by Anna Paige
I groaned at the ridiculous nickname. “If you could never call me that again, like ever, that’d be swell. Thanks.” I gave the bottom of her foot a little tickle in retaliation.
She jerked her foot out of my hand and smirked down at me. “Not a fan of being seen as a Greek god?”
“Not particularly.” I retrieved said foot before she could shove it into her shoe. “It’s almost as bad as being called pretty boy or Ken doll.”
She rolled her eyes at me, even as I leaned down to kiss the inside of her ankle, something I’d been dying to do ever since she agreed to let me help with the rollerblades. “We should all have such problems.”
I nipped the flesh over her ankle bone, making her yelp. “All I’m saying is I have entirely too many brains and way too much personality to be defined by my looks alone. I bet there’s not a person in this town who can name one single thing about Adonis other than he was attractive. That’s why I don’t like the nickname.”
“Fair enough,” she acquiesced. “Now, can I have my foot back?”
I kissed her ankle one more time and released her. “Fine. We need to get going anyway. Got lots still left to do.”
I could see the question forming in her eyes, so I chose that moment to close the door and head to the other side.
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I heard her cursing me through the glass as she watched me from her seat.
Blair
“Bowling? We’re going bowling?” I squinted through the windshield for a moment before turning to him. “This date involves an awful lot of shoe changes.”
He laughed and shook his head. “We’re not here to bowl. This is the first course of dinner, along with some time in the game room.” He was watching me like he was waiting for me to remember something.
“I don’t get it.”
“Beck’s thirteenth birthday. His party was here with almost our entire class . . .”
“Oh yeah, I remember that.” It was starting to come back to me. “I was the youngest one there.”
“And you spent most of your time hiding in the arcade, trying to win a stuffed animal out of the crane machine.”
“I bowled a little.” I almost cringed when I thought back on it. I wasn’t very good, and the older kids teased me and said I needed bumper rails on my lane.
“I know.” He didn’t elaborate, but I could tell from his expression that he knew how I ended up hiding out in the arcade. “And when the food came out, you refused to eat, so I grabbed a whole tray of nachos and brought them into the arcade.”
“God, I’d forgotten about that. There was no table in there, so we sat on the floor and used the Skee Ball lanes to rest the giant tray on.” I felt myself getting emotional again as I added, “You stayed in there and ate with me.”
He nodded, saying nothing as he stared at the entrance.
“And you dumped a ton of quarters into that stupid crane machine until you won me a stuffed animal.”
He chuckled. “A hippo with huge, goofy teeth that looked like giant marshmallows.”
“Holy crap, Ash. I still have it in my bedroom closet at my parents’ house. I never could bring myself to throw it away, even though I wasn’t sure where it even came from.”
“Let’s see if I can win you another one, shall we?”
I gave him a nod and he came around to help me out of the truck. Walking into the bowling alley, he took my hand in his and kissed the back of it. “Games first then nachos as an appetizer, but we have to switch venues for dinner.”
“I can’t wait to see where we’re headed to next.”
It was starting to get dark when we left the bowling alley, and there was a slight chill in the air. I hugged my new stuffed animals—plural—to my chest as we crossed the parking lot toward Ashton’s truck.
“So, where’re we headed now?”
“Nuh-uh. I’m not telling. You’ll see in a little while.” He gave me a sexy smirk as he closed my door and headed around the front of the truck. Feeling saucy, I waited until he was directly in front of the bumper and laid on the horn.
He didn’t even jump, damn him. It was like he was expecting it or something.
When he climbed in the truck a moment later, he was still smirking. “Took longer than I expected.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I thought you were gonna do that at the last stop, but better late than never, I guess.”
“You think you know me so well.” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest, my stuffed animals getting crushed under them.
“I already told you, baby, I know you better than you know yourself.”
The funny thing was, I was beginning to believe he just might.
“Logan’s? We’re having dinner at Logan’s?” I couldn’t believe he’d brought us here. “Why in the world would you choose this place of all the restaurants you could have picked?”
“Because seeing you in that uniform was the highlight of my teen years.”
“Ugh, it was a frumpy, frilly, old lady uniform.”
“Hardly. And you have great legs, so that added a whole new layer to the awesomeness.”
“There was nothing awesome about working at this place.” I rolled my eyes. “And I seem to remember you and my brother ruining my first day and embarrassing the hell out of me.”
“That’s the memory I was going for, only as I recall, we came in to be your first customers so you could practice on us. Beck thought it would take the pressure off since it was just us and we weren’t going to complain about the service no matter what.”
“You should have complained. I dumped an entire basket of blistering hot hush puppies in your lap.” I rubbed a hand over my face and cringed.
“You also got the drinks wrong and the food you brought out was meant for another table.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” I quipped, flipping him the bird.
“But that was the worst it got, right? All the things you needed to work on were obvious after waiting on me and Beck. After that, you hit your stride and you did fine the rest of the night.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because Beck and I waited around to be sure you were okay. By the dinner rush, you were zooming in and out of that kitchen balancing trays, smiling, and chatting up the customers. You had it figured out.”
“You guys waited?”
“Of course.”
I couldn’t believe I never knew that. “Beck’s idea, right?”
“Not entirely. We both wanted to stay. It wasn’t that we didn’t think you’d do fine on your own, we just wanted to be there to see your confidence build. And it did.” He nodded toward the restaurant. “I hear this place still has killer chicken parm. You up for it?”
“As long as I don’t have to serve it, absolutely.”
Dinner was amazing. We opted to share the chicken parm, since it was a huge portion with two chicken filets under their homemade sauce and thick layer of cheese.
Plus, Ash said we had to save room for dessert, which required another change of venue.
While I had decidedly limited dating experience, I felt it safe to say that dates like this one were far from typical. He’d thought of everything. Every stop was rooted in a memory of us he held dear, which made the entire evening something of a window into his soul.
It should have been no surprise where he took us next, but when we pulled into the parking lot, tears pricked my eyes.
“Jeanie’s Frozen Custard,” I muttered before clamping my mouth shut to keep my chin from trembling.
“I haven’t been here since that day,” he said softly from beside me, letting the truck engine idle like maybe he was having second thoughts about staying.
“Me neither.”
He blew out a breath, both hands locked on the wheel. “That was the worst day of my life.”
“And I thought bringing you here to get ice cream would fix it somehow. God, I was so stupid.”
“No, Blair. You and Beck wer
e the only things that held me together after my dad left.” He pointed toward the outdoor seating area to the table we’d all sat at for hours that night. “The first two days Mom was so bad; I didn’t dare leave her alone. But then her friends swooped in and took her out to dinner, and I was suddenly alone in that house.”
“I remember.” I reached over and ran a hand over his arm. The muscles in his forearm were tense and trembling as he held on to the wheel.
“What I remember is Beck calling and asking if I wanted to hang out and me saying no because I didn’t know if I could keep it together. But an hour later, there you two were, panting from the bike ride and banging down my door. Beck said you called him stupid for listening to me. You demanded that he bring you over here and we all go out for ice cream or something so I didn’t have to be alone.”
“This place opened that same week.” I nodded, swiping at my cheeks.
“You two dragged me here and fed me custard until I thought I’d puke. We left the bikes chained over there,” he said, pointing to the rusted-out bike rack across the way, “and walked for hours while I rattled on about my previously perfect life that had just imploded.”
“Then we circled back and got more custard.”
“Yes, we did. And that second time, it actually did help.”
“I think it was the walking and talking that helped, but the custard wasn’t a bad addition.”
He seemed to agree with that but didn’t acknowledge it verbally. “Still a fan of lemon?”
I nodded vigorously. “And you like cookies and cream, right?”
“I’ll get you settled at our old table while I head inside and place our order.” He killed the engine and drew in a deep breath, like he was gathering up his courage.
“No, I’ll go in with you.”
“You don’t have to. It’ll only take a minute.”
“But that’s a whole minute that I could be standing there holding your hand,” I said, knowing this particular section of memory lane shouldn’t be walked alone, even for a second.
Blair
“I think now might be a good time for that hoodie,” I muttered as the breeze picked up and we headed back toward the truck.
“If you were cold, why didn’t you say so? I would have gotten it for you.”
“I wasn’t cold until I scarfed down that huge ice cream cone.” I glanced over at him. “How are you not freezing now?”
“Babe, I just sat there for twenty minutes watching you lick your way through a cone the size of my head. I’m practically on fucking fire.”
I laughed it off, but my face warmed enough that there was no question I was blushing. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. That four-dollar cone was the best money I ever spent.” He opened my door and reached into the floorboard to retrieve the hoodie I’d brought with me. His hoodie. That still smelled like him nearly a week later. “Let me help you with this.”
I could have done it myself, but he was being incredibly sweet, so I let him help me get it on. When he was done, he tugged the hem down one last time and leaned in for a kiss. “One last stop, Blair-bear.”
It was after ten, not that I was complaining, but pretty much everything closed early in this town, so I had no idea where he could possibly be planning to take me.
Ten minutes later, I realized the time made absolutely no difference, but the destination still threw me for a loop.
“The high school? What are we doing here?”
“Not the school itself, sweetheart,” he answered, driving between the performing arts building and the field house, heading all the way back to the football field and parking with his headlights shining across the grass. “Come on, we have to walk from here.”
I started to question him again, but when my door opened and he offered me his hand, I didn’t care where he was taking me. The way he looked at me right then was so breathtaking I’d follow him anywhere.
We stopped somewhere near the twenty-yard line; the goalpost nearly centered in front of us.
Ashton held tight to my hand as he said, “This is where you were sitting on your graduation day. You kept looking over at us in the stands, grinning and waving. Charli was next to you, chattering away.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be there, it was alphabetical order, but you know Charli.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I do.” Before I could say anything else, he tugged my hand and walked us forward another ten yards or so. “This is where we all stood after the ceremony while your folks took pictures. It’s where I hugged you and picked you up and told you how proud I was of you.”
“I remember. I was shocked speechless. I expected more of our verbal sparring or for you to flip my cap off my head, but you went all mushy on me.”
“I couldn’t help it.” He let go of my hand and took one more step, turning to face me fully. “Because less than two minutes before, on this very spot, I realized with absolute certainty that I’d fallen for you.”
I was struck silent, my breath halting in my chest as I looked up at him.
He made no move to retract his statement, the look on his face resolute and content as I’d ever seen him. This time, it was definitely no slip of the tongue. “I’m still not sure how I got my feet moving again after that. And I’m not sure how I managed to hug you so fiercely only to let you go again. But I did. And I stumbled through the next few hours until I could find some time alone to really think about the lightning bolt that hit me standing here that night.” He pointed to the ground at his feet.
“And when you thought about it?” I managed to ask around the lump in my throat.
“I felt like a complete idiot for not realizing it sooner.” His eyes roamed my face. “It was always going to be me and you, Blair. And I should have seen it coming a mile away.”
Gulp.
I leaned my head back, blinking away another wave of tears.
Ash must have followed my gaze. “The stars are incredible tonight. Will you lie here with me for a while? You don’t have to say anything, just let me stretch out on this spot with you and enjoy this moment a while longer.”
A single tear escaped and rolled down the side of my face as I looked at him and nodded. “There’s nowhere on earth I’d rather be tonight than by your side.”
And so, we lay there in the cool grass and stared up at the stars for hours, perfectly content to hold hands and embrace the silence.
It was two in the morning when Ash walked me to my door.
“What time is your first class?” he asked as I fumbled with my keys, trying not to drop the three stuffed animals I was clutching against my chest.
“Eight.”
“Shit, sorry.” He leaned in behind me as I unlocked the door, dropping feather-light kisses on the back of my neck.
“Don’t be. This has been the best night of my life.” I opened the door, set my stuffed animals on the floor just inside the apartment, and turned, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Beck is probably on the couch—at least I hope he’s on the couch—but if you want to come in—”
He cut me off, shaking his head. “No. You need to get some sleep and if I came in, you know that wouldn’t happen.” He kissed me softly. “But I do want to see you again. I have an epic second date planned for this weekend, provided you want to see me again.”
“Of course I do, silly.” I shook my head at him. As if I’d say no. “Which day this weekend?”
“The entire weekend, if you can manage to get away. Leave Friday afternoon and come back Sunday afternoon.”
I checked the time on my phone, noting how far we already were into Friday morning. “You mean this afternoon?” He nodded. “For the whole weekend?” There was that flock of butterflies again.
His smile was so damn sexy when he said, “I’d try for a whole week if I could.”
I had to laugh at that, because he was being completely serious. “Let’s start with the weekend and work up from there.”
“You’ll really spend the weeken
d with me?” There was that look again, the one that left me breathless and completely under his spell.
“Absolutely. If it weren’t for classes, you’d probably be able to talk me into a week.”
He kissed me then, picking me right up off the ground. It was a sweet kiss, not too deep or aggressive. Like a caress I felt all the way to my toes. He was obviously excited I’d agreed to a weekend with him.
When he sat me down again a moment later and pulled away, I actually sighed like a lovesick puppy.
“Good night. Sleep well, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
He cupped my cheek and stared down at me for a long moment before heading down the hall toward the stairwell.
I practically floated on air all the way to my room.
Classes today were gonna blow. For all the rest I’d gotten, Ash may as well have stayed over. At least my lack of sleep would have been for a more satisfying reason.
As it was, I’d lain awake for hours, replaying every moment of our date, reveling in the memories that inspired each stop. I thought about that stuffed hippo for the longest time. I didn’t tell Ash at the time, but that silly looking stuffed animal had been my companion through some seriously shitty moments in my life. I was pretty sure it started out as a link to him, when the memory of that night at the bowling alley was still fresh, but over the years it faded against the backdrop of the other times I’d found comfort in the soft, squishy animal.
I’d held it when my first crush broke my heart, when I didn’t get the grade I thought I’d get on the science project I’d worked so hard on, when Charli went away for the summer with her parents and I spent the summer chain-reading in my room with only my stuffed buddy for company.
Maybe I hadn’t consciously linked the hippo to Ash, but somewhere deep down, a part of me must have remembered.
The same part that was practically dancing with delight at the new developments between us. It felt like walking out of the shade and into the sun, tilting your head back and drinking in the feel of the warm rays on your face.
