2 – Philadelphia

As they passed into downtown Philadelphia, Ben said, "I'm starving. Are you hungry?"

"Yes. Definitely. Where do you want to eat?"

"Well, we're in Philly," he pointed out. "Why don't we try a real Philly cheesesteak and see how the competition stacks up?"

"Sounds great. Getting out of this car for a while sounds even better," she grumbled.

"No kidding. Is it too late to get a plane ticket? We're not even off the eastern seaboard yet."

Felicity chuckled in commiseration as the car turned down a street packed with eclectic shops and restaurants. "I thought maybe we could spend half a day here and leave tonight for Washington. I'll drive us there."

"Sounds good to me. Hey, there's a place to eat."

She looked where he indicated: a deli on the corner of one block with a sign reading Sammy's in large red script over the door. A tidy row of café tables stood outside. People streamed in and out of the building. "That looks like our place," she smiled.

Ben parked the car in a nearby lot and they got out to stretch with matching groans. Felicity noticed a general market a few doors down from the deli. "I need to go get some film for my camera."

"Okay. Why don't I grab our food, then?"

"Sure," she agreed, and headed off to the market.

* * * * *

Felicity decided that she loved traveling. Just being in a different place gave her a thrill of adventure. I'm in a totally new city, seeing things I've never seen before and might never see again. I'd have missed all this if I went to Stanford like Dad wanted. She emerged from the market to see Ben sitting at one of the shade-dappled café tables with their lunch, talking with an older couple at the next table. She heard him laugh aloud and warmed to the sound. I'd have missed a cross-country trip with Ben Covington.

As she reached the table, Ben smiled at the couple. "This is Felicity." He grinned at her. "Angie and Harold are from Philadelphia. They were just giving me some ideas on what's good to see here."

"Hi," smiled Felicity, shaking their hands and sitting down.

"You should definitely see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell," Angie suggested.

Ben took a bite of his sandwich. "Mmm…This is a Philly cheesesteak."

Felicity tried her own. "Oh my God, this is really good. What is the rest of the country thinking? I'm never eating another one of these unless we come here to get it."

Ben smiled around his mouthful, then washed it down with a swallow of water. "Harold's a doctor. We were talking about the Medical Exhibit at the Pennsylvania Hospital. I guess it's the country's first hospital. Since you're pre-med, I thought you'd want to go."

She softened at the notion of Ben thinking about places she'd like to see. "Yeah, that sounds great." Anything sounds great right now, she added silently, taking another bite of cheesesteak.

"You two are from New York?" interjected Harold.

Felicity licked a drip of cheese off her finger. "Sort of. We're originally from California, but we're going to school in New York City."

Angie smiled. "That's quite a change, going all the way across the country. Don't you get homesick?"

"Sometimes," Felicity admitted with a laugh, "but there's so much to see and do in New York that you don't have much time to be homesick between classes."

"Being pre-med, I can certainly believe that," chuckled Harold. "Aren't you also pre-med, Ben?"

Ben's eyebrows shot up. "Me? No."

Felicity studied him. He looked self-conscious at the idea that he might be in the pre-med program, even a little embarrassed.

Half an hour later, they left Sammy's with full stomachs and a list of interesting sites to visit. For the rest of the afternoon, they toured the city. They visited Independence Hall and saw the Liberty Bell in its glass pavilion, then went to the hospital to see the nation's first surgical amphitheater. At the U.S. Mint, Felicity snapped a photo of Ben making an evil face and rubbing his hands greedily like a villain in an old black and white film at all the freshly printed money.

After that, they went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Felicity fell speechless from the time they entered the building, mouth open in admiration as they walked.

Ben noticed her silence. "Something wrong?"

She stared in awe at the oil painting in front of them. Its colors blazed with life. The people in the painting seemed ready to stand up and speak to her. "There just aren't enough hours in a year to see all this. It's—It's beautiful."

Ben was silent for a few moments. "I saw one of your drawings once, in high school. There was a display in one of the cases outside the art department and your drawing was in it. It was a self-portrait or something. It was really good. I liked it."

She smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he echoed, looking back at the painting. "You could do this stuff. You're good at it."

Her smile broadened, and they continued walking slowly along, looking at other artwork on display. They turned down a hall that had large glass windows on one side looking out onto a courtyard of outdoor sculpture. Late afternoon sun slanted into the hall, bathing it in a surreal golden aura.

She noticed Ben hanging back behind her as they walked and paused before another painting on the opposite wall. "What?"

"Let me have your camera."

She shrugged, handed it over, and turned back to the paintings.

Ben watched her pace along until she was halfway down the hall ahead of him. She stopped at another painting to study it with her hands in the pockets of her denim jacket. She stood with her weight planted on one foot. Her other foot was tucked behind the opposite ankle as she looked up at the painting in obvious wonder. Her hair hung loose in a mane around her shoulders, glowing in the sunlight streaming into the hall behind her. Looking at her, Ben smiled and snapped the picture.

Startled, she looked up at the flash and dimpled. "Am I totally boring you with this?"

Ben went forward to join her and handed the camera back. "No. No, I'm having a good time."

She beamed. "I am, too. This place is amazing." Her face grew more serious. "Thank you. For waiting at the loft, I mean. I'm never going to forget this."

"Yeah," he responded, turning to look at the painting with a slow nod. "This is…really cool." He met her gaze again, and they shared another smile.

* * * * *

They finished up their tour with ice cream and a walk through Fairmount Park. Felicity looked sidelong at him, picking at the paper sleeve on her ice cream cone as they walked. "When Harold asked if you were pre-med, why did you get all weird?"

Ben made a puzzled face. "I was weird?"

"Yeah. You made this face like pre-med was the last possible major to consider. I was just wondering if maybe you thought it was…I don't know…bizarre, to want to be a doctor," she explained, not looking at him.

Ben broke into a smile. He stuffed a hand in one pocket and shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't see myself doing that. I'm not smart like you. I couldn't pass that stuff."

Felicity stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and eyed him. "You could, too. You can do anything you want."

He glanced at her, looking like he was about to say something further. He halted, changed his mind, and jammed the last bite of his ice cream cone into his mouth instead. He shrugged again, philosophically this time, and continued on down the sidewalk.

Felicity raised her eyebrows and followed, finishing off her ice cream and tossing the empty paper sleeve into a trashcan.

When they passed a children's historical exhibit, Felicity spied a diorama of a Colonial man and woman with the faces cut out so that tourists could pose for pictures behind it. The figure of the man held a quill pen and scroll of paper. The woman figure was seated in a Windsor chair with sewing in her lap. "This is great! Let's get a picture!"

Grinning, Ben went around to the back of the diorama and stuck his head into the opening where the Colonial man's face would have been. "Come on. I'm not doing this myself," he dared her.

Felicity asked a passing woman to take their picture and went around the other side of the diorama, putting her face through the other opening.

The woman holding her camera laughed and snapped the picture.

Felicity took her camera back and thanked the woman. "That one's going to be priceless," she said as they walked away from the exhibit.

"I'll bet," Ben rumbled amiably, looking back over his shoulder at the painted figures in the diorama. "Seriously. How were they comfortable wearing clothes like that?"

"They'd probably say our clothes were weird," Felicity countered.

He waved a hand at their surroundings. "So, what do you think?"

"I am having so much fun. I can't even believe this is only the first day." She laughed. "My feet are killing me."

"Why don't we sit down?"

They sat on the curving edge of a nearby fountain. Felicity sighed with relief. They watched people walk, bike, and rollerblade past them to the musical patter of the fountain's falling water. She felt Ben's eyes on her and glanced up. "What?"

"I've just—I've been wondering," he said at last. "What made you decide to come with me? Instead of going to Berlin?"

Felicity lowered her gaze to the pavement between her feet with an awkward smile. "I guess it was a chance to figure you out. In high school, you were this big mystery, and I always wondered…" She trailed off and met his eyes. "This is kind of crazy. Isn't it?"

"Yeah," he agreed.

Butterflies quivered in her belly at the intent way he gazed at her. His eyes trailed over her face, and she thought maybe they lingered on her mouth. His shoulder brushed against her own. She flushed and examined her shoes. "We never—We never said what we were going to do about…the motel. If there was only one bed."

Ben smiled and sat back. "I told you, don't worry about that. Look, if it bothers you, I'll sleep on the floor."

"No," she said, reddening further. "I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor the whole trip."

"Then you can sleep on the floor."

She looked up. Ben was grinning from ear to ear, teasing her. "I will not."

"Then I guess we'll have to share," he replied smugly.

The peal of a clock tower striking five reached them from across the park, interrupting her reply. "We should get going," she announced instead, standing up. "It's a long way yet to Washington."

Ben got to his feet. "Yeah. I'm not looking forward to getting back in the car, even if the stereo system is so great."

"Wait!" she cried as they were about to leave.

"What?"

She fished a couple of pennies from her pocket and held one out to him. "It's a fountain. Make a wish."

Laughing, he took one of the pennies. Pausing to make a thoughtful face, he flipped the coin into the fountain. "Your turn."

She giggled, stepping forward with her lower lip clamped between her teeth, and flicked the penny spinning into the water. "Okay. Let's go."

They turned and started away. "What was your wish?" he asked.

"Never you mind."

Ben grumbled in amusement. "That's no fair. I would have told you mine."

"I'm not telling you," she replied airily.

Ben laughed in response.

The fountain's water chattered away behind them as they left. Neither of them had noticed that at its pinnacle, Cupid pointed his bow and arrow into the sky.