Turning the laptop around again, I explain each drawing as I click through them. I’ve drawn a couple of the most recent dishes and also ones from the most popular episodes of Lily’s, Katherine’s, and Nia’s series—baba ghanoush and samosas fromWorld on a Plate,Easy Peasy Split Pea Soup and Julia Child’s Play Boeuf Bourguignon fromFuss-Free Foodie,and a baked Alaska and cannoli cheesecake fromPiece of Cake.
I’ve also done some minimalist illustrations of each of the Friends, highlighting their respective settings and personal style with mostly solid colors and basic shapes. Since Rajesh’s show takes him to a lot of different restaurants around the country, I’ve drawn him with wavy black hair and brown skin, standing under a generic restaurant sign and wearing a graphic T-shirt and the green backpack he always carries on his travels. Seb and Aiden are side by side in the FoF studio, in their white and red aprons, respectively, and looking like the little culinary angel and devil on your shoulder. And I’ve depicted Katherine standing in one of the prep kitchens with her hands on her hips and her wild auburn hair piled in a bun atop her head. She’s surrounded by plates of miscellaneous food and the yellow notepad she jots her recipes down on, using the most basic steps and terms, and then displays on camera at the end of each episode.
Margie spends a longer time looking these over, her face still giving little away. The longer the silence stretches after my explanation of each drawing, the more nervous I get. Finally, when I feel like I’m seconds away from snapping the laptop shut, maybe even throwing it into Puget Sound for dramatic effect, she nods. Then nods some more while a real, teeth-showing smile spreads across her face. I practically melt into my chair with relief.
“Wow,” she says, her gaze moving back to me. “You’ve got something very special here, Reese. I’m so glad you took the time to create these and show them to me. They are absolutely the kind of thing we could use to punch up some of our social mediacontent. We could have illustrated ads for upcoming episodes, or downloadable illustrations for desktop or mobile wallpaper, maybe eventually some prints for purchase…”
She goes on, listing all the possibilities she sees “off the top of her head” for my designs, while my own head spins. I wonder for a moment if I’m dreaming this, as it’s better than I imagined the conversation would go. But if it was a dream, my hands probably wouldn’t be shaking in my lap like someone slipped a shot of espresso into my tea this morning. I keep nodding, even when I don’t fully know what Margie’s talking about because what the hell, take my drawings and put them on the side of a bus, tattoo them on Aiden’s face, I don’t care. They’remyreal-life designs that are maybe, possibly, most likely getting used by the real-life Friends of Flavor!
“Now, there is another thing I was hoping we could cover today while it’s just the two of us, away from the office,” Margie says, flicking her braid over her shoulder, then leaning in and folding her hands on the table. I sit up straighter and try to school my expression into Serious Businesswoman Reese Camden, not Blissed-Out Fangirl Reese Camden. “And it’s especially relevant given what you’ve shown me today. Reese, I know you may worry that Benny has the leg up when it comes to the fall internship, given that he’s already a culinary intern. But I don’t want you to count yourself out too soon.
“Between you and me, I’m not especially keen on the whole fight-to-the-death model forAmateur Hour,but it’s not thebe-all and end-all. Keep figuring out your strengths”—she taps my laptop—“and play to them. I believe you have a lot to offer this company, and want you to believe that yourself. I’m rooting for you. All right?”
Well, I certainly didn’t think I could be any more floored than I already was by her reaction to my designs, but here I am—more than floored. Grounded? Trampled? It’s all I can do to nod and thank her, and try to take Margie’s words—her belief in me—to heart.
And she sure follows through, sending my designs around the office and up the FoF food chain to wherever these decisions are made. Later that week, they’re already using the brand-newAmateur Hourlogo that I created. All the existing episodes are updated with the design in a new title screen and banner at the bottom of each video thumbnail, and my logo gets listed alongside all the other series logos on the UltiMedia home page.
The design they go with was Margie’s initial favorite, as well as mine. The capitalAinAmateuris wearing a backward ball cap like Benny, a macaron stands in for theoinHour,and cartoon versions of Benny and me stand back-to-back between the two words. I almost made cartoon Reese slightly taller than cartoon Benny as a petty power move but held off. The positive reception for my work makes me feel powerful enough, and even though it didn’t play out on video, I give myself a point on the mental scoreboard.
Benny—1, Reese—1.
My partner in, well, whatever you’d call what we’re doing these days, seems a bit shaken when I see him for the first time after my designs are put to use. I’m standing at the front desk talking to Teagan when Benny comes back from lunch. He saunters over to join us, eyeing me almost suspiciously.
“Reese’s Pieces. Way to undersell your casual drawing habit to me,” he says, giving me an assessing once-over. “That’s some secret weapon to whip out without warning.”
I widen my eyes, feigning innocence. “Oh, was I supposed to give written notice? ‘Dear Benny, I’m about to make an effort at my job’?”
Teagan covers a giggle with her hand. “I mean, he’s not wrong to be worried. You delivered Margie a whole-ass branding package, while he’s been cleaning kitchens and waiting for Aiden to tell him when to start cooking again.”
I bite my lip, trying to hide the gratification I get at Benny feeling any of the self-consciousness I’m so accustomed to.
He sticks his tongue out at Teagan like a little kid. “Yeah, and remind me, who won the first showdown?”
“We’ve only filmed one, so don’t get too comfy,” I say with an eye roll. “Nice sportsmanship, though. Good to see how quickly you’ve abandoned all efforts to make me like you.”
The last part slips out before I consider our small audience, and I hear a soft, delighted gasp from Teagan. Benny straightens up, his face brightening and one eyebrow raised in teasing challenge.
“Is that what you think? Oh, sweet, lovely, stealthily talentedReese. I’m only demonstrating how well I can separate work from the personal. That’s why you didn’t want to go out with me, isn’t it?” He steps closer to me and I back up, flattening myself against the front of Teagan’s desk and regretting that she’s witnessing any of this. “I haven’t abandoned any efforts when it comes to you. I’m just playing the long game.”
He backs away, eyes twinkling with mischief. “See you in the kitchen, yeah?”
Before Teagan can suppress her laughter enough to pester me about any of what just happened, I start toward marketing, calling over my shoulder, “Nothing to see here! Back to work!”
The next time I see Benny, we’re filming our next cooking showdown video in which we have to prepare omelets. Toward the end, he shocks the hell out of me by making a point of giving a shout-out to his “more artistically gifted costar,” directing the audience’s attention to our show’s new logo and all the places it can be found, and making sure they know it was designed by me.
As much as I’m still trying to keep my distance, that one gets him a hug once the cameras quit rolling and PK 2 empties out.
“Is this a sympathy hug because your omelet won the taste test?” he murmurs grumpily into my hair, wrapping his arms around my waist and holding on for longer than I initially planned when I made this impulsive move.
I shake him off and step back, hoping he didn’t notice my full-body shiver from his warm breath and strong hands. Lordy, can my body chill out?
“No, it’s a thank-you hug for paying me such a nice compliment at the end.” With a teasing smile, I reach up and give his cheek a pat. “Don’t you worry. I don’t have any sympathy foryou.”
“Good. When I win your affections,” Benny says, his displeasure at losing fading into a mischievous smile as he deliberately echoes my words from last week, “I want to know it’s fair andsquare.”
Over the next week, Benny and I get a bit of a respite as the episodes we’ve already filmed are released and other FoF shows occupy the filming schedule. Benny does his normal thing, assisting around the kitchens, while I’m in my marketing nook. True to Margie’s word, I continue to not be responsible for monitoring responses toAmateur Hourvideos, but word around the office is that we’re a major hit, especially with the new, more competitive format. Benny informs me that there is at least one Twitter account dedicated to memes about us.
He and I mostly see each other when we walk home from work and sometimes for dinner, either pieced together in one of our dorm kitchens or sourced from our growing list of Seattle’s cheapest dining establishments. I’m doing my best to stick to my guns—to keep up our normal amount of jokey banter, occasionally roast him for his over-the-top lines when he tries them, and to seem as generally unaffected by him as I can.
