Fic: Three Weeks and Three Days to Change Your Life, part 1/?
Title: Three Weeks and Three Days to Change Your Life, part 1/?
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Characters/pairings: Leslie/Ben
Word count: ~ 8,850
Rating: PG-13
Summary: On the first day of the Harvest Festival, an unexpected conversation about her relationship with Ben causes Leslie to start thinking of him in a whole new way. An AU re-telling of "Harvest Festival"-"Fancy Party."
Author's Notes: I wanted to get this started this week because the theme at leslie_ben this week is "Harvest Festival"-"Fancy Party." I think I can do this whole story in 4-5 parts, but I can't promise how quickly updates will come, because I've got a ton of real life commitments right now. I took some liberties with the timeline, since it's not always clear in the show. I've officially decided that 3 weeks and 3 days pass in between the first day of the Harvest Festival and April/Andy's wedding, hence the title.
My main motivation for this AU is that I foresee much angst on the horizon for this happy couple, both in the show-verse and in fic-verse, and I was in the mood for something else. So if you want a fic full of sunshine and rainbows, whipped cream and making out, then you've come to the right place. :)
Prologue
Leslie stomped off the platform as the blathering reporters continued to toss around glib curse-related comments. She was really starting to hate Joan Callamezzo. More than usual.
Ben waited for her at the bottom of the stairs, and fell in beside her as she headed for the generator. She shook her head. "I cannot catch a break!" She expected Ben, of all people, to understand. He knew what it was like to be under a spotlight when everything went wrong.
Instead, he replied, "Yeah, well I'll help you out. I'm gonna go."
"What?" She froze in shock.
"I think I'm jinxed or something."
"What are you talking about?" Despite the jocular buzz of the reporters and some sort of angry chant coming from the Ferris wheel, all she could hear was the sound of Ben abandoning her.
"Look-" he stammered, "you were totally fine until I got involved, so I-I feel like I should probably just go, okay? I'm really sorry. I'm-I'm-I'm the curse, I think, so I'm gonna-I'm gonna-I'm gonna get out of here. All right?"
And with that he left her standing there, her mouth gaping open, as he walked away.
Son of a bitch.
For just a few seconds Leslie let her mind dwell on how much she'd come to rely on him the last few weeks. On how he'd become her Guy Friday. Her closest pal in the government. On how lost she suddenly felt.
Then she took a deep breath. Fine. If Ben was going to flake out on her, she'd just have to solve the problem herself.
So she did.
It wasn't until 2:40 in the morning that she let herself think about Ben again. The new generator had been installed. Her co-workers were rescued from the Ferris wheel. Li'l Sebastian was back in his pen with a guard standing by all night. And the new press conference had been scheduled. Leslie was finally home for the night, and really should have been getting ready for bed.
But now that the crisis was over, she couldn't help but wonder what had come over Ben. Earlier that day he'd been so convinced that curses were hokum. What happened?
As she washed her face and brushed her teeth, her mind drifted back to a conversation she'd had with Ben two weeks ago, just after his media fiasco with Perd Haply. She'd taken him out to Sullivan's for some beers to try to cheer him up.
After the buzz kicked in he opened up to her a little more about just what Ice Town had done to him. He said that he felt like bad luck had been following him around ever since. That every time he tried to settle down and get involved in something permanent and meaningful, it had blown up in his face. He'd listed a pretty impressive series of life and relationship disasters for her, and insisted that nothing had improved until he took the auditing job. As long as he was on the road, never staying in one place too long, never getting too attached, things went well. But he was scared to try settling down again-to try caring again-because he was sure it would end in another disaster.
Leslie had countered with her own stories about career faux pas and disastrous relationships. And yet, she was still there in Pawnee, plugging along just fine. They'd had a few good laughs about it. And a few more good laughs the next day while re-watching the Perd Haply video. And then they moved on. She thought that would be the end of it.
Clearly, she was wrong.
As much as she wanted to be angry at Ben for walking out on her when she needed him, she couldn’t quite manage it. He was obviously still pretty messed up about the Ice Town bad luck thing. Silly, really, but most of her other friends had their own silly quirks and phobias. It would be unfair of her to hold Ben's against him. And, in a strange way, it showed just how much he cared about Pawnee. After all, he only thought the bad luck hit when he wanted to settle down and make things permanent.
Maybe it was just the sleepiness or the stress, but it occurred to her that having Ben around full time might be really nice. He'd become a really good friend. So she needed to prove to him that his bad luck streak was over, once and for all.
Before turning in for the night she texted his phone. "Problems solved. Watch local news at 7 am. Take that, curse!"
With a smile on her face, she turned out the light.
Week One
Monday
Leslie's heart had been soaring ever since the brilliant 7 am press conference, and it leaped even higher when excited families started pouring through the carnival gates at 9. But the real icing on the cake was when Ben walked through the gates, giving her a sheepish wave and a bashful apology.
She was so happy about everything, and so happy to see him again, that she did the unthinkable. She shared the credit for the Harvest Festival with the very man who'd nearly destroyed her department just two months earlier. Because he deserved it.
In spite of his flake out yesterday, she really couldn't have done this without him. It was high time he learned that caring about something-caring about someplace-again, wouldn't be the end of the world. He wasn't jinxed, or cursed. And caring about Pawnee was the best thing that could happen to him. After all, Pawnee was the best town in America-quite possibly the world. And, for some strange reason, it gave her butterflies in her stomach to think that Ben might be starting to realize that.
An hour later Leslie popped into the first aid tent as part of her rounds. This morning Donna was in charge-Ann wouldn't be in until later. "Everything good here?" said Leslie.
"Nothing but a few band-aids on boo-boos so far," replied Donna.
"Great. Perfect. Good work everyone!" Leslie turned back toward the entrance to make her way to her next stop when Donna spoke up.
"Hey, Leslie?"
Leslie headed back to the table where Donna sat. "Yeah, what's up?"
"I noticed skinny boy came back. I'm just curious-are you hitting that yet?"
It took Leslie a moment to process. "You mean Ben? Wait-what?"
Donna rolled her eyes. "Yes, I mean Ben. So are you hitting that?"
"No!" Leslie was shocked. "We're just friends. Good friends. With a good working relationship. Not really a relationship, even. We just work well together. As friends. That's it. Really."
"Uh-huh?" Donna raised her eyebrows.
How could Donna even think something like this? It was outrageous. But then, Donna so rarely initiated conversation with Leslie that it was kind of flattering. Did she really think something was going on with Ben? "Why do you-why would you even--?" Leslie took a deep breath. "Do you think he's into me?" Where did that come from?
Donna rested her hands on the table in front of her and gave Leslie a level gaze. "Let me put it this way: If you gave that boy a choice between visiting Skywalker Ranch, or doing it with you, he would totally choose you."
A strange warmth spread through Leslie's body. She couldn't deny that she found Ben attractive. She might have even fantasized about kissing him a time or two. And she really liked the way he flirted with her sometimes. But he wouldn't really-wait a minute. "How do you know about Skywalker Ranch?"
"I know things!" Donna sounded mildly offended.
"Right. Yes. Sorry. But-why do you even bring this up?"
Donna shrugged. "I'm in between men, at the moment. I have to get my kicks vicariously. So why aren't you hitting that? I've seen the way you two look at each other, and you're way stressed lately. You could really use some relaxation, and I'm sure he'd be happy to provide."
Leslie could feel herself flushing. She looked down at her feet and kicked at the ground. Of all the awkward things to be having a conversation with Donna about. "Yeah, well, it doesn't really matter. He's leaving in a few weeks. What's the point in starting a relationship if I know it's doomed to long-distance hell?"
"You and your girl Ann are way too worried about boyfriends and relationships." Donna shook her head. "The two of you need to loosen up. Learn how to have a little fun."
Leslie knitted her brows. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, he doesn't need to be your boyfriend. Just have a fun fling. Make the most of it, and then say goodbye when it's time for him to leave. You get all the good parts of a relationship with none of the complications."
Wow. Leslie had never even considered something like this before. A fun fling-it actually sounded kind of appealing. And Donna was right-she really could use some stress relief. It had been what-more than seven, or was it eight? months since she'd had sex. And Ben was really cute. And fun. And he had great hands . . . . "Do you think Ben would really go for that sort of thing?"
"The man lives on the road," replied Donna in a matter-of-fact tone. "He's never in a town more than a few months at a time. I'm sure he has short-term flings all the time."
"Really?" Leslie had never really thought of Ben as promiscuous before. But she hadn't thought he lived a life of celibacy or anything, either. And Donna did have a good point-he would have had a hard time with real relationships in his line of work. Maybe he really was used to things like fun flings.
"Absolutely."
"Huh." Leslie toed the ground again. So maybe Ben was capable of a fun fling, but was she? And did she want to try?
"You should go for it, Leslie. You really need to unwind."
Leslie nodded. "Maybe you're right. I'll definitely think about it."
Donna pointed at her. "Do more than think about it. Seriously."
"Okay. Maybe-maybe I will. Thanks."
Leslie walked from the tent in a thoughtful stupor. Fantasizing about kissing Ben was one thing-getting caught up in a "fun fling" was something else altogether. Maybe Donna was right. Maybe she and Ann did worry too much about relationships and not enough about just relaxing and having fun. Maybe that was exactly what she needed.
She spent so much time thinking about Donna's suggestion that when she saw Ben come into the staff tent for the 1 pm staff meeting she immediately thought about kissing him. The adorable smile on his cute mouth didn't help one bit. Her stomach did a little flip flop, and she had to look at other people in order to carry on with the meeting.
They went around the room and everyone supplied updates on the different Harvest Festival venues-the Farmer's Market, Main Street Sidewalk Sale, the Scarecrow Contest, and more. Ben filled them in on the first Harvest Festival children's story time at the library. It was so great of him to take that bullet for the team. Finally, Tom and Ron filled her in on the final preparations for the launch of the Harvest Festival concert series in Ramsett Park that evening. Everything seemed to be on track, and Leslie couldn't be more relieved.
As she ended the meeting, she found her eyes drifting to Ben again, and she wasn't surprised when he sidled up to her. They usually chatted after meetings.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey, you," she replied.
"Look," he looked at the ground, "I still feel like a big jerk for walking out on you last night. I think I still owe you about a million apologies."
He looked truly adorable when he apologized. That glimmer in his eyes-the half-smile on his face-those large hands spread out in front of him.
Something in Leslie's mind shifted.
Fine. That was it. She was going for it. If he seemed interested by the end of the day, she'd dive into this whole "fun fling" thing. But first, she'd have to see if he was interested. And in order to do that, she'd have to get her flirt on.
"Really," he continued. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
Thank you, Ben, for giving me the perfect opening, she thought.
Fixing her most alluring smile on her face, she met his eyes. "Well, for starters, you can treat me to a coffee from the Coffee-licious booth."
His smile perked higher. "Yeah. That sounds great. Right now?"
"Sure," she stepped closer to him. "I could use an early-afternoon pick-me-up." She nudged him with her shoulder. (She'd had it on good authority several times over the years that this sort of casual physical contact was one of the best ways to show a man you were into him. As long as Ben wasn't some sort asexual odd-ball-he wasn't, was he?-he'd catch on soon enough.)
"Okay," he said, grinning. "After you."
She made a point of rubbing up against him several more times as they strolled to the coffee booth.
"I've never actually tried Coffee-licious before," he said. "Are they any good?"
"Just the best in town. They aren't called Coffee-licious for nothing."
"Yeah. It was actually the name that turned me off. Don't you think it's a little silly?"
Leslie rolled her eyes. "This coming from the man who named his pet hamster Chewie."
"I was twelve!" He laughed. "You're never going to let me live that one down, are you?"
"Nope. Sorry."
This time he rubbed up against her-though it could just be jostling from the crowd. But Leslie thought it seemed deliberate.
They reached the Coffee-licious stand where Leslie ordered her favorite warm-weather coffee drink: an iced mocha with an extra squirt of chocolate syrup and double whipped cream. The best possible combination of sugar and caffeine ever invented. Ben, naturally, opted for a plain iced cappuccino. A little dull, but in better taste than just plain coffee.
He shook his head as she started sucking down her yummy drink. "How can you stand all that sugar? Isn't it a little much?"
"Oh my god," she replied. Why did he have to be so cute, even when he was being ridiculous? "I'm not sure I can like you anymore, after this. Sugar is my number one food group."
He laughed. "I thought that was breakfast foods."
Now this was the kind of flirty banter she'd been hoping for. "No, breakfast food is the number two food group-sugar still comes first."
"So where does salad fall on that list?"
Seriously-what was up with the salad thing? "Salad is the made up food group I only eat when I'm having lunch with you or Ann."
He smirked and nodded. "I see."
"You'd get it if you just tried it," said Leslie impulsively, holding her cup up to his face.
He raised his eyebrows, rocking back. "Really?"
"I don't have any strange diseases. Come on-you're not turning into a germ-o-phobe like Chris, are you?"
He smiled and sighed. "Fine. Just one sip."
"You'll love it. Trust me," she said, and lifted the cup even closer to his face.
His hand wrapped over hers to steady the cup, sending extremely pleasant tingles up and down her back, and he brought it to his face for a sip.
He promptly lowered the cup, wincing and letting go of her hand. "Blech. Yeah. Way too much sugar."
"Heretic." She glared at him. And noticed that he had a dollop of whipped cream clinging to the corner of his mouth. This was way too good to pass up.
She reached up to swipe the corner of his mouth clean with her thumb, and promptly sucked the cream off her thumb as she looked up at him.
Ben flushed pink and shuffled his feet, clenching his own coffee as if he had no idea what else to do with his hands. "Wow. You-you really like that whipped cream, huh?"
"Ummmm." She nodded, smiley seductively again.
He took a step back. "Well. Yeah. Uh-that's great. Still don't like the mocha, but uh-yeah-Coffee-licious is pretty good."
Why was he being so weird all of a sudden?
"It really is." She nodded, hoping he'd calm down a little. "We should do this again, sometime."
"Yes. Definitely. Yes. Uh-but I guess we ought to get back to work now. So-uh-bye." And with a little wave, he was off.
What?
Leslie had done her best flirting ever, and Ben just ran away like a scared bunny. She shook her head. Donna had no idea what she was talking about.
Too bad. Leslie had actually convinced herself that this fling-thing was really going to happen, and she felt more than a little disappointed that Ben didn't seem interested. At least she had plenty of work to take her mind off of it.
Her agenda and Ben's kept them apart from most of the rest of the day. And the few times they did run into each other, his smile brightened and he seemed pretty excited to see her. Ugh. Too many mixed signals. How in the world was she supposed to figure out what she wanted-and what he wanted-if he ran away one minute, and flirted over chit-chit about the wandering clowns the next minute? Leslie had enough work on her plate without adding "figuring out Ben" to the mix.
As the night grew darker and started closing in on the 10:30 carnival closing time, Leslie made one last circuit of the fairgrounds and suddenly found Ben walking next to her.
"Hey-where'd you come from?" she asked.
"I'm stalking you."
She skidded to a halt, feigning a look of horror. "What?"
He held up a hand. "I'm just-I'm just kidding. Really. I was looking for you, and it took me a few minutes to find you, b-but-" His voice trailed off as he finally seemed to notice her mischievous grin. "You already knew that, didn't you?"
She nodded. "You're just too much fun to mess with. Really-you might as well wear a target on your chest."
He sighed. "We should just change my job title to Official Butt of all Jokes."
"That sounds about right." Here he was, being all flirty and cute again. God, Ben, why can't you just be clear about your feelings? Or was this just the way he talked to all the women he worked with, and he ran away earlier because she'd crossed the line from harmless flirting to meaningful flirting? Too damn confusing.
He held up a plastic sack in his hand. "I brought something to celebrate a successful first day," he said, his eyes twinkling as he pulled out a few cans of beer.
Leslie put her hands on her hips and glared. "You do know that no alcoholic beverages are allowed on fair grounds, don't you?" Those beers did look really good right now-but she was in charge here, and she had to keep up appearances.
"I think you can get away with breaking the rules once in a while," he said, popping the top on one of the beers and holding it out to her.
Boy, did that look good. "Fine," she said, snatching it from him. "But just this once."
He grinned and opened his own beer.
After a few gulps of the cold drink, Leslie sighed. "Who knew you'd turn out to be such a bad influence?"
"Yeah, that's me. A regular wolf in sheep's clothing."
Leslie grinned and shook her head. If anything, he was the exact opposite. She'd been so sure he was the big-bad-wolf come to knock her house down when he first arrived in Pawnee. Boy, had she ever been wrong.
Ben raised his can. "A toast. To your Festival, and many more successes to follow."
The look in his eyes sent the butterflies in her stomach dancing again. She raised her own can. "To our Festival," she countered.
His smile looked both surprised and hopeful as he replied, "To our Festival."
They knocked their cans together, and took a drink.
After a few more gulps, Leslie decided it was just time to bite the bullet. This inconclusive flirting could go on for weeks. She needed answers now.
"Can I ask you something?" she said.
"Sure. Anything."
She took a deep breath. "If you were interested in someone-like, romantically-and you thought they might be interested in you, too, but you weren't quite sure, what would you do to find out?"
His eyes locked with hers, and he somehow managed to look both frightened and eager at the same time. How did he do that?
"I-uh-" He gulped. "I guess I would-I would try to spend more time alone with her. And-and-and hope that she would say something, or do something, to show me that she felt the same way."
The butterflies kicked into high gear. Who cared if butterflies didn't have gears-these were the metaphorical kind anyone, and Leslie could mix whatever metaphors she wanted when she felt like this. "Yeah. That's what I would do, too." She took a step closer to him. He took a step closer to her.
"You brought beer? Dude, you are totally my hero." Andy came striding up.
"I want some," said April, ambling behind him.
Ben jumped back from Leslie, and for the first time ever Leslie felt like she hated Andy (but only just a little).
Ben turned over the rest of his six-pack to the young couple, and the four of them drank and chatted about the great first day for a few minutes. The whole time Leslie kept sneaking glances at Ben, and was gratified to see him sneaking glances at her, too. So it hadn't just been in her head-something had been about to happen before Andy and April showed up.
Maybe something still could happen. Maybe she'd get lucky this week, after all.
But then Ben had to go and ruin it by saying he should get home for the night. Leslie tried not to be too disappointed. She said goodnight to him, and watched as he walked away, his hands tucked in his pockets.
She couldn’t help but wonder if he would spend the rest of the night thinking about her, like she would thinking about him.
Tuesday
As the 8 am staff briefing wrapped up, Leslie saw Ben sidling up to her again. He wore that hopeful flirty smile again. Thank god the sparks last night hadn't all been in her head.
"Hey, have you had coffee yet?" he asked. "I thought now might be a good time to take you up on the offer of hitting Coffee-licious, again."
So maybe she'd already had three cups at home. So what? There was no way she was turning down this invitation. Fun fling, here I come.
"Sure. Coffee sounds great."
Somehow his smile got even cuter after that.
They strolled out of the tent together, and feeling a sudden explosion of nervous flirty energy, Leslie nudged him and said, "Race you?"
He quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little childish?"
Just as she opened her mouth to respond he was off in a flash, jogging down the row of booths toward Coffee-licious.
Game on.
Leslie dashed after him, and in spite of a near-collision with an extension-cord toting carny, she nearly caught up with him. He skidded to a halt in front of Coffee-licious, and Leslie crashed into him, nearly knocking them both off their feet.
He wrapped his arms around her to steady her as they both burst out laughing.
"You're a big fat cheater," she said through her grin. "I totally would have won if you hadn't taken that head start."
"Hey-I need every advantage I can get against the amazing Leslie Knope," he replied, still holding onto her.
It seemed to take him a few more seconds to realize that they were practically embracing in front of half the food vendors on deep-fried boulevard. He let go of her and took a step back, looking flushed and bashful. "Well-coffee?" he asked.
She nodded, unable to wipe the grin from her face. Today was off to an amazing start, already.
Leslie and Ben's itineraries for the day kept them at different festival venues until well after lunch, and Leslie felt like a horny teenager the way her stomach started swirling every time she thought she caught a glimpse of his lean plaid-clad figure in the distance.
At lunch, Ann noticed her odd mood. "You seem hyper and out-of-it all at the same time. What's up?"
Leslie shrugged. She didn't want to tell Ann until there was something definitive to report. So far it was all just fantasy and possibility-not anything real. Not yet. "I'm just excited the festival is going to well," she replied. Ann seemed to buy it.
After quick drop-ins at the Farmer's Market and then the Family Slide-n-Splash event early that afternoon, Leslie returned to the carnival at just past three o'clock. It was even more crowded than yesterday. A very good sign. It was starting to look like she'd keep her job.
"Leslie!"
She smiled at the sound of Ben's voice, and turned to see him jogging up to her from the staff tent.
"Hi. I was going to make the rounds," she said.
"I'm a little ahead of schedule. Care for some company?"
How could she possibly refuse?
They fell back into their usual easy conversation as they made their way through the fairgrounds. It wasn't often that Leslie found friends who shared so many interests with her. He'd even read some of the same political biographies. But there were still some mysteries lurking beneath that collected (and cute) exterior. He'd let her see a bit more of himself after his media breakdown, but there was still so much to learn. She relished the moments when he let new details of his life trickle out.
Today, he talked about baseball. His life-long love of the sport. The way he and his father used to watch games together. His time playing little league, then in middle school, and in high school up to JV. He'd quit his senior year because he broke his wrist while working on an old car with a friend. That was when he decided to run for mayor.
He let out a low, self-mocking laugh. "It was partly to impress Cindy Ekhert after she dumped me, and partly out of boredom because I couldn't play baseball."
"Boredom never leads to anything good." Leslie smiled, shaking her head. "My mom never let me get bored. Whenever I started getting bored she'd give me chores, or extra homework, or community service projects."
"So that's where you get it." He nudged against her.
"Get what?"
"Your endless energy. You must get it from your mom."
She wouldn't exactly call it endless. But it was certainly above average.
A nearby carnival game caught her eye-all the prizes were baseball-themed. "Come here," she said, grabbing his hand and tugging him over to the booth. Her lips curved a little higher when he made no effort to remove his hand from hers when they halted in front of the game-the kind where you throw baseballs at old-fashioned milk-bottles stacked in pyramid shapes.
"I'm gonna win you a prize," Leslie declared. Unfortunately she had to pull her hand away from Ben to pull a five dollar bill out of the money clip tucked inside her pad-folio.
He folded his arms across his chest and quirked an amused smile at her. "So you think your throwing arm is up to the task?"
"Hell yeah," she retorted, handing her five to the carnie in exchange for three baseballs.
Her first throw missed the mark, and she clenched her teeth in concentration for the second throw. This time the bottles wobbled as her ball grazed them, but nothing fell.
"Third time's the charm," she said to Ben, who was smirking at her.
Sure enough, her third throw struck true, knocking two of the top-most bottles off the stack. She raised her fists above her head and whooped. "Oh yeah. Who's the winner? That's right-it's me."
"Small prize," said the carnie, pointing to one row of the prizes hanging on display. None of them were very great-but hey, a win was a win.
Leslie finally chose a small inflatable baseball bat. The carnie handed one over that was still deflated and wrapped in crackly plastic.
"Here you are," she said with a smile, handing it over to Ben. "You can use it to beat Chris over the head whenever he gets too perky."
Ben toyed with the noisy plastic wrapping and smiled down at the silly prize as if it were the best gift he'd ever been given. "If that's what I use it for, it'll probably pop before a single week goes by."
Leslie shrugged. "At least it'll be a good week."
With a new twinkle in his eye, Ben clipped the toy into his clipboard and said, "Now let me show you how this game is really played."
Leslie raised her eyebrows as he pulled out his own cash and handed a bill over to the carnie. Setting his clipboard down on the counter, Ben picked up the first of his three balls and started winding up his arm with a look of deep concentration on his face.
His first throw knocked three bottles of the top of a ten bottle pyramid. The next throw knocked down four. With his final, powerful throw he obliterated the top three rows of another pyramid, leaving only the bottom four bottles standing slightly askew.
Leslie clapped. "I guess you haven't lost your throwing arm."
Ben grinned. "Just like riding a bike. Some things don't go away."
"Big prize," grunted the carnie.
Ben chose an oversized teddy bear wearing a Minnesota Twins jersey, which he promptly handed over to Leslie. "Something to remember me by," he said, a sudden note of melancholy in his voice.
Leslie hugged the bear, feeling a twinge of sadness, herself. Ben had become such a big part her work the past few months, it felt like he was really a part of the team. She didn't want to see him go. On the other hand, this whole "fun fling" thing would backfire big time if he stayed. . . .
"I won't need this to remember you," she said. "I don't forget my friends." She held his gaze for a minute before he looked down at his feet, smiling.
"Thanks," he said, picking his clipboard back up.
They walked slowly back toward the staff tent, this time mostly in silence. As they passed the children's craft tent and the neighboring First Aid tent, Ben halted. "Leslie?"
She stopped just in front of him and turn to look back. "What? What is it?"
Ben took a deep breath, looking around with a slightly shifty gaze. "Come here a minute." He gestured for her to follow and walked down the narrow gap in between tents.
Curious, Leslie followed, her heart suddenly pounding. There'd been a new look on his face-one she wasn't quite sure how to read.
Once they reached the back of the tents, Ben turned to face her, his gaze intense.
"Look-" he said, "I hate to be this forward, and I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but I don't really have time to beat around the bush about this." He took another deep breath. "I-I am very attracted to you. And-and-and I really like you. I wasn't planning on doing anything about it because I'm leaving soon, and I didn't think you felt the same way. But the past couple of days I've been getting a vibe that maybe you like me, too. And-and I was wondering if it's all in my head, or if maybe you do? Like me?"
He looked terrified and hopeful, and a part of Leslie's brain registered that he wasn't really talking like a man interested in a short-term fling and more like a man interested in something more-but she quickly shoved that part of her brain away to focus on more immediate concerns-like how cute his mouth looked and how much she wanted to make out with him.
"It's not just in your head," she replied. Her smile felt as light as marshmallow crème. "I do like you."
The answering grin on his face could have lit up the whole carnival.
They stood like that for a few moments, shuffling their feet and smiling like idiots. Leslie wasn't quite sure how to proceed from there.
Fortunately, Ben knew exactly what to do.
He bent forward, cupping her face in one of his deliciously large hands, and pulled her in for a kiss.
His lips were soft and gentle, and he pulled back after just a few seconds with a silent question in his eyes.
Leslie answered the only way she knew how-by pulling him back down for more.
Teddy bear, clipboard and pad-folio all fell to the ground as she wrapped her hands behind his neck and he circled her waist with his free hand-his other now tangled in her hair-and pulled her body closer to his.
Leslie savored the sensation of his soft lips exploring her mouth with eager tenderness, his afternoon stubble lightly scratching her cheeks and nose as they fumbled to find the best way to fit together. She ran her fingers up his neck and into his hair, and he pulled he even closer, deepening the kiss and making her wonder what other tricks he could do with that amazing tongue of his.
She never wanted it to end.
"Break it up, you two. There's kids around here."
They jumped apart in a flash, and Leslie turned to see one of the police officers on his volunteer security shift staring at them. Pete. She'd met him a few times with Dave.
"Oh-Leslie," he said, flushing. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize-" He cleared his throat. "But really, you and Ice Town should keep that sort of thing off of fair grounds, I think."
"Yep. Yes." Leslie nodded. "You're absolutely right, Pete. We weren't thinking. Sorry." Behind her she saw Ben scrambling awkwardly for the things they'd dropped.
"Okay, Leslie. I guess I'll be seeing you around."
Leslie smoothed out her hair with her fingers. "Absolutely. Keep up the good work."
With an embarrassed wave, Pete walked back out into the main fairgrounds and headed off on his rounds. Leslie took a deep breath to steady herself. Her heart still pounded like a drum in her chest. She turned back to Ben.
His face was bright pink, and he clutched the teddy bear as if it was the only thing keeping him afloat in a pool of deep water.
"Well," she said.
"Well," he replied.
"That was-really nice." She smiled at him.
That was enough to get him to crack a smile back. "Really, really nice. Right up until your friend Pete showed up."
"That did put a damper on things."
Awkward silence hung between them for a moment.
"I think your bear got a little dirty," said Ben.
"I'm sure it's nothing a quick bath in my laundry machine wouldn't solve."
Ben nodded, and handed her the bear and her pad-folio. "Well. I-uh. Maybe we should-uh-talk about this, a little?"
"Yes. Talk. About this." If, by talking, he meant making out some more. "But right now I think I need to head back over to the Family Splash-n-Slide party. I'm supposed to supervise clean up."
"Yeah. And I have to get over to the Farmer's Market in an hour to supervise the nightly shut-down." He nodded glumly.
"And then I have to go do set-up for tonight's concert, and introduce the band to the crowd."
Ben sighed. "Our timing on this isn't great, is it?"
Leslie shrugged. "Maybe not, but it sure helps with stress relief."
That earned her one of Ben's rare grins-though they'd been showing up more often, lately.
"Maybe we can get together back here during the concert-for our talk?" suggested Leslie.
"That sounds great. So-I'll see you tonight?"
She nodded. "Tonight."
They headed back onto the main thoroughfare of the carnival, and Leslie turned toward the parking lot, sending Ben a little wave as he headed back to the staff tent.
Tonight couldn't come soon enough.
Leslie worked in a happy daze through the rest of the afternoon and evening. Even Tom flaking out on the special tea the band requested before their performance (followed by a super-star level hissy-fit that only ended when Leslie offered to pay them an extra $200) didn't ruin her mood.
The sun was setting when she made it back to the fairgrounds. She buzzed around the staff tent getting status updates, her eyes constantly darting to the door in hopes of seeing Ben. She was about ready to text him when he finally walked in.
She bounded over to him, unable to contain her excitement. "Hi Ben! How you doing?"
He rocked back on his heels, a glowing smile on his face. "Pretty good. I bought some amazing peaches at the Farmer's Market this afternoon. And-I kind of kissed this really cute girl a few hours ago."
"Anyone I know?" Leslie wagged her eyebrows.
"Seriously, though," Ben lowered his voice, "I guess I was wondering if this afternoon was just a one-time thing, or if you're interested in-"
No point in letting him finish that particular sentence. "My car. Right now," commanded Leslie.
His eyes widened. "Oooh-kay."
"Come on." She marched out of the tent and headed toward the service entrance of the carnival. Ben fell into step behind her.
"Sooo-what's in your car?" Ben asked.
Leslie laughed and shook her head. "Use your imagination."
A minute later they reached her car-parked in the reserved spot just outside the service entrance. It was a bit of an indulgence, but she was on such a tight schedule she'd never manage without it. She pulled open the back door of her car and gestured to the seat.
She saw realization finally dawning in Ben's eyes. "Are you serious?"
"Hell yes. You're past the point of no return now, mister."
Ben's eyes sparkled with an expression hovering in between awe and lust as he wordlessly scooted into her back seat. Leslie dove in after him, pulling the door shut behind her.
It didn't take long for them to melt into a tangle of limbs and lips.
"I can't even remember the last time I made out in the back seat of a car," muttered Ben in between kisses.
"Then it's been way too long," she replied, and sucked his bottom lip into her mouth.
His big hands were capable of even more amazing things than she'd imagined-and over the last few hours she'd imagined quite a bit. Thanks to Ben the next half hour was the best half hour she'd had in months. That man really knew how to make out.
Things didn't end until the alarm on his phone started chiming.
"Damn it," he muttered, resting his forehead against hers. "I'm supposed to supervise the take-down of the concert tonight. That's the alarm reminding me to head out."
She sighed, running her hand down his cheek one more time. "Mmmm. And I'm supposed to be in charge of closing for the carnival tonight."
"I guess that means we need to go now." He ran his fingers through her hair and nuzzled her cheek with his nose.
"If you keep doing that I'm never going to be able to leave," she replied, shifting to place another short kiss on his lips.
"Do we really have to leave?" He trailed a few soft kisses along her jaw line, ending with a lingering kiss in the sensitive spot beneath her ear.
"No," she moaned. Then her brain kicked back in. "I mean yes. Yes!" She pushed him back. "Sorry. As much as I'd love to stay here for a few more hours-and believe me, I would love to-we have work to do. We really need to go."
He squeezed his lips together and nodded. "Yeah. I know. Work before pleasure."
"At least for this week."
The corners of his mouth curved up. "Okay. Just for this week."
Leslie helped Ben get his tie back on, and he helped her fix her hair and blouse. After a few minutes they finally stepped out of the car.
Before heading to his car, Ben cupped her face in his hands and gave her one last, lingering kiss. "See you tomorrow," he murmured.
"See you tomorrow."
She had very good dreams that night.
Wednesday
Ben had to spend the morning doing work back at City Hall after the regular 8 am staff meeting, and Leslie tried not show her emotions too strongly as she said goodbye to him. She must not have done a very good job of it, because as soon as Ben left Ann walked up to her.
"Leslie-what's going on? You look like a puppy that can't stop wagging its tail. Am I missing something here?"
Leslie grabbed Ann's hand and pulled her away from the rest of the staff. Meeting her friend's eyes, she said, "I made out with Ben yesterday."
Ann's jaw dropped. "You made out with Ben?"
"Shhh! I don't want everyone gossiping about us. But yes." She grinned. "Twice. And it was awesome."
"Oh my god." Ann shook her head, spreading her hands wide. "I don't know what to say. That's great."
"It is great. He's great. His lips are great. And his hands-oh, god, Ann-his hands are amazing."
"I'm happy for you," said Ann, but Leslie could tell Ann had something not-so-happy on her mind. "The thing is, I'm worried about you. After what just happened to me and Chris, I'd hate to see the same thing happen to you."
"Oh, sweet, beautiful Ann. Thank you. I really appreciate you worrying about me. But this is nothing like you and Chris. We're not really dating or anything, we're just having fun."
"Really?" Ann looked incredulous.
"Really. We're just two friends having a fun fling before Ben has to leave town. That's all. It was actually Donna's idea."
"You know-she's been giving me some advice lately, too," replied Ann. "She got me to make out with this beefy carnie the other night and then to just blow him off after that. It was actually a lot of fun."
"Yeah!" Leslie took Ann's hands and swung them back and forth. "I'm starting to wonder why I didn't start going to Donna for advice ages ago. She really seems to know what she's talking about."
"Totally. But Leslie-this is Ben, not just some random carnie. Are you really sure he's on the same page with you?"
"Of course. Yes. Maybe." Leslie winced. "Actually, I don't know."
Ann gave her a stern gaze. "You need to make sure. You don't want to go breaking his heart just because you think this is one thing and he thinks something completely different."
"You're right." Leslie sighed. Fun flings were supposed to be uncomplicated, weren't they? So why all the complications? Yuck.
"So you'll talk to him?"
"I'll talk to him." It might put a damper on the making out, but Leslie had to admit that Ann was right about this one.
The next time Leslie saw Ben was in the early afternoon. She'd paused in her rounds for a short break by Li'l Sebastian's pen when Ben suddenly leaned against the rail next to her.
"Hey," he said, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.
"Hi," she replied, then did a double take. Ben had changed out of his normal shirt and tie and was wearing a Li'l Sebastian tee-sirt.
Her jaw dropped into an open-mouthed grin. "Ben! Oh my god! You've finally figured it out."
He shrugged. "Yeah-it was only a matter of time before this little guy won me over."
She laughed and leaned against him. "Finally, you're one of us."
They ooed and awed over Li'l Sebastian for a few more minutes, and there were moments when Leslie suspected that Ben might be faking his enthusiasm a little. But even if he was, she didn’t think she cared. He wanted to belong-and he wanted to impress her. Neither of those things were too bad in her book.
Finally they had to get back to work.
Before they parted Ben got a sly look in his eyes. "So, I checked your schedule for today, and it looks like you have a little bit of a lull around seven o'clock."
"Yeah, I guess." What did Ben have up his sleeve?
"Meet me at 7 by the ring-toss game, okay?"
He looked way too pleased with himself. Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"It's a surprise."
She decided to give him a little leeway on this one-though she normally loved figuring out surprises in advance. "Fine. I'll be there."
Leslie did her best to focus on her work for the rest of the afternoon and evening, but her mind kept spinning trying to figure out what Ben had planned.
Finally at 7 she dashed to the ring toss booth, hoping to beat Ben. But he was already there waiting for her. He still wore Li'l Sebastian tee-shirt, and she loved how it showed off his long, lean figure. She hadn't had a boyfriend this good-looking in ages.
Scratch that. He's not my boyfriend. We're just having a fling. Keep it together, Leslie.
She took his hands, twining her fingers through his. "Well, I'm here. So what's the surprise?"
"This way," he replied, leading her back around behind the booth. The only thing back there was the trailer where the carnies stored their extra prizes. To her surprise, Ben led Leslie right up to the trailer and pulled open the door.
"What's going on?"
He led her inside, and she found herself looking at a cramped space full of plastic-wrapped plush toys. In the small clearing on the floor sat a vase holding a single rose, a bottle of red wine in an ice bucket with two wine glasses, and a glowing artificial candle.
Ben gestured at the candle sheepishly. "I didn't think real flames would be a good idea around so many fire hazards, so I opted for battery operated."
"That's very safety conscious of you." She found it quite endearing, because it was something she would have done. "And very romantic," she added.
"I figured we hadn't had much of a chance for real privacy since this whole-thing-started. So I bribed one of the carnies to leave the trailer unlocked for us."
Leslie laughed. "You really are a bad influence. But I love it. Thanks."
Ben leaned in to give her a kiss.
They sat down by the "candle," and Ben popped open the wine and poured them both a glass. As they sipped, they chatted about the festival, about Leslie's desire to get youth sports back up and running with any potential profits, about the biggest budget disasters Ben had faced in the various towns of Indiana, and about which of Chris's exercise habits they found most annoying.
After a glass and a half of wine, Ben got quiet for a moment. "Leslie-this sneaking around and making out thing is lots of fun, but I think I'm ready for more."
Leslie froze. What? Did he mean he wanted her to put out? Ben wouldn't be that forward, would he?
His eyes got wide. "Oh-oh no. That really came out wrong. I'm not-" he waved his hand in front of him. "I just meant-I'd really like to take you on a real date."
"Oh!" Leslie's smile returned. Now that was the Ben she knew. "A date. That's cool."
"Great. Good." He grinned.
Wait a minute. A date sounds like relationship stuff. Crap.
"Look, Ben," she said, steeling her nerves, "I don't know where this thing between us is going. I really like you, and I want to keep spending time with you, but we're both so stressed and busy. I don't really want to think about anything beyond this week right now. So I'd love to go out with you, but I want to just keep things light and fun. At least for now. Is that okay?"
He looked a little confused and a tad uncomfortable. "Okay." He nodded.
Damn. This wasn't going the way she wanted. She really sucked at the fun fling thing.
"I just mean we can figure out where this is going next week-after the festival. Once we have time to breathe again."
His lips twitched up again. "Okay. I guess that makes sense."
Good-this strategy was working. "Yeah. We'll figure it out next week. For now, let's just have fun."
He nodded. "Okay. I can do fun."
She wound her hands behind his neck. "You bet you can."
Things got much better after that. They were certainly good at the whole making-out thing. They'd just gotten super-cozy curled up against a stack of plush elephants when the door to the trailer banged open.
Leslie squealed and pulled her blouse closed. Sully, the bald, tattooed head carnie, stood glaring down at them.
"What the fuck is this?" he demanded. "Do think this is your own private love shack, or something? This is a vital part of my place of business!"
He commenced shouted obscenities at the them as they scrambled to adjust their clothes and gather up all of Ben's romantic supplies. Sully didn't much seem to care that they were the ones who hired him-around here, he was boss. Fortunately, a moment later the carnie who Ben had bribed in the first place turned up, and Sully turned his wrath on that unfortunate soul as Leslie and Ben sneaked away.
Once they'd put enough distance between themselves and Sully, they found a dim corner to catch their breath.
"I'm starting to think the whole date thing is a really good idea," said Leslie. "Apparently the carnival has very few viable locations for secret rendezvous."
"Apparently." Ben scrambled to keep from dropping the wine bucket.
Leslie reached over to take the wine glasses off his hands so he'd have an easier time of it. "So-what did you have in mind for this date?"
The anxious look in Ben's eyes faded and his smile returned. "I was thinking tomorrow."
Leslie frowned. "My schedule is pretty tight tomorrow night-"
"Yes-but you have a lull in the early afternoon. All you have scheduled is to drop by the Scarecrow Contest and then to do rounds here at the carnival. I was thinking that if Tom filled in for you, we could take a late lunch. Go someplace nice, with waiters and real food. We'd have about two hours. So not a perfect date." He shrugged. "But still nicer than getting caught by Sully or Pete or who knows who else."
"I'm not sure Tom would be willing to fill in for me-you know how he gets about extra work."
"No problem," replied Ben, a confident smile on his face. "I already asked him, and he said yes. I do owe him some kind of unspecified favor, which is a little scary, but it's worth it."
"Wow." Leslie felt her heart jump a little. "You really planned ahead on this."
"Thorough planning and preparation are the keys to success for any important venture," he quipped.
Damn, that was sexy.
Leslie grinned. "Okay. Lunch tomorrow. When?"
"Tom'll take over for you at one o'clock. Meet me by the service entrance?"
She nodded. "That sounds perfect. And as for the rest of tonight?"
He sighed. "I hate to say it, but we should probably cool things down for the rest of the night. I'd rather not get yelled at again."
"Okay." Not her favorite solution, but it made sense. "We'll play it cool until our date."
Now she just needed some kind of magic remote that could fast forward until one o'clock tomorrow.
Part 2
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Characters/pairings: Leslie/Ben
Word count: ~ 8,850
Rating: PG-13
Summary: On the first day of the Harvest Festival, an unexpected conversation about her relationship with Ben causes Leslie to start thinking of him in a whole new way. An AU re-telling of "Harvest Festival"-"Fancy Party."
Author's Notes: I wanted to get this started this week because the theme at leslie_ben this week is "Harvest Festival"-"Fancy Party." I think I can do this whole story in 4-5 parts, but I can't promise how quickly updates will come, because I've got a ton of real life commitments right now. I took some liberties with the timeline, since it's not always clear in the show. I've officially decided that 3 weeks and 3 days pass in between the first day of the Harvest Festival and April/Andy's wedding, hence the title.
My main motivation for this AU is that I foresee much angst on the horizon for this happy couple, both in the show-verse and in fic-verse, and I was in the mood for something else. So if you want a fic full of sunshine and rainbows, whipped cream and making out, then you've come to the right place. :)
Prologue
Leslie stomped off the platform as the blathering reporters continued to toss around glib curse-related comments. She was really starting to hate Joan Callamezzo. More than usual.
Ben waited for her at the bottom of the stairs, and fell in beside her as she headed for the generator. She shook her head. "I cannot catch a break!" She expected Ben, of all people, to understand. He knew what it was like to be under a spotlight when everything went wrong.
Instead, he replied, "Yeah, well I'll help you out. I'm gonna go."
"What?" She froze in shock.
"I think I'm jinxed or something."
"What are you talking about?" Despite the jocular buzz of the reporters and some sort of angry chant coming from the Ferris wheel, all she could hear was the sound of Ben abandoning her.
"Look-" he stammered, "you were totally fine until I got involved, so I-I feel like I should probably just go, okay? I'm really sorry. I'm-I'm-I'm the curse, I think, so I'm gonna-I'm gonna-I'm gonna get out of here. All right?"
And with that he left her standing there, her mouth gaping open, as he walked away.
Son of a bitch.
For just a few seconds Leslie let her mind dwell on how much she'd come to rely on him the last few weeks. On how he'd become her Guy Friday. Her closest pal in the government. On how lost she suddenly felt.
Then she took a deep breath. Fine. If Ben was going to flake out on her, she'd just have to solve the problem herself.
So she did.
It wasn't until 2:40 in the morning that she let herself think about Ben again. The new generator had been installed. Her co-workers were rescued from the Ferris wheel. Li'l Sebastian was back in his pen with a guard standing by all night. And the new press conference had been scheduled. Leslie was finally home for the night, and really should have been getting ready for bed.
But now that the crisis was over, she couldn't help but wonder what had come over Ben. Earlier that day he'd been so convinced that curses were hokum. What happened?
As she washed her face and brushed her teeth, her mind drifted back to a conversation she'd had with Ben two weeks ago, just after his media fiasco with Perd Haply. She'd taken him out to Sullivan's for some beers to try to cheer him up.
After the buzz kicked in he opened up to her a little more about just what Ice Town had done to him. He said that he felt like bad luck had been following him around ever since. That every time he tried to settle down and get involved in something permanent and meaningful, it had blown up in his face. He'd listed a pretty impressive series of life and relationship disasters for her, and insisted that nothing had improved until he took the auditing job. As long as he was on the road, never staying in one place too long, never getting too attached, things went well. But he was scared to try settling down again-to try caring again-because he was sure it would end in another disaster.
Leslie had countered with her own stories about career faux pas and disastrous relationships. And yet, she was still there in Pawnee, plugging along just fine. They'd had a few good laughs about it. And a few more good laughs the next day while re-watching the Perd Haply video. And then they moved on. She thought that would be the end of it.
Clearly, she was wrong.
As much as she wanted to be angry at Ben for walking out on her when she needed him, she couldn’t quite manage it. He was obviously still pretty messed up about the Ice Town bad luck thing. Silly, really, but most of her other friends had their own silly quirks and phobias. It would be unfair of her to hold Ben's against him. And, in a strange way, it showed just how much he cared about Pawnee. After all, he only thought the bad luck hit when he wanted to settle down and make things permanent.
Maybe it was just the sleepiness or the stress, but it occurred to her that having Ben around full time might be really nice. He'd become a really good friend. So she needed to prove to him that his bad luck streak was over, once and for all.
Before turning in for the night she texted his phone. "Problems solved. Watch local news at 7 am. Take that, curse!"
With a smile on her face, she turned out the light.
Week One
Monday
Leslie's heart had been soaring ever since the brilliant 7 am press conference, and it leaped even higher when excited families started pouring through the carnival gates at 9. But the real icing on the cake was when Ben walked through the gates, giving her a sheepish wave and a bashful apology.
She was so happy about everything, and so happy to see him again, that she did the unthinkable. She shared the credit for the Harvest Festival with the very man who'd nearly destroyed her department just two months earlier. Because he deserved it.
In spite of his flake out yesterday, she really couldn't have done this without him. It was high time he learned that caring about something-caring about someplace-again, wouldn't be the end of the world. He wasn't jinxed, or cursed. And caring about Pawnee was the best thing that could happen to him. After all, Pawnee was the best town in America-quite possibly the world. And, for some strange reason, it gave her butterflies in her stomach to think that Ben might be starting to realize that.
An hour later Leslie popped into the first aid tent as part of her rounds. This morning Donna was in charge-Ann wouldn't be in until later. "Everything good here?" said Leslie.
"Nothing but a few band-aids on boo-boos so far," replied Donna.
"Great. Perfect. Good work everyone!" Leslie turned back toward the entrance to make her way to her next stop when Donna spoke up.
"Hey, Leslie?"
Leslie headed back to the table where Donna sat. "Yeah, what's up?"
"I noticed skinny boy came back. I'm just curious-are you hitting that yet?"
It took Leslie a moment to process. "You mean Ben? Wait-what?"
Donna rolled her eyes. "Yes, I mean Ben. So are you hitting that?"
"No!" Leslie was shocked. "We're just friends. Good friends. With a good working relationship. Not really a relationship, even. We just work well together. As friends. That's it. Really."
"Uh-huh?" Donna raised her eyebrows.
How could Donna even think something like this? It was outrageous. But then, Donna so rarely initiated conversation with Leslie that it was kind of flattering. Did she really think something was going on with Ben? "Why do you-why would you even--?" Leslie took a deep breath. "Do you think he's into me?" Where did that come from?
Donna rested her hands on the table in front of her and gave Leslie a level gaze. "Let me put it this way: If you gave that boy a choice between visiting Skywalker Ranch, or doing it with you, he would totally choose you."
A strange warmth spread through Leslie's body. She couldn't deny that she found Ben attractive. She might have even fantasized about kissing him a time or two. And she really liked the way he flirted with her sometimes. But he wouldn't really-wait a minute. "How do you know about Skywalker Ranch?"
"I know things!" Donna sounded mildly offended.
"Right. Yes. Sorry. But-why do you even bring this up?"
Donna shrugged. "I'm in between men, at the moment. I have to get my kicks vicariously. So why aren't you hitting that? I've seen the way you two look at each other, and you're way stressed lately. You could really use some relaxation, and I'm sure he'd be happy to provide."
Leslie could feel herself flushing. She looked down at her feet and kicked at the ground. Of all the awkward things to be having a conversation with Donna about. "Yeah, well, it doesn't really matter. He's leaving in a few weeks. What's the point in starting a relationship if I know it's doomed to long-distance hell?"
"You and your girl Ann are way too worried about boyfriends and relationships." Donna shook her head. "The two of you need to loosen up. Learn how to have a little fun."
Leslie knitted her brows. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, he doesn't need to be your boyfriend. Just have a fun fling. Make the most of it, and then say goodbye when it's time for him to leave. You get all the good parts of a relationship with none of the complications."
Wow. Leslie had never even considered something like this before. A fun fling-it actually sounded kind of appealing. And Donna was right-she really could use some stress relief. It had been what-more than seven, or was it eight? months since she'd had sex. And Ben was really cute. And fun. And he had great hands . . . . "Do you think Ben would really go for that sort of thing?"
"The man lives on the road," replied Donna in a matter-of-fact tone. "He's never in a town more than a few months at a time. I'm sure he has short-term flings all the time."
"Really?" Leslie had never really thought of Ben as promiscuous before. But she hadn't thought he lived a life of celibacy or anything, either. And Donna did have a good point-he would have had a hard time with real relationships in his line of work. Maybe he really was used to things like fun flings.
"Absolutely."
"Huh." Leslie toed the ground again. So maybe Ben was capable of a fun fling, but was she? And did she want to try?
"You should go for it, Leslie. You really need to unwind."
Leslie nodded. "Maybe you're right. I'll definitely think about it."
Donna pointed at her. "Do more than think about it. Seriously."
"Okay. Maybe-maybe I will. Thanks."
Leslie walked from the tent in a thoughtful stupor. Fantasizing about kissing Ben was one thing-getting caught up in a "fun fling" was something else altogether. Maybe Donna was right. Maybe she and Ann did worry too much about relationships and not enough about just relaxing and having fun. Maybe that was exactly what she needed.
She spent so much time thinking about Donna's suggestion that when she saw Ben come into the staff tent for the 1 pm staff meeting she immediately thought about kissing him. The adorable smile on his cute mouth didn't help one bit. Her stomach did a little flip flop, and she had to look at other people in order to carry on with the meeting.
They went around the room and everyone supplied updates on the different Harvest Festival venues-the Farmer's Market, Main Street Sidewalk Sale, the Scarecrow Contest, and more. Ben filled them in on the first Harvest Festival children's story time at the library. It was so great of him to take that bullet for the team. Finally, Tom and Ron filled her in on the final preparations for the launch of the Harvest Festival concert series in Ramsett Park that evening. Everything seemed to be on track, and Leslie couldn't be more relieved.
As she ended the meeting, she found her eyes drifting to Ben again, and she wasn't surprised when he sidled up to her. They usually chatted after meetings.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey, you," she replied.
"Look," he looked at the ground, "I still feel like a big jerk for walking out on you last night. I think I still owe you about a million apologies."
He looked truly adorable when he apologized. That glimmer in his eyes-the half-smile on his face-those large hands spread out in front of him.
Something in Leslie's mind shifted.
Fine. That was it. She was going for it. If he seemed interested by the end of the day, she'd dive into this whole "fun fling" thing. But first, she'd have to see if he was interested. And in order to do that, she'd have to get her flirt on.
"Really," he continued. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
Thank you, Ben, for giving me the perfect opening, she thought.
Fixing her most alluring smile on her face, she met his eyes. "Well, for starters, you can treat me to a coffee from the Coffee-licious booth."
His smile perked higher. "Yeah. That sounds great. Right now?"
"Sure," she stepped closer to him. "I could use an early-afternoon pick-me-up." She nudged him with her shoulder. (She'd had it on good authority several times over the years that this sort of casual physical contact was one of the best ways to show a man you were into him. As long as Ben wasn't some sort asexual odd-ball-he wasn't, was he?-he'd catch on soon enough.)
"Okay," he said, grinning. "After you."
She made a point of rubbing up against him several more times as they strolled to the coffee booth.
"I've never actually tried Coffee-licious before," he said. "Are they any good?"
"Just the best in town. They aren't called Coffee-licious for nothing."
"Yeah. It was actually the name that turned me off. Don't you think it's a little silly?"
Leslie rolled her eyes. "This coming from the man who named his pet hamster Chewie."
"I was twelve!" He laughed. "You're never going to let me live that one down, are you?"
"Nope. Sorry."
This time he rubbed up against her-though it could just be jostling from the crowd. But Leslie thought it seemed deliberate.
They reached the Coffee-licious stand where Leslie ordered her favorite warm-weather coffee drink: an iced mocha with an extra squirt of chocolate syrup and double whipped cream. The best possible combination of sugar and caffeine ever invented. Ben, naturally, opted for a plain iced cappuccino. A little dull, but in better taste than just plain coffee.
He shook his head as she started sucking down her yummy drink. "How can you stand all that sugar? Isn't it a little much?"
"Oh my god," she replied. Why did he have to be so cute, even when he was being ridiculous? "I'm not sure I can like you anymore, after this. Sugar is my number one food group."
He laughed. "I thought that was breakfast foods."
Now this was the kind of flirty banter she'd been hoping for. "No, breakfast food is the number two food group-sugar still comes first."
"So where does salad fall on that list?"
Seriously-what was up with the salad thing? "Salad is the made up food group I only eat when I'm having lunch with you or Ann."
He smirked and nodded. "I see."
"You'd get it if you just tried it," said Leslie impulsively, holding her cup up to his face.
He raised his eyebrows, rocking back. "Really?"
"I don't have any strange diseases. Come on-you're not turning into a germ-o-phobe like Chris, are you?"
He smiled and sighed. "Fine. Just one sip."
"You'll love it. Trust me," she said, and lifted the cup even closer to his face.
His hand wrapped over hers to steady the cup, sending extremely pleasant tingles up and down her back, and he brought it to his face for a sip.
He promptly lowered the cup, wincing and letting go of her hand. "Blech. Yeah. Way too much sugar."
"Heretic." She glared at him. And noticed that he had a dollop of whipped cream clinging to the corner of his mouth. This was way too good to pass up.
She reached up to swipe the corner of his mouth clean with her thumb, and promptly sucked the cream off her thumb as she looked up at him.
Ben flushed pink and shuffled his feet, clenching his own coffee as if he had no idea what else to do with his hands. "Wow. You-you really like that whipped cream, huh?"
"Ummmm." She nodded, smiley seductively again.
He took a step back. "Well. Yeah. Uh-that's great. Still don't like the mocha, but uh-yeah-Coffee-licious is pretty good."
Why was he being so weird all of a sudden?
"It really is." She nodded, hoping he'd calm down a little. "We should do this again, sometime."
"Yes. Definitely. Yes. Uh-but I guess we ought to get back to work now. So-uh-bye." And with a little wave, he was off.
What?
Leslie had done her best flirting ever, and Ben just ran away like a scared bunny. She shook her head. Donna had no idea what she was talking about.
Too bad. Leslie had actually convinced herself that this fling-thing was really going to happen, and she felt more than a little disappointed that Ben didn't seem interested. At least she had plenty of work to take her mind off of it.
Her agenda and Ben's kept them apart from most of the rest of the day. And the few times they did run into each other, his smile brightened and he seemed pretty excited to see her. Ugh. Too many mixed signals. How in the world was she supposed to figure out what she wanted-and what he wanted-if he ran away one minute, and flirted over chit-chit about the wandering clowns the next minute? Leslie had enough work on her plate without adding "figuring out Ben" to the mix.
As the night grew darker and started closing in on the 10:30 carnival closing time, Leslie made one last circuit of the fairgrounds and suddenly found Ben walking next to her.
"Hey-where'd you come from?" she asked.
"I'm stalking you."
She skidded to a halt, feigning a look of horror. "What?"
He held up a hand. "I'm just-I'm just kidding. Really. I was looking for you, and it took me a few minutes to find you, b-but-" His voice trailed off as he finally seemed to notice her mischievous grin. "You already knew that, didn't you?"
She nodded. "You're just too much fun to mess with. Really-you might as well wear a target on your chest."
He sighed. "We should just change my job title to Official Butt of all Jokes."
"That sounds about right." Here he was, being all flirty and cute again. God, Ben, why can't you just be clear about your feelings? Or was this just the way he talked to all the women he worked with, and he ran away earlier because she'd crossed the line from harmless flirting to meaningful flirting? Too damn confusing.
He held up a plastic sack in his hand. "I brought something to celebrate a successful first day," he said, his eyes twinkling as he pulled out a few cans of beer.
Leslie put her hands on her hips and glared. "You do know that no alcoholic beverages are allowed on fair grounds, don't you?" Those beers did look really good right now-but she was in charge here, and she had to keep up appearances.
"I think you can get away with breaking the rules once in a while," he said, popping the top on one of the beers and holding it out to her.
Boy, did that look good. "Fine," she said, snatching it from him. "But just this once."
He grinned and opened his own beer.
After a few gulps of the cold drink, Leslie sighed. "Who knew you'd turn out to be such a bad influence?"
"Yeah, that's me. A regular wolf in sheep's clothing."
Leslie grinned and shook her head. If anything, he was the exact opposite. She'd been so sure he was the big-bad-wolf come to knock her house down when he first arrived in Pawnee. Boy, had she ever been wrong.
Ben raised his can. "A toast. To your Festival, and many more successes to follow."
The look in his eyes sent the butterflies in her stomach dancing again. She raised her own can. "To our Festival," she countered.
His smile looked both surprised and hopeful as he replied, "To our Festival."
They knocked their cans together, and took a drink.
After a few more gulps, Leslie decided it was just time to bite the bullet. This inconclusive flirting could go on for weeks. She needed answers now.
"Can I ask you something?" she said.
"Sure. Anything."
She took a deep breath. "If you were interested in someone-like, romantically-and you thought they might be interested in you, too, but you weren't quite sure, what would you do to find out?"
His eyes locked with hers, and he somehow managed to look both frightened and eager at the same time. How did he do that?
"I-uh-" He gulped. "I guess I would-I would try to spend more time alone with her. And-and-and hope that she would say something, or do something, to show me that she felt the same way."
The butterflies kicked into high gear. Who cared if butterflies didn't have gears-these were the metaphorical kind anyone, and Leslie could mix whatever metaphors she wanted when she felt like this. "Yeah. That's what I would do, too." She took a step closer to him. He took a step closer to her.
"You brought beer? Dude, you are totally my hero." Andy came striding up.
"I want some," said April, ambling behind him.
Ben jumped back from Leslie, and for the first time ever Leslie felt like she hated Andy (but only just a little).
Ben turned over the rest of his six-pack to the young couple, and the four of them drank and chatted about the great first day for a few minutes. The whole time Leslie kept sneaking glances at Ben, and was gratified to see him sneaking glances at her, too. So it hadn't just been in her head-something had been about to happen before Andy and April showed up.
Maybe something still could happen. Maybe she'd get lucky this week, after all.
But then Ben had to go and ruin it by saying he should get home for the night. Leslie tried not to be too disappointed. She said goodnight to him, and watched as he walked away, his hands tucked in his pockets.
She couldn’t help but wonder if he would spend the rest of the night thinking about her, like she would thinking about him.
Tuesday
As the 8 am staff briefing wrapped up, Leslie saw Ben sidling up to her again. He wore that hopeful flirty smile again. Thank god the sparks last night hadn't all been in her head.
"Hey, have you had coffee yet?" he asked. "I thought now might be a good time to take you up on the offer of hitting Coffee-licious, again."
So maybe she'd already had three cups at home. So what? There was no way she was turning down this invitation. Fun fling, here I come.
"Sure. Coffee sounds great."
Somehow his smile got even cuter after that.
They strolled out of the tent together, and feeling a sudden explosion of nervous flirty energy, Leslie nudged him and said, "Race you?"
He quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little childish?"
Just as she opened her mouth to respond he was off in a flash, jogging down the row of booths toward Coffee-licious.
Game on.
Leslie dashed after him, and in spite of a near-collision with an extension-cord toting carny, she nearly caught up with him. He skidded to a halt in front of Coffee-licious, and Leslie crashed into him, nearly knocking them both off their feet.
He wrapped his arms around her to steady her as they both burst out laughing.
"You're a big fat cheater," she said through her grin. "I totally would have won if you hadn't taken that head start."
"Hey-I need every advantage I can get against the amazing Leslie Knope," he replied, still holding onto her.
It seemed to take him a few more seconds to realize that they were practically embracing in front of half the food vendors on deep-fried boulevard. He let go of her and took a step back, looking flushed and bashful. "Well-coffee?" he asked.
She nodded, unable to wipe the grin from her face. Today was off to an amazing start, already.
Leslie and Ben's itineraries for the day kept them at different festival venues until well after lunch, and Leslie felt like a horny teenager the way her stomach started swirling every time she thought she caught a glimpse of his lean plaid-clad figure in the distance.
At lunch, Ann noticed her odd mood. "You seem hyper and out-of-it all at the same time. What's up?"
Leslie shrugged. She didn't want to tell Ann until there was something definitive to report. So far it was all just fantasy and possibility-not anything real. Not yet. "I'm just excited the festival is going to well," she replied. Ann seemed to buy it.
After quick drop-ins at the Farmer's Market and then the Family Slide-n-Splash event early that afternoon, Leslie returned to the carnival at just past three o'clock. It was even more crowded than yesterday. A very good sign. It was starting to look like she'd keep her job.
"Leslie!"
She smiled at the sound of Ben's voice, and turned to see him jogging up to her from the staff tent.
"Hi. I was going to make the rounds," she said.
"I'm a little ahead of schedule. Care for some company?"
How could she possibly refuse?
They fell back into their usual easy conversation as they made their way through the fairgrounds. It wasn't often that Leslie found friends who shared so many interests with her. He'd even read some of the same political biographies. But there were still some mysteries lurking beneath that collected (and cute) exterior. He'd let her see a bit more of himself after his media breakdown, but there was still so much to learn. She relished the moments when he let new details of his life trickle out.
Today, he talked about baseball. His life-long love of the sport. The way he and his father used to watch games together. His time playing little league, then in middle school, and in high school up to JV. He'd quit his senior year because he broke his wrist while working on an old car with a friend. That was when he decided to run for mayor.
He let out a low, self-mocking laugh. "It was partly to impress Cindy Ekhert after she dumped me, and partly out of boredom because I couldn't play baseball."
"Boredom never leads to anything good." Leslie smiled, shaking her head. "My mom never let me get bored. Whenever I started getting bored she'd give me chores, or extra homework, or community service projects."
"So that's where you get it." He nudged against her.
"Get what?"
"Your endless energy. You must get it from your mom."
She wouldn't exactly call it endless. But it was certainly above average.
A nearby carnival game caught her eye-all the prizes were baseball-themed. "Come here," she said, grabbing his hand and tugging him over to the booth. Her lips curved a little higher when he made no effort to remove his hand from hers when they halted in front of the game-the kind where you throw baseballs at old-fashioned milk-bottles stacked in pyramid shapes.
"I'm gonna win you a prize," Leslie declared. Unfortunately she had to pull her hand away from Ben to pull a five dollar bill out of the money clip tucked inside her pad-folio.
He folded his arms across his chest and quirked an amused smile at her. "So you think your throwing arm is up to the task?"
"Hell yeah," she retorted, handing her five to the carnie in exchange for three baseballs.
Her first throw missed the mark, and she clenched her teeth in concentration for the second throw. This time the bottles wobbled as her ball grazed them, but nothing fell.
"Third time's the charm," she said to Ben, who was smirking at her.
Sure enough, her third throw struck true, knocking two of the top-most bottles off the stack. She raised her fists above her head and whooped. "Oh yeah. Who's the winner? That's right-it's me."
"Small prize," said the carnie, pointing to one row of the prizes hanging on display. None of them were very great-but hey, a win was a win.
Leslie finally chose a small inflatable baseball bat. The carnie handed one over that was still deflated and wrapped in crackly plastic.
"Here you are," she said with a smile, handing it over to Ben. "You can use it to beat Chris over the head whenever he gets too perky."
Ben toyed with the noisy plastic wrapping and smiled down at the silly prize as if it were the best gift he'd ever been given. "If that's what I use it for, it'll probably pop before a single week goes by."
Leslie shrugged. "At least it'll be a good week."
With a new twinkle in his eye, Ben clipped the toy into his clipboard and said, "Now let me show you how this game is really played."
Leslie raised her eyebrows as he pulled out his own cash and handed a bill over to the carnie. Setting his clipboard down on the counter, Ben picked up the first of his three balls and started winding up his arm with a look of deep concentration on his face.
His first throw knocked three bottles of the top of a ten bottle pyramid. The next throw knocked down four. With his final, powerful throw he obliterated the top three rows of another pyramid, leaving only the bottom four bottles standing slightly askew.
Leslie clapped. "I guess you haven't lost your throwing arm."
Ben grinned. "Just like riding a bike. Some things don't go away."
"Big prize," grunted the carnie.
Ben chose an oversized teddy bear wearing a Minnesota Twins jersey, which he promptly handed over to Leslie. "Something to remember me by," he said, a sudden note of melancholy in his voice.
Leslie hugged the bear, feeling a twinge of sadness, herself. Ben had become such a big part her work the past few months, it felt like he was really a part of the team. She didn't want to see him go. On the other hand, this whole "fun fling" thing would backfire big time if he stayed. . . .
"I won't need this to remember you," she said. "I don't forget my friends." She held his gaze for a minute before he looked down at his feet, smiling.
"Thanks," he said, picking his clipboard back up.
They walked slowly back toward the staff tent, this time mostly in silence. As they passed the children's craft tent and the neighboring First Aid tent, Ben halted. "Leslie?"
She stopped just in front of him and turn to look back. "What? What is it?"
Ben took a deep breath, looking around with a slightly shifty gaze. "Come here a minute." He gestured for her to follow and walked down the narrow gap in between tents.
Curious, Leslie followed, her heart suddenly pounding. There'd been a new look on his face-one she wasn't quite sure how to read.
Once they reached the back of the tents, Ben turned to face her, his gaze intense.
"Look-" he said, "I hate to be this forward, and I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but I don't really have time to beat around the bush about this." He took another deep breath. "I-I am very attracted to you. And-and-and I really like you. I wasn't planning on doing anything about it because I'm leaving soon, and I didn't think you felt the same way. But the past couple of days I've been getting a vibe that maybe you like me, too. And-and I was wondering if it's all in my head, or if maybe you do? Like me?"
He looked terrified and hopeful, and a part of Leslie's brain registered that he wasn't really talking like a man interested in a short-term fling and more like a man interested in something more-but she quickly shoved that part of her brain away to focus on more immediate concerns-like how cute his mouth looked and how much she wanted to make out with him.
"It's not just in your head," she replied. Her smile felt as light as marshmallow crème. "I do like you."
The answering grin on his face could have lit up the whole carnival.
They stood like that for a few moments, shuffling their feet and smiling like idiots. Leslie wasn't quite sure how to proceed from there.
Fortunately, Ben knew exactly what to do.
He bent forward, cupping her face in one of his deliciously large hands, and pulled her in for a kiss.
His lips were soft and gentle, and he pulled back after just a few seconds with a silent question in his eyes.
Leslie answered the only way she knew how-by pulling him back down for more.
Teddy bear, clipboard and pad-folio all fell to the ground as she wrapped her hands behind his neck and he circled her waist with his free hand-his other now tangled in her hair-and pulled her body closer to his.
Leslie savored the sensation of his soft lips exploring her mouth with eager tenderness, his afternoon stubble lightly scratching her cheeks and nose as they fumbled to find the best way to fit together. She ran her fingers up his neck and into his hair, and he pulled he even closer, deepening the kiss and making her wonder what other tricks he could do with that amazing tongue of his.
She never wanted it to end.
"Break it up, you two. There's kids around here."
They jumped apart in a flash, and Leslie turned to see one of the police officers on his volunteer security shift staring at them. Pete. She'd met him a few times with Dave.
"Oh-Leslie," he said, flushing. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize-" He cleared his throat. "But really, you and Ice Town should keep that sort of thing off of fair grounds, I think."
"Yep. Yes." Leslie nodded. "You're absolutely right, Pete. We weren't thinking. Sorry." Behind her she saw Ben scrambling awkwardly for the things they'd dropped.
"Okay, Leslie. I guess I'll be seeing you around."
Leslie smoothed out her hair with her fingers. "Absolutely. Keep up the good work."
With an embarrassed wave, Pete walked back out into the main fairgrounds and headed off on his rounds. Leslie took a deep breath to steady herself. Her heart still pounded like a drum in her chest. She turned back to Ben.
His face was bright pink, and he clutched the teddy bear as if it was the only thing keeping him afloat in a pool of deep water.
"Well," she said.
"Well," he replied.
"That was-really nice." She smiled at him.
That was enough to get him to crack a smile back. "Really, really nice. Right up until your friend Pete showed up."
"That did put a damper on things."
Awkward silence hung between them for a moment.
"I think your bear got a little dirty," said Ben.
"I'm sure it's nothing a quick bath in my laundry machine wouldn't solve."
Ben nodded, and handed her the bear and her pad-folio. "Well. I-uh. Maybe we should-uh-talk about this, a little?"
"Yes. Talk. About this." If, by talking, he meant making out some more. "But right now I think I need to head back over to the Family Splash-n-Slide party. I'm supposed to supervise clean up."
"Yeah. And I have to get over to the Farmer's Market in an hour to supervise the nightly shut-down." He nodded glumly.
"And then I have to go do set-up for tonight's concert, and introduce the band to the crowd."
Ben sighed. "Our timing on this isn't great, is it?"
Leslie shrugged. "Maybe not, but it sure helps with stress relief."
That earned her one of Ben's rare grins-though they'd been showing up more often, lately.
"Maybe we can get together back here during the concert-for our talk?" suggested Leslie.
"That sounds great. So-I'll see you tonight?"
She nodded. "Tonight."
They headed back onto the main thoroughfare of the carnival, and Leslie turned toward the parking lot, sending Ben a little wave as he headed back to the staff tent.
Tonight couldn't come soon enough.
Leslie worked in a happy daze through the rest of the afternoon and evening. Even Tom flaking out on the special tea the band requested before their performance (followed by a super-star level hissy-fit that only ended when Leslie offered to pay them an extra $200) didn't ruin her mood.
The sun was setting when she made it back to the fairgrounds. She buzzed around the staff tent getting status updates, her eyes constantly darting to the door in hopes of seeing Ben. She was about ready to text him when he finally walked in.
She bounded over to him, unable to contain her excitement. "Hi Ben! How you doing?"
He rocked back on his heels, a glowing smile on his face. "Pretty good. I bought some amazing peaches at the Farmer's Market this afternoon. And-I kind of kissed this really cute girl a few hours ago."
"Anyone I know?" Leslie wagged her eyebrows.
"Seriously, though," Ben lowered his voice, "I guess I was wondering if this afternoon was just a one-time thing, or if you're interested in-"
No point in letting him finish that particular sentence. "My car. Right now," commanded Leslie.
His eyes widened. "Oooh-kay."
"Come on." She marched out of the tent and headed toward the service entrance of the carnival. Ben fell into step behind her.
"Sooo-what's in your car?" Ben asked.
Leslie laughed and shook her head. "Use your imagination."
A minute later they reached her car-parked in the reserved spot just outside the service entrance. It was a bit of an indulgence, but she was on such a tight schedule she'd never manage without it. She pulled open the back door of her car and gestured to the seat.
She saw realization finally dawning in Ben's eyes. "Are you serious?"
"Hell yes. You're past the point of no return now, mister."
Ben's eyes sparkled with an expression hovering in between awe and lust as he wordlessly scooted into her back seat. Leslie dove in after him, pulling the door shut behind her.
It didn't take long for them to melt into a tangle of limbs and lips.
"I can't even remember the last time I made out in the back seat of a car," muttered Ben in between kisses.
"Then it's been way too long," she replied, and sucked his bottom lip into her mouth.
His big hands were capable of even more amazing things than she'd imagined-and over the last few hours she'd imagined quite a bit. Thanks to Ben the next half hour was the best half hour she'd had in months. That man really knew how to make out.
Things didn't end until the alarm on his phone started chiming.
"Damn it," he muttered, resting his forehead against hers. "I'm supposed to supervise the take-down of the concert tonight. That's the alarm reminding me to head out."
She sighed, running her hand down his cheek one more time. "Mmmm. And I'm supposed to be in charge of closing for the carnival tonight."
"I guess that means we need to go now." He ran his fingers through her hair and nuzzled her cheek with his nose.
"If you keep doing that I'm never going to be able to leave," she replied, shifting to place another short kiss on his lips.
"Do we really have to leave?" He trailed a few soft kisses along her jaw line, ending with a lingering kiss in the sensitive spot beneath her ear.
"No," she moaned. Then her brain kicked back in. "I mean yes. Yes!" She pushed him back. "Sorry. As much as I'd love to stay here for a few more hours-and believe me, I would love to-we have work to do. We really need to go."
He squeezed his lips together and nodded. "Yeah. I know. Work before pleasure."
"At least for this week."
The corners of his mouth curved up. "Okay. Just for this week."
Leslie helped Ben get his tie back on, and he helped her fix her hair and blouse. After a few minutes they finally stepped out of the car.
Before heading to his car, Ben cupped her face in his hands and gave her one last, lingering kiss. "See you tomorrow," he murmured.
"See you tomorrow."
She had very good dreams that night.
Wednesday
Ben had to spend the morning doing work back at City Hall after the regular 8 am staff meeting, and Leslie tried not show her emotions too strongly as she said goodbye to him. She must not have done a very good job of it, because as soon as Ben left Ann walked up to her.
"Leslie-what's going on? You look like a puppy that can't stop wagging its tail. Am I missing something here?"
Leslie grabbed Ann's hand and pulled her away from the rest of the staff. Meeting her friend's eyes, she said, "I made out with Ben yesterday."
Ann's jaw dropped. "You made out with Ben?"
"Shhh! I don't want everyone gossiping about us. But yes." She grinned. "Twice. And it was awesome."
"Oh my god." Ann shook her head, spreading her hands wide. "I don't know what to say. That's great."
"It is great. He's great. His lips are great. And his hands-oh, god, Ann-his hands are amazing."
"I'm happy for you," said Ann, but Leslie could tell Ann had something not-so-happy on her mind. "The thing is, I'm worried about you. After what just happened to me and Chris, I'd hate to see the same thing happen to you."
"Oh, sweet, beautiful Ann. Thank you. I really appreciate you worrying about me. But this is nothing like you and Chris. We're not really dating or anything, we're just having fun."
"Really?" Ann looked incredulous.
"Really. We're just two friends having a fun fling before Ben has to leave town. That's all. It was actually Donna's idea."
"You know-she's been giving me some advice lately, too," replied Ann. "She got me to make out with this beefy carnie the other night and then to just blow him off after that. It was actually a lot of fun."
"Yeah!" Leslie took Ann's hands and swung them back and forth. "I'm starting to wonder why I didn't start going to Donna for advice ages ago. She really seems to know what she's talking about."
"Totally. But Leslie-this is Ben, not just some random carnie. Are you really sure he's on the same page with you?"
"Of course. Yes. Maybe." Leslie winced. "Actually, I don't know."
Ann gave her a stern gaze. "You need to make sure. You don't want to go breaking his heart just because you think this is one thing and he thinks something completely different."
"You're right." Leslie sighed. Fun flings were supposed to be uncomplicated, weren't they? So why all the complications? Yuck.
"So you'll talk to him?"
"I'll talk to him." It might put a damper on the making out, but Leslie had to admit that Ann was right about this one.
The next time Leslie saw Ben was in the early afternoon. She'd paused in her rounds for a short break by Li'l Sebastian's pen when Ben suddenly leaned against the rail next to her.
"Hey," he said, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.
"Hi," she replied, then did a double take. Ben had changed out of his normal shirt and tie and was wearing a Li'l Sebastian tee-sirt.
Her jaw dropped into an open-mouthed grin. "Ben! Oh my god! You've finally figured it out."
He shrugged. "Yeah-it was only a matter of time before this little guy won me over."
She laughed and leaned against him. "Finally, you're one of us."
They ooed and awed over Li'l Sebastian for a few more minutes, and there were moments when Leslie suspected that Ben might be faking his enthusiasm a little. But even if he was, she didn’t think she cared. He wanted to belong-and he wanted to impress her. Neither of those things were too bad in her book.
Finally they had to get back to work.
Before they parted Ben got a sly look in his eyes. "So, I checked your schedule for today, and it looks like you have a little bit of a lull around seven o'clock."
"Yeah, I guess." What did Ben have up his sleeve?
"Meet me at 7 by the ring-toss game, okay?"
He looked way too pleased with himself. Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"It's a surprise."
She decided to give him a little leeway on this one-though she normally loved figuring out surprises in advance. "Fine. I'll be there."
Leslie did her best to focus on her work for the rest of the afternoon and evening, but her mind kept spinning trying to figure out what Ben had planned.
Finally at 7 she dashed to the ring toss booth, hoping to beat Ben. But he was already there waiting for her. He still wore Li'l Sebastian tee-shirt, and she loved how it showed off his long, lean figure. She hadn't had a boyfriend this good-looking in ages.
Scratch that. He's not my boyfriend. We're just having a fling. Keep it together, Leslie.
She took his hands, twining her fingers through his. "Well, I'm here. So what's the surprise?"
"This way," he replied, leading her back around behind the booth. The only thing back there was the trailer where the carnies stored their extra prizes. To her surprise, Ben led Leslie right up to the trailer and pulled open the door.
"What's going on?"
He led her inside, and she found herself looking at a cramped space full of plastic-wrapped plush toys. In the small clearing on the floor sat a vase holding a single rose, a bottle of red wine in an ice bucket with two wine glasses, and a glowing artificial candle.
Ben gestured at the candle sheepishly. "I didn't think real flames would be a good idea around so many fire hazards, so I opted for battery operated."
"That's very safety conscious of you." She found it quite endearing, because it was something she would have done. "And very romantic," she added.
"I figured we hadn't had much of a chance for real privacy since this whole-thing-started. So I bribed one of the carnies to leave the trailer unlocked for us."
Leslie laughed. "You really are a bad influence. But I love it. Thanks."
Ben leaned in to give her a kiss.
They sat down by the "candle," and Ben popped open the wine and poured them both a glass. As they sipped, they chatted about the festival, about Leslie's desire to get youth sports back up and running with any potential profits, about the biggest budget disasters Ben had faced in the various towns of Indiana, and about which of Chris's exercise habits they found most annoying.
After a glass and a half of wine, Ben got quiet for a moment. "Leslie-this sneaking around and making out thing is lots of fun, but I think I'm ready for more."
Leslie froze. What? Did he mean he wanted her to put out? Ben wouldn't be that forward, would he?
His eyes got wide. "Oh-oh no. That really came out wrong. I'm not-" he waved his hand in front of him. "I just meant-I'd really like to take you on a real date."
"Oh!" Leslie's smile returned. Now that was the Ben she knew. "A date. That's cool."
"Great. Good." He grinned.
Wait a minute. A date sounds like relationship stuff. Crap.
"Look, Ben," she said, steeling her nerves, "I don't know where this thing between us is going. I really like you, and I want to keep spending time with you, but we're both so stressed and busy. I don't really want to think about anything beyond this week right now. So I'd love to go out with you, but I want to just keep things light and fun. At least for now. Is that okay?"
He looked a little confused and a tad uncomfortable. "Okay." He nodded.
Damn. This wasn't going the way she wanted. She really sucked at the fun fling thing.
"I just mean we can figure out where this is going next week-after the festival. Once we have time to breathe again."
His lips twitched up again. "Okay. I guess that makes sense."
Good-this strategy was working. "Yeah. We'll figure it out next week. For now, let's just have fun."
He nodded. "Okay. I can do fun."
She wound her hands behind his neck. "You bet you can."
Things got much better after that. They were certainly good at the whole making-out thing. They'd just gotten super-cozy curled up against a stack of plush elephants when the door to the trailer banged open.
Leslie squealed and pulled her blouse closed. Sully, the bald, tattooed head carnie, stood glaring down at them.
"What the fuck is this?" he demanded. "Do think this is your own private love shack, or something? This is a vital part of my place of business!"
He commenced shouted obscenities at the them as they scrambled to adjust their clothes and gather up all of Ben's romantic supplies. Sully didn't much seem to care that they were the ones who hired him-around here, he was boss. Fortunately, a moment later the carnie who Ben had bribed in the first place turned up, and Sully turned his wrath on that unfortunate soul as Leslie and Ben sneaked away.
Once they'd put enough distance between themselves and Sully, they found a dim corner to catch their breath.
"I'm starting to think the whole date thing is a really good idea," said Leslie. "Apparently the carnival has very few viable locations for secret rendezvous."
"Apparently." Ben scrambled to keep from dropping the wine bucket.
Leslie reached over to take the wine glasses off his hands so he'd have an easier time of it. "So-what did you have in mind for this date?"
The anxious look in Ben's eyes faded and his smile returned. "I was thinking tomorrow."
Leslie frowned. "My schedule is pretty tight tomorrow night-"
"Yes-but you have a lull in the early afternoon. All you have scheduled is to drop by the Scarecrow Contest and then to do rounds here at the carnival. I was thinking that if Tom filled in for you, we could take a late lunch. Go someplace nice, with waiters and real food. We'd have about two hours. So not a perfect date." He shrugged. "But still nicer than getting caught by Sully or Pete or who knows who else."
"I'm not sure Tom would be willing to fill in for me-you know how he gets about extra work."
"No problem," replied Ben, a confident smile on his face. "I already asked him, and he said yes. I do owe him some kind of unspecified favor, which is a little scary, but it's worth it."
"Wow." Leslie felt her heart jump a little. "You really planned ahead on this."
"Thorough planning and preparation are the keys to success for any important venture," he quipped.
Damn, that was sexy.
Leslie grinned. "Okay. Lunch tomorrow. When?"
"Tom'll take over for you at one o'clock. Meet me by the service entrance?"
She nodded. "That sounds perfect. And as for the rest of tonight?"
He sighed. "I hate to say it, but we should probably cool things down for the rest of the night. I'd rather not get yelled at again."
"Okay." Not her favorite solution, but it made sense. "We'll play it cool until our date."
Now she just needed some kind of magic remote that could fast forward until one o'clock tomorrow.
Part 2