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“Come to New York with me,” he says. “Let’s go to the Museum of Natural History.”
My insides jolt violently. There’s the familiar, creeping sensation of nerves unraveling in my belly.
Plans.
He’s asking to make plans with me.
Plans that will happen in the future, which, by definition, is not right now.
I haven’t made plans with anybody in ages. I mean, yeah, I can agree to go to the movies with somebody at the weekend, or grab a bite to eat for lunch or whatever. Little things of no consequence. But this? This feels bigger. Feels like a fucking trust fall.
I swallow hard.
And nod.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “We’ll put it on the schedule.”
He’s still looking at me. I feel see-through, like he can peer right past skin, muscle, and blood vessels, and see my heart violently pumping away in my chest.
“Right now,” he says. “Let’s do it right now.”
I blink. “We can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You… I mean, you have to plan those things,” I say. “Right?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know! Because it’s a road trip, and that’s how those things are done?”
“It’s three hours in a car. I don’t think we can call it a road trip.” He smacks a kiss on my lips and gets up. “We’re doing it.”
By the time I’ve pushed myself to a sitting position, he’s already pulled out a backpack and is stuffing clothes into it.
And that’s how I find myself in Ryker’s car, heading to New York, to the American Museum of Natural History of all fucking places.
RYKER
Turns out impromptu road trips should actually involve some planning beforehand because in my rush to give Lake the experience, I dismiss the tiny, inconsequential detail that museums tend to have fixed opening hours. By the time we make it to the Upper West Side and to the museum we only have a little over an hour left for exploring before the museum closes for the day.
It’s not exactly ideal.
But Lake doesn’t seem to care. Honestly, he’d probably be happy just standing in front of the building and staring at it, eyes wide, mouth slightly parted.
He shoots down my let’s-quickly-rush-through-every-exhibit plan. Instead, we each pick out something we definitely want to see and take our time with those.
We go see the blue whale and the Tyrannosaurus rex. We touch a meteorite. And right before closing time, rush to get a look at the giant sequoia.
Once the museum closes, we wander around Central Park for a while and then grab dinner.
When we’re done with food, I lean forward on my arms and smile at Lake. “What do you want to do now?”
He drops the napkin on his plate and sends me a curious look. “What do you mean? I figured we had to head back?”
“Yeah, if that’s what you want. Or…”
“Or?” he prompts.
