Selene woke up to something tickling her nose. This seemed familiar to her, so she slowly blinked her eyes open. She saw Ben crouched beside her by the bed. He had a grin on his face and his beautiful eyes were sparkling. "Wake up sleepy head," he said, one hand now stroking her hair.
Smiling back, she lifted her head, and said, "Good morning."
Ben reached over, gave her a peck, and then stood up. He said, "Breakfast is ready. Let's brush those teeth and go eat." He reached out his hand.
Selene sat up, rubbed one eye with her fingers, and then the other. She took Ben's hand and asked, "What time is it?"
"Almost 10," Ben replied, as Selene got up.
"Wow. I haven't slept in like this in a long time," Selene said. She took her free hand and wrapped it around Ben's waist, pulling him in for a hug. "Hummm…," she sighed as she laid her head on his chest.
Ben put his chin on her head and said, "I want every morning to start this way."
Selene tightened the hug for a moment, and said, "That would be nice." Then she pulled away, looked at him with a smile, and said, "I'll be back in a sec." She ran quickly to the bathroom knowing that somehow there would be a toothbrush and toothpaste ready for her. And sure enough, there were.
They ate the breakfast that Ben had prepared, at the kitchen table. When Selene had first seen the table in the kitchen, she could not believe that he had remembered her description of it from all those years ago. It was the kind of table that was rectangular, with a bench on one side and chairs on the other. They sat there, eating, and enjoying each other's company as they once used to.
At one point, Selene started feeling a little chilly and that reminded her of something. She turned to Ben and asked, "Ok, this is going to sound out of nowhere, but I have to find out. There was this one night I was working late and the AC was on full blast in my office. I left a note for our Admin. Assistant to call facilities and suddenly the whole building had a new system by that afternoon. Did you by any chance have anything to do with that? I'm going to die of embarrassment if you didn't."
Ben gave a little laugh. He shrugged and said, "I may or may not have been involved."
Her eyes became wide and she exclaimed, "How is that possible?"
He just pulled her in for a hug and responded, "I can't have my baby freezing while working now can I?"
After a moment of silence to get over her astonishment, they continued with their conversation while they ate. At one point Selene filled him in on how her dissertations turned out and about how her job search went (or rather how her job choices were narrowed down to one, as it seemed universities wanted her more than the other way around).
Ben asked, "Why did you pick CU? You could have gone anywhere."
She replied, "They paid my way through all my programs with the scholarships they gave me. I wouldn't have afforded everything otherwise. And the department is in the top of its field so that helps," she said with a smile at the last part.
He looked at her with admiration and said, "I love how loyal you are."
She thought about those words and her eyes darkened. She thought, "That's why it hurt so much when you…." She looked at her plate and started playing with her food.
Ben looked at her and knew immediately what she was thinking about. "Hey," he said softly, "come here." They were sitting next to each other on the bench that was back against the wall. He reached over, pulling her into his lap as he moved the table over a little. He kissed her forehead and said, "I know it's going to take some time. I'm so sorry." He kissed her forehead again.
Selene put her hand on his cheek and said, "It's ok. You don't have to keep apologizing. I'm not blaming you. We'll get through it." She looked in his eyes lovingly to reassure him. He looked back at her as if was searching for that reassurance. When he found it, he reached up with his hand, tucked some hair behind her ear, and said, "That's because you have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known." Ben kept his hand where it was, leaned in, and kissed her.
Soon her hand was curling around his hair as the kissing became more intense. Ben pulled her in closer and ran his tongue across her teeth, teasing her, and then started nibbling on her bottom lip. Selene let him tickle her lips for a bit before pulling away. Breathing a little heavily, she said, "I think we should stop before we get carried away."
Ben reluctantly nodded, although it was going to be hard getting little Ben to agree, given he was already perking up at the situation. As Selene was getting off his lap, he said, "There' nothing necessarily wrong with getting carried away." His smile was, of course, a mix of sultry and mischievous.
Selene looked straight ahead and nudged him with her shoulder. She pulled the table back to it's original position and started to say, "You…," but she was cut off by the sound of Ben's phone ringing. He sighed, looking at the screen of the phone on the table that was lighting up.
"I'm sorry, I have to answer it," Ben said as he grabbed the phone. He walked into the living room as he said "Hey, Johhny."
Selene decided to take this time to check her own phone, which she had left in her bag. "And that bag would beee…," she thought, looking around. She looked at the island and continued her thought, "where exactly? Hmmm…" Then it came to her. She remembered putting it on the table where her shoes were exchanged for the slippers. As she passed the living room area on her way to retrieve her phone, she thought she heard Ben say the words "Sapphire" and "Drakos." She figured she must have misheard since he was talking in low tones.
When Selene finally looked at her phone, she saw several missed text messages and phone calls from Peter and Lucy. She brought the phone to her head, scrunched up her face, and thought, "Ahhh! This is not good!" She felt very guilty for worrying them.
She went back to the kitchen and sat on the stool by the island. She immediately called Peter. He picked up before the first ring even ended and said, "Hey, are you ok? What happened?"
Selene replied, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm so sorry. I totally forgot to check my phone after dinner yesterday, so I didn't see that you guys called."
"You had us really worried, you know?," Peter said in an angry tone. Then he said, "But I'm so glad you're ok." This was said in a relieved tone that indicated he really wasn't mad.
She repeated, "I'm really sorry. But…it's another long story."
Peter sighed. There was a brief silence and Selene pictured him putting two fingers on the bridge of his nose as he calmed himself down (she wasn't far from the truth). He said, "Let me guess, you made out with him again? And…this time it went a wee bit further? Am I right or am I right?"
Selene blushed. She said, "Well, you're not wrong." As Peter was about to say something, she cut him off and said, "But, listen, listen. I know what you're going to say. But just listen to me, ok. It's not what you think. I'm not, I repeat not, rushing into this. We will sit down and talk about this like we always do, and I promise you will understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. I promise I'm not being naïve. Ok? Can you please just trust me?"
Peter responded, "Well…when you put it that way, how can I say no?" He gave a little wry laugh then continued, "Where are you right now? Do you want to have lunch?"
"I sort of had a late breakfast. As in, I just finished it but maybe we could do like a coffee in the afternoon? Say 2 or maybe 3? Let me check in with Lucy first and I need to check something else too," Selene replied.
She could feel Peter rolling his eyes at that last part, especially when he asked, "Oh, of course, you have to ask hubby now for permission right?"
"Ohmygod, don't start that up already," Selene said in an annoyed tone only to hear Peter laughing at her.
He said, "Okay, Okay. You know I'm kidding. Let's text about it."
"Okay," said Selene. "Bye."
"Bye," replied Peter and they both hung up.
Selene breathed out and said, "One down, one to go."
She basically repeated the same conversation with Lucy except Lucy added in more "Are you okay?"
Ben had come into the kitchen in the middle of Selene's conversation with Lucy, so he knew about the coffee plans before she hung up. He was leaning on the other side of the island, looking at Selene. She started to say, "I didn't know what our, your…," and then stopped with a little laugh. She continued, "Umm, I don't know what word to use as far as whether it's our plans…your plans…my plans, for you know, umm, later today? But I was thinking of seeing Peter and Lucy later today. I don't have to if you wanted to, you know, hang out or something."
As she was talking, Ben came over to her and put one hand on her waist. The other hand went to play with her hair, stroking it, and putting one section behind her ear. While he was doing so, he said, "First of all, I like the sound of 'our plans.' Hmm—I guess there is no second of all." He smiled and his eyes glowed golden.
Selene smiled and said, "Me too. But that doesn't answer the question of what we are going to do the rest of the day." She poked his chest as she said this, punctuating the last few words.
Ben put his head back and said, "Ahhh. I guess I'm in denial." When he brought his head back down, he was frowning. He continued, "Is it bad if I just want to spend the entire day together? Just us?"
"No," Selene replied softly.
"But," he said with a sigh as he ran his hands up her arms to her shoulders, "I have to do some work today. I'm sorry."
She smiled and said, "It's no problem." When he hugged her, she said, "No really. You heard me making plans with those guys, so it works out perfectly."
"I really didn't mean to do any work today. It's just that something came up and if I don't take care of it, then it could become a big problem," Ben explained. He wanted to justify why he had to cut their day short because he didn't want her to think he was prioritizing work over her.
Selene gave a gentle nod as she closed both her eyes once, indicating she understood. She said, "I get it. You don't have to explain. Really." Then she looked down and asked shyly, "But, umm, what time will you be done?"
Ben smiled and said, "How about I pick you up from your place around 6?"
She looked up with a smile and said, "Sounds good! Now, let's care of the dishes and get ready for our respective days."
After they finished the dishes, Ben said Selene could take a shower first if she wanted. She was a little offput at having to put on yesterday's clothes after her shower, but he surprised her with a fresh pair of jeans, a cute blouse, and an underwear set (all in her size!). He even had socks and sneakers ready for her. She looked at him questioningly for just the tiniest of seconds before she said, "Max?"
Ben said, "Of course. This morning."
Selene smiled and said, "I think that deserves a reward. How about you join me in the shower?"