that again?"
"Nope, I'm sorry about that. I just felt so angry that you didn't see that I was sacrificing my job because I want us to work. Now I know that you don't want me to do that, but mostly I'm happy that you are not enjoying me living far away. I know it sounds dumb, but distance makes me think weird things some times." Mal nodded, she was also guilty about letting her mind wondered about scenarios were distance would make the boy act differently to what she knew Ben would do. "Do you want to change and go with me to checked out of the hotel?"
Mal turned and asked the boy why he didn't check out before coming back to the apartment. " I didn't know if you were going to need some space before I could stay back here. I also planned to stay back in New York until you forgive me."
"Oh well, then I don't forgive you and you need to stay here." Mal smiled at the boy making Ben rolled her eyes at her. Once again he leaned and kissed her, telling her to change so they could go eat something and then checked out of the hotel.