problems // ben tyler cook

Chapter Five

Ben's POV

"Dude, are you ever gonna get off your phone?"

My head snaps up as I hear Josh's voice. "Oh, sorry." I finish typing and send my text to Rose.

"Stop texting Rose."

"Sorry." I apologize again, but can't help it when I glance down as she sends her response.

"So when am I gonna get to meet this bitch that's stealing away my best friend?" Josh teases, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"Rose isn't stealing me from you, Josh. You're still my BFF." I say, making him laugh. "And she's not even my girlfriend so-"

"She's not your girlfriend?! You haven't asked her out yet?!" Josh exclaims. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Benjamin?!"

"I haven't found the right moment to ask yet, Josh! Asking someone as perfect as Rose to be my girlfriend is scary! I don't want to scare her away or anything!"

"You're not gonna scare her away, Ben. But you need to not let her get away."

"Don't move too fast, but don't wait too long so she loses interest. Shit, this dating thing is really fucking hard." I groan, burying my face in my hands.

"You'll be fine, brother." Josh says, patting me on the back. "Where is Rose right now?"

"She has a show." I reply. "Why?"

"You should ask her out tonight."

"Josh, no."

"Yes! It needs to be done. Go confess your love and make sure she's your girlfriend by midnight tonight."

"How the hell am I even supposed to ask her? Do I just blurt it out or do I have to like, set it up or something? I'm fucking clueless."

"You just have to ask her when it feels right. Ask her when you're feeling so strongly about her."

"I've had plenty of those moments."

"That's perfect!" Josh says. "The next time you two have a moment, just ask her. If she really wants to be with you, then she won't really care how you ask."

"I guess. Why the hell does this have to be so stressful?"

Rosalina's POV

"Hold on!" I call softly as I hear a knock on my dressing room door. I pull my red sweater over my head before checking my makeup once more.

I grin as I find Ben behind the door, holding a bouquet of red roses. "Hi."

"Hey." Ben grins, stepping in. "You look gorgeous. These are for you." He holds out the roses for me.

"Thank you. I kinda felt like looking nice after the show, even if I'm just going home." I smile as I breathe in the scent of the roses, grabbing a vase to put them in.

"Well, how about we go out somewhere?" Ben offers, leaning against the wall.

"Go somewhere?"

"Yeah, let's go do something. We haven't seen each other in a hot minute."

"A hot minute? Babe, it's been two days. You've had rehearsal."

"I know, but two days is a lot and-"

"Rose!" I jump as I hear Andrew's voice outside of my dressing room. He stands in the doorway, his arms crossed. "I have notes for you from tonight's show."

"Um, okay." I mumble. "Ben, I'll only be a minute, then we can go out, okay? I'll be right back."

Andrew is the stage manager at our lovely theater. He's been with this production since rehearsals, and the whole cast pretty much hates him. He's rude and immature, and doesn't care about anyone but himself.

I keep my eyes down as I follow Andrew out of my dressing room and into the green room. "S-So what notes do you have for me?"

Andrew sighs, pulling up the notes on his phone. "You sounded sharp through all of Home. I tried to find some ear plugs, but they were all already taken by the crew, so I suffered through."

I nod, staring down at my folded hands. "Yeah, sure, um, I-I'll work on it for tomorrow."

"Don't worry about it." Andrew remarks, crossing his arms.

"What does that mean?"

"It's means that your understudy is going on for you tomorrow. Jenny is making her debut tomorrow." Andrew tells me. "I haven't been impressed with your performances lately and I think you're getting cocky."

"Cocky? No, I'm not, I promise!" I find myself getting defensive.

"One more thing." Andrew snaps. "You, and there's no easy way to say this, even though I've told you before, you look too big on stage."

My eyes tear up. "I look fat."

"Your words, not mine. If I were you, I'd lose some weight. We had this exact same conversation last month and how many pounds have you lost since then?"

"T-Ten."

"And how much do you weight now?"

"Um, around ninety." I murmur, taking a deep breath and refusing to let my tears fall.

"Let's get it down to eighty or even seventy five as soon as possible, okay? That's all. You may leave."

I take another deep breath before heading back to my dressing room. Ben is sitting on the couch, typing away on his phone.

He's grinning when he looks up at me, but then his smile falls. "Hey, what's wrong?" He pops up, placing his hands on my arms.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Rough set of notes, is all. I gotta go stage door. I'll meet you by your car?" I grab my backpack and throw it over my shoulder.

"Hey, wait." Ben grabs my hand before I can leave.

I turn around to face him but keep my eyes on the floor. Ben places his fingers under my chin and lifts my gaze. "I wanna see that smile."

I try to resist his hold but he just kisses me, and suddenly all of my troubles escape me. I hold the kiss there for longer then he probably intended, just wanting to revel in the pure bliss that fills me.

"There's that gorgeous smile." Ben sighs as we pull away. "Go stage door, babe."

I can't stop smiling as I meet fans and sign playbills, laughing through their stories and proclamations of love for me or the show.

I meet Ben at his car, smiling. "So where are we going?"

"Well are you hungry? We could go get some food or something." Ben suggests as he reaches over and takes my backpack off for me, tossing it into the backseat.

Andrews words linger in my mind and my heart starts to feel a tug.

"No, I'm not really hungry." I quickly shake my head. "But let's do something fun. I haven't gone out and done something fun in a long time."

"Let's go bowling." Ben suggests.

"Oh, I'm totally down for that." I grin, agreeing. "I love bowling!"