Blame Snake Juice
Leslie swallowed down the feeling that she was going to be sick, yet again. Snake juice was quite possibly just poison- maybe she was slowly dying. She had memories of last night, but they were hazy. She knew she fought with Ann, but something else was niggling at the back of her mind.
They were friends again- that was the thing that made Leslie smile even when she wanted to throw up into her bin as she sat at her desk, head pounding.
Ben had obviously had something to do with it- he had left briefly, telling her he needed to be sick, but he was actually gone for like twenty minutes and then twenty minutes after that, Ann showed up. He had had a cheeky, almost proud look on his face throughout their interview with Ann, but he didn’t say anything. He was happy to just watch them repair their friendship. Another man would have bragged until the cows came home, but not Ben.
Leslie was struggling through her second email of the day when it hit her. The memory of last night- she wanted him to dance with her. But he said no, probably because she was hideously drunk, and it felt wrong. So, she had shouted at him and grabbed Jean-Ralphio instead.
Leslie felt her whole body deflate, and she eventually turned and threw up into the bin. The nauseous feeling wouldn’t leave, however, and she knew she had to go and find him.
***
Ben looked up from his desk to see Leslie sloping into the room. She was always beautiful, but right now she looked like she would rather be sleeping for seventeen hours. She looked like how he felt.
“You okay?” he asked, noticing how whiny his voice sounded. His stomach would betray him soon.
“Not really,” she replied instantly. “Ben, I am so sorry.”
He frowned. “What?”
“Last night, I- I remember asking you to dance with me. And then shouting at you when you said no.”
Ben’s stomach twisted. He had a memory of that too.
“I am so sorry,” Leslie repeated. “You had every right to refuse, I-”
“Hey,” Ben said quickly, standing. He ignored how his stomach protested and moved round to stand by her. “It’s not that I didn’t want to, it just… it felt like a bad time.”
“No, I know,” Leslie insisted, her head bobbing up and down. “And you were right. I just, I feel so bad. I made you feel like you did something wrong, and that… that’s unforgivable.”
“I did feel a little weird afterwards,” Ben admitted, and Leslie put her head in her hands. Ben winced, before putting his hand on her shoulder. “I think we can blame the snake juice.”
“But Ben-”
“I know you would never shout at me usually. And I forgive you.”
Leslie removed her hands from her face. “You… you do?”
“Of course I do, I...”
I love you was the unfinished end to that sentence. Leslie felt it. Ben felt it too.
The two of them looked at each other. Leslie felt her breath hitch- he was staring at her in such a comforting way that she wanted to just kiss him on the spot.
“I’m sad,” she whispered.
“But you and Ann are friends again,” he replied, frowning slightly.
“Not because of that. You know why.”
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
Leslie let out a slow breath, and he felt a tingle at the back of his neck. The intense stare continued, and Leslie was about to close the gap when the door burst open.
“Leslie Knope! What brings you to our neck of the woods?”
The never-ending optimism of Chris Traeger shattered the spell. Leslie saw Ben slowly shut his eyes and breathe out through his nose. Leslie gritted her teeth and turned around.
“Just checking Ben is alive.”
Chris laughed, and Leslie hated him a little bit. “I have to say, if one ounce of that mixture wouldn’t literally kill me dead, I’d almost be interested in trying it.”
“Oh really?” Leslie asked, faking interest. "Maybe you should try it."
Chris paused. “Actually, no. Seeing the effects is simply horrible.”
“Is that so? Well, I’d better be going,” Leslie rushed out. Chris grinned at her and gave her finger guns, before sprinting into his office. Leslie turned back to Ben, who had a similar look of irritation on his face.
“I’m sorry again.”
“It’s all forgiven. I’m sorry I couldn’t make last night better for you.”
Leslie smiled sadly. “Me too.” She forced out a laugh. “Can you go back in time and tell me not to drink it?”
“I was perfecting a time travel machine but I left it at home,” Ben joked.
The two of them chuckled once or twice, but it was tinged with sadness.
Leslie heard Chris doing press-ups in the other room, so forced herself to move away before she did something she would regret. “Well, I’ll see you around?”
Ben sighed. “Sure will.”
He watched her leave, and for the millionth time he wished everything was different.