Charlie's POV: the next night

Ben walks through the door and I hide a sheepish smile. "Hey" he mumbles tossing his jacket to the side. "I brought McDonald's" he hold up the bag and we burst out laughing. He's gotten two kids meals. I'm taken back to our first real date.

Flashback:

"Charlie come onnnnn, we aren't going to get in trouble" Ben pulls me into the playroom. "But it's for little kids" I shy away. Ben holds up two kids meals. "Today we're kids, tomorrow we will be married with kids, let's just live" he throws his head back laughing and a giggle escapes my lips. "Married with kids?" I swoon. His face turns red as he realizes what he said. "Tag your it" he gives me a little shove and takes off running food in hand" I stand there just watching him run" "come on babe, come eat dinner in the fort with me" he yells from the top. I take of running smiling to myself. Married with kids, I can see the future now.

Present day:

We stand there just looking at each other giggling. "Come on, let's go eat" I shake my head gabbing one of the bags"

"So, what's this great idea of yours?" I pop the last fry in my mouth eager to hear what he has to say. I know it's wrong, I shouldn't be here with Ben, I shouldn't even be talking to him after what happened. But he smiles over at me and I'm a puddle. All other thoughts slip away and I all I can think about is him. "I want us to start over" he places his hand on mine and I snap back to reality. "Start over?" I ask confused. "Yeah that's why I brought the kids meals. I wanted to recreate our first date. Go back to when we were still friends." He smiles sweetly. "I know I messed up, I know I don't deserve it, but please give me another chance. And before you say anything. We can just hang out and feel things out. Nothing physical. You don't have to break up with Nick. It's just us hanging out at friends." I nod my head slowly taking it all in. Just hanging out. Rings in my head. "Okay" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. "Let's just hang out and start over, as friends" he lifts his hand from mine and pulls me into a hug. "Thank you, I promise I'll do better and maybe I can win you back for real." I hug him back pushing down the guilty feeling I have in my stomach. Just hanging out is how it started with Nick. Oh shit Nick. "How am I going to explain this to Nick?" A look of panic strikes my face and I get up pacing. "Hey, if you don't want to that okay, but we aren't doing anything wrong, your not cheating. We are just hanging out" he lightly grabs my arm making eye contact. "Do you want this?" He asks as if it's the simplest question in the world. "Yes" I close my eyes wincing at my answer. "Okay, then just tell Nick we are friends again and hanging out. If you happen to decide to give me another chance we will deal with that when the time comes, if you don't at least I have my best friend back." He tilts his head to the side giving me a reassuring smile. "Okay, just friends.. for now" I whisper the last part. He pulls me back towards the couch and turns to the side. "So friend" he chuckles. "My parents invited us down for Christmas. We will have to share a room but I'll take the floor of course" excitement beams from his face. "Oh Uh" my face falls and so does his. "Nick already booked up a cabin for Christmas, I won't be back until the 29th." "Oh okay" he looks down. "Come down the famous New Year's Eve party then!" He smiles again. "I do love your moms punch." I chuckle thinking back to Ben and I sneaking small sips and getting tipsy off of it. "Perfect" he looks back towards the tv flipping it to Netflix. "Season 2" he smirks. "Fine" I sigh secretly excited. Friends with Ben? I could get used to this.