Love Of My Life

55

Ben

I take a deep breath, knocking on the door of what used to be mine and Kat's flat. I do miss it here, but I like my life with Aria better. 

Katriona opens the door, the smile on her face looking fake. 

"Hello Ben," she says, awkwardly standing to the side so I can come in. 

I rang her the other day, asking if I could come collect my things officially since filming has ended. I'm officially kicked out of the hotel I was staying at, so I've rented a new space. It's small - a lot smaller than what I want - but it'll hold my things until I can find somewhere else. I know Aria offered to have me move in, but I don't want to intrude. I just want to wait a little before I make that commitment. I'll practically be living there as it is, but part of me wants Ari to get used to me being there before we brings my things into the equation. 

"Hi Kat," I say. I hear barking and know Frankie must be locked in her room. I haven't seen my pup in a while, and I'm dying to take her back. 

Kat closes the door and walks past me and further into the house. I don't even know where to begin with gathering my items. Aria offered to help but I thought it would be awkward if she came. It's awkward enough as it is. 

"I hope you don't mind, I put your clothing in boxes already," Kat tells me. "As well as your bath things and whatever was in our bedroom. I might have missed a couple things, but you can look around,"

"Thanks Kat," I say quietly. "Mind if I head in the bedroom?"

"It's all you," 

So I walk to the staircase, jogging up and going to the second room on my right. I open the door, Frankie barging out and jumping on me.

"Hi Frankie," I say, grinning as I lean down and pet her. It takes a couple of minutes for her to calm down, but eventually she does and follows me closely wherever I go. 

I spend the next couple hours loading everything I own into boxes, and putting them in a truck I had rented. I decide to leave most of the furniture and dishes even if I bought them. They're not necessary to me and they have no sentimental value. The last thing I need to take is Frankie, and I know that's going to be a hard one. 

"I'm all done," I pop in to tell Kat who is sat on the couch watching a program on the telly. She turns around and gives me a small smile, standing up and walking over to me.

"Did you pack Frankie's bowls?" she asks me.

I nod. "I have everything," 

Kat sighs loudly and bends down to say goodbye to Frankie. Part of me feels bad because she did help raise her, but in the end I adopted her. 

"Be a good girl," Kat says, laughing lightly, before standing up. "Make sure you teach Aria how to take care of her,"

"Obviously," I say, it coming out harsher than I anticipated. "Aria will be fine,"

"I hope so,"

Kat walks me out and waves as I get into the car with Frankie. I can barely see out my windows from the boxes I have. I didn't realize how much junk I owned. 

"Ready?" I ask Frankie, not expecting a reply. She sits on the passenger seat, which I purposely left open. She looks happy as ever. I just hope she doesn't miss Kat too much. I would bring her to visit but Kat told me she's getting another dog and I don't know how Frankie would respond. It's better this way in the long run. 

It doesn't take me long to drive to Aria's. I decide to unload tomorrow because it's getting late and I'm beyond tired. 

"Frankie listen to me," I say when I pull up to Aria's house. I turn to face my dog, not knowing if she even understands a word I am saying. "Don't pee on anything and don't eat anything. Just be a good girl,"

I love my dog, but dogs will be dogs and they'll chew on wires or take a shit inside sometimes. I just don't want Aria to have to deal with that. she said she's glad to have Frankie over, but I don't want her to regret saying that. 

The two of us hop out of the car, and I knock on the door. I hear Aria scampering inside and she hastily pulls open the door. 

"Frankie!" she says, bending down to greet her friend. I smile when I see my two girls getting along. 

I walk in, shutting the door behind me while the two of them are occupied. When Frankie calms down, Aria stands up and gives me a kiss, putting her arms around my neck. 

"I missed you," she tells me. 

My hands find her waist. 

"I missed you too, but I'm here now," I tell her, kissing her again. I'll never get over the feelings I have for her. "How was your day?"

"Boring," she laughs. "But it's better now. How was yours?" 

"Well I got everything. It's in the truck out front. I have until Tuesday with the car, but I'll probably return it tomorrow,"

We pull apart and I follow Aria into the kitchen where she is making dinner. It smells good. A pasta dish and chicken I think. 

"Did you leave Frankie's bowls in the car?" Aria asks me.

My eyes widen and I smile sheepishly. "I will be right back," I announce, causing Aria to laugh. Good job Ben. 

I jog out to the truck and grab the bowls, my phone ringing when I make my way inside. 

"Hello?" I answer, shutting the door. I continue into the kitchen, placing the bowls not he counter not with food on it. 

"Hi Ben, it's Tony," my agent says on the other end. 

"Hey Tony, how are you?" I say into the phone. I take a seat at the counter, sitting in front of where Aria is cutting peppers. 

"I'm good, I'm good. Listen I don't have a lot of time right now but I just got word that there's this new movie coming out in 2019 that Ryan Reynolds is working on. I pulled a couple strings and if you're interested they'd like to have you come in for an audition. It's an action move about billionaires faking their own death. Michael Bay is directing it,"

My head is spinning. I had forgotten about other movies. I was so submersed in Bohemian Rhapsody that other films didn't even matter. 

"I wanted to give you some basic information on it. Sleep on it, and get back to me if it's something you might be interested in doing. I'll call tomorrow with more information but I wanted to plant the seed now," Tony continues. 

"Thanks Tony, I'll definitely think about it," I respond slowly.

"Good. Alright I've got to run into a meeting, but I will give you a call tomorrow,"

"Sounds good,"

We exchange goodbyes and I hang up, gingerly placing my phone down not he counter. 

"Who was that?" Aria asks me.

"Tony," I tell her. "He's my agent. He said there's a movie coming up he thinks I might be interested in,"

Aria looks at me, a smile on her face. "That's amazing," she tells me genuinely. 

"You think?"

Aria nods. "You're a great actor. You should go for it if it interests you," she says, then resumes to what she is doing. 

"It's something to think about.." I say.

It's not that I don't want to, I do. This movie sounds interesting and I'm looking forward to hearing more about it. But theres a lot of traveling with movies and I'm nervous to leave Aria for a long period of time. 

I look at her, and just examine her beauty. Everything about her is perfect to me. The way her eyes are focused, how her lips are parted ever so slightly, how her hair is messily pulled back. I just don't want to leave this. 

Even if it's temporary, it still scares me.