The Bachelor Season 20 star Ben Higgins is teasing he's ready to get engaged to his girlfriend Jessica Clarke and probably won't wait long to pop the question.
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Ben teased he'll be ready to propose marriage to Jessica, whom he's been dating for one year now, in the near future during an interview with Access.
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"Jessica and I are doing great. She is my best friend. She is my biggest supporter. I hope she would say the same thing about me; I think she would," Ben told Access.
"We are moving forward. I think now it's the fun part, of like, when does it happen? How does it happen? What does it look like once we are taking that next step?"
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But Ben explained he's going on tour for four months given he's part of "The Bachelor Live on Stage" with Becca Kufrin, which "throws a little wrench in the whole thing."
Ben insisted, however, "As far as our relationship goes, it's never been stronger, it's never been better. And the best part of Jessica and I's relationship -- and I mean this in, like, [the best way]: It's so normal and real."
Ben gushed about how Jessica has "enhanced" his life and only made it better.
"I see a really, really great future for Jessica and I, and we'll take that next step fairly soon," Ben shared.
"I think if you would have asked me this three years ago, I would have felt the pressure by Bachelor Nation [to pop the question]... [but] weirdly enough, I feel very comfortable living within Bachelor Nation. I don't feel as much pressure from the fans and contestants of the show anymore because I've gotten used to it."
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Ben explained he now understands what fans of The Bachelor franchise are after.
"I know what they want. I know why they're asking me why we're not engaged yet. I know what their desires are -- they want to see me happy," Ben told Access.
"It's been a year now that we've been together, and I think after a year... [I] start looking at [my relationship] like, 'Hey, this either needs to move forward or it needs to end.' And luckily I'm looking at it going, 'This needs to move forward.'"
In June of last year, Ben told Us Weekly he had the "wedding bug."
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Following his split from The Bachelor's Season 20 winner Lauren Bushnell, Ben announced he was in a new relationship in January 2018 on his The Ben and Ashley I. Almost Famous Podcast, but he chose not to identify Jessica as the woman in his life right away.
Several weeks later, Ben introduced Jessica, a 24-year-old Nashville resident and University of Mississippi graduate who reportedly sells LED lighting for a living, to the world, when the cute couple went Instagram official.
Ben previously disclosed he first saw Jessica by stumbling across her Instagram profile when looking for posts about a Nashville hockey game.
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Ben acknowledged he was taken with her beauty and decided to direct message her around the time of Thanksgiving 2018.
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Jessica reportedly answered Ben's message, and then in December 2018, Ben flew her out to Denver, CO, so they could meet face-to-face.
When asked about an engagement, Ben told Us at the time, "Jess and I have some timelines set. We still do long distance and we are going to talk about next steps in August."
"We're going to talk about, 'Hey, what's the next move even?' Or 'Hey, how do we make this thing a little more close to each other? How do we continue to move this forward in the right direction?' But we're waiting until August to not put pressure on who we are as a couple."
Ben previously said Jessica inspires and challenges him every day, and he called her emphatic, kind, caring and pure.
Jessica is the Generous Coffee co-founder's first public relationship since his engagement to Lauren Bushnell, which aired on The Bachelor finale in 2016 and ended in May 2017.
Ben had only entered one brief and private relationship before meeting Jessica, according to Entertainment Tonight.
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Meanwhile, Lauren has totally moved on and married country singer Chris Lane. The pair currently live together in Nashville, TN.
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