The disco ball threw light around the room and made the dingy space look magical. This was small-town Maine so the rink was small, but there was a tiny arcade attached, and a snack bar. We had to keep veering away from the kids that kept tearing around the rink so we didn’t fall.
“Is this everything you thought it would be?” Will said, squeezing my hand as the song changed to “MMMBop” by Hanson.
“And more. So much more.”
We did another few laps to finish out the song and then Will steered me over toward the arcade where there were a few benches.
“Wait here.” He zoomed away and left me there. Um, what? I sat and spun the wheels on my skates and watched a little girl with plastic strap-on skates toddle around while her dad held her hand and told her she was doing a great job.
That would be Emily someday, only Leo would be doing the hand-holding and encouraging. Now that I knew him better, I had no doubt that Eddie would make a good father some day. Apparently, my drunken decision to choose him to be Emily’s biological father was a sound one.
I was so distracted thinking about Emily that I almost didn’t see Will skating up to me with a huge cluster of balloons and two presents in pink boxes with enormous bows on them.
“Happy Sex Partner Appreciation Day!” He whispered the word “sex” so the kids didn’t hear.
I wanted to cry again, but this time I was able to suppress it.
“Open them,” he commanded, handing me the presents and sitting down next to me with the balloons.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said, taking the first present and tearing open the paper. I hoped it wasn’t anything too big. He’d already outdone himself.
“Okay, so this is sort of a future present,” he said before I lifted the top off the box. “Like, you probably won’t use it now, but I thought of you when I saw it and I knew I wanted to get it for you. But you can take it back if you hate it.” Sweet rambling Will. I put my hand on his mouth to stop him from making excuses for the present that I knew that I was going to love no matter what.
“Hush. I love it already.” I pulled the top off the box and found a black leather briefcase. It was thin and light, but had a sturdy handle and clasps.
“It’s for your future legal career,” Will said softly as I brushed my hand on the soft leather.
“Thank you so much, Will. I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, you could say ‘give me the next present, ass**le.’” I set the briefcase aside and went for the next present. I opened that one a little slowly and found another box. And then I opened that box and found another box. I gave Will a look, but he just had a smug smile on his face. He was messing with me.
I finally got down to a fairly small box and opened that to find a necklace. A gold lightning-bolt necklace.
“I had to get a little something Harry in there. But this doesn’t scream I’M A HARRY POTTER FAN. It’s sweet and pretty and sexy. Like you.” He motioned for me to turn around and I had that classic moment when I held my hair off my neck and he clasped the necklace for me. I happened to settle right between my br**sts. I looked down at it and wondered if the length of the necklace was intentional, or just a coincidence.
The former was confirmed when I turned back to Will and his eyes went right to that area and lit up.
“Perfect,” he said softly.
“You have a one-track mind, Will Anders.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He stood up and took my hands again as “Hungry Eyes” started to play.
“I’m pretty sure that they won’t let you skate around with this many balloons, so let’s find a place to put them.” We were able to store the balloons in one of the back rooms and Will and I went back out to skate.
I had the world’s greatest sex partner.
Will and skated for a while longer, including doing the Chicken Dance with all the kids, played a few games of pinball and air hockey (which he won all rounds of, despite him trying to let me win) and devoured pizza, fries, shakes and frosted brownies.
“I don’t think I can move,” I said, putting my hand on my stomach. I really shouldn’t have eaten that much, knowing I was going to the batting cages later. How was I ever going to manage that?
“Agreed. Why didn’t you stop me from eating that fourth slice of pizza after I already finished my shake and a brownie? Why is unlimited pizza a thing?” Will moaned.
“Hey, I’m not going to stop you from doing what you want to do. This is your show. And why didn’t you stop me from getting extra fries? Are you trying to make my ass bigger?”
He gasped.
“No, that thought has never crossed my mind. Never ever. Nope.” He shook his head slowly back and forth. “I like your butt just as it is. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Suuuurrrrreeeee.” I somehow got myself upright and shuffled with my skates to where Will had put our shoes.
Getting the balloons into the truck’s cab proved to be a bit of a challenge, and he couldn’t see out the back window, but we both managed to get ourselves in.
“The upside is, if we get in an accident, we don’t even need airbags. The balloons will cushion the crash,” Will said, punching one of the balloons in front of his face.
“True,” I said, moving one as well.
“So, best surprise ever?” he said as he struggled to back out of his parking space.
“Best surprise ever.” It really was. Now I was feeling lame about my surprise. “I don’t know how I’m going to top that.”
“I know. I’m really good at this surprise thing. Who knew? I never did anything this romantic for any girl before. I never wanted to. But now I’m already planning your birthday. I hope you’re prepared, because there might be actual fireworks.” They were legal in Maine now for consumers to buy. There was even a new store selling them right off campus, which sounded like a bad idea all around.
“You know by making your surprises so awesome, it means that I feel obligated to try and outdo you and I don’t know if I’m up to the challenge. It’s a lot of pressure,” I said.
“You could always give me, you know.”
I kept my eyes straight ahead. “No, I’m not familiar with what you’re referring to, could you be more specific?”
“Oh, you know what I mean. Especially when you do that thing with your tongue and then you put your finger –”