A knock startles me out of my thoughts and my heart skips a beat knowing who is on the other side of that door. It’s midmorning and I have no idea how long we are going to be gone. I should text Thea and ask if she can come let Ernest out if I’m gone too long.
I’m drafting the text when I open the door to let Ben in. His eyes instinctively dip down to my ring finger, but the engagement ring is tucked back in my drawer after he caught me wearing it last week. “Hold on, I need to text Thea about letting Ernest out and then we can go. Does this outfit work, by the way?”
I’m wearing my denim shorts, a black lace-trimmed tank top, and my Doc Marten’s. My hair is tied up in my signature ponytail, and I can feel Ben’s eyes as he takes his time looking me up and down before giving me a nod and a boyish grin. “You look great. Do you have a swimsuit? Also, we’re going to drop Ernest off at my parents house so don’t worry about texting Thea.”
“That is—I don’t want to inconvenience anyone.”
He shrugs. “You won’t. My dad loves dogs, and they have a big backyard he can run around in. We have a bit of a drive so I figured that was better than Ernest being alone all day.”
I inhale, shaking my head. “That’s really thoughtful. Thank you.”
“Of course.” He holds his hand in front of him, two fingers raised. “Two things though. One, I’d grab a bathing suit. Just in case you’re worried about the no clothes thing. Two, we aren’t leaving until you have a ring on your finger.”
“Benjamin,” I scoff.
“Redddd,” Ben sing-songs, dragging the nickname out into two syllables.
“I’m not wearing that ring in public.”
“No ring, no date,” he replies, noncommittally. I hate how he always seems so unaffected. “Plus, I already told you we won’t be in public.”
“Are we breaking in somewhere? Doing something illegal? I can’t do illegal things or they won’t let me finish my degree.” I’m rambling. I know I’m rambling, but I cannot fathom putting that ring on and walking out of my apartment.
“Bathing suit. Ring.” He shoos me away from him, both of his hands flicking toward me.
I look at his hands in disgust—I cannot believe he’s shooing me!—but that disgust quickly dissipates as I remember how large and veiny his hands are. They are very nice hands… I deflate, knowing I’m going to do what he’s asked of me.
Shuffling back into my bedroom, I pull a red bikini out of my dresser before reluctantly finding the ring and slipping it on my finger. When I get back to the kitchen, Ben has leashed Ernest and is packing a grocery tote with dog toys, Ernest’s water bowl, and the remaining fancy treats that Ben previously bought.
“Anything else you think he might need today?” he asks.
Looking around the living room, I locate Ernest’s raggedy stuffed rabbit that he’s had ever since I adopted him. It’s only got one eye, and I’ve sewn the tail back on multiple times, but it’shis favorite and I can’t bring myself to replace it. “That should be everything,” I say, stuffing the rabbit into Ben’s bag.
“Excellent.” Ben grins, not being discrete about checking my hand. “Let’s head out.”
We load into Ben’s car, which is surprisingly nice. Leather seats, a large screen that automatically connects to his phone without any sort of cord, and… “Is that air conditioning cooling my seat?”
Ben just laughs, his arm coming to rest on the seat behind me as he skillfully maneuvers out of his parallel parking spot. “Why do you have such a nice car?” I push. “I don’t want Ernest to fuck anything up in here.”
Ernest perks up, hearing his name, but then quickly smooshes his face back against the window—his favorite way to ride in a car.
“There’s nothing to mess up,” Ben shrugs. “It’s just a car, nothing fancy.”
“Nothing fancy? My temp-controlled ass would beg to differ,” I joke. “I’ve had the same car since high school though, so anything with working windows really feels like a luxury.”
“Yeah, I noticed you were still driving that piece of shit. Did they not pay you anything in your engineering job?”
“They paid me!” I can hear the defensiveness in my tone. “But it was expensive to live in California, and then when I realized I wanted to go back to school, I saved all of my money for that.”
“Fiscally responsible? Are you trying to turn me on?”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot you were a Finance Bro. Seems so… counter to who you are.”
He laughs at that. “Really? How so?”
I shrug, jostling Ernest, who gives me a scathing look. “I’m pretty sure the definition of Finance Bro is a douche canoe thatthinks too highly of himself.” I pause. “Actually, now that I’m saying it out loud, it’s a pretty accurate description of you.”
Ben’s hand clutches his chest dramatically. “Colette, you wound me.”
