Ben and Leslie - Short Stories (Parks and Recreation)

Eighteen

AN:  For Fer ~ Happy Birthday!

Summary: Leslie turns eighteen and receives the best birthday gift ever.

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The first thing that came into her mind when she woke up was that she was officially an adult today. Leslie Knope had turned 18. She considered all her birthdays special but being 18 held so many promises. She'd always acted mature for her age, now finally she could match her mind with her physical age.

She checked her phone immediately, thinking it was probably blowing up with messages. Her eyebrows furrowed when she realized she hadn't gotten any.

Nothing from her relatives, none from her friends. Most peculiar was that even her best friend Ann Perkins hadn't left any message. It was Saturday morning, maybe Ann had a rough Friday night, maybe something went wrong at her house... Leslie became worried. She sent a quick message to Ann asking her if she was ok and to call her as soon as possible. The hurt she felt from not seeing messages from her best friend was replaced with concern.

She's startled when her phone vibrates. Finally, a birthday message, she excitedly thought.

Happy Birthday! I'm sorry I can't be there today.
I want you to know I'm thinking about you and planting a tree next to my dorm building in your honor.

The message was from Ben Wyatt. Leslie read it five times. She and Ben had gotten really close before he left for college. She considered him to be her second-best friend. Ann being the first, of course. She wanted to be happy for him, going off to a new adventure. But it had been months since she'd last seen Ben. She secretly hoped he'd drop by this weekend to greet her personally. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen and something heavy settled at the pit of her stomach.

When he left for college, Leslie was struck by a powerful emotion of not wanting him to go. At first, she thought it was just normal to miss a dear friend. But then she thought about all the girls he'd meet in college and she was overcome by jealousy, an emotion she hadn't felt before for him. Maybe because he was always around and so she never had any chance to be jealous of something.

But then she thought about it some more, she wasn't jealous that Ben would find another friend. She was scared that Ben would find a girlfriend. Someone that was not her. When she told Ann about it, her best friend immediately teased Leslie. Ann reminded her that she'd called it years back when she told Leslie and Ben that they were perfect for each other.

Getting up from bed, she pushed all thoughts of sadness aside and put on her birthday outfit that she picked out last night. It was a simple red dress that she and Ann had found at the clearance section of the mall. She loved how it hugged her figure and how the skirt swished whenever she twirled.

Running down the stairs and almost tripping, she barged into the kitchen where she thought her mom would probably be preparing her birthday breakfast waffles.

The room was empty. Leslie was starting to get annoyed. Did the world end last night and everyone disappeared, and no one told her?

Noticing a bright yellow post-it was stuck on the door of the fridge, she makes her way to it and read her mother's bold scrawl.

Breakfast out in the backyard.

Leslie smiled. Of course, she thought, her mom would want to eat outside. They'd been eating outside the past few weeks. Her mom was going through a nature phase and she told Leslie that being in the house all the time was making her feel old.

She made her way to the back door and pulled it open.


"SURPRISE!"


Clutching her chest from shock, she thought she might have had a mini heart attack. But suddenly everything came to focus. All her friends were beaming at her, each holding a pink balloon. Her mom ran to her, gave her a hug, and pulled her towards the middle of the backyard.

There was a huge picnic table at the center and it was fully decorated with her favorite colors, pink and purple. There were plates of waffles and her birthday cake was decorated with a Li'l Sebastian topper. Leslie felt the tears in her cheeks before she even realized she was crying.

Ann was next to hug her tightly. And Leslie bawled on her shoulders, unable to keep it together anymore.

"Leslie don't cry." Ann said.

"These are happy tears," Leslie replied. "I can't believe you threw me a surprise breakfast birthday celebration!"

All her friends came rushing to her, each one trying to get a hug.

"You're officially a lame adult now, Leslie." April rolled her eyes but allowed Leslie to hug her anyway.

"Leslie, can you buy me beer later?" Andy asked her quietly. "I still have a year to go before I can legally buy beer."

"Andy, I'm still not legally allowed to buy alcohol..." she reminded him.

"Oh, bummer. Hey, maybe your mom could buy me beer?" She shook her head at him, and April grabbed Andy away so they could sit on the table.

"Leslie Knope, happy birthday!" Chris said in his cheerful voice before enveloping her in a hug. Chris being here reminded Leslie that Ben was not. Chris also went off to college, the same one that Ben was in. The fact that Chris had made an effort to come to her birthday and Ben didn't, made her cry a little more.

"Come on guyyyyyyys. I'm hungry!" Tom yelled from the table. He had a fedora hat on and was holding his fork and knife in both hands waving them impatiently.

"Shush it little man, this is Leslie's moment." Donna reprimanded him.

"Cut the damn cake, woman." Leslie turned to see Ron sitting in front of the cake with his hands crossed. "There better be bacon and eggs in this party."

Her mom had invited her Woodshop teacher. He was her favorite teacher, not because he taught her how to craft things with wood, to be honest, she sucked at that, but because she considered Ron to be a really great mentor and she picked up more life lessons in his class than in any of her other elective classes.

"I have the bacon and eggs," someone said from behind her. She turned just in time to see Jerry stumble down the steps and she watched in horror as the plate of bacon and eggs flew out of his hands.

Her old neighbor was flat on his back and from the corner of her eyes, she could see Ron run towards him. She thought her teacher would help Jerry up, but instead he ran to the plate of bacon and eggs and placed them back on the plate after blowing on each piece.

"Dammit, Jerry!" her mom yelled.

"It's ok, no need to panic, the bacon wasn't on the ground for more than ten seconds and I've managed to remove most of the grass from the eggs, so these should be fine too."

Leslie burst out laughing. This was the best birthday ever. All of her friends were here to celebrate with her, and her heart was exploding from the abundance of love she felt right now.

They settle down on the table and Leslie cut the cake while her mom took pictures. And Leslie blissfully bit into her waffle, watching her friends goofing around with each other.

After all the food was finished, gifts opened, and a few words about how awesome Leslie was by everyone, they said their goodbyes and left. Except for Ann who stayed behind to help put away the party decorations.

"Maybe he's got exams to study for," Ann said quietly. She'd been watching Leslie all morning and she knew that Ben not being here was affecting her.

"Yeah... maybe," Leslie mumbled. She couldn't stop thinking about how much she missed Ben and wished he was here.

Leslie felt Ann grip her arm and she looked at her friend questioningly. Ann was looking at something behind Leslie, her eyes wide in surprise. Leslie turned to see what it was, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Ben was walking towards them slowly, looking unsure.

It took Leslie a second to register his surprise appearance before she sprang into action. She was running to meet him, and her arms wrapped around his neck as she flung herself on him, her skirt swaying back and forth widely. Ben caught her and he secured his hands around her waist, the momentum making him take a few steps back.

"You made it!" Leslie cried into his shoulder.

"I did," Ben whispered in her ear.

Leslie pulled away, wiped her tears, and placed her hands on her hips. "You're late," she scolded him.

"I'm sorry, I was resolving an internal conflict with myself."

Leslie tilted her head, confusion written all over her face, waiting for him to continue.

"When I went off to college," Ben started slowly, "I was excited, and things got busy as I tried to adjust."

He shifted on his feet and placed his hands inside his pockets, looking down on the ground as he continued. "But despite all the things I was busy with, I kept thinking about you. And how much I missed you. And that I wish you were there with me."

Her heart was pounding now, she wasn't sure what he was getting at, but she felt the way Ben had missed her and that he was feeling as miserable as her when he left. "I've missed you too," she interjected, her voice soft and low.

He looked up at her, staring into her blue eyes and he nodded before continuing. "And I've been angry with myself that I didn't do everything that I wanted to do with you."

"What are you talking about?" Leslie asked, "we've spent so much time with each other, what could you possibly want to do that we didn't get to--"

Her question was interrupted when Ben took a step forward, grabbed her face and kissed her.

Leslie thought her heart had stopped. Then it started to pound hard against her chest. Ben's lips were soft, and his kiss was light, and his tongue was slow and searching. In shock, her hands were still on her hips, but her knees were starting to feel weak. Never in a million years did she think that receiving a kiss from Ben would feel this way. Her whole body was shivering from the strong desire she felt.

He pulled away, peering into her eyes, "I didn't get to kiss you," he blurted out, answering the question she asked before he rendered her speechless.

Without hesitation, she lifted herself up on the tip of her toes, grabbing the flaps of his jacket, and pulling him towards her as she kissed him back. This time she released months' worth of pent up longing for him. And Ben received it with the same amount of vigor, his mouth slanting against hers, his hands firmly on her back.

They heard loud dance music play in the background and Ann cheering loudly.

Leslie laughed against Ben's mouth, the vibration making him hug her tighter. They both look in the direction where Ann was and saw her dancing energetically to 'Party Rock Anthem' which she played on her phone.

"You guys finally did it!" Ann screamed, she ran to them and hugged them both. "I'll be inside if you need me," she whispered to Leslie.

Leslie smiled as she watched Ann disappear into the house. She was still in Ben's arms, her head snuggled comfortably on his chest.

"Happy Birthday," Ben said as he kissed the top of her head.

Leslie felt tears in her eyes as she realized that this was the best birthday gift she's ever received.

Yes, she thought, turning eighteen was living up to its promise.