Chapter 17: Trust Fall

At Leslie's House:

"Ben, have you seen my sneakers?" Leslie walks out of the bedroom, sits next to Ben on the sofa and starts putting on her socks.

Ben looks around him with one eyebrow raised. Camera pans out to show the mountains of things piled around Leslie's living room. "Uh... Nope..."

"Ugh, I don't want to be late for the stupid barbecue event." Leslie starts rummaging through her things. She gives a squeal of delight when she finally finds them. "You go on ahead, so we don't end up getting there at the same time."

Leslie lets out a small yelp as Ben suddenly grabs her and places her on his lap. She receives a kiss from Ben as he pulls her into his arms. Leslie pulls away from the kiss as she tries to take a breath while Ben whispers into her ear, "Have I told you yet how beautiful you look in your tight blue jeans?" He playfully nibbles on her earlobe and in a soft low voice says, "We don't have to go to the stupid event, you know..."

"Stop!" Leslie's face is red from blushing as she feels Ben's breath on her ear. "We are going to be late! Now, move it, Wyatt." She exclaims, getting off of his lap.

Leslie tries to finish buttoning her blouse, Ben stands and gets closer to her, he moves her hand away as he says, "Here, let me help you with that." He starts fidgeting with the buttons but instead of closing them he is unbuttoning her blouse.

Leslie swats his hands off of her, "Oh my God, Wyatt, what are you, 18?" He laughs and gives her one last look from head to toe before heading out.

Ooof, my boyfriend is so hot... He's like a sexy seahorse. Hmmm. Leslie thinks to herself as she watches Ben walk out the door.

At the Stupid Barbecue Event:

Leslie hates to admit it, but she is actually impressed with the event that Amy put together. There is good entertainment, food is overflowing and people are having fun. She scans the faces of the crowd to find Ben. A smile appears on her face as she catches Ben already looking at her from across the field. She raises her beer at him and he winks back at her.

Their secret moment is interrupted as Carl, from Pawnee Rangers Department, blocks Leslie's view of Ben. "HI LESLIE!"

Leslie cringes at Carl's loud voice. "Hi Carl. How are you?"

"I'M DOING REALLY GOOD!" He takes a sip of his beer, "I FINALLY MOVED OUT OF MY MOM'S HOUSE. I'M NOW AN INDEPENDENT MAN!"

"That's nice, Carl."

"HEY LESLIE. ARE YOU SEEING ANYONE RIGHT NOW?"

"Uh, no."

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAYBE GO ON A DATE WITH ME THEN?"

Leslie is about to reject his ridiculous offer when an idea suddenly came to her. "I have a better idea!" She takes Carl's arm and half drags him with her, "Come with me." Leslie looks around for Amy and starts steering Carl to that direction.

"Amy! Hi. Great job with this party. Have you met Carl?" She pushes Carl in front of Amy and high tails as quickly as she can.

"HI, I'M CARL!"

"WHY ARE YOU YELLING?" Amy yells back.

"I'm sorry... I've just been working outdoor so much that I need to yell to be heard."

Leslie watches the two of them continue their conversation from afar. She hopes that her plan works out. This way, Amy can finally stop trying to get back with Ben. Leslie scans the crowd again to look for her boyfriend. She laughs as she finds him giving her an 'I saw what you just did' look. He gives her a silent clap and she acknowledges with a small nod and a wide smile.

Again, their view of each other gets blocked as Sewage Joe stands in front of Leslie. "Gotta hand it to you, Knope. You fill out that tight jeans very well." He gives her body a look that sends the wrong kind of shiver down Leslie's spine.

"Eww, Joe, what are you doing here? You're not even from our department!"

"I'm someone's plus one."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter. What matters is, you and me finding a quiet spot and getting to know each other better."

"No, gross. Get away from me." Leslie walks away from Joe and shakes off the creepy feeling he gave her.

She isn't surprised to find that Ben is already looking at her with a concerned expression. She shakes her head at him to tell him that she is fine. Leslie is loving these secret conversations they are having with just facial expressions. She is about to head to his direction and pretend to have casual conversation with him only to be blocked again by an unfamiliar stranger.

"Are you Leslie Knope?" Leslie looks up at the man standing in front of her. She had never seen him before and would have guessed he is probably one of Ann's boyfriends. He certainly had the look and body that Ann normally went for in this dating around stage she is in.

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"I'm Seth Myer. You don't know me, but I have heard so much about you. I'm the Director of the Parks Department in Muncie. I'm here as a guest speaker."

"Hi, Seth." Leslie shakes his hand, "I have heard about you too. Muncie's Parks Department has a really good reputation. It's nice to finally meet you."

Cut to One-on-One Interview with Seth:

"Leslie is very well known around the different Parks department all over Indiana. Mainly due to a chain email circulating around with pictures of her falling into a pit." Seth coughs to hide a laugh. "Once I learned that she wasn't injured in that fall, I thought it was actually really cute and I could see her passion in those photos."

At the other side of the event:

Ben stares hard at Leslie and the guy with her. She has been talking to him for the past 15 minutes now and Ben is very curious who this guy is. Now they are laughing at something and He starts to feel a little jealous at the attention she is giving this stranger. She hasn't once tried to catch his eyes since they started talking.

"Earth to Ben." Andy's voice breaks Ben's concentration. "So how's it going with you and Leslie? Have you asked her out yet?"

"Uh... No. I can't go on a date with her, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Cause of Chris's stupid rule."

"So, all I can do right now is watch as different guys hit on her." Ben vents to Andy. He is glad to at least have one person he can talk to about his situation with Leslie.

"Ugh, that sucks. But I think you should just date her, man. Keep it a secret you know."

"Yeah, you know what, maybe I will do that." Ben says surprised at Andy's astute advice.

"No, don't tell me that! I have a hard time keeping secrets!" Andy leaves Ben behind and Ben looks into the camera with his usual 'I'm surrounded by insane people' expression.

He decides to join Leslie and find out who she is talking to once and for all. "Hey Leslie."

"Hi Ben. Ben, this is Seth, he is the Director of the Parks Department at Muncie." Ben shakes Seth's hand. He feels a lot more insecure now, knowing that this guy has the same line of work as his girlfriend. Not to mention, Seth is taller than him and admittedly not a bad looking guy.

"Ben is the Assistant City Manager." He hears a little pride in Leslie's voice as she says this which makes him feel a little better.

"It's good to meet you, Ben." Seth turns to Leslie as he says, "I have to head off and find Amy, I think I'm about to make a speech on stage. It was really great talking to you, Leslie. I hope we can talk more in the future. I will definitely be calling you." He smiles and heads off towards the stage area.

"He's going to call you, huh?" Ben gives Leslie a questioning look.

"Ben Wyatt, are you jealous?" Leslie laughs hard at this revelation.

"Uh, no. I'm not." Ben stammers his denial which only makes Leslie laugh harder.

"Oh my God, look how the tables have turned. How does it feel, Wyatt? Watching your girlfriend flirt with another guy?"

"Don't joke about that, Leslie. I'll make out with you, right here, right now, if you don't stop." Ben gives her a serious look. Leslie is holding on to her stomach now as she continues to laugh at Ben's pained face.

"You know what, Seth is really good looking, maybe I should make out with him later."

"Look, I know you're joking, but I'm feeling a little vulnerable here." Leslie hears the tone of his voice and starts to believe that Ben really is feeling jealous as she looks at his hurt expression.

"Aww, Babe. What have you got to be jealous about? I'm not going to jump his bones."

"Don't even talk about jumping bones with another man, Leslie." Ben's heart jumped a bit just thinking about it.

"Okay, I'll stop. I'm just teasing you. Why are you so insecure about this? I'm madly obsessed with your butt, Wyatt."

"Thank you. I get the irony of this, okay. I'm here freaking out over seeing you have a small conversation with a good looking guy while a few days ago I was brushing away your jealousy."

Ben gives Leslie a resigned look, "I just really wish we weren't a secret anymore, you know. I hate watching other guys hit on you. I counted three guys, Leslie. Three guys trying to flirt with my girlfriend."

"Sewage Joe doesn't count. He hits on anyone without a penis."

"I'm serious, Leslie. I really wish we weren't dating in secret."

"I really wish that too, Ben." They stare at each other with pent up emotions of wanting to touch and kiss in public. They are starting to fall for each other and not being able to express it outside of Leslie's house is really frustrating.

The crowd claps as Seth's speech ends. Amy takes the stage and announces the last activity for the day. "We are going to do a Trust Fall with a partner that I have already set up in advance."

As the pairs get called out, Ben had to hold his protest as he hears Leslie and Seth paired together. He has a sinking feeling that Amy had planned this all along. He is not surprised to hear his name paired with Amy.

Leslie looks at Ben and silently mouths, "I'm sorry." Even though Leslie isn't feeling any jealousy towards Ben and Amy anymore, she knows full well what Ben is feeling with her having Seth as a partner. Although, she can't help feel a little excited at the thought of her boyfriend getting jealous over another guy.

Everyone starts to line up with their partners, apparently, they are going to do the Trust Fall altogether. Ben's attention is with Leslie and Seth the whole time. Watching them talk and laugh about something.

"Hellooo. Bennnn." Amy is waving her hand in front of Ben's face. "Look, I'm sorry I paired them up, Okay? To be fair, I did that before I realized that we are never getting back together. Now, can we just get this trust fall over and move on with our lives?" Ben turns to Amy and gives her a small smile. He feels relief to hear Amy finally give up on her quest.

"I'm glad to hear that, Ames." Amy smiles back. She plans to tell him later about meeting Carl and how they seem to hit it off.

"ALL RIGHT, ON THE COUNT OF THREE!" Amy yells on the megaphone, "ONE! TWO! THREE!" She falls on Ben's arms smoothly.

Ben straightens her up and gives her a short hug. "Great job with this event, Ames." She smiles at him and runs off to check on how the others did. He takes a look around at the aftermath of the activity. It seems that the trust fall isn't as smooth for some of the pairs. Ann is lying flat on her back. Amy had paired her with April. And to Ben's shock, he sees Leslie is lying on top of Seth.

How hard is it to catch a tiny woman? Ben thinks angrily. He wants to rush towards them and pick up Leslie off of Seth. But he knows that would catch too much attention. He watches in anger as they are both laughing about this and he notices Seth taking his time in helping Leslie up. He starts checking for any injuries on Leslie and Ben is livid at seeing his hands freely touching different parts of Leslie's body.

This is too much for Ben. Seeing another guy's hands roaming around his girlfriend's shoulders and waist is making him see red, he marches towards them and finally catches Leslie's eyes.

"What's going on, are you OK?" Ben asks Leslie.

"Yes, I'm fine." Leslie sees Ben's clenched jaw. She knows when her boyfriend is controlling his anger. She always notices his jawline which had the perfect angle. And right now it was wired really tight.

"Just had a bit of trouble in the landing." Seth says with a laugh. Leslie only gives him a small smile, now fully aware that Ben is not happy about what just happened. "Well, that was fun. Unfortunately, I have another appointment soon and have to excuse myself. I will talk to you later, Leslie."

Leslie turns to Ben as soon as Seth is out of earshot, wondering how to assure him that he has nothing to worry about. "Can we talk about this later at my house?" She asks, not wanting to cause a scene.

Ben turns his back and walks purposely to his car leaving Leslie slightly worried that he might not show up at her house tonight.

- END SCENE -