Chapter 11 #2
He hesitates, draws a breath, and then whispers, “Lara Croft.”
“Oh my God!” I burst out laughing, then immediately cover my mouth.
“I told you it was lame!”
“No. I mean—yes. It is lame. But mine is Ash Ketchum.” I move my hands from my mouth to cover my eyes.
“Anime? Really?”
“Like you’re one to talk, mister triangle titties!”
He’s crying laughing now, tears streaming slowly down his face. “So pointy.”
This feels good. Better even than the times Hunter and I did stuff like this. He didn’t see the charm of the science museum, and he was too cool to talk about silly things like crushing over video game characters.
Noah puts the car in park, quickly unbuckles, and takes off around the car to open my door while I grab my purse from the floor.
“Shall we, milady?” His so-formal comment after the belly laughs we just shared almost makes me blush.
We walk into the museum, and I find none of the normal hustle and bustle.
Where are the families with diaper bags and strollers lined up to buy tickets?
Where are the employees who stand at the front to direct you this way or that?
For a split second, I’m a little weirded out.
“Is it closed? Did we miss something?” I glance back toward the exit.
He chuffs. “No, they’re not closed. Well, not for us. But they are for the public.”
“You did this?”
“I did.” He smiles.
For the next couple hours, we wander around the museum, hand in hand. Talking about nothing and everything. Taking turns reading the placard out loud.
When we get to the Egyptian part, I get the heebie-jeebies around all the mummies.
I point to the one in front of me. “There’s a real body in there.”
Noah peers over my shoulder at the crusty shape wrapped in cloth. “Pretty cool.”
“It’s so gross.” I read the name of the mummy aloud from the placard. “Did you know that the Egyptians believe the first act of creation was through masturbation?”
Noah whips his focus toward me, ripping it away from the mummy before us. “What?”
“One of my fun facts.”
“How did it work?”
“It was believed that their first god masturbated, and through that act twin gods were born.”
Noah looks at me like I’m crazy. “Why do you know that?”
“I took a mythology class as an arts elective in college. It covered Egyptians, Mesopotamian, ancient Greece and Rome, and the Norse.”
Noah laughs and puts his arm around my shoulder as we walk to the next mummy. “You’re something else, aren’t you?”
There’s so much to take in that by the time we get to the dinosaurs my mind is melting.
Noah takes note of my dragging ass. “Ready for a break from the never-ending search for knowledge?”
I nod, exhausted. “So much reading and walking and thinking.”
He leads us down the stairs toward the main area.
I always thought the design of this building was so interesting.
When you walk through the front doors, the main hall is one long rectangle with thirty-foot ceilings.
The doors in the very back lead to the butterflies, and the doors down the longer right side lead to the other exhibits.
There’s only one restaurant in this museum—McDonald’s.
It’s been here for as long as I can remember.
I don’t think it’s ever been anything else.
Noah pulls me toward it, and I follow.
“I hope you aren’t disappointed in this meal after The Lush.”
“No way. I love McDonald’s, and I’m starving. I would eat anything at this point.” Which is maybe how this Micky D’s has been here so long.
We approach the counter where a lone employee is waiting to take our order. Her nametag says Natalie. Noah shuffles me in front of him so I can go first. “Hi, can I please get a McChicken and a double cheeseburger?”
The woman puts the order into the computer. “And to drink?”
“A Coke.”
Noah steps up and I can feel his whole body behind me. “I’ll have a twenty-piece nugget meal and nine sweet and sour sauces.”
“And for your drink?”
“Sprite.”
“Okay, perfect. You can put your card in the reader when it blinks green.”
Noah pays and I collect our cups. Normally I would try and insist we go Dutch, but I was too distracted by hunger. It was all I could do not to drool.
We sit at a table, and it feels odd to be here alone compared to how packed this place usually is.
Natalie comes out with our tray of food. She has deep brown eyes and even darker hair pulled back under her McDonald’s hat. “Thank you,” we both say.
I set to work getting my meal ready. Opening both the sandwiches and putting the chicken in the middle.
Noah catches on. “Seriously? A McGangBang? What are you? Twelve?”
I stiffen, ready to defend myself. “I used to get them all the time when it was cool, but grew out of them. Like two years ago I realized I was still ordering the same thing anyway, and I just went back to putting them together. They’re not full-size sandwiches, so two basically equals one anyway.
” I glare pointedly at his huge pile of sauces. “Like you can talk.”
He holds his hands up in surrender. “I can’t even defend myself. I love this shit.”
“There is a certain je ne sais quoi about McNuggets at the science museum.”
“Tastes like childhood,” he agrees, putting a whole nugget in his mouth and I giggle.
We down our food in record time and start to clear the table.
Noah looks at me. “Are you ready for my favorite part?”
“The only thing we haven’t done yet are the butterflies.”
“I couldn’t tell you why, but yeah, they’re my favorite.” He reaches around to rest his hand on the back of his neck. “Maybe it’s the atmosphere or the beauty?”
I roll my lips between my teeth. This man is literally perfect. “It’s my favorite part too.”
The first thing that hits you in the butterfly exhibit is the humidity.
I can feel my hair immediately poof. Houston’s humidity is no joke, but in here it’s cranked to ten.
I bask in the familiar feeling. The smell is different.
The vegetation is more exotic than the normal grass that colors the summer.
It looks the same as it did when I was a kid. The stairs are bordered by walls made to look like stone, and the tropical trees reach high above our heads.
I grab an identification card from the holder, look over at Noah and smile, preparing myself for the magic.