45 ~ Sweet as a Happy Ending-3

"What do I wear?" I wailed, flailing around in my closet. It was almost time for Ben to come pick me up, and I wasn't even dressed yet. Ginny lay on my bed, casually texting someone while I was drowning in a sea of bright colours. Why did I have so many floral prints? "Ginny!" I whined, sinking down so I was sitting on the floor of my closet. She rolled her eyes and sat up. "Get off the floor, idiot," she snapped. "All you have to do is pick a nice dress, for Chrissakes. Something less girly than usual, though. Just one colour. Two colours max." I pouted but listened to her regardless, flicking through my hangers. "How about this one?" I asked, holding out a cute navy blue dress with a sweetheart neckline. She eyed it critically. "Yes," she finally said. "I'll get you my white kitten heels to wear with it." I smiled as she left. "I love you, Ginny!" I called. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," she grumbled, which made me smile wider. She didn't even realise how similar she and Ben were. It was hilarious. She was the best friend I'd ever had in my entire life, so I hoped she would call Zach. I firmly believed they were perfect for each other and just didn't realise it yet. Plus, Zach had texted me earlier, telling me Carie was actually his friend's sister. So Zach-Carie wasn't even a thing to begin with. But the thought with Zach with Ginny made up for the perfect lost ship name, so I would survive. He hadn't told me, but I thought he liked Ginny already. Or at least was still stuck up on her. I mean, I'd known him since even before Rick. I knew what he was like. Ginny returned with her cute white heels, and I thanked her as I slipped them on. They were comfy and the heel wasn't even that big, so I'd probably be okay for the whole night. Ginny scanned me over and smirked. "He's gonna die when he sees you," she declared. I raised my eyebrows and lifted the ends of the dress a little. "But I look the same." "My previous statement stands," she said dryly. "Clearly you've never noticed what Ben is like when you're in the same room together." I looked away so that she wouldn't see me turn red. " Stop embarrassing me, Mother," I joked. She snapped her fingers. "Speaking of which, Loverboy does know he has to get through me before he can take you out?" "Ginny, come on," I said. "Haven't you put the poor guy through enough?" She smirked evilly and shook her head. "Never!" she cackled. "Your parents aren't here, so I'm going to sit in as the intimidating guardian this time." I snorted a laugh and decided to wait with her for Ben to arrive. I felt at peace, I felt very calm. At first, I was a bundle of nerves, but it really didn't matter what the date was or anything like that. As cheesy as this is, and I'm known for being a cheeseball, Ben was all that mattered. But it was our first date. When we heard a knock on our dorm room, I literally jumped out of my skin and clutched onto Ginny's arms. Suddenly, my heart was thundering, jumping out of my chest. "Chill out," she said. "It's just a slimy little worm who loves you, you have nothing to worry about." "You're right!" I cried, jumping to my feet and skipping to the door. I took a deep breath, straightened out my dress, patted down my hair, and finally opened the door. "Good evening," Ben said, dropping his voice down about three octaves. I smiled giddily at him. He was dressed semi-formally like I was in a pair of khaki trousers and a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. If I was a weaker woman, I would drool probably, because he looked really, really good. "Good evening," I replied in a silly voice. And then I noticed he was holding out a bouquet of beautiful red roses to me that gave off a light fragrance that was starting to fill up our suite. Ben scratched the back of his head. "Er...are you going to take them, or...?" "Oh!" I said, shaking myself out of my daze. "Wow, Ben, thank you!" I carefully took the flowers from his grasp and buried my face in them much like I did with the sunflowers from before, which were now dried and placed by my bed. I inhaled once, closing my eyes and taking it all in. These must've been so expensive. "You didn't have to get me flowers," I said, glancing back up at him. He snorted. "What kind of first date would this be if I didn't get you flowers?" I bit my lip to keep my smiling too much. "Well, thank you," I whispered, my eyes crinkling at the corners. "You're so nice!" "Wow, this is so awkward!" Ginny screamed from somewhere inside the room, and I whipped around, looking for her. "Be quiet!" I laughed. "You look beautiful," he said, and it was just a simple sentence, but the way he said it made my stomach flip and made me feel all sorts of different things. His eyes went from my head to my toes and back up again, and then he smiled his sparkling smile at me. I wanted to stare, I did stare. He was too much. "So do you," I squeaked out by mistake. "Well, my mum always did want a girl," he chuckled, amused. I laughed as well, because I couldn't help it when he looked so happy. "Are you just gonna let him freeze to death outside?" Ginny asked. "Because I think that would be fine, but close the door so we don't get a draft." I shook my head. "Come inside, my mum wants to meet you." He frowned, confused. "Your mum? But-" He stopped himself and shook his head when he saw my eager expression. "Okay, I guess." "It's just Ginny," I whispered, and he nodded in understanding. I did wish that my actual mum could be here to meet Ben, but at least I had my dad. And now Delia too, I guess. And Ginny, of course.