Page 51 of So Not My Type

Life filled back in Sophie’s face. “That means we wait for the client approval and then we’re good to go.”

Nice.After all the work, time, and preparation, they were inches away from the finish line. From the first week of training, she remembered after client approval, which usually took a few days, they’d typically request minor tweaks, send back to legal for approval, and then prep the producers to code on the website. The running, the chase, the marathon was complete, and a lightness that Ella hadn’t felt in so long filled her. “So now what?”

Sophie leaned toward Ella. “Now we celebrate.”

Celebrate. With Sophie? Every part of this sounded intriguing. “Any ideas?”

Sophie’s eyes dashed across the space and her lips curved into a grin. “Yes, I do.”

NINETEEN

SOPHIE

“Are you sure this is sanitary?”

Ella’s cocked eyebrows and the hesitation in her voice made Sophie crack up. How could Ella, a Seattle native, have never planted a fat one on the wall? “It’s literally the least thing from being sanitary.” Sophie chuckled. “You’re looking at a decade’s worth of saliva. I mean, spit dries, right, but think of the sheer amount of germs attached to this wall.”

“Not sure I want to think of that.” Ella’s jaw worked overtime on the three pieces of bubblegum Sophie gave her as she studied the wall. “It’s kind of pretty if you take out the whole bodily-fluid part of the equation.”

“Agreed.” The gum wall, tucked away in an alley outside of Pike Place Market, was pretty in its own way. Colorful blobs of pinks, blues, and greens laced the brick, chunks and layers of gum dripped from the surface. A few years ago, when the sugar from the gum started corroding the brick, the city had scraped it off, apparently gathering over two thousand pounds of gum. Sophie remembered being so bummed to hear about the city cleaning the area. The wall was iconic, part of the heartbeat of the city, and shouldn’t be bare. Thankfully for locals andtourists, but probably not for the maintenance crew, it filled back up pretty quickly.

After leaving work early, Sophie wasn’t sure why the gum wall was the first thing that popped in her mind. But after learning about Ella over this last month, and her severely limited life experiences, Sophie wanted to show her everything. Sophie loved her city. And Ella appreciated Seattle, but only knew it from afar. She didn’t know what made Seattle, well, Seattle. She didn’t know what it was like to stand outside of the El Corazón music venue amongst the smell of hot dog vendors and marijuana. She had never been to the International District, besides the fancy places, and eaten the best pho in the city at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. She’d never sat under the Alaskan Way Viaduct on top of a truck, listening to the sounds of the city and sharing a 40 with friends.

“Who ever thought of this in the first place?” Ella asked, moving aside for a few tourists.

“Rumor has it gum wasn’t allowed in the theater, so people would stick it on the wall. Not sure how that continued to grow, though.” Sophie popped a fourth piece in her mouth, chewing until the gum broke apart.

Ella winced. “Isn’t your jaw sore yet?”

“My jaw has more stamina than you could imagine.” She meant it as a joke. But the heat in between them sparked.

Ella stopped chewing, her gaze dropping to Sophie’s jawline.

“You ready?” Sophie dug out her cell phone from her pocket. “We have to take a selfie, obviously. Especially as a gum-wall virgin.” Sophie spit the gum into her palm.

Ella pinched the gum between her fingers. “Okay, ready.”

“One, two, three!” Sophie pushed the gum into the wall and snapped photos as Ella squealed and ground the gum into the wall with her thumb.

“Ewww.” Ella giggled and wiped her finger on her pants. “Okay, now that we crossed that off the proverbial bucket list, what’s next?”

So many things…Sophie’s grin dropped as she studied Ella, the freckles above her nose, the tiny curve below her earlobe, the dark eyes that captured Sophie, the voice that shook her core. The pale cheeks that looked so ridiculously soft that she wanted to feel the cotton skin under her fingertips. She needed to know more about this woman who’d morphed from a solid pain in the ass to someone she wanted to show the world to.

Sophie tucked a swatch of hair behind Ella’s ear and really, really looked at her. Smart, strong, bold, feminine. Ella captured Sophie with her strength, with her humor, and with her heart.

Ella inched forward, her eyes flickering between Sophie’s, her tongue swiping her bottom lips. She laid her hands on Sophie’s hips and tugged her closer.

Tourists clamoring for their own photo op, the sound of the market, and a guitarist strumming a slow-ballad version of “Heart-Shaped Box” faded into the background. Sophie cupped Ella’s face in her hands, her heart thumping against her chest. She swiped her thumbs on her cheek and touched her lips to Ella’s, and…this. This was what Sophie was missing in her world. As Ella sighed into Sophie’s lips, Sophie’s skin prickled. She moved her tongue, opened her mouth, and deepened the kiss.

“Oops, sorry!” A tourist with the worst possible aim bumped into Sophie.

Ella groaned at the break in the moment. “Way to ruin the moment.” She slipped her hand into Sophie’s with a grin, intertwined with her fingers, and tugged her down the alley. The case was settled—Sophie never wanted to walk any other way.

For the rest of the day, Sophie reveled in the way Ella moved through the world outside of the office. Among the shufflingof the crowd, vendors calling out prices for flowers and fruit, and the smell of seafood, they strolled Pike Place, their hands seamlessly attached. Ella shifted between quiet observance and squealing excitement, depending on what she saw.

Her fingers glided across handwoven beanies, stroked the side of glass bongs, and she stared at a hand-painted picture of Jimi Hendrix across a canvas. She unabashedly sampled the entire spectrum of dusted hazelnuts, from cinnamon to ranch, even when Sophie tried to tug her away. “I think they only want you to taste one or two,” Sophie whispered.

“But how can I make the best choice?” Ella purchased one of every kind. They stepped out of the way of screaming toddlers in strollers, people carrying woven canvas bags filled with vegetables and flower bouquets, and teenagers being, well, teenagers. Sophie bought them honey sticks and caramel popcorn, and they nibbled on cheesecake samples while listening to a man play Tchaikovsky on a sidewalk piano.

---