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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 17, 2016 14:42:11 GMT
In the past five months there had been a lot of things that Tripp had thought that Melanie had a tendency to go overboard on. Her quiet dinners at home had been anything but, consisting of elaborate meals that he was sure that she spent hours preparing and making perfect. Attending events with Melanie was also never just that, it had become their way of teasing each other to ensure that an otherwise boring night remained interesting, and it always seemed to end with them in bed together. What he was realizing about her influence on his life, however, was that she never made anything boring. It was one of the many things that had him quickly falling for her, and it was one of the many things that had already driven him to tell her that he loved her.
As tonight was their first Valentine's Day together, he had spent the majority of the last few weeks thinking of what he could do to reciprocate for her. Sending her flowers to her apartment had seemed an obvious choice, as has the chocolates and the necklace that had arrived with them. He had known that he had wanted to do more than just that, however, and so he had quickly devised a plan. Maybe it was impulse, maybe it was just logical, but the more that he thought about the time that he had spent with Melanie and the frequency in which they had started spending nights with each other, the more that he realized that it was becoming more and more difficult for him to let her leave. Giving her a key to his apartment had been one thing, but it didn't seem like it was enough.
With that thought in mind, he decided what exactly it was that he truly wanted to give her for Valentine's Day. Knocking on the door to her apartment, he decided that it was probably best to wait before he asked, just in case she felt they needed to skip their dinner reservations entirely.
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 17, 2016 15:40:08 GMT
Valentine’s Day had always been a holiday that Melanie spent alone. Prior to meeting Tripp, it was a day reserved for couples and even when someone had asked her to spend the day with her, she’d always declined. She’d never wanted that label with anyone before, not even during her short-lived relationship with Brody Finn.
Maybe that was the reason why she hadn’t assumed anything when Tripp had made dinner plans for them that evening. It wasn’t until a knock at her door earlier in the day announced the arrival of flowers, chocolate, and a necklace that she thought to call someone to confirm what day it was.
After admiring her new gifts for a moment, she mentally berated herself for not realizing that it was their first Valentine’s Day together and quickly made her way to her favorite stores to do some quick shopping. By the time that Tripp arrived, she’d been completely ready – dressed in a brand new red dress and a Christian Louboutins with new lingerie from her favorite little boutique hidden underneath for him to enjoy later.
As the two of them sat together, enjoying dinner at a restaurant she’d been dying to try, Melanie smiled at Tripp. She never would have guessed a year ago that this was where she would be – sitting across from a man she was completely in love with and could see herself with for a very long time. She didn’t actually know how to articulate the way she felt to him, so more often than not she resorted to expressing herself physically. Still, on their first Valentine’s Day together, it seemed like she should have been able to express it more.
“Wait,” she said, after their next course had been brought out. “Before you touch it – don’t laugh. But I want to take a picture of our food.” She bit her lip. “I’m working on a new project, sort of.”
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 17, 2016 15:56:56 GMT
Whether it was in the spirit of the holiday or because of the feelings that he had for her, he wasn't entirely certain. All that Tripp was certain of was that he couldn't help but smile at her each time he saw her. She managed a certain level of looking both beautiful and temptingly sexy in such an effortless way that even he had considered what the harm in staying in with her would have been. But, he argued with himself, it was almost as much fun getting to show her off than it was ensuring that they never left the apartment. Besides, he knew that he wanted to make this evening special for her and he certainly wasn't going to be able to do that if they never left.
Both the wine and conversation began to flow throughout the course of dinner, though he looked at her curiously when she abruptly stopped everything for the sake of some new project.
"A new project?" he questioned. "What sort of project, exactly?"
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 17, 2016 16:16:23 GMT
Melanie chewed on her lip and looked at Tripp even as she pulled her phone out of her bag and quickly snapped a few pictures of their food. “Well, I was thinking about starting a blog,” she told him. “Mom came up with the idea, actually. Apparently, this blogger who posts about recipes and traveling and fashion and all sorts of things just signed a book deal with her company. And she thought that I might have some interesting things to post about, too.”
Madison had been extremely encouraging about it during one of their lunches earlier in the week and she really felt as though she could do a good job with it. “I mean, I have a good amount of followers on Instagram and Twitter. And it’s not really a new hobby so much as a place to talk about the ones I already have,” she explained.
Pursing her lips she shrugged a bit and put her phone away. “Mom might be the only one that reads it but I think it might be nice. And it's something to do and work on during the day."
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 17, 2016 16:52:18 GMT
He listened for a moment and observed her in amusement as she snapped a couple of photos of the ornate plates that had been delivered. All things considered, Tripp didn't think that it was a terrible idea, and from the little that he knew of Madison Benson, he wasn't sure that she was the sort of person to fill her daughter's head with unrealistic goals. If Madison thought that Melanie could do it, then he was inclined to believe that she could do it too.
Tripp particularly enjoyed how interested in it that she seemed to be already. A comment her father had made about her own ability to be fickle had lingered in the back of his mind as he knew that she had gone back and forth between a few of her own hobbies, but he thought that if she could keep up this blog she spoke of, it not only gave her the perfect outlet for her hobbies but also it gave a justification for trying everything she was interested in.
"I think that sounds great," he mentioned to her with a smile. "What is your blog going to be about then? The same sort of topics?"
As he thought about it he realized that this really might be a fantastic outlet for her and he was proud of her for taking the initiative to do something like this. If everything went well he could see this potentially becoming a job of sorts for her, but he hesitated to say anything in case the idea of it scared her off of the idea initially. It did seem to be a large undertaking. He supposed that the least that he could do was continue to be the supportive boyfriend in the situation.
"I'm sure plenty of people would love to read what you have to say. I'll certainly read it, and I'm sure Penelope will too. You might be underestimating yourself here, Melanie."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 17, 2016 17:13:47 GMT
Melanie had not been expecting for Tripp to shoot down the idea by any means, but she also hadn’t really expected him to respond so supportively. She supposed she was expecting the both of them to approach her new project with a wait-and-see kind of attitude and although she was excited about it, she hadn’t wanted to get ahead of herself. Still, when he smiled at her she beamed at him. “I think it could be really great.”
“I was thinking of blogging about a bit of everything – you know? Fashion, food, my hobby collection – us,” she chewed on her lip and shrugged a shoulder up. “I think it might be fun – an old girl friend of mine went into design so she’s actually going to help me make it look pretty and figure out the whole thing.”
She took a bite of her food and then smiled up at him. “Plus, like I said, it will keep me busy during the day when you’re at work. I’m going to work on reorganizing my spare room so that it’s a bit easier to navigate and I can write in there,” she told him. “Oh my god,” she said after trying her food, she prepared another bite on her fork and held it out. “You have to try this because it’s the most amazing thing ever.”
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 17, 2016 18:44:08 GMT
She had provided him with the perfect opportunity to bring it up to her, the idea that he had been thinking about over the last few weeks. Part of him had been convinced that it had been too soon to continue to move their relationship forward, that five months with a person wasn't enough time to know for sure what you wanted in the future. A stronger part of him had argued that he had known that it was possible for things to end up where they were from day one. Their "meet cute" as it were was actually really great foreshadowing for what their relationship had become and what it was sure that they would be. Tripp's own stubbornness in not letting her go was the same sort of feeling that he had about her now, and so it seemed perfectly reasonable to him that there was no better way to make her stay than to have her move in with him.
Smiling at her, he accepted the bite of food from her, nodding. "It's delicious," he agreed with her. "Maybe instead of reorganizing your spare room you could just use one the spare rooms in my apartment."
Hesitating briefly, he wondered how much explanation of his plans she needed, though part of him thought that she might have just assumed that he expected her to only move in her little home office. With that in mind he decided to elaborate.
"Melanie," he started. "I think you should move in with me."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 17, 2016 19:32:06 GMT
Melanie hadn’t been expecting it by any means. Admittedly, when he suggested moving her hobbies in with him, she had not been sure exactly what he’d meant. When he further elaborated, her lips twitched up into a smile. She supposed it made sense. The two of them spent most nights together, even when Tripp would leave for work, she would take her time getting herself ready for her day and return in the evening if they hadn’t already made plans.
Still, she smiled brightly at him and tilted her head. “I think I would like that,” she told him and then couldn’t help but chuckle. Considering the fact that only five months ago, he’d been convincing her to simply stay the night in a hotel room – only to have her try to fight him every step of the way, the fact that they were talking about moving in together was a bit mind blowing. But it made sense.
On the few nights in between when they were apart, Melanie found it difficult to sleep without him there beside her. Even when they were together and he would slip from bed to get work done, she would wake up and note that she couldn’t hear his light snoring before walking into the kitchen and making them both some coffee.
“I’d love to move in with you,” she told him honestly and then looked down for a moment. “I can really have a whole room for my hobbies?”
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 17, 2016 20:29:38 GMT
Tripp had been expecting more of a reaction. Whether he expected her to overreact in excitement, suggest that they should have gotten out of there at that moment, or at the very least exclaim loudly over the idea of it. Her calm, even-tempered response surprised him, but he smiled at her all the same when she emphasized that she would have loved to move in with him. Already he was loving the idea of making their situation a little more permanent, as he kept thinking about what it was going to be like to come home to her every day and to kiss her goodbye every morning.
Even the little things had become endearing enough that he wanted to ensure that they happened as often as possible. On nights when he had work that he needed to finish, he had gotten used to her keeping him company, whether it was making them something to snack on, humming softly to herself while she tried to keep herself occupied, or tried to coax him into coming back into bed with her.
Yes, he had decided, having her move in was going to be a wonderful thing.
"Yes," he smiled at her. "A whole room for your hobbies, or an office for you to write your blog, whatever you'd like it to be."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 17, 2016 22:30:34 GMT
The grin that spread across her features couldn't be contained. The idea of moving in with Tripp excited her and the more she thought about it the more eager she was to start packing, to settle in with him and to celebrate. She leaned in a bit, smirking up at him. The truth was that no matter where they'd spent the night thus far, she always preferred to be where he was. In five months, one man had captured her attention and her heart in a way that she previously hadn't thought was possible. There were days where it was exhilarating and somewhat terrifying to her all at once - that so much had changed. But it didn't seem like a radical shift for her - it seemed like a thousand little tiny moments had slowly pushed her to this point - and she wasn't complaining about that.
"Maybe we should take dessert to go," she suggested. "I have a surprise for you that I think you'll like very much and we can say an official goodbye to my suite at the hotel. Or find my favorite spot in your apartment," she laughed.
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 18, 2016 13:55:59 GMT
Tripp smiled at her, thinking back to his earlier temptation to skip dinner entirely and make themselves comfortable at either of their apartments. It was admittedly strange to think that they were no longer going to have to choose between his place or hers, that the assumption would be that at the end of the night they were always going to be going home together. It was that sort of comfort and sense of permanence that he supposed came with being in a serious relationship with someone, though he still couldn't help but think about how weird and amazing it was that they had reached this point so quickly.
The time that he had spent with Melanie had certainly progressed much more quickly than it ever had with Colette. He tried to justify it as just being a completely different part of his life but the reality, he knew, was that it had as much to do with the women as it did with him. Colette might have been the right person at the right time, the one that he was comfortable to be with throughout his formative college years, but as he grew into the person he wanted to be as an adult, he came to realize that he didn't want to be who she wanted him to. They had stopped making each other happy.
Melanie was a complete contrast. From the very beginning she had challenged him. And not just through her stubbornness, but in pushing him to reevaluate his priorities. The time that he had spent at the office pouring over document after document had seriously diminished as he had looked forward to their dates. After one terrible mistake, he had truly wanted to be different for her - to even be better. But even more than that, Melanie was the one who seemed to truly support his career, the one who understood that sometimes he needed to slip from the bed and ensure that a spreadsheet was filled out or a contract had been signed. Melanie was the one that made him happy, and Melanie was the one that he could see having a future with some day.
"You have all the time in the world to find your favorite spot in the apartment," he told her. "Perhaps we should say goodbye to your suite then. Should we plan on moving you in this weekend?"
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 19, 2016 1:31:45 GMT
Melanie smiled happily at Tripp when he mentioned having all of the time in the world to explore his apartment now. Their apartment, she mentally corrected herself and nodded at him. "This weekend sounds perfect, I'll ask Mom and Jamie to come help me pack," she suggested. "I'll make some calls tomorrow and get everything organized." The idea of moving in with Tripp had her so excited she would have moved in that very minute. She supposed that her father might be okay with it, no longer having to feel responsible for her living arrangements.
"You know I lived in that suite when I was a little girl," she told him with a nod. "When my father first left Austin and came back to New York to take over the company, we stayed there. The spare room was my bedroom before he bought the Penthouse and then married mom," she explained. "I'll miss it a bit. Maybe Jamie can move in one day," she shrugged. "Regardless, it will warrant a proper goodbye."
As she spoke and continued to eat, she ran her leg against his beneath the table and smirked. "Should we ask for the check?"
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