They stayed in the bar until three in the morning, and then everyone said their goodbyes making their way home and promising to see each other before the big celebration on the 24th. Mal and Ben made it to their apartment and fell asleep without changing clothes, hoping to get a much-needed rest that weekend before his parents came to spend the holidays with them. Sadly for them, Mal's phone woke them up again early in the morning with a very nervous Evie needing her friend's advice on what to pack for her trip to visit Doug's family.
Ben managed to fall back to sleep, but Mal went into the kitchen, taking the phone with her hoping to find something to help her with her headache. Evie didn't seem to realize Mal's state and explained in detail every outfit and the importance of taking them with her on the trip. The call went on for over an hour, and Mal ended up making breakfast for herself and then asking her friend if they could hang up so she could take a shower in hopes that it would help her feel better. Evie agreed and made Mal promise she would call her the minute she finished getting ready so they could continue to plan her outfits.
Mal took a long shower with only one interruption from her friend, who assumed the shower would be shorter, and then silently made her way into the room to pick up an outfit to change into to start her day. After that, she decided to go out and run some errands while talking to Evie, and that's how the Saturday before Christmas started for a hungover Mal.
By the time Ben woke up, it was after two o'clock, and the boy was confused when he didn't see Mal at the apartment. He was going to text her, asking her where she was, but his phone was dead, so after putting it to charge he made his way to the kitchen, looking for something to eat. The dings from his phone announcing text made him go back to the bedroom, hoping for an explanation of his girlfriend's whereabouts, and he wasn't disappointed. In several texts, Mal explained that Evie had woken her up early and that after getting out of the house, she decided that while continuing her call, she would complete several errands. In her last text, Mal shared that she had already bought all the food needed for the dinner next Friday and was leaving it at that James's.
The boy felt horrible knowing how tired Mal must be feeling, so he decided to go looking for her, but he first needed to take a shower and change. When he was making his way out of the shower, Mal entered the apartment, looking like she was about to fall asleep there. "Mal, I was going to call you to go pick you up."
The girl managed to smile at him and share that she had just picked up his parent's keys for the Airbnb and wanted to take a nap before buying the list of groceries they asked her to have ready for them. "I didn't want to carry them from the James's, so I didn't buy them when I bought the rest of the things for the dinner party. Would you mind ordering something to eat? I just want to sleep for a little bit, and then we can go to the grocery store, ok?"
Ben hugged the girl kissing her on the top of her head, and assured her that he could buy the things while she rested and also order something for them to eat after she woke up. Mal shook her head, telling him that she wanted to go with him to the store, so he only needed to order something to eat for them. Ben agreed, and then picking her up, he made his way towards the room and laid the girl on the bed, taking her shoes and telling her to sleep. Before he left the room, Mal asked him to stay with her while she fell asleep, and he did that. Although it took her less than a minute to fall asleep, Ben stayed at her side longer, enjoying being with her like that. This would be their first Christmas together since they were a couple and with his parents coming Ben knew that Mal's mind was full of hopes and plans to make it the perfect celebration for them. The night before at the bar when he shaed with his friends his plans for the New Year he realized that even though going away would be nice, the girl was sure to feel bad about leaving his parents behind after they made their way to visti them.
In a conversation he had with his mom a couple of weeks back, Belle had ask the boy if he was planning any special event for Mal and if he wanted her input or help. The boy was confused about the question and his mom dropped the topic looking a little frustrated, when he shared that with his friends though they all laugh at how clueless he was acting. "You know she was trying to ask you if you were going to propose to Mal."
"She doesn't want to get marry, I though we all knew that by now. Remember when his last boyfriend almost proposed and what came next? I'm fine living like this forever as long as she is happy. Would I like to marry her? Yes, absolutely. If I thought she would be open to that I would've proposed the second she agreed to be my girlfriend." Jay and Azis went on to tell him that it was clear for everyone that Mal was changing her mind about a lot of things she thought before and that included getting marry to him.
"Look Ben, at least you should have a conversation with her about his thoughts about the situation. If she hasn't change her mind make it clear that you are ok with continuing you relationship like that, but if she has change her mind then tell her you are ready if she is. The worst thing that could happened is she saying she is ok with the status quo." Ben close her eyes frustrated with the conversation that kept repeating in his mind in the last week. He turned and saw Mal resting peacefuly next to him and wondered if it even matter to have that talk when they were in such a good place now.
Not wanting to keep thinking about it he stood and made his way towards the kitchen and decided to cook for them instead of ordering in, when he finish Mal was still asleep. Ben decided to check her phone for the list his parents sent the girl and after forwarding it to his phone he went to the grocery store. Mal woke up hours later to Ben doing work in the living room and a faint smell of food that made her stomach growl. The sound alerted the boy who smile at her putting his laptop to the site he stood up asking her how was she feeling.
"Not great, I'm hungry and thirsty. What time is it?" Ben gave her a glass of liquid Iv and told her that it was almost 6, so she had slept for close to four hours. "Oh no, we need to buy the things for your parents today. I don't want to run around doing errands tomorrow, while we make sure the apartment is clean enough for them."
"I already went to the store and bought everything. I left it at their apartment and made sure that the place is in a good condition so you don't have to worry about doing anything aside eat." Mal wanted to protest she wanted to make sure to pick some extra stuff that wasn't on the list, but she knew Belle and Adam would appreciate. "Did you buy them anything aside from what was on the list?"
Ben nodded and while he serve her meal the boy went on to share with her how he picked up some snacks and also a couple of things he knew his parents would enjoy. Mal nodded while eating still sad that she wasn't part of the outing, but more relax about the things Ben bought to stock his parents pantry for their trip. The boy came to sit at the table and told her that if she was up for it they could bake something for them and went on to share that they could also make something special for brunch on Monday so they could share it. Ben was planning to wait until his parents came and said a quick hello before going to work, he knew Mal could handle his parents on her own but still he felt a little uneasy leaving her with them without talking to Belle in person about her comment from weeks ago.
The couple decided to finished their day watching a movie and then bake something for the boy's parents the next day. Ben sat on the couch and Mal decided to rest her head on his lap while watching the film, soon she was lost in the story making a few comments with Ben responding less and less. After a couple of remarks going unanswered Mal moved enough to see if Ben was asleep and noticed the boy looking at the void without paying atention to the movie at all. The girl moved startling Ben who looked down and smiled at her, but Mal moved to seat and asked him what was on his mind.
"I want to talk to you about something, but I have to admit that I'm afraid of this conversation." Mal looked at him with confusion and assured him that he could talked to her about anything, the fact that they were a couple now didn't mean that there were things that were any topics that they couldn't share with each other. They had already decided that their friendship was the perfect base of this relationship and their openness to share their lifes was needed to for this to continue and succeed. Ben nodded and taking the control he turned off the tv , then he turned completely so that he was looking straight at the girl that now looked intrigue by what was to come.
"I know that you never had the best relationship with your mother, and that made you take some decisions about your future since forever. I understand that and trust me when I say that I've always respected your choice to not geting marry." Mal nodded, but she was getting nervous about the conversation and hoped that Ben would go to the point soon. However, when she realized that the boy was having problems saying what was on his mind she decided that it was time for her to share her thoughts on the subject. With that in mind she told the boy that she knew that he would respect her decision which was one of the things that made her feel so comfortable sharing her life with him. At that point, Mal noticed a sense of defeated crossing Ben's eyes and she felt a little more secure about her next words.
"Since we kissed for the first time, so many things have happened. First, we are dating which I don't think neither of us thought it was a possibility it would happen, at least not me. Now I've move from New York and we are living together." Ben nodded and assured her that he was aware of all the sacrifices she had made for them to work and how he didn't want her to sacrifice anything else. "Ben, I'm not sacrificing anything. I love you and being here makes me happy. This time we've being together made me realized that I do want to do those things with you. I want to get marry and have a family Ben, because its with you and you have always being my family."
The boy was at a lost for words so he leaned and kissed Mal bringing her close to him, after the kiss ended he started kissing her neck and whispering how much he love her and promising to make their future the best one possible.