Page 175 of Between the Blue
“So, was there anything else you wanted to do tonight?” I ask Ben.
“I had a thing or two in mind.”
“Well, what are–”
My voice cuts off as my feet come to a stop.
“Oh my gosh,” I mutter. “What are the odds?”
“What’s that, Cherry?”
I look up at the building in front of me with wonder, immediately recognizing it from countless times I’ve seen it before. One of those times being just this morning while I was scrolling through social media.
“Magnolia Studios,” I say, shaking my head. “I swear, every notable bohemian fashion show happens here. Actually, one of the biggest ones of the year is supposed to be happening this weekend.”
“This weekend?” Ben repeats.
I squint my eyes, looking down at my phone screen to check the date. As I do, Ben places his hand on my lower back, walking me closer to the building and out of the way of the pedestrians passing by.
“Tonight, actually,” I confirm. “That’s so crazy. I didn’t even register at the time that they announced the show that it would be the same weekend we were in New York City for the game.”
“Small world, isn’t it?” Ben muses.
“Is it embarrassing that I have chills just looking at the outside of the building?” I ask.
“I guess not,” Ben says, sniffing a laugh. “But now I’m dying to see what the inside does to you.”
My head snaps down to look at him, and that’s when I realize for the first time that we’re actually standing in a short line of people in front of a door.
“Ben?” I mutter as the group of people in front of us head inside.
“Name?” The large man at the door holding a clipboard asks.
“Bennett James,” Ben says, not missing a beat.
The man marks something off on his clipboard, stepping out of the doorway and motioning us through with his arm. “Come on in, Mr. James.”
Ben holds his elbow out to me, and I hook my arm through it robotically, my mouth agape and my eyes on his face the whole way through the door.
“Ben…what did you do?” I ask, my voice thin.
He glances over at me, a light in his eyes I’ve been seeing more and more recently. A light I’d like to bottle up and keep on my bedside table forever if I could.
“I may have called in a favor with Moreno,” he says.
We step through an open curtain, and the backs of my eyes begin to burn the moment I lay eyes on the runway surrounded by hundreds of chairs.
“You really want to do this tonight?” I ask Ben.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
I shake my head, my throat threatening to close up. “You’re going to sit through a fashion show for me?”
“It’s only fifteen minutes, Cherry.”
I unhook my elbow from his, wrapping both of my arms around his neck instead. I pull Ben’s face down to mine, kissing him right in the middle of all of the people filing in to watch the show.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
