Page 18 of Beauty and the Nerd

Emma hurried through the crowd looking for a seat for the final round of the regional academic bowl championship.

She spotted Ben talking with the group and gave him a smile and wave as he looked up, loving the angry look that crossed Crystal’s face seeing him spot her.

It was amazing that he knew she was there without a word when she hadn’t intended to come all the way out here for it and he lifted a brow her way seeing the smile on her lips atop of her appearance.

‘Good luck,’ she mouthed to him settling down into a seat as they began the round.

She was amazed at just how brilliant he was, pushing their team ahead by ten points during the last set of questions.

The other team started to buzz in before they fully read the question, and she laughed inwardly when they missed three because they didn’t let the moderator get to the crux of it.

Ben answered each with ease and the match ended with them winning by fifteen points.

She grabbed her bag, slipping down to the floor to see him, tell him her news, unable to hold it in for another minute.

Not even watching Crystal hug him tightly as they presented them the trophy could bring down her happiness today.

She edged around a couple guys from the prep school they’d beaten rolling her eyes at the looks they gave her as Ben detangled himself from Crystal quickly.

“Ben,” she called out, and he handed the trophy over to Greg cutting through the crowd to reach her. He slid his arms around her waist, and she threw hers around his neck kissing him fully, still smiling.

“Okay, I know this giddiness isn’t just because of us winning,” he joked pulling back from it a bit studying her intently. “What’s going on Em?”

She pulled the letter out of her bag and held it up covering her giant smile with it to show him the name.

His brow rose in question before he snatched the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper.

His face lit up seeing the words and he turned back to her seeing the utter joy radiating on her face.

He couldn’t stop himself and lifted her into his hold, up off the floor a bit and kissed her again.

“Dude, get a room,” he heard Adam complain and he smiled resting his forehead against Emma’s as his parents came over to meet them with the rest of the team.

“Ben, Emma,” Tara said reaching them. “What’s going on?”

“Sorry, I just had to come let Ben know, I couldn’t wait until even tomorrow,” Emma said as his friend Greg pulled the paper from his hands.

“Whoa,” he said seeing the acceptance from NYU for their second set of early decisions.

“Give that back, it’s not yours,” Ben said stealing it back from him before giving Emma a soft kiss. “I am so proud of you, baby. You’re going to do great.”

“What’s going on?” Daphne asked, smiling as Adam looked away rolling his eyes at their interaction.

“Emma got into NYU,” he stated, as she nodded not caring to keep it quiet.

“I didn’t think decisions came out until April for most schools,” Simon said looking between them in question and she realized he hadn’t told his parents that he’d gotten into Columbia still. It’d completely slipped her mind after that disastrous first dinner with them that they didn’t know.

“This was their second round of early decisions,” she answered settling into Ben’s hold.

“I didn’t apply to any round one ones because I wasn’t certain when they were due what was my top choice.

NYU does a second round of early acceptances that’s due at the beginning of January, but they’re supposed to be binding—if you get in, you’re saying you’re going pretty much for certain.

I submitted for the early one instead of just regular though because after a lot of thought and reflection on things, it’s really where I want to go. ”

“And with the scholarship you won you should be set,” Ben said, and she nodded smiling fully. “It’s perfect, especially since I’ll be in town with you as well.”

“You will?” Tara said in surprise.

“Yeah, I got accepted to Columbia University with their early decision in December,” he stated, shaking his head no as the group looked between them suspiciously. “Emma didn’t know until the weekend before the dance that I had.”

“I just really loved the feel of the school while I was there this past summer and with some encouragement from Ben and a few others, I decided to apply to a few schools I probably wouldn’t have thought to apply to before getting into the summer program,” Emma added.

“I certainly won’t complain that he’ll be in the same city as me though. ”

“Just about seven miles apart,” Ben said thrilled about the idea.

“You got into Columbia and didn’t tell us?” Greg questioned, shaking his head at him. “You’re nuts man, if I had gotten into a school like that and was dating her, I’d be telling everyone that walked into school daily about my luck.”

“It doesn’t matter what they think, just what we do,” he replied before looking to his parents to see about riding back with Emma instead of them.

“We were going to do dinner out before going home,” his mom stated, but he didn’t care about having dinner out, he’d rather spend the time with Emma.

“Why don’t you both have dinner with us and then you can go with Emma?” his father suggested, and he glanced down at her in question.

“Sounds fine with me. Mom and Dad are out of town this weekend so I’m all by myself,” she said although he already knew that.

“Your parents travel a lot, don’t they?” Daphne asked, and she nodded. “Man, I bet that’s nice.”

“Daphne,” Tara said with a warning in her voice.

“A house all to yourself, no dumb boys around, no one telling you to clean your room…sounds like a dream,” Daphne said ignoring her mom.

“Once in a while it’s okay but you realize as you get older that it’s actually not that bad having them around, I usually have a dinner date with my dad once a month, just the two of us,” Emma said as Ben kissed her temple.

“It’s one thing I hope to keep up with his business travel this next year.

There’s nothing quite like a night out with a guy who will ensure nothing begins to hurt you. ”

“Is that why you like Ben so much for?” Daphne questioned, as they moved out of the room towards the parking lot.

“It just might be part of it,” she said meeting his gaze with a smile. “I never really thought about it before.”

“Marry a man like your father, isn’t that what they tell girls?” Simon stated.

“Well in my case I certainly would not have been happy if I’d done that,” Tara said shaking her head at him. “I much prefer you to that.”

“Good to know,” Simon said letting Ben usher Emma to her car.

He held open the passenger door for her to get in, giving her a soft kiss as he took the keys from her fingers. He loved driving her around, and he hoped they could take a long drive over Spring Break next month.

Dinner went fine despite his mother’s standoffish attitude towards Emma, and he assured his parents he’d be home at a decent hour before they left, heading to a party, so Emma could find and tell Megan the news.

He held onto her hand lifting it over her head to wrap her arm around her waist keeping hold of it in order to keep her closer to him.

He didn’t want anyone there to try something and upset her—especially not when she was this happy.

She leaned back into him sighing as he dropped a kiss onto her neck and swayed to the music.

He lifted his other hand resting it on her hip as she turned her face towards him, giving him a smile, he couldn’t resist tasting.

He let it linger until he heard Megan shout her name in surprise and he let her lips go, loving the look in her eyes.

“What are you doing here? Didn’t he have some tournament thingy tonight?” Megan asked, and she nodded heading over to meet her friend.

“They won in no time flat. We had dinner with his family and then came here so I could show you this,” Emma stated, pulling the envelope out of her bag with a huge grin.

“What is that?” Megan questioned until she uncovered the logo in the corner of the envelope. “Is that…”

“My acceptance letter? Yup,” Emma said, and Megan let out a squeal of excitement. “I got in and with my scholarship and the money my parents have in my college fund…I can actually afford to go with no worries. Even live in the dorms rather than some tiny little apartment with a dozen roommates.”

“Oh my god!” Megan gasped hugging her tightly. “That’s amazing Emma.”

“I didn’t know if they would take me, give me anything to make it feasible to actually go, until I got the scholarship notification from the group.

I was so thankful they sent an electronic copy of it because that was right on the deadline for financial aid review.

I doubt I would have gotten this letter if it weren’t for that scholarship. ”

“You won it all on your own Em,” Ben said as she glanced at him with a smile. “You’d submitted that before we even really met. You deserved that scholarship and I’m good with my extra ten thousand from them. It will tide me over just fine with what I got offered from Columbia.”

“I still can’t believe you won the top prize, that’s incredible Emma,” Megan said hugging her again. “So, I guess this means no sabotaging your relationship, right? No need to wonder the ‘what’s going to happen when he gets to Columbia’, huh?”

“Right,” Emma agreed resting her head back against Ben’s shoulder. “Now I just need to tell my parents the news.”

“You didn’t tell your mom?”

“She went to meet Dad in DC for the weekend. They won’t be home until Tuesday,” she explained, and Megan smiled giving her a questioning look, her brow lifting telling her exactly what she meant by it. “Stop it, that’s not going to happen.”

“What’s not going to happen?” Ben asked, not seeing what she had in the look.