golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter eight

twenty minutes later, ben and eliana walked out of george's office. she moved her arm around, and looked up at ben in wonder. "damn, he's good. that was magical!"

ben nodded. "we don't know how he does it."

eliana checked her phone. "ugh, it's only three."

"don't wanna go home yet?" ben asked. she shook her head. "are you doing anything else?"

"my afternoon is all yours." he grinned. "how about we just head back to my hotel?"

eliana's eyes instinctively widened and she stopped walking. ben noticed, and his ears went red again. "oh my god, that's not what i meant at all!" he half yelled.

she burst out laughing, and doubled over on the sidewalk, uncontrollably giggling.

ben started to laugh with her and motioned for them to keep going. "get your mind out of the gutter, ellie." he shook his head, still laughing. "besides, i have a roommate."

"who?" eliana asked.

"sky." ben replied.

"ooh, the redhead?"

"wow, okay." ben pretended to be offended. "i see how it is."

eliana gave him a look. "oh, come on. you know you're the cutest one." she covered her mouth again. "dammit."

ben smirked. "please, keep calling me cute. it's great for my self esteem."

she lightly smacked his arm and he laughed again as they reached the hotel entrance.

ben pressed the button for the top floor, and eliana whistled. "ooh, you're in the penthouse."

"i wish." ben laughed. "the top floor always has the cheapest rooms."

the elevator dings, and the doors slid open. ben turned down the hallway, and eliana followed him.

"oh, i feel that." she said. "i was supposed to be in texas for a week, but now i have to do two, and i'm gonna have to get a much smaller room."

"isn't that where the ranch is?" ben asked.

"yeah, but we're just going to the karolyis gym in the city. the ranch is under construction. how'd you know?"

he pauses. "i guess i'm just interested in gymnastics for some reason." he shrugged and opened his door. eliana suppressed a small smile.

"welcome to my penthouse." he grinned and gestured for her to go in. the room was a good size, two beds and a couch, plus a bathroom and closet. sunlight streamed in through the window, and eliana went up to it and pushed the curtains open. she stared out at the view of the city from so high. ben watched her from his seat on the bed, wondering what was going on inside her head.

she turned around and waved him over. "come here."

ben walked over to the window and looked out with her.

"this is what i love about chicago." eliana said. "everything is unique. you can pick out any place you want. like..." she looked around and then pointed to a large building with lights on the outside. "that's your theatre. and there's the gym." she pointed to another.

"it's beautiful." ben said, and it was clear he wasn't just talking about the city.

she turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "are you doing that thing?"

"what thing?" ben asked innocently.

"that thing boys do where they're like 'my view's better 'cause you're in it.'"

"that depends..." ben smirked and leaned against the window. "is it working?"

"i don't know, is it?" she glanced down at his lips and walked away. ben sighed and ran his tongue over his teeth. eliana wasn't about to make anything easy for him.

he followed her and sat down next to her on his bed. "so, how did your coaches take the news yesterday?"

eliana laughed. "coach easton-"

"team usa's coach, right?"

"one of them." she nodded. "he showed up yesterday to tell me that i'd have to fly down a week early. he and coach daley saw the headline together."

"and?"

"they were pretty mad, and tried to tell me that i wasn't allowed to see you again, but i said no to them for the first time in my life."

"wow." ben said. "that must've took guts."

"it was terrifying!" she laughed. "and then i went home early. before my training time was done."

"you just up and left?"

she nodded. "i almost went back like ten times on my way home."

"guess i'm a bad influence on you." he smirked.

"honestly?" eliana said. "i don't mind. i've done everything they wanted for years. i want a life outside of gymnastics."

"i want a life outside of newsies." he said, looking into her eyes. she slowly smiled. "looks like we ran into each other at the right time."

ben was about to lean forward, when the door handle turned and sky walked into the room. "you here, benji?"

eliana jumped away from ben and put more space between them.

sky looked up from his phone, back and forth between the two of them. "oh. my bad. i'll just-"

"no, that's okay." eliana stood up and put on her jacket. "i should be getting home."

ben stood up after her. "i can walk you-"

"i'm okay." she smiled. "thank you for lunch. i'll see you monday."

she grabbed her gym bag and shut the door. ben glared at sky and fell back on the bed.

"i'm sorry." sky said sheepishly.

"i was this close to kissing her, bro." ben stared up at the ceiling.

"she just said you're hanging out monday, right?"

"yeah." ben sighed. "it's so far away."

sky laughed. "you'll survive."