Back in business, baby.
When the video goes up the next evening, it instantly becomes our most popular episode to date. The replay of the fish hitting Benny is a work of art. I laugh until I cry, both watching it in my dorm alone and with Benny at work the next day when he’s supposed to be cleaning up PK 2 after an episode ofWorld on a Plate.
“That’ll teach me to ever mess with you,” he grumbles. He gets a mischievous glint in his eyes and leans farther into me as if about to do something totally not in line with our relationship-under-wraps plan, but we’re interrupted—thank goodness—while he’s still a couple of feet away.
“Oh good, you’re both here,” Aiden’s clipped voice rings out. Margie is at his side, but Aiden launches into their purpose without letting her get a word in edgewise. “We’re sending you to UltiCon. It’s UltiMedia’s big convention highlighting all their shows and creators, and it’s become pretty huge over the past few years. We want to capitalize on your viral video at Pike Place and keep getting your faces and theAmateur Hourbrand out there. For whatever reason, you two are working for audiences, and we can’t let the moment pass.”
It’s such an odd combination of compliment, passive aggression and shameless money- and attention-grabbing. So, quite on brand for Aiden.
A bit more gently, Margie offers, “We’ve continued to be impressed by the response to you two and your show as a whole, even before this latest episode. We think that your videos have made Friends of Flavor more accessible to younger audiences and also those with less culinary-specific interests than our typical viewers. Your appeal is widespread and powerful, and we want to celebrate it.”
That sounds a little nicer than “capitalize on it.” My brain catches up to what they’re saying. “When do we leave?” I ask. “And what will we do there?”
“You’ll go with the rest of the Friends on Friday,” Aiden says. “There’s a meet and greet that evening, and on Saturday, you’ll be doing a large group cooking demo slash Q&A with the Friends. Besides that, enjoy the conference. Mingle, meet fans, make connections. We’re going to trade off doing social media takeovers on the Friends official accounts, and, Benny, update your personal page throughout like the rest of the Friends will be doing. Any other questions? I’ll have Teagan book your travel and forward you the info.”
Benny and I look at each other, wordlessly understanding that, as per usual, whether or not we have questions doesn’t matter much. We’re going, and that’s that.
“Nah, we’re good,” Benny says. “Let us know if there’s anything else we need to do.”
“Of course.” They both head toward the door and Margie leaves, but Aiden turns back just before he walks out of the kitchen and points to Benny. “Actually, Ben, come with me tomy office. We’ve gotten some media requests with regard to the fish video, and I want to see which ones you might be interestedin.”
Benny looks startled, though whether it’s from our boss telling him he has “media requests” or calling him “Ben,” I couldn’t say. Probably both. “Oh. Uh, I need to finish cleaning up the kitchen first. But it’ll only take a few minutes,” he offers.
Aiden scrunches his nose, casting a quick, unimpressed look in my direction. “Leave it. Reese can handle it. It’s probably more up her alley anyway.”
I suck in a sharp breath before I can stop myself.Pardon?
Benny, less used to these things than I am, pushes back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Aiden, already turning away, falters. “What? I just mean, uh, she’s— Reese seems tidy. Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
My sweet, well-meaning boyfriend looks at me with a stormy expression. His eyes tell me that we are indeed thinking the same thing—that our boss fully implied I’m more suited to cleaning the kitchen because I’m a girl. And I wasn’t even supposed to be cleaning it in the first place—I just popped in to laugh over the video with Benny before going back to marketing. But is this really the hill either of us wants to die on?
Go,I mouth, shooing him with my hands. With obvious reluctance, he follows Aiden out of the kitchen. My head is spinning, and I don’t know which part is most upsetting—Aiden’s sexist comment or that apparently Benny and Benny alone isa media darling now. Looks like I might’ve miscalculated who really came out on top in our last video.
Our earlier conversation comes back to me—how the fall internship isn’t everything to him, unlike the way it feels to me. But now my thoughts are colored with a stronger sense that Benny is the bosses’ clear favorite for the job, and the public’s.He’sthe one Aiden pulls away for special requests from the adoring media. I’m the lowly, replaceable kitchen wench who stays behind to finish his cleaning. It stings more than I want it to.
But really, the kitchen won’t clean itself, so I wipe up the floury counters, scrape burned-on bits of cheese from a baking sheet, and load the rest of Lily’s used dishes into the dishwasher. All the while, I’m fighting the bitter voices in my head wanting me to get mad at Benny.
It isn’t his fault he’s a likable guy. Or that we may or may not work for raging misogynists. He even tried to speak up for me, or at least to challenge one jackass statement. He probably would’ve pushed harder if I hadn’t stopped him.
I can deal with this. I can separate my feelings for my boyfriend from my worries about work. Of which there are many. Like the fact that, once again, we’re leaving town this weekend, with only a couple days’ notice. I just need to stay focused, to not give people any legitimate reasons to think less of me or to otherwise cause any messes.
Shouldn’t be a problem, right? I hear I’m quite tidy.
Early Friday morning, Benny meets me outside my dorm with his suitcase in hand. He takes my suitcase and puts both of them in the back of the ride-share he ordered to take us to the airport.
Acknowledging that he is with Morning Reese, Benny doesn’t try to chat much, just holds my hand in the back seat and runs his thumb absently over my fingers. It’s so nice, I almost wish we could just tell everyone we’re together so he could keep doing this at the airport, on the flight, till the day I die, whatever.
But once we pull up at the departures curb, he lets go of my hand and grabs both of our bags again, thanking the driver on my behalf. I drift like a zombie through check-in, and by the time we’ve waited in all the lines and are past security, I’m awake enough to speak.
“You’re cute and I like you” is the first thing I say when I walkup behind him at the security exit. He’s checking the big departures screen for which gate we’re at.
His mouth turns up in that lopsided smile, proving my point. “Well, good morning. You’re beautiful and Ireallylike you.”
“Don’t try and one-up me at this hour, Benicio del Toro.”
“Ooh, deep cut. Have you been Googling names with ‘Ben’ in them in your downtime?”
