THE ROMANTICIST | C. GRIMES

01 | CHAPTER FIVE

"We're close, I promise." Ben assured for what must've been the tenth time. "It was this way...maybe...yes!" Mollie heard him mutter under his breath. Their arms were stretched out between them, hands interlocked as Ben pulled Mollie through the forest.

"So...this is the treehouse, right? And you're not taking me out here to...I dunno, kill me or something." Ben scoffed at her words, not even turning around. "That wasn't an answer."

"And I'm choosing not to think of that as a question." He laughed, shaking his head lightly. "It's up ahead, just over this road. It was in a backyard." She sighed over-dramatically, unable to stop herself from giggling a little as well. She liked giving Ben hard time sometimes, it's not like he didn't give her one. Still, though, she didn't really care. It was all just for fun, she knew how she felt and she knew how he felt. Her mind wandered to her surroundings, budding flowers, pairs of birds, a beautiful arrangement of sunrays breaking through the trees-but they didn't stop walking.

The forest was soon broken by a ditch, and a road a foot or so above. Ben climbed up quickly, reaching his hands down. Mollie took them, pushing off of a root sticking out of the side of the ditch and climbing up onto the road.

"It's right here, I promise." He said, not giving her any time to look around before beginning to pull her down the road. Pushing through a tall fence, they entered an overgrown front yard. There were a few, child sized soccer goals on one side of the yard, but Ben pulled her the other way. They circled around the house, eventually ending up in a sprawling backyard. In the center sat a giant tree, and Mollie could see a wooden ladder near the trunk. "Right up here!" She let Ben go first, though didn't get the chance to see much. The ladder let up into a hatch, a large deck covering the entire space above Mollie. As soon as he was up, she made her way after him.

"Woah." She breathed out, straightening up as she looked around. The ladder led into the treehouse itself, landing them straight in the living room. There was a glass door leading out on one wall, a wooden door across from it, and couches on the other two. It wasn't very big, but it was definitely cozy. "How'd you find this place?"

"Richard and I were out training, and he made me clear it by myself." Ben said, already shrugging off his slightly uncomfortable armor. "There wasn't any up here, by the way, but it was still a cool find. I knew you'd like it."

"Of course I like it." She smiled, taking a few steps inside. "This place is awesome." As Mollie began to thumb through the bookshelf, Ben shut and locked the hatch over the ladder. He didn't think anyone would come around, but just in case. "So, what's on the agenda for this date?" Mollie asked, plopping down on one of the cushy couches.

"Honestly I, uh, don't really have one." He chuckled, sitting down next to her. "I just thought we could come here together, spend some time away from it all." She nodded lightly. "I love home, you know? The Kingdom is...it's so great. It puts a roof over my head, food on the table...it's safe for Henry...it's where I met you...but I dunno. Sometimes I just, kinda wonder."

"About what?" She asked, voice soft as she reached over, her hand resting on his shoulder.

"What's out there." He sighed. "You know, out there. What's the West Coast like? Canada, Mexico...Europe. What's out there, what's left? I-I mean there aren't many of us around here, right? But we can't be it. There's gotta be more...more pockets. More communities, trying to rebuild."

"Of course there is." She nodded.

"But we'll never see them!" He exclaimed. "We'll never know. We will never get on a plane and visit anywhere, ever again. If any of us wanted to check, we'd have to risk so much-and it could all be for nothing. There's so much world out there, so much it would've been impossible to see it all before-but now? You can't even walk outside the gates without putting yourself in danger."

"Danger is apart of this world, Ben." She spoke, her fingers now having moved into his curls, weaving between each one carefully. "It's terrible and it's scary, yes, but it's apart of life. It's apart of us, who we are. And yeah, maybe we'll never see the world. Maybe I'll never get to see Paris, or the Grand Canyon, or Tokyo or anywhere that I wanted to when I was younger. But I'm alive. And I have you." She moved her hand, now brushing it against his cheek. "And you make me feel more alive than anything.

"So if I can't see Paris, and I can't go to Hawaii, at least I can be here, in this treehouse, with you." She realized how long she'd been talking, quickly shutting herself up. Ben let out a soft chuckle, moving closer to her.

"You know, it never ceases to amaze me." He said.

"What?" Her head cocked to the side slightly.

"How you always say the most beautiful, and most correct, things." He said with a smile. "Really. I'd think you were some kind of prodigy and in like, college before all this if I didn't know better." She couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, uh, so I was thinking this past week..." He looked down, taking a quick breath. "I wanna tell Ezekiel about us." He breathed out, looking back up at her. "As long as your with it." He quickly added.

"Ben..." She breathed out. She knew just how much Ezekiel meant to Ben, especially after losing his dad last year. "Yeah, of course. You know I love you I...I just didn't know if you were ready."

"Yeah I am." He nodded. "I know for sure now." He then leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "And I love you, too."