She Will Be Loved- Ben Tyler Cook

Chapter 62

Kasey's POV

December 18, 2022

Fulfilled. That was how I was feeling right now, I realized, after contemplating for awhile while I was finishing up blow drying my hair. I don't think I'd ever expected to feel so fulfilled, ever in my life. As a teenager, I thought life would always be miserable. I thought I'd always be searching for reasons to hold on. I thought I'd always feel helpless. But no- I feel fulfilled. I enjoy life now, I'm so incredibly happy. Even though there are bad days, I know they're only temporary. I'm always able to find at least one good moment in a bad day. I am surrounded by the most amazing people all the time, whether through work projects or through friendships. Considering the way I used to feel and used to live, I feel so lucky. 

Maybe it can be annoying to bring up your past self frequently, but every time I'm in a moment of realization of how incredibly good my life is, I so badly wish I could tell my younger self. I wish I could tell her that one day she would find a balance to the painful chaos she was experiencing. The lows of life will never go away, but I'll always have support to get me through them and the highs will always come eventually. 

"You ready to go, Kase?" I heard Ben call from the living room. 

"Coming!" I called back, quickly brushing out my freshly dried hair. 

"Without me?" Ben now stood in the doorway, smirking.

"Jesus Christ Ben," I shook my head, and he laughed as I put on my shoes.

"I'm sorry! You always set me right up. At least it wasn't a 'that's what she said' joke- actually it could have been. Wouldn't have been as good, though."

"You are a grown ass adult. You just turned 25 in fact. That's halfway to 50. No more dirty jokes," I teased.

"Turning 25 does not mean I have to stop making 'that's what she said' jokes," Ben scoffed, and I laughed. I can't believe this is the man I love. 

"Let's go," I smiled, and we both began putting on our winter jackets. 

"The taxi's waiting for us outside," Ben said as he pulled on his hat. 

"I'm nervous!" I hopped up and down as I waited for Ben. 

"Don't be! Tonight's going to be fun," he smiled and held the door open for me. We locked the door and walked out of our building where our already-paid-for cab was waiting for us. Some snowflakes were trickling down from the sky, slowly but just enough to make my heart leap.

"First snow of the season!" I squealed and did a little twirl. Ben took a picture to post on his story, documenting our favorite moment of winter of course. The cold isn't exactly pleasant, but I've always liked winter and snow- so the first snow always excited me. 

We got in the cab and greeted the driver, and soon we were on our way. 

Tonight, the premiere of West Side Story was finally happening. The release of it had gotten delayed a couple years due to issues in post-production and other projects coming out, but it was finally time now. I was so excited to see the wonderful film we'd all been a part of together- it was truly special and I'm so thankful to be involved in it. There'd been talks of the premiere being in LA and they were even going to fly us all out there for it, but in the end it was decided the premiere would be here since we'd filmed some of it here and it was a special location to all of us. Hence the paid for cab- we were currently on our way to where we'd be getting our hair, makeup, and wardrobe done, all also paid for. They were truly making me feel like a movie star, I'd be freaking out many times tonight. 

I shifted my gaze from the window to Ben, who was smiling at me.

"What?" I scrunched my eyebrows.