A Conference to Remember

Emily couldn't help but laugh and gave Ben a gentle shove as they neared the elevators.

As they stepped in, Emily thought to herself, "Well this is off to a GREAT start."

***

For the first time in months, Emily found herself out to dinner with a guy and was thoroughly enjoying herself. Ben explained to the waiter that they needed three checks, one for each of their meals and then one for any alcohol. Emily protested at first, but Ben cut her off, "I'm not going to be rude, but I did ask you to dinner, at least let me buy your drink."

Emily reluctantly agreed, ordering a glass of Massey Dacta Sauvignon Blanc while Ben ordered a Pipeworks Blood of the Unicorn. As the waiter stepped away, she couldn't help but giggle then say, "That is a heck of a name for a beer."

Ben laughed, "That's what caught my attention! The description sounded good, so I had to try it."

After the waiter returned with their drinks, they ordered an appetizer and their entrees. While they shared an appetizer of spinach artichoke dip, they discussed some of the things the conference had talked about. The conversation flowed from work to small talk, to their lives back in Rochester and things in general.

After a second glass of wine for Emily, she switched to water but had begun to open up more about what had happened between her and Stephen. Ben sat silently listening to the entire situation, gaining a better understanding than just the short mention of it on the ride over. As she finished, Ben noticed a slight tear form and reached over touching her arm, "I know it is probably out of line, and I'm biased, but he is an idiot. You're smart, passionate, and beautiful, he lost out, not you."

Emily smiled and looked down at her arm, draped in Ben's large hand, before wiping her eye gently, "Thanks, it means a lot." They sat there smiling at each other, but the moment was soon interrupted by the waiter.

The waiter set Emily's Ahi Tuna first, followed by Ben's pulled chicken. As he walked away, Emily just looked down and said, "Wow, I don't think I've ever eaten anything so pretty."

Ben laughed, "Working for the district and eating on their dime does have its perks."

The next 15 minutes was spent in relative silence with small amounts of small talk as they both enjoyed their dinner. Emily finished first and leaned back in her chair, letting out a sigh, "Wow, that was amazing."

Ben chuckled and finished up his dinner, "I have to agree." They continued to make small talk until the waiter returned and asked if they would like dessert.

Ben looked at Emily and she smiled, "No I think we are good."

The waiter soon returned with their checks, Ben paid for their drinks, even as Emily continued to protest. Finally relenting, Ben did tell her how much they were, so she could leave a tip for them on her card. As they stood, Ben handed her jacket, and helped her put it on.

Emily smiled and thanked him then as they walked out, she suddenly stopped and took a risk, "It's only 8:45, how would you feel about stopping for a drink in the hotel bar?"

Ben smiled, and said, "Sounds like a plan to me."

Emily smiled and led the way back to the hotel, noticing Ben step to the street side of the sidewalk as they made the 10-minute walk back to the hotel. They arrived back at the hotel and made their way to the bar where they found two empty seats towards the end. The bartender came up to them and asked, "What will you be having tonight?"

Emily looked over the menu then said, "I'll have the harvest martini, I've always wanted to try one."

"For you sir?"

"I'll take a Buffalo Trace, neat."

The bartender walked away, and Emily turned to Ben, "What did you just order?"

"It's a type of bourbon."

"What does neat mean?"

With a chuckle, Ben said, "You really don't get out much. It just means straight, no ice, mixer, or anything."

"Oh, I didn't really drink in college except white claws, just recently found out I like wine and other fruity things. I don't know anything about bourbon."

"Well, it is nothing like a White Claw or a fruity drink. It is a manly drink."

Emily giggled and turned her attention back to the bar as the bartender came and handed them their drinks and said, "Sorry folks, this is the last round, we stop serving at 9, I'll get the check whenever you're finished."

They both thanked him and took a sip of their drinks. Ben reached over and grabbed the check before Emily could, causing her to let out a "Hey! I invited you this go around."

Ben laughed, "I don't care, I was raised to never let a beautiful woman pay for her own drink."

Emily blushed too hard to respond but did finally slip out a smile and a "Thank you."

They spent the next 5 minutes talking about things from work and Ben filled her in on all the goofy staff gossip.

After one fit of laughter, she doubled over and finally said, "How do you know all of this?"

Ben took another sip of his bourbon, then replied, "I talk to a lot of people, my kids talk A LOT, and being on leadership, it is pretty easy to sort out the slackers and the morons."

Suddenly feeling self-consciousness, Emily said, "And what about me?"

Not sure how to respond, Ben took a moment before saying, "Well we don't share any kids, so I don't hear from them, but from what I've heard, you're well-liked by the kids and staff."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Look at me." Emily looked Ben in the eyes, where he continued, "You're smart and a great teacher with a lot of good ideas, you just need to start expressing them and getting them implemented. You need to believe in yourself."

"Thank you, it's just so hard at...". Emily's sentence was cut off as someone stepped beside her at the bar.

"Good evening Em."

Hearing the voice, she suddenly felt a knot in the pit of her stomach; turning on her barstool away from Ben, she was confronted with her ex-fiancé Stephen standing beside her, with his arm around Michelle, the woman she had caught him in bed with.

Feeling every emotion since the fall return, Emily was left speechless. Stephen filled the silence as he paid his tab, "Good to see you, you look, healthier than last time I saw you; good for you. How have you been?"

"Hello Stephen, Michelle."

Ben noticed the woman smirk a bit and stuck out his hand and interjected, "I'm Ben Samuals, I work with Emily, what can we do for you folks."

The man cautiously took Ben's hand, "Stephen Taylor, you work with Emily?"

Emily cut in, "Yes Stephen, he's one of our history teachers, we are here for a conference."

The woman Emily had called Michelle spoke up, "Looks a little cozy for two work colleagues."

Stephen smirked then added, "Yeah, but glad to see you're putting yourself out there."

Once again before Ben could speak up Emily stood up, fighting back tears, and said, "You two would know all about that wouldn't you." Before anyone could respond Emily took off running out of the bar, leaving Ben, Stephen and Michelle standing in silence.

As others looked on, Ben took a step around Emily's now empty barstool and realized he towered over Stephen by a good 5 or 6 inches. He pulled out his wallet and tossed two $20's on top of the tab; he then took a step closer to Stephen and said so only the three of them could hear, "I know exactly who you are, and it's now confirmed that you are as big of a prick as Emily described. No decent human let alone a man would come up to an ex or former friend like this in a public place, especially when you knew it would make her uncomfortable and upset her."

Michelle's mouth fell open in shock and Stephen said, "How dare you talk to us that way."

Turning around and grabbing both his and Emily's coats, Ben sneered, "I'll talk to you however I feel like because to me, you're nothing but dog shit on the bottom of my shoe. Now I suggest you pay your bill and leave."

Before either of them could say anything, Ben waved at the bartender, pointing at his check, and proceeded towards the elevator.

****

When Ben reached the elevator, he found it was already going up, meaning Emily was on it. He pressed the up button and waited, wondering to himself what he could say or how he could make Emily feel better.

As he exited the elevator, he made his way down the hall until he was standing outside of her door. He knocked a couple of times then waited. Not getting a response, he knocked again a little bit harder and called out "Emily, it's Ben. I have your jacket."

He knocked again and this time, he heard some movement and then the door slowly opened. It opened enough for him to see Emily standing there, makeup slightly smeared and puffy eyed from crying. She reached out taking her jacket and mumbling "Thanks." before trying to shut the door.

Ben hurriedly stuck his foot into the door to stop it from closing, "I'm not even going to bother asking if you're okay because I can see you're not. Do you want to talk about it?"

Emily hurriedly shook her head no, never looking at Ben's face.

"Would you like some company, I won't say a word, I just don't like the thought of you being alone, especially since I'm right next door."

Emily stood still for a moment, then without saying a word, turned around and walked back into the room. Ben followed her slowly, wanting to give her space. Just as he could see the bed, Emily stopped, turned to him, and just collapsed against him crying. Not sure of what else to do, he allowed his arms to drape around her shoulders in a hug, which seemed to cause her to cry harder.

He began to let go of her and she looked up at him and whined, "Please don't let go."

For the next five minutes, Emily cried herself out into Ben's shirt as he softly stroked her back, doing his best to comfort her. He couldn't help to notice how good she fit in his arms, or how good her hair smelled. As she began to calm down, she lifted her head and thanked him. As she wiped her eyes, she saw the huge wet spot that had formed on his shirt from her tears. "Oh god, I'm so sorry! I've ruined your shirt."

Ben smiled slightly, "Shhhh, it's okay. They are just tears; it'll wash."

"No, it's not, I shouldn't have done that." She reached for tissues and hurriedly began wiping at the wet spot. Ben grabbed her hands, pulling them away.

"Stop, it is no big deal. If it bothers you so much, why don't I go over to my room and change then come back over?"

With a sniffle, Emily shook her head, "I don't want to bother you anymore."

"You're not bothering me at all, I have nothing else to do, plus I was enjoying our drink."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, I'll go over, change, and we can watch TV or just keep talking."

"Okay, I'll change too, no sense in wrinkling my dress anymore."

"Okay, I'll be back in 10."

10 minutes later, Ben was back at Emily's door in a pair of gym shorts he had been sleeping in and a hoodie. He had also run downstairs and bought a Coke and a cranberry juice along with 2 airplane bottles of bourbon and 2 bottles of vodka. He knocked on Emily's door, then noticed the safety latch was flipped and he heard "Come on in."

He opened the door shutting it behind himself and found Emily sitting on her bed, flipping through the TV. She still had her hair in a ponytail, but she had lost the dress and was wearing a pair of black leggings and a maroon crew neck sweatshirt with "Potsdam Bears" across the front. He smiled at her, "I brought drinks."

Looking up, Emily smiled, "You didn't have to do that."

"Well, I kinda did, we didn't get to finish our drink downstairs."

"Well thank you."

Ben grabbed some ice from the bucket, poured himself a drink, then asked, "You want to mix your own drink?"

"Just go ahead, it's only an airplane bottle.

Ben mixed Emily's drink, dumping the vodka over ice before finishing with the cranberry juice. He stirred it with a coffee straw he found and walked over to the bed, handing the drink to Emily before taking a seat in the chair across the room.

They sat quietly for a few minutes, sipping their drinks, Ben watching Emily, trying to figure out what to say, but Emily spoke first, "I'm really sorry about tonight. I have no clue what they were doing here, let alone why they would insist on coming up to me."

Brandon took another sip of his drink, then replied, "Cause they're selfish, horrible people. They came up to you because they knew it would upset you, especially commenting on your appearance and then the remark about us being cozy."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Seeing the doubt on her face, Ben walked over and stood beside the bed, "Emily, he's an idiot and you're better off."

Emily smiled, "Thanks. And thank you for being so persistent about not being alone tonight. I probably would have just sat and sobbed, but at least now I have someone to talk to. Can you make me another drink?"

"You're welcome and sure." Ben poured them both another drink, handed her hers, then sat back down in the chair.

Over the next half hour, they mindlessly watched random tv shows as Emily flipped, trying to find something that interested her. She finally found Big Bang Theory playing on TBS and set the remote down and said, "This will work, mindless humor."

Ben nodded and leaned forward so he could watch the show too. As they got through the second commercial, Emily noticed Ben fighting more and more, she giggled, "You okay over there."

Ben nodded, "Yeah, I just can't see really well."

Emily laughed, "I showered last night so I don't smell, and I promise I won't bite. I'll scoot over." She shifted to one side of the bed and smiled at him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, get your ass over here." Ben laughed, hearing Emily curse for the first time was endearing. He moved to the other side of the bed, settled in, and turned his attention back to the show. They both sat quietly, laughing at the antics of the characters, and occasionally commenting about things in the show.

As the episode ended, Emily said, "I need to use the restroom, you got one more episode in you?"

"Sure, it's only 10:30."

Emily disappeared into the bathroom, and Ben set his alarm for 6:30 the next morning. Emily re-emerged and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, then settled back onto the bed, this time seemingly closer to Ben, to the point where their hips and shoulders touched.

Ben shifted a bit, trying to give her some space and apologizing, "Sorry, I must have shifted too much when laughing."

"You're fine, feeling this close to someone is nice. Our hug earlier was the first real physical contact I've had in a long time."

"Oh...". Before Ben could say anything else, the intro commercial had ended, and the episode began. They sat enjoying the show, but by the end, Ben noticed that Emily's laughter had decreased and noticed her leaning against him, breathing softly as she slept.

He tried the shift but as soon as he did, he felt her stir a bit and mumble, "No." He figured she would wake up eventually since they were upright. After about fifteen minutes and part way through another episode, Ben felt his eyes becoming heavier, staying closed a bit longer each time, before he unintentionally closed them and this time they didn't reopen as he fell asleep.

****

Ben was startled awake at 6:30 as his alarm went off. He reached over to shut it off, but found his movements restricted. He immediately noticed that he wasn't in his room and Emily's head was on his chest and leg draped over his, with his arm holding her close. As his morning brain fog cleared, he thought to himself, "What the hell am I doing in here? Oh shit, we must have both fallen asleep."

As Emily began to stir, he finally got his alarm shut off, but Emily groaned, causing him to freeze his efforts of getting his arm back and sliding out from under her. As his mind ran a 100mph about what he should say or even could say, Emily picked her head up, "Ben?"

He cautiously said, "Ummm, morning."

"Why are you in my bed? Oh my god! Why are you in my bed!? She hurriedly sat up untangling herself from him.

"Calm down. I think we fell asleep."

But why was laying on top of you?!"

"You kept dozing off, and when I tried to move you groaned and didn't seem happy. So, I guess I fell asleep too."

Getting off the bed, Emily began to pace while saying, "Oh my god," over and over again, leaving Ben in silence, not sure what to say or do. He eventually stood up and approached Emily. Before he could say anything, Emily looked up, "You need to leave now."

"What?"

"Get out Ben, what are people going to think?!"

"What do you mean what are people going to think?"

"If someone from the conference sees you coming out of my room, they are going to think we hooked up, and I'll get a reputation."

Ben laughed, "Wow, I don't know if I should be insulted, complimented or both. Look, we know no one else here and we know nothing happened. I just tried to help after a shitty night, and I get yelled at. Fine, I'll leave. I'll see you downstairs later."

Ben turned towards the door, sighing, and shaking his head, and mumbling about how he would never understand women. He made his way back to his room, noticing that there was no one in the hallway, just as he suspected, keyed into his room, and headed straight for the shower. As he stripped down, he couldn't help but notice his hoodie smelled like Emily, and he thought to himself, "We must have cuddled all night." He smiled but that smile almost immediately vanished due to her reaction less than 5 minutes before. He huffed and thought, "I just tried to help and that's how I was repaid. Stupid." He climbed in the shower and began to think about the day to come.

Next door, Emily was doing much of the same. After she got Ben out, she paced the room for a few more minutes before realizing that it was closing in on 6:50am. She hurriedly stripped and as she climbed into the shower, she noticed that her pussy was damp; she let out a groan and thought to herself, "NO! This is not okay; you can't be messing around with co-workers." She continued to mentally kick herself as she showered and prepared herself for the day, planning how she could avoid Ben at breakfast.

***

Emily's plan worked, she went downstairs at 7:45, hurriedly grabbed a bagel, cream cheese and a cup of coffee before making her way to the conference room. When she arrived, she found Ben already at their table, and like the day before the seat next to him was open. She slowly sat down as he noticed the movement beside him, he softly said, "Good Morning."

Equally softly, she replied, "Morning."

The rest of the morning was equally cool, there was very little conversation between the two, just brief small talk about specific issues or how things could apply back home at their school. As lunch neared, Ben asked, "Do you want to get lunch?"

Starting to feel bad about how she treated him, but too embarrassed to admit to it, she again quietly said, "No, I'm going to grab something light and work on some stuff."

Ben simply nodded and got up, walking over to a group of guys he had talked to earlier and walking out of the conference room with them.

Emily grabbed a sandwich from the hotel lobby, and sat quietly at the table, grading some art submissions form her students but unable to focus, her mind shifted back to Ben time and time again. She silently kicked herself again, telling herself that she needed to apologize to him and thank him for being there for her the night before. She smiled of the feeling she had waking up, wrapped in his arms and how she felt so comfortable and seemed to fit against him. Once again though the negative thoughts slipped into her head. "He was just being a nice guy, he would never be interested in you, you can't mess around with coworkers."

She sat engrossed by her thoughts the remainder of the lunch, barely noticing Ben sit back down. He finally commented, "Those are really good."