Destined To Be With You

Chapter 17

Ben was having dinner with his family at a nearby Japanese restaurant before they leave town. His parents and sister, Kathryn had only stayed in LA for two days to attend the baby shower but intend to come back for the baby's arrival in five weeks. So, Ben took them out to dinner before they left. 

"How are you dealing with everything?" his mother, Moira, asked softly.

"Just fine." he replied honestly. "I'm just waiting until she gets here." he said referring to his unborn daughter. 

"You don't seem fine." Kathryn added pointedly as she shot him a knowing look. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to intimidate him into telling her what was wrong. Since the baby shower, she noticed something was off with her brother. He wasn't himself. He was dull, unenthusiastic, and lifeless. She knew something was up. 

He gave her an annoyed looked, "Kat I-"

She covered her ears with her hands and shook her head. "Stop! Stop calling me Kat!" she ordered sounding frustrated. The whole time she had been in LA, he had been calling her Kat rather than Kathryn like he usually did. And even though it annoyed her when he called her by her full name because it sounded so formal, she wished that he called her Kathryn because then it would mean he was okay. For two days, she tried to not acknowledge that he was different but she couldn't do it anymore. She wanted him to insult her and tease her. She wanted her brother back. 

He looked at her like she was crazy, "Why? Isn't that your name?" 

"Yeah, but you never call me Kat!" she said sounding frustrated. Ben was sitting calmly in his seat while their parents gave Kat a warning look. They knew something was bothering Ben, but they thought it was best to let him deal with it on his own. Ben always dealt with his problems on his own. And if he needed help, he always asked. They knew the situation their son was in wasn't easy. So they chose to not confront him about it and add more stress. "Something is up with you." 

"Kat, stop." her father, Richard warned. 

Kat didn't break her gaze from Ben. She just stared him down and said, "No, he needs to tell us what's wrong. I'm tired of him moping around and acting like a sour puss."

"Kat" Richard said again in the same tone but Kat wasn't phased. She was going to get to the bottom of this. She wanted her brother to be okay again. 

"No, tell us. We're a family. We don't hide things from each other. If I was acting like Ben was you all would force it out of me." 

Ben sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He didn't want to say anything about Emily and him breaking up because it wasn't anyone's business. He couldn't help but act differently. He just broke up with a woman who loved him because he loved someone else. And that someone else didn't love him back. It was tough to deal with. He knew he would love Liv and only Liv for the rest of his life and that thought killed him because he knew he would never get the chance to be with her. 

But since his attitude was making the people around him worry he owed it to them to tell them, "Emily and I broke up." 

Ben got three different reactions. His mother was shocked but not devastated. His father had a blank expression on his face. And Kat was smiling from ear to ear. 

"Oh, Ben." his mother whispered.

"Oh my God, finally!" Kat exclaimed happily, earning a disapproving stare from her mother, narrowed eyes from her father and a light chuckle from Ben. She happily picked at her food and asked nonchalantly, "So, when are you going to tell Liv you love her?" 

He almost denied that he loved Liv but he knew it was no use. His family knew how he felt, especially Kat. "It's not that easy, Kat. I can't just blurt something like that out."