Mal arrived at the airport twenty minutes before four, and while waiting for her suitcase, a couple of girls came to say hi. They were also arriving in Austin back from vacation, and they saw her and wanted to say hello and asked her how much time she was going to spend in the city and if she needed someone to show her around. Both girls were subscribers for years, and they always hoped to meet the girl when they traveled to Seattle. Mal smiled brightly and thanked them for their kindest.

"I'm staying here for a while, so I would love to go when you have time." They promised to send her a DM, and Mal asked her for their ig so she could follow them and make a mental note to look out for a message. For a moment, she wondered if maybe she should share her number, but it felt weird to do it without knowing them for a while, and they seemed ok with dming on IG; they talked until the girls went to look for their luggage and Mal stayed waiting for hers.

"Mal!" Ben's voice came from behind, and the girl turned smiling and waving at her boyfriend; the boy was making his way toward her avoiding other passengers. They hugged when he finally reached her side, and the boy asked how her flight was. The girl was about to start telling him when she saw out of the corner of her eyes her suitcases making their way towards her and signaled for Ben to help her pick them up. The boy got one, put it next to her, and followed the other one, trying to stand in a free space to get it out; meanwhile, the girls that talked to Mal earlier came back asking her if she needed a ride.

"No thanks, Ben is here." Her eyes followed the boy who had finally managed to get to the suitcase and was bringing it back to her. The girls turned and saw him and stood next to Mal, waiting to meet the boy, now wondering if the couple was here on vacation. Ben saw the girls and said hi, a little confused about the newcomers but unsure how to ask Mal who they were without appearing rude. "Ben, this are Beka and Jess. I met them before you came; they were offering to take me around the city one day and show me some local spots."

Ben nodded, a little confused if the girls worked as tour guides or if Mal was just friendly enough to meet new people, and they instantly offered to show her around the city. Jess asked Ben how long he was planning to stay, but before he could answer, Mal told them he was also staying a while, so maybe they would see them at some point. No one missed the abrupt end to the conversation, and Mal blushed a little and told the girls that they were running late and needed to leave right then. They nodded, understanding the sudden end of the conversation, and said their goodbyes while Ben took both suitcases and told Mal to follow him so they could get to the car and get on their way before it was late.

Waving a final goodbye, the girl got her backpack and followed the boy who was walking a couple of steps ahead of her, leading the way. Once they made it to the parking lot, Mal walked next to him, and Ben asked her where they needed to be because he thought they would just have a nice evening at the apartment.

"Sorry, I know we don't have any plans, but I don't usually share a lot of information with my followers when I first meet them, and I'm sure they were about to ask more questions. I know it sounds strange because I share my life online, but I get to decide what to keep out of my vlogs and posts, but it is harder when they are in front of me asking me questions. Also, I'm not sure if you want people to know where you work and if you give them some details is possible they can guess it." Ben nodded, understanding that the conversation was going to be taking that route if they continued, and even though he wasn't shy about his life, he wasn't exactly open to posting it online in its entirety. They got to the car Ben rented for the week, still unsure if he wanted or needed to have one the entire time he was staying in the city, and put the suitcases in the back.

Once inside the car, they made their way out of the airport in silence. Mal texting their friends, telling them that she had arrived safely, and Ben was thinking about their interaction at the airport. Did he want people to know where he works? It wouldn't be hard to guess; when they were younger, Jay would feature him studying, and when he graduated he was sure Jay made a post congratulating him. Would anyone care? Sure Mal had followers, and he knew she didn't like sharing her address because of security issues. Would people knowing where he work could be an issue for her?

"Are you ok? You look like you are worried about something." Mal's voice broke his train of thought, and he tried to relax his grip on the steering wheel. Ben shared his thoughts with Mal, and they talked about the situation until they reached the apartment. From the girl's point of view, her followers wouldn't necessarily search for where Ben worked, so he didn't need to worry about it because he was private about those things. "When you appeared in the vlogs or photos, we are always out doing something, so there are no indications. Now I can't promise they wouldn't search even though it wouldn't make sense if they did."

Now Mal was looking apprehensive about the situation; a couple of times, people just didn't like something about her content and went to extremes to make it known. Would they go after Ben? Ben parked and went to get the suitcases while Mal got out of the car, her mind now building scenarios where people try to mess with Ben.

"Hey, are you ok?" Mal looked at the boy and forced a smile, nodding. Ben signaled for her to follow him, and minutes later, they were in the elevator, making their way to the apartment she had helped find for them while in Austin. Ben walked out of the elevator the moment the doors opened and turned left; once outside the door, he took his key and opened the door, letting Mal in before going in himself with both suitcases.

On the kitchen island was a big bouquet of different flowers on a vase that made Mal smile. "I was going to bring you to the airport but thought they would get ruined on the trip back, so they stay here waiting for you."

"Thanks, they are beautiful, Ben." She stood next to them and smelled them again, smiling at the boy's gesture. "So, do you want to give me the tour?"

"Sure, he made his way towards the main bedroom with the suitcases, and Mal followed him. He showed her the room, which had a king-size bed and an ensuite bathroom and closet space that was empty; then he walked to the next bedroom, which was smaller and had a smaller queen bed that occupied the majority of the room and a little desk. The light was better there, and the closet there, although smaller, was mostly empty. "I thought you would rather have your clothes in the main room, and I can get dressed in the morning here if you want to sleep in." They continued the tour with the living room, which was an open concept with the kitchen, and last, Ben showed her the half bathroom near the apartment's entrance. Mal made her way to the kitchen and took a long look at the stove, which had the modern vibe that she loved and hoped to have in her future home eventually.

"The stove is great; I've mainly reheated some things at night when I came from work and had leftovers." Mal nodded and opened the fridge to see only a couple of creamers, ham, chess, and a loaf of bread. The girl turned to look at Ben, who shrugged and told her that she was the one telling him not to buy groceries without her there. "I think we should order something, or if you are up for it, maybe explore a little and eat out?. We can go shopping tomorrow after I get out of the office if it's ok with you."

Mal agreed and asked him if he had anything in mind. They talked a little, and then the girl went on to take a quick shower and change while Ben looked for direction to a restaurant some of his coworkers had mentioned, hoping it was close enough for them to walk there. The restaurant wasn't close enough, so they went to the parking garage to pick up the car, and Mal shared with Ben how her travel day went with little anecdotes that made the boy laugh. After eating, they made their way back, talking about the plans for tomorrow and how excited the boy was that Mal was finally there with him so they could start exploring the city.

That night they fell asleep earlier than usual, Mal tired from her trip and Ben happy to have her close to him again. The following day when Mal woke up, Ben was gone but left her a note telling her about a cute cafe so she could get breakfast. Snuggling again in bed, Mal decided against venturing outside the apartment and instead scrolled on her phone, looking for something to order for brunch cause it was late. Finally, she decided to put in her order and decided that it would be a good idea to start unpacking her things. Still, she was soon lost in her phone until the notification of her food arriving made her finally leave her precious bed.

By the time Ben made his way back to the apartment, Mal was sitting on the bedroom floor with one of her suitcases open and several pieces of clothing laying around the bed, trying to decide the best way to organize her clothes. "So, I'm guessing we are not sleeping here tonight."

Mal looked up and looked bashful. "Sorry, it got away from me. I had a plan, but this bed is so comfortable that it took a while to start my day, and even now, I was thinking about taking a nap."

"Oh, I get. I slept most of the weekend, so no judgment here. Are you still up for going shopping? I think we need food." Mal looked at Ben and then at the bed while moving closer to it, mimicking laying on it, making the boy laugh. "Fine, how about I go grocery shopping and next time we go together?"

"No, I want to go too. How about tomorrow? We can go tomorrow. I promise I'll bake cookies." That sealed the deal, and the boy told her he would buy some food for them to eat now, while the girl would put enough things away so they could use the bed that night. However, when Ben came back, he heard Mal talking, and he realized she was filming, so he decided to finish some work he needed to send to the main office, and soon he was eating alone on the kitchen island while waiting for Mal to finish filming.

Mal finished filming and putting her clothes away and was happy that her Q&A had given her enough footage for a video while helping her put her clothes away. She noticed then that Jess had sent her a Dm asking her if she was free to meet on Thursday, and soon she was texting with the girl to finalize plans. Her stomach alerted her that it was time to eat, and she noticed it was close to midnight for the first time. Mal stood and made her way to the kitchen, wondering what had happened to Ben, but stopped when she realized the light from the second bedroom was on.

Slowly she looked inside and saw Ben sleeping on the bed with his laptop next to him; Mal was unsure if she should wake him, but curiosity made the decision for her and entering the room, she made her way towards the boy and woke him up. It took the boy a couple of minutes to realize where he was and then to explain how he was waiting for her to finish filming while working, and then he decided to lay for a while and finally fell asleep. The girl apologizes, but he assures her that it wasn't her fault he was tired from work and knew that when inspiration hit, she needed to take advantage of it.

Mal asked him to join her in the kitchen, but he declined, telling her he was supposed to arrive early at work the next day to prepare for a meeting. In the end, he changed his clothes and went back to bed while Mal ate and decided that she was going to go grocery shopping alone so that she was able to prepare dinner for them, including the cookies that Ben loved. Before going to sleep, Mal made lists of what she needed to get and researched the stores she wanted to go the next day; after everything was ready, she went to bed. The next morning was a repeat of the one before, except that this time Mal fought the urge to stay in bed, went to shower, and then called an uber to take her to the grocery store.

After lunch, Ben was finishing a couple of docs for the trainees to use as a backup for some situations that were common in their line of work. Suddenly his phone beeped; he wasn't in the habit of texting Mal during the day because he wanted to focus on his work, but the second he saw her name, he stopped was he was doing to see what she sent him. A smile appeared on his face the second he saw the photo of cookie dough on what he assumed was the kitchen island.

Standing up, he made his way to the break room to have some privacy to talk to the girl. Mal answered on the second ring, and Ben didn't lose a second before asking her about the cookies, making her laugh. "Well, I felt bad about last night, so I went grocery shopping, and we are having a nice homemade dinner tonight. Don't worry, I didn't buy a lot, just enough to get us through the rest of the week, and we can go shopping on the weekend."

"Thank you. I'm happy you are here. I can't wait to get home". Mal smiled even though he couldn't see her and told him she would be waiting for him so they could celebrate. When Ben made his way home that night, they shared a beautiful dinner and made plans for the rest of the week. Most conversation died down the moment the couple started kissing, and soon the food and everything around them was forgotten while they made their way to the main room.

Later that night, while laying in bed, Ben shared how he felt like this would be the actual experience of them living together even though they share a house in Seattle. Mal understood and told him that she was looking forward to seeing how their dynamic would change once they returned home. If Jay decided to move to Seattle, it would be logical for Lonnie to move with him, leaving them alone in the house.

"This might be the beginning of a new chapter for us." Ben said, and Mal smiled, excited for what was to come.