Take A Picture (It'll Last Longer)

“What the hell was that?” I asked Ben when the two of us were finally in the sanctity of Ben’s childhood bedroom. Ben’s childhood bedroom was twice the size of our apartment in Chicago and had all these pictures of obscure British goth rock bands I’ve never heard of all over the place. I liked the fact that the bathroom had a double sink but as a whole, the room, or rooms I should say since he had a private living room as well, smelled like Ben. And not a sexy-smelling Ben but sweaty I-just-got-chased-by-two-cops-and-a-rottweiler Ben.

“Alright, Catt, a million times, I’m sorry for not telling you that my parents are members of the British nobility and that my mum and Brigit’s always planned for the two of us to get married and that my sister is a vindictive bitch…” Ben began.

“I already knew about Amy but what the hell?” I hissed at him.

“I just… when I got to America I wanted to start fresh, you know? I just wanted to be another nerdy British foreign exchange student. I always get all sorts of false friends because of who my family is and I was sick of it,” Ben sighed. “And I’m glad I met you, even if I lied to you, because I got to know the real you not the person who’s afraid of pissing off some rich future Earl.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be as mad if I had known I was a future Countess!” I hissed.

“You’ll do fine,” Ben shrugged. “All you have to do is bow to the Queen, attend a few stupid events, sponsor a charity or two and buy expensive, useless things all day. You can do all that, can’t you Catt?” I sat on the edge of the bed in near defeat.

“And let me guess? I’ve I don’t pop out a kid in three years you can lob off my head?” I said miserably.

“Catt,” Ben sighed sitting next to me on the bed and putting his arms around me, “I know this is a lot to take in and it’s the wrong time for you to be taking it all in… I’m just… I’m so damned sorry, okay? I wanted my parents to never find out about this and I thought all the stupid titles and stuff… I thought I could pass all that off to Amy or some male relative that came out of the woodwork. I never expected my parents to actually hold me accountable for anything. And now you’re all dragged into it…”

“And they hate me!” I said near sobbing. “Your entire family hates me! They think I’m trash and the scum of the earth…”

“Not my whole family. Just my mum,” Ben shook his head. “My dad quite likes you. He told me after dinner he wished he’d gotten to you first…which is creepy… but at least he likes you. And Amy told you in Chicago that you were too good for me. She thinks really highly of you. She only told my parents about us to piss me off. She genuinely likes you, which is a big compliment because Amy doesn’t genuinely like anyone.”

“I guess I’m some sort of disgrace now,” I sighed, trying to hide the tears welling up in my eyes.

“I’m the disgrace, not you,” Ben replied, placing a peck on the side of my face. “And I’d rather be a disgrace sitting next to you than a hero to my mum while sitting next to Brigit.”

“I just wish they liked me a little,” I sighed. “Tolerate me. That would be enough.”

“Just ignore my mum. She’s only jealous that you get all her crap next. She worked really hard to get where she is. Literally,” Ben sighed.

“What do you mean?” Ben said.

“I’m not going to make you promise to keep this a secret,” Ben smirked, “but when my mum met my dad, she was stripping to pay her school tuition in Edinburgh.”

“You’re joking!” I said in disbelief.

“Topless bar. Dad took her there for their ten year anniversary and she didn’t talk to him for five months,” Ben giggled.

“That is priceless,” I laughed. Ben smiled and gave me a squeeze.

“We’re going to be okay, Catt,” Ben said to me confidently. “I know my parents are… horrible people… but we’ll be gone in a week or so and things will be back to normal.”

“Normal? You’re a viscount,” I said. “I don’t think anything will ever be normal for either of us ever again.”

“Was it ever really that normal to begin with?” Ben pointed out. I sighed and kicked off my shoes, not really caring where they landed.

“Why did you lie to me about this, Ben? I thought we said no secrets,” I said to him. I wasn’t angry with him. Worse. I was disappointed.

“I should have said something. I know it was wrong of me, but I wanted you to like me for me and when you did like me for who I was… I was afraid that telling you all about me being a noble and all that other stuff would make you not like me,” Ben sighed. “The thing is, people either only like me because my father’s an earl or they don’t like me at all. For once, I just wanted to be a normal person who nobody expected anything extraordinary out of. I wanted to just be Ben.”

“But you’re not Ben,” I said to him. “You’re Lord Albert Geoffrey Edmund Benjamin Dawes III, the Viscount of Edwick.”

“I’m not him,” Ben frowned. “That’s just a stupid name my parents gave me.”

“But that’s part of who you are,” I pointed out.

“I’m not Lord Albert Geoffrey Edmund Benjamin Dawes III and I’m not the Viscount of Edwick or the future Earl of Edwick,” Ben said irritably.

“You aren’t exactly Ben Dawes either, are you?” I asked him quizzically. “And since Lord Albert is your father… who exactly are you Ben?” He laid a hand over mine and looked into my eyes.

“I’m your husband. That’s who I am,” Ben said. “And I don’t need to be anything other than that.”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind being the Viscountess of Edwick… I mean, your mother has some really nice jewelry and I could get used to walking up and down halls filled with suites of armor.”

“They walk around on their own at night, you know,” Ben smirked.

“Do not,” I snorted.

“Do too,” Ben said. “I’ve seen it. They’re haunted.”

“Are you going to Photoshop a picture and prove it to me?” I snorted.

“You’ll see,” Ben smiled. “This is place is haunted. Ghosts galore.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it myself,” I said.

“Well, the only thing that I find unexplained right now is what I’m supposed to call you,” Ben said.

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Are you Mrs. Catt Dawes or are you Mrs. Ben Dawes or are you Lady Dawes or Lady Catherine or…” Ben began but was cut off when I hit him over the head with a pillow.

“I’m going to cause you an immense amount of pain and suffering if you ever call me Lady Catherine ever again,” I said to him.

“Pain and suffering?” Ben said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, “Well, Lady Catherine, what sort of torture do you have in mind for me this evening?”