His mouth tilts up on one side.
I purse my lips.
“Most of her posts from the last five years,” he mumbles, picking at a ragged fingernail.
My heart beats a little faster. “Learn anything interesting?”
“A lot.” He nods, still not lifting his head. “The patriarchy is some bullshit.”
I’m trying not to smile like an idiot, but I can’t keep my lips together as I step closer and put a finger under his chin, tipping his face toward mine. “Why are you acting like you don’t want me to know you’ve been reading my favorite blog of all time?”
Benny shrugs, but I’m not letting him look away. “I don’t know. I guess I wanted to brush up on all this stuff since this site has been so important to you, but I didn’t want it to look like I was just studying so my girlfriend will like me, rather than reading it because I’m interested, which I am. Interested in TKM. And, um, also in you. Two separate things.”
The superficial side of my brain stutters over one word he casually dropped in there. “Your girlfriend, huh?”
His eyes close. “Oh God. I didn’t—I mean, you don’t have to—”
“I’m good with ‘girlfriend.’ Just confirming I heard you right,” I tease, stopping him before he hurts himself jumping over theseconversational hurdles. He opens his eyes again, gaze warming as I move my hand to his cheek. “You’re a good guy, Benny.”
“Okay, but the bar is basically on the ground. I could be a lot better.”
I study his sincere expression, thinking of when I first saw him and how I judged him to be just like all the others. But I couldn’t have been more off. He’s so attentive, seeming to pick up every crumb of my thoughts or interests or time he can get and using it to do something sweet or learn about something new because I care about it. And now I see that it extends beyond me. It feels like I’ve stumbled upon a gosh darn unicorn. I don’t know what to do with someone this purely good, but I’m trying my best to take it in and reciprocate.
“Benjamin Button—”
“Weird but okay,” he mutters.
“—you have never been hotter than you are at this moment. Keep doing what you’re doing, okay? You’re a good guy, you have fine reading taste, and I really, really like you.” He looks up at me, his smile growing as I add, “And you know you can always holler if you want to talk women’s issues.”
His expression turns mischievous. “Oh, I’ll be hollering. Like, the wage gap? The hell is up with that?”
Overcome, I’m about to pull him in and kiss his face right there on the sidewalk of a busy downtown street, but I’m stopped by a hand on my arm and a gasped, “Oh my God!”
That’s a real good combo for sending me into cardiac arrest,but my response in this case is to jerk my arm away and turn to face my assailant, ready to…what, slash them with Margie’s company credit card? I’ve backed straight into Benny, who puts his hands on my shoulders protectively.
Shocking absolutely no one, I’m sure, this is an overreaction to the embarrassed woman standing beside us, who looks maybe a decade older than we are and is at least a few inches shorter.
“Oh my God,” she repeats, bringing a hand up to one of her reddening cheeks. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out. But you’re Reese! And Benny! From Friends of Flavor, right?”
My brain is taking a moment to catch on, wondering,How can she know that? Real people have seen our videos?Fortunately, my less socially awkward half steps in, taking his hands off my shoulders and holding one out to her.
“Hey, yeah, that’s us. And you are?” Benny asks, bouncing back from his momentary sheepishness to ooze charm once again.
The cute grown woman blushes for real now, giving this teenage boy her hand. “Oh, my name’s Anna. I’m such a big fan of your videos. I can’t believe I ran into you! Could we maybe take a picture? A bunch of my coworkers watch, too. They won’t believe this.”
Benny glances at me with raised eyebrows and I can tell he is loving this. “Reese’s Cup?”
Anna giggles as she pulls a cell phone from her giant purse. “Gah, yes! All the nicknames—you guys are the cutest!”
I laugh awkwardly as Benny continues to grin. We lean together and Anna squeezes between us, snapping a couple of rapid-fire selfies. Hopefully I look less shell-shocked than I feel.
She thanks us and compliments our videos again before rushing off wherever she was headed, and Benny and I start walking toward coffee again. His hand brushes against my back for a moment. “You all right there?”
I shake my head, all thoughts of Benny and TKM now overtaken by my first real encounter with a…well, I guess with afan.“That was so weird, right? Someone recognizing us?”
He shrugs and I can hear the smile in his voice. “Not the first time it’s happened to me.”
“Oh hush, Mr. Big Shot.” I swat his arm, but he doesn’t react. “Wait. You’re serious? When? I’m with you, like, all the time!”
