Yes (Parks and Recreation Fanfic)

Part 27 - Leslie

I push away all thoughts of Ben by drowning myself in work. They fixed my phone quickly after I threw it at the wall, and now it keeps buzzing to life with a new text or call from him. I think about texting him, calling him, emailing him back, but then I think about the picture. How could he... My phone reads over 143 texts/calls from him from the past 2 days. I've even gotten a couple of calls from Chris, which I've still ignored. At message 147, they stop coming in. I don't pay attention to the lack of activity on my phone until I hear Ann yelling from the hall.

"No! You broke her heart, and you don't have any right to do this!"

"I need to talk to her!" says Ben's voice. I freeze, and I see everyone in the department do the same. Ron is the only one who moves. He leaves his office and stands outside of my door. Donna stands up and barricades the other.

Ben runs in (literally) followed by a running Ann. Ben sees me inside the office and locks eyes with me. Not losing eye contact with me, he reaches for the door knob, not even noticing Ron.

"Son, I think it's best you leave." Ben jumps back a little, now aware of Ron's presence.

"Ron, I promise you, I would never hurt Leslie. I have an explanation."

"Leslie is.... Important to us. She deserves better than a cheater. Good day sir, the door is that way." Ron says, motioning towards the door.

"And not only did you hurt her by doing whatcha did, you also probably hurt her chances of winning the Recall Vote." Donna says from the other door into my office.

"Leslie, please, I wouldn't do this!" Ben yells, making eye contact with me again. Tom leans over to the window onlooking the department, then shuts the blinds.

"Only those who realize how dope Leslie is deserve to see her face." he yells through the glass.

"Leslie!" Ben yells desperately.

"Come on, Mr. Wyatt. Let's have a chat in my office." Ann says.

"Please!" I hear Ben's voice crack as he starts crying.

I put my head down into my hands and start shaking, signaling that I'm about to cry. I trusted him.

The final total comes to 1,098. After 951 more messages, my phone stops buzzing. It stops about 2 weeks later. Out of curiosity, I check the last text. It's simple, but it's enough to make me cry.

"I love you."

Two months later, Chris comes back to Pawnee. He says that Ben decided not to follow him home. He'll be taking another case just about 50 miles north of here. Chris pulls me aside one day and tells me a little bit about the girl. Her name was Ida Mere (it might've been better if he hadn't told me her name. Girl has it coming for her) and she also worked in Parks. It was clear from Day 1 that Ida liked Ben, and Ben tried to tell her that he had me, but he never got to tell her that. Ben made it very clear to Chris that he did not like Ida. He was as shocked as I was to see the photo. He wasn't there at the time of the kiss, but he has a hard time believing that it was consensual.

"Why don't you just listen to what he has to say?"

"I don't know, Chris. I don't know how to tell if he's telling the truth or if he's covering up stuff and making excuses?"

"When has he ever lied?"

"MacArthur Genius Award."

"Excuse me?"

"He lied to a public works employee while we were dating under the radar. He's been in relationship scandals before. What if he's in another one?"

"May I also remind you that you were part of the scandal."

"Yeah, we were in love. We knew that. But what if he's in love with this girl?"

"Why would he leave Fredrickson if he was in love with her? Why would he come running back here to try and talk to you if he was in love with her?"

"Why would he kiss her if he's in love with me? Thanks Chris, but I don't want to talk about this anymore."