Grand Adventure

Chapter 33

 "You know, I am beginning to think that you are convincing me to do way more things than I am you," Dani told Eddie as they approached the elevator. "I don't know how I feel about this. You want me to stand on a piece of glass and look down at the city?"

"Yeah!" Eddie replied, grinning like an overexcited school boy. "It's the highest observation deck in the whole country, Dani. That sign said it's almost 1400 feet high. It's the most popular Chicago attraction. How can we come to Chicago and miss it?"

"It's actually really easy. We just don't do it. We saw The Bean. That's a pretty popular Chicago attraction. It's an icon, actually" argued Dani, trying to find a way out of this. "Isn't that good enough?"

They had arrived in Chicago this morning, their last stop before finally making it home. It was bittersweet. Eddie was excited to see all their friends, Uncle Wayne, and Dani's mom but it sure had been nice these last couple of months. Just the two of them, nobody making decisions for them, no looming responsibilities. Now, they would get home and have to start thinking like the adults they now were and frankly, even though he'd assured Dani that everything would be fine and they'd figure it out, that scared the hell out of him.

He had to find a job and he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do or what he was even qualified to do. Eddie knew he didn't want to work at the plant like Uncle Wayne. He loved his uncle and he had massive respect and endless gratitude for how hard he'd worked over the years to make sure Eddie had everything he needed. But he saw how much his uncle had aged working that job, the long shifts, the late nights, the bags under his eyes from sheer exhaustion. Eddie didn't want to live like that. He didn't want to end up miserable and hating his job but he didn't know what he wanted to do instead.

"No," he answered Dani, pulling her hand to his lips for a kiss as they stepped into the elevator. "A big shiny bean is not the same as standing out over the city, nothing between you and it but a thin sheet of glass."

"Oh, that's making me feel so much better," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "You know, you're really bad at reassuring people. I hope it's at least a thick piece of glass."

"I am sure it's thick enough to hold us. Tons of people walk out on it every single day. It hasn't given out yet," he laughed. "You're fine. Man, you were less nervous about the bear than you are about this."

"The bear just snuck up on me. I didn't have time to react to it. I am aware of what's coming now. That's what gets me so anxious, the time to dwell on it and picture every worst case scenario that could possibly happen."

"Well, that's an easy fix," mused Eddie, his head tilting gently to the side. "I just won't warn you what's coming at all in the future. I'll just spring everything on you. It will be like your own personal surprise party every single day. I could even find things to jump out of. Screw a cake. I could jump out of the air vents, under the bed, out of the closet. I could just hide in a random bush and then jump out and scream what we're doing or where we're going at you."

Dani's eyebrows furrowed, those cute little frown lines appearing between her eyes as they sliced through him. "You start doing that and you better get real acquainted with your hand because there will be no loving from me. I will kick your ass if you make a habit of scaring the crap out of me or just springing shit on me with no warning."

"I have no doubt," he chuckled, leading her out of the elevator. "Now come on. They say if it's a clear day you can see almost fifty miles away. You can see Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It's kind of like that Four Corners thing we did in Colorado but we can't stand on them, just look at them."

Dani paused, closing her eyes and inhaling slowly before exhaling evenly. Eddie recognized the signs of her working to calm her nerves and just waited patiently while she did so, rubbing circles into her back with his palm. Opening her eyes, she offered him a small smile and a nod.