The men in the front continue chatting as we disembark from the ferry and start winding through downtown. While they’re otherwise occupied, I lean in closer to Benny.
I pull his arm toward me, wrapping my own arms around it as if his bulky bicep is both my space heater and my life raft. I don’t know what’s coming for us, but today, I want him as closeas possible while I have him. He seems to soften at my touch, scooting over so our thighs are pressed together and resting one hand on my knee.
I’m more relaxed than I’ve been this entire trip. Trust. Comfort. That’s what this is.
So much comfort, in fact, that it’s hard to keep my eyelids from drooping.
When the stoplight we’re at turns green, the sharp left turn of the car has me sinking harder against Benny’s shoulder. He tips his head down a tiny bit lower, his breath warm against my ear as he whispers, “Norberto.”
My eyes pop back open and my nose scrunches. “Huh?”
He yawns into his next words. “My first name.”
I stiffen in his arms, a laugh bubbling up from my chest. “I—I’m sorry.Whatdid you just say?”
I feel him shaking as he laughs softly. “You heard me, Reese’s Pieces.”
“I just…I can’t believe my ears,Norberto.You could’ve given me a few hundred guesses at least,” I whisper-laugh. “Well, shoot fire, no wonder you go by Benny!”
He pretends to push me off the seat, adding as I continue to giggle, “Your support means the world.”
But he’s still laughing too. Eventually, the chuckles subside and I feel both of our breathing slow. I vaguely register us stopping to let out Charlie and another camera guy at the FoF office, but I can’t rouse myself enough to say goodbye. I wake again toBenny telling me that we’re at the dorms. As we head toward our separate buildings, I sigh contentedly thinking about all that the weekend has brought.
A fried-fish victory. A temporary cease-fire. A boy named Norberto.
It’s like my first taste of what life could be like if I get everything I want out of this summer. And with one taste, I already crave so much more.
For the first few days after Bainbridge, I stay in my bubble of Benny-induced giddiness. They have a lot of footage to sort through from the weekend on top of some new episodes ofGood Chef/Bad Chefto shoot, so Margie and Aiden have us on the ordinary intern grind. But less attention on us also means more opportunities for Benny and me to hang out under the guise of working, and to generally pretend that our weekend cease-fire still stands. We spend nearly all of our days together, both at work and in our free time, and somehow, I still find myself wishing I could see himmore.
I refrain from telling him as much, though. My kissing him on a regular basis has already done too much for his ego.
On Friday morning, Benny and I are sent on a mega–coffee run to combat some of the sluggish vibes that have been hitting the office hard throughout this busy week. The nearest Starbucks we try has a line almost out the door, so we walk to one a fewblocks farther from the office, in the hopes that the travel time will be made up for by less time standing in line.
“I just find it so wild that when Katherine started at FoF, the percentage of men to women employed by UltiMedia was seventy-thirty,” I say, finishing up my recap of the latest post on the Kat’s Muse as we speed walk our way through the morning commuter bustle.
“I thought she said it was more like seventy-eight–twenty-two,” he replies.
“Oh really? You’re probably right. I just remembered the seventy and—wait.” I stop in my tracks, physically and verbally.
Benny comes to a stop a few feet past me, his shoulders tensing. I slowly step closer, nudging him nearer to the building next to us so we’re not standing in the middle of the sidewalk. His eyes dart everywhere but to mine, his expression as guilty as that of a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
“Benedict Cumberbatch. Have you been reading TKM?”
He huffs out a breath. “You know, you’ve used several versions of Benedict already.”
I give him an unimpressed look, crossing my arms over my chest. “You’re one to talk.”
“Yeah, but there are only, like, two real Reese’s candies. There are tons of words with Ben in them.”
“Quit trying to distract me, boy, and answer the question.”
He takes a deep breath as though gearing up to reveal something deeply personal, or shameful. “I’ve, uh, done some reading,yes.”
If I liked this guy any more, my heart might fall to pieces. I try to keep my tone casual. “Oh yeah? How much?”
He looks at me guiltily.
I raise an eyebrow.
