“If you aren’t the most handsome graduate I’ve ever seen,” I called out.
Kit raised his head, smiled wider than he had in weeks, then chuckled a little and ran straight at me. I caught him in my arms and spun him around once before setting him back onto his feet. “I’m proud of you,” I whispered to him followed by a kiss.
He took his cap off and placed it on my head, “Now, I just have to get you across that stage.”
“Your hardest challenge yet,” I said with a smirk then looked over his shoulder at Elyse, “Congratulations to you too, Elyse.”
“Thanks, Riker,” she said and slung an arm around Kit’s shoulders. “Mind if I borrow him for a couple hours?”
“Yeah sure,” I said.
“Really?” Kit asked in surprise.
“Yeah. It’s your day, not mine. You should spend some time with your friends too, not just me. If you want to that is.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Not at all,” I reassured him with a smile as I took the cap off my head and placed it back on his.
“I’ll be back by dinner,” he said with a questioning lilt at the end.
“I’ll have something completely edible ready and waiting,” I said in response.
He dug into his pocket and pulled his car keys out, tossing them at me, and said, “So take out right?”
“Take him away, Elyse,” I said and watched with a smirk as she took his arm and dragged him away. Once they were out of sight, I slid into the car and pulled my phone back out.
Chapter 65 – Kit
May 4th, 2017
I opened the door and my jaw dropped. There were strings of fairy lights all over the place, and candles. And the place had definitely been cleaned since I last saw it and sitting on the kitchen table was what appeared to be mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and spaghetti and meatballs.
Riker rushed out of the kitchen, his bare feet sliding across the floor as he did.
“Hi,” he said as he came to a stop just about a foot short of me.
“Hi,” I said. My brain couldn’t come up with anything more substantial to say, it was still trying to take everything in. “What’s all this about?” I finally managed to say as I stepped closer to him and he draped his arms around my waist.
“Well, I promised you dinner, but what’s dinner on a special occasion without a little bit of a special setting.”
“You at the table would’ve been special setting enough. In fact, you cooking dinner would’ve been special enough.”
“You don’t like it do you?” His smile was starting to turn down a little.
“No, no I love it, Ri,” I rushed to assure him, “I should’ve guessed you would do something if I left you alone. You and your grand gestures of love.”
“This is a minor gesture at best,” he kissed me for a second before letting go and taking my hand. “Come on before your dinner gets cold.”
He pulled me over to the table and we proceeded to sit down and pile our plates up. Now I was skeptical. Riker and cooking was always a recipe for disaster, so if he did actually cook this, then there was a good chance it wouldn’t be all that edible.
“Did you actually cook all this, or did you buy it and put it in our dishes?” My money was on the latter option. Not that there was anything wrong with that.
He stuck his tongue out at me and said, “I’m not answering that until you eat it.”
“I’m not going to get food poisoning am I?” I teased.
“I’m gonna throw my bread at you if you don’t start eating.”
I made it a point to take a bite out of my bread first and was pleasantly surprised. I looked at him suspiciously then ate a bite of everything else. It was all surprisingly delicious. Okay, so it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t bad and for him that was a success.
“Alright, spill. What’s your secret? You been holding out on me or did you have help?”
“Am I not allowed to keep a little mystery here?”
“Not if you’ve been making me cook all year when you could’ve been helping.”
“Jake may have come over to help me.”
“Of course,” I said. It wasn’t an option I would’ve thought of, but it should’ve been obvious. Riker philosophy one-oh-one when in need of help, call Jake.
“It was my plan, and I did all the work. He just made sure I didn’t ruin anything.”
“Well, you did good, Ri. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you,” he said with a proud grin.
“Thanks for dinner,” I said grinning back at him.
“It’s still nowhere near as good as what you make.”
I raised my glass in thanks to him before taking a sip of… what was this champagne? How did he even get his hands on that? He must’ve gotten one of the guys to buy it. It tasted amazing though, probably some high-end stuff. I guess I could let that slide this time.
“Okay, Riker, what else you got planned? I know you didn’t stop at dinner.” When Riker did things like this, he didn’t stop with just one thing. No, there was always layers to it. He did as much as he feasibly could. It was always fun, whatever he did, I always loved it and appreciated it, but it was also overwhelming when he got going. He always did more in one gesture to show me he loved me than I experienced in all the years put together without my parents around. I just wasn’t used to that much affection anymore.
He smiled and reached into his pocket. Next thing I knew music was playing throughout the apartment. He must’ve stashed speakers all over the place. The first song that played was Redemption Song by Bob Marley. One of my favorite slow songs. He hated it.
“Figure we could eat then dance a little. There’s a lot of songs queued up, so we got all night if you want it.”
We both ate two plates each. I lost track of the champagne, but by the time he got the leftover food put away he was giggling, and my head was buzzing. We stood in the living room, my arms around his neck and his around my back, swaying to the music.
“Riker?”
“Hmm?”
“This is perfect, thank you.”
“Anything for you, Romeo.”
I dropped my head forward until it connected with his.
“Is the room spinning or is that just me?”
He giggled and kissed me.
“We are spinning a little, but that could also just be me.”
“Maybe we should sit down. We have been dancing for a while now.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” he said almost urgently as he tightened his arms around me. “After the next song. We gotta dance to the next song.”
We listened as the last few notes of Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls faded out then I smiled immediately as the next song started playing. I laid my head on his shoulder and started humming along while he sang it quietly with all his little edits.
I squeezed him tighter and focused every ounce of energy and brain power I had left to committing the moment to memory. The lights twinkling around us. The slow and gentle swaying as we moved with the music. How warm and strong his body was around me.
This really was perfect, slight drunkenness aside. Elyse and the others were partying, probably would be until three in the morning. They had wanted me to meet back up with them after dinner. I had denied. It would have been nice to party one last time with them, one last college party, but I wasn’t regretting the decision. Not for one second. I’d trade parties with them a hundred times over to be dancing in Riker’s arms.
He sang the end of the song then kissed the top of my head. “I love you, Kit,” he whispered into my hair.
“I love you, Riker,” I whispered into his shoulder.
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He Loves Him Page 25
