Love Of My Life

12

GUYS this chapter is cute. I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope you like it xx

...

Ben

As I go home after my talk with Katriona, I feel like a weight has been taken off. I can suddenly think straight and I feel like I can feel again. 

My fingers fumble on my phone as I call Lucy. She's the closest with Aria and I need her opinion.

"Hello?" she answers.

"Hey Luce, question for you," I say.

"Go ahead,"

I take a breath and think about how I want to word this. "Does Aria have a thing for me?" I mentally face palm as the words come out. That could have been worded any other way. 

"Oh, um, why do you ask?" Lucy asks.

Some guy gives me a wild hand gesture for driving while on my phone. I put my phone on speaker and rest it on my dashboard so I can still hear Lucy. 

"Okay so I've been thinking about it and I fell really hard for her. So much so that I just broke up with Katriona and I want to know if she feels the same because ideally I would like to ask her out on a date," I explain. I becomes more real as the words come out of my mouth. 

"You broke up with Katriona?" she asks quickly and quietly. 

"Literally just an hour ago," I laugh nervously. 

"I know from talking to Aria that she likes you but she was upset when she found out about Katriona, mainly because you never talked about her,"

"I know," I say. "I know," 

"Listen, Ben, where are you? I'm with Gwil and Rami right now but if you want to join us and I'll invite Joe we can discuss this. I know they've been involved and have been dying to hear about everything,"

I agree and we pick a place to meet. We wound up going back to Joe's hotel room. The last time I was here was when we had that movie night a little while ago.

"There's the eligible bachelor!" Joe greets me when I enter his suite.

"Hopefully not for long," Gwilym adds. 

We all get situated on the couch, everyone clearly eager to hear what I have to say.

"So the mission is Operation Get Aria?" Joe asks.

"She still thinks he's dating Kat," Rami points out.

"What if," Lucy says, pulling out her phone. "I text her something along the lines of 'oh my gosh I heard a rumor Ben and Katriona broke up'?"

"That could work," Gwilym says. "Where is she now anyways?"

"Working," Lucy answers. She types into her phone before putting it down on the glass table in front of us. 

"So now she knows that part," I say slowly. "But where do I go from here?"

"You get the girl," Rami tells me. "Don't get me wrong - take it slow with her, but ask her on a date and go from there,"

"You might want to ask Bri and Rog for their permission first..." Lucy adds. We turn to look at her as to ask 'why?'. "Bri literally raised her. It's polite,"

I groan and lean my head back so it touches the back of the couch. I want to ask, I agree that it is polite, but it makes me nervous. It's like I'm asking her to marry me. It's just a date, but I see where Lucy is coming from.

"You think I can just call and ask?" I ask the group.

"I don't see why not," Lucy answers, shrugging. 

I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. I sigh before opening it up and punching in Bri's number. Rami motions me to put it on speaker when the dial tone starts. 

"Hey Ben!" Brian greets me through the phone.

"Hi Brian," I say. My stomach flutters. 

"What can I do you for?"

I take a deep breath. "I don't meant to bother you, but I did have a question and I figured calling was okay," I ramble. "It's about Aria,"

"Is she okay?" Brian asks, worried. 

"Oh yeah, she's fine. But I wanted to ask your permission if I could possibly....ask her on a date. If that would be okay with you since I know you're like a father to her,"

It takes Brian a couple moments to answer him. Not to be dramatic or anything but those are probably the worst couple of moments of my life.

"I think you'd be good for her, Ben," Brian answers. I release a breath of air that I didn't even realize I was holding in. Everyone else apparently does the same. "I just want you to know before you get involved that Aria has a difficult time with things like this. She has a hard time feeling since Freddie's passing,

"She was there when he passed and it really caused a lot of damage and she's still recovering. Just know she's fragile and can be a little hard headed at times," Brian laughs. "But she can be the sweetest and most loving person you've ever met,"

"She's definitely special," I say, smiling as I look down at the floor. I don't know her exceptionally well yet but I can tell already. 

"Just also be aware that once you go public with her, it's going to be a big deal," Brian warns me. "She hasn't done anything lately to put her in the spotlight, but a new romance will definitely spark something. She might grow shy and close herself in but Rog and I will help with that. Just be patient,"

"I will Bri. I down want to hurt her,"

"I know. Roger will be thrilled to hear this,"

"Why's that?" I ask, slightly amused. 

"He's convinced you are a mini him so he feels like Aria has, as he put it, 'excellent taste in men',"

I laugh, and everyone around me snickers. I give them a look as to tell them to be quiet.

"So how are you going to ask her?" Brian asks.

We spent the next couple minutes brainstorming ideas. Rami, Gwil, Joe and Lucy all try to sign language their ideas to me. They're absolutely awful at it so I try to ignore them. It's a lot harder than it looks. 

I tell him I think about just asking her after filming tomorrow. I don't want to draw too much attention. Brian agrees that simple is better, but if I ask her to be my girlfriend he strongly recommends a "grand approach", whatever that entails. I agree however, but just try to focus on what tomorrow brings. 

...

We finish filming for the day and I know my moment to shine is coming soon. Roger begged me to stay in costume while I ask Aria. I was hesitant but ultimately agreed solely because it worked out with timing. I also am convinced him and Brian have this bet going on but I choose to ignore it. 

"Aria, can I talk to you for a second?" I ask, lightly grabbing her arm after we are done filming. 

"Sure, what's up?" she asks me.

We stand in the middle of the set. It's an odd place to have this talk, but I don't mind. We filmed outside today so it added for some nice scenery. 

"I've been wanting to talk for a while about it but I'm sure you know Kat and I broke up," I start. She nods. 

"I heard. I'm sorry to hear that," she says.

"Well we did for a couple of different reasons. Mainly regarding you," I say. I can feel my palms getting sweatier and sweatier the more I talk. "I have been smitten with you since the moment I met you. And it took me forever to realize it. I think you're beautiful and I love spending time with you and I want to get to know you better. If you would be interested, and theres no pressure, would you want to go on a date with me sometime?"

Aria bites her bottom lips as she thinks. She doesn't say anything at first, but eventually a small smile creeps on her face.

"Yes, I would like that," she tells me.