Page 73 of Love from Scratch
We follow Benny off the bus and when he takes my hand again, Nat and Clara dramatically clutch each other’s hands. I stick my tongue out at them, but Benny doesn’t notice as he leads us through what seems like equal parts post-workday locals and tourists. We walk farther off the busy rush-hour streets, downthetree-lined sidewalks that run in and around this museum-filled corner of the city. We could be headed toward anything from the Imax theater to the big public playground that usually smells of popcorn or cotton candy or whatever food the vendors are selling that day. Benny pulls me along until he comes to a stop…
…right underneath the Space Needle.
“Ooh, this looks familiar.” Nat rubs her hands together eagerly.
“I hope you don’t mind that I prepurchased tickets.” Benny gives us all his classic lopsided smile that still makes me want to kiss his face off every time.
But instead, I blink at him in a mix of surprise and confusion. “Um. Okay? I mean, thank you, I’ve been wanting to do this since I got here, but—but I thought we agreed that we’d wait till someone’s parents came for a visit and offered to pay for it.”
“Oops, I forgot,” he says in a flat tone that tells me he didn’t. “Anyway, let’s go before we miss our window!”
I laugh and look at him like he’s lost his mind, but he’s turned and is skipping to the entrance, and my friends are following, and I figure I’d better get a move on. He already has the tickets, after all.
The ticket taker scans Benny’s printed confirmation and sends us up the ramp, which is bordered on each side by walls printed with the timeline of the Needle’s construction and stories of its history, interspersed with screens showing footage of theNeedle through the years. It’s actually pretty fascinating, learning about this iconic spot in my new home, a spot I know embarrassingly little about. We spend a few minutes reading the stories and watching the videos as we wind our way around and reach the photo spot. Well, three of us do. Nat doubles back to rush Clara along.
Once she’s with us, we stand in front of a green screen to take a photo that will be superimposed over whichever Space Needle background we choose. Benny arranges us in a ridiculous prom pose with his arms around me from behind, mine around Nat, and Nat’s around Clara. While I won’t know until I go online and look at it later, I’m almost positive they were all making ugly faces.
Then we’re at the elevator, and I get nervous for the first time. I remind myself it isn’t even as tall as the building where Friends of Flavor’s office is. But the elevator there isn’t glass and looking straight out into open air. Nor does it have a friendly operator letting you know exactly how high and how fast you’re going. I lean back against Benny nervously, inviting the prom pose this time as we soar higher and higher and my stomach feels less and less cool with it.
But when we reach the top, it isn’t so scary. Well, the indoor part isn’t, with a little café and seating that basically feels like you’re in any other tall building. I think about just plopping myself in a chair and enjoying the view from here, but then Nat and Clar are the ones pulling my hands, and I guess that’s how we’re doing things today.
Ever so reluctantly, I follow them out into the air that feels alotcooler and breezier than it did on the ground. I look up, still surprised there’s no rain yet. But then I look out, and oh my stars. It feels like I should be able to see the whole world from up here, though I’m mainly looking at downtown Seattle, the bay, and, in the distance, a glimpse of Mount Rainier.
Benny appears at my side again and places a hand on my back as we slowly follow Clar and Nat around, pointing out all the recognizable sites and landmarks as we go.
“You can’t quite see it, but straight over that way is Golden Gardens, where I had my first official date with one Reese Camden and took a picture of her that may or may not be my phone background,” Benny says, and I laugh as I follow the direction of his pointing finger.
“Wow, are you, like, obsessed with her or something?” Nat scoffs.
“Completely,” he declares.
Clara shrugs. “Not the worst choice.”
“Y’all keep me humble,” I say, giving my friends’ cheeks a pinch.
A few minutes later, the other two have drifted off and Benny is pointing a different way. “There’s my apartment building.”
I squint and it takes me a minute to spot the little blue concrete box on the north side of town that houses a bunch of tinier boxes, one of which houses my boyfriend.
His finger moves farther upward. “On a clearer day, you’re supposed to be able to see Mount Baker over there, up near theborder.” I nod, duly impressed and also beginning to wonder if Benny has reverted to nervous information-dumping. I thought we were long past that. But then he guides me so we’re both looking farther to the west, across the water where several ferries chug along. “And you know what’s in this direction?”
I chuckle, feeling like I’m being quizzed. “What?”
“The fancy-pants cabin with the hiking trail along the coast where the girl I’m super in love with kissed me for the very first time.”
There’s a flutter in my stomach and a smile splits my face. I feel Benny’s arms by my waist and I pull them tighter, all the way around me, and lace my fingers through his. His chin rests on my shoulder, his cheek pressed to mine as we both face the least cluttered view the Needle has to offer.
Then he goes on, “You know, I realize we haven’t discussed what our official anniversary is, but it’s been three months today since we kissed for the first time, which everyone knows is an important monthiversary. So I wanted to do something special, and coming up here came to mind because I’ve felt about this high up in the air for every moment since discovering, officially, that you were feeling the same as I was.”
Lordhavemercy.
The stomach flutter is more like the roller-coaster stomach-swooping that I’ve had around Benny from the beginning, but in the best way. I twirl to face him and wrap my arms around his neck, so close our noses nearly touch.
“Norberto Beneventi,” I say, and he narrows his eyes a moment before smiling softly again. “You are sweet as all get-out, and I do indeed feel every bit as in love with you, so much that I’ll excuse the total cheesiness of your alleged reason for bringing me up here.”
“Hey, I thought it was pretty…gouda.” His face goes mock-stern, lips twitching with the effort to suppress his smile. I can’t possibly do the same, already letting out a snort-laugh.
“God, that note was some of my best work, wasn’t it?” I say through the subsiding giggles.
“Could’ve used a few more props from the pantry, if you ask me. Some of us put a little effort into asking their cute coworker out,” Benny answers as he pulls me closer.
“Don’t worry. I brainstorm new puns every time I go in there on an ingredient run. Keeping a running list for future date invitations.”
He laughs. “Good. I expect you’ll have a while to work through them all, you know. Months”—he kisses one cheek—“years”—then the other—“maybe even longer”—then lands a kiss on my nose.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I answer with a smile.
Then I kiss him full-on, with all the mushy, soft, vulnerable, madly-in-love feelings I have in me, not caring one bit if the whole world sees.
