“I have to confess, when you said you wanted to take me out on a real date, I thought there would probably be a restaurant involved,” Ariana said as she tucked her coat underneath her legs and settled down on the cool marble steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial. All around them, tourists paused to take pictures and security guards strolled back and forth along the foot of the stairs. A group of laughing schoolchildren chased each other up the steps, shouting to each other in a foreign language.
“Well, this is my favorite spot in the city,” Palmer confided, dropping down next to her. “I mean, check out this view,” he said, lifting a hand toward the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool in front of it. He wore a gray wool coat over his black turtleneck, and his black hair fell over his forehead. He was so handsome, Ariana felt warm just looking at him.
Ariana took a deep breath of the crisp fall air and tore her gaze reluctantly from Palmer. The sun was just starting to dip behind the monument, and the beautiful colors of the sunset were reflected in the water of the long, rectangular pool.
“Okay. I’ll give it to you,” Ariana said. “It is beautiful here.”
“Besides, I packed a picnic basket,” Palmer pointed out, lifting an old-school wicker basket onto the step between them. “That’s kinda romantic, right?”
“Depends on what you’ve got in there,” Ariana joked, angling her chin to try to see inside.
Palmer extracted two linen napkins, one of which he flicked open and lay across Ariana’s lap. Then he did the same with his own. He reached into the basket again and came out with two covered bowls and two spoons.
“It’s a famous family recipe and one of my favorite things to eat in the fall,” he said, handing her a bowl and spoon. “Veal stew.”
Ariana peeled the lid off her bowl, and steam wafted from the scrumptious-smelling dish. She could see bits of peeled potato and carrot and onion nestled in among the morsels of meat.
“How did you make this?” she asked. “Does Alpha tower have a gourmet kitch
en I don’t know about?”
“I didn’t actually make it myself,” Palmer confessed sheepishly. He took out two water bottles, popped their tops, and handed one to her. “I called home and had my mom’s cook whip it up and drive it over. But if I had a kitchen at my disposal, I absolutely would have cooked it myself. I’m an excellent chef.”
“Really?” Ariana asked with a smile.
“You should try my peanut butter and jelly and Eggo waffle sandwiches,” Palmer said seriously. “I’ve had several restaurateurs offer to buy the recipe from me, but I refuse to sell out.”
Ariana laughed and took a bite of her stew. The meat practically melted in her mouth.
“Palmer, this is amazing,” she said as he placed a basket of crusty bread down on the step behind them. “Thank you so much for sharing your secret family dish with me.”
“Of course,” Palmer said with a grin. He stirred his stew with a spoon, blushing and smiling as he looked down into the bowl. “There are a lot of things I want to share with you, Ana.”
Ariana’s heart flipped and she glanced over at him. He met her eye and laughed.
“That was insanely cheesy, wasn’t it?” he asked.
“Kind of,” she said, scrunching her nose. Then she laughed as well and reached over the basket to touch his arm as his blush deepened. “No! I’m just kidding! It was sweet.”
“I’m just saying. . . .” Palmer shrugged and turned his knees toward hers on the steps. “I want to do more stuff like this with you. Sometimes I spend whole class periods just thinking about all the places we can go together and all the things we can do.”
“Really? Which class periods?” Ariana asked with a grin.
“Chemistry, mostly. God, I hate chemistry,” Palmer said.
“Me too,” Ariana replied.
“ To hating chemistry, then,” Palmer said, lifting his plastic water bottle.
“Except ours,” Ariana replied, clicking her bottle’s neck against his.
Palmer looked at her, his bottle frozen halfway to his mouth. “Now that was cheesy.”
Ariana giggled. “I guess we just bring it out in each other.”
Palmer smiled a smile that sent Ariana’s heart fluttering around like a butterfly. “Yeah. I guess we do.”
Leaning slightly into his side, Ariana sighed contentedly. She was glad she had said yes to Palmer’s invitation. If Lexa’s plan had been to drive her and Palmer apart, it clearly wasn’t working. In fact, it had the exact opposite effect. She half-wished Lexa would walk by so Ariana could wave and say something coy like, “Hey, Lexa. Have you met my boyfriend, Palmer?” just to show her how her little task was not getting to her.