Slowly We Trust (28 page)

Lottie.

“Okay, do you want to be sweet? Or sexy? Or something that he’ll never forget?”

“How about all of those things?” I said. We were having lunch in the Union, and I didn’t have a whole lot of time.

“Well, the sexy thing you could get a gold bikini and do your hair in the Leia buns. That’s pretty obvious. And the sweet thing you could always set up a Star Wars marathon night with themed snacks and dishes and so forth. You can get all that stuff at the party store over by the mall, and there’s a ton of ideas online I can send you. And if you want to give him something he’ll never forget, he’s been coveting this Luke Skywalker replica lightsaber for like, EVER. It’s kind of expensive, but I’m pretty sure if you get it for him, he’ll propose on the spot, so be prepared. But if you don’t want to spend that much, get him one of the Lego sets. God, my brother is a child.”

That made both of us laugh, but I couldn’t really comment on his fandom because I had my own.

“Or, if you’re sick of the Star Wars thing, you could always do something athletic. Batting cages, or rock climbing. That’s not my cup of tea, but he’d be all over it.” That was another good idea, but I wasn’t much of an athlete either. But maybe I should start.

“Okay, great, thanks for the ideas. I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately and I was drawing a blank.”

“Anytime. I’m more than happy to let you in on the warped workings of my brother’s mind.”

“Speaking of tea, I could really go for a cup. You in?”

I said yes and she went to make two cups.

For Will’s gift(s), I decided on a compromise. A trip to the batting cages, followed by dinner at his favorite pizza place, and I caved and bought the lightsaber. It cost me an arm and a leg, especially with the rush shipping, but I couldn’t wait to see his face when he opened it. Maybe it was my guilt doing the buying, but I couldn’t help it. He deserved it after everything I’d put him through.

The lightsaber arrived to Lottie’s apartment the day before Valentine’s. I still hadn’t heard from Eddie, and I was completely on edge. I even snapped at Will.

“Aud, you okay? Not to be an ass, but do you have PMS right now?” I almost yelled at him again, but reeled it in.

“No, I’m just stressed about this project I have to do. It’s one of those group things and I feel like I’m the only one doing any work.” Once again, this wasn’t a total lie. I was doing a group project, and I was the only one pulling my weight, but I’d started caring less and less about perfection in my schoolwork. I still put in a lot of effort, but I was less obsessive about getting every single detail exactly right.

“Anything I can do to make it better?” My answer was to take his shirt off. That would make it better. For now.

Valentine’s Day arrived and for the first time in a long time, I was awake before Audrey. Lucky for us, the day had fallen on a Saturday this year.

“Are you watching me sleep?” Aud said when her eyes opened and she caught me staring at her face. I had been watching her, but not in a creepy way. More like the way that I still couldn’t believe I got to sleep next to (and with) someone so stunning.

“I wouldn’t watch you if you weren’t so cute.” Her hair, which was normally so sleek and in control, was all over the place and her voice rasped with sleep.

“I’m definitely not cute right now.”

“Yes you are. Happy Valentine’s Day,” I said, kissing her on the nose. She didn’t like me kissing her lips in the morning until she’d brushed her teeth.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said and pushed my own rowdy hair out of my face.

“Didn’t I just give you a haircut?”

“It grows fast,” I said, climbing over her and putting my pants on. “Are you ready for today? I don’t think you are. It’s going to be epic. Like, destroying the Death Star epic.” I couldn’t stop smiling, thinking about how much she was going to love her surprise.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that.” She turned on her side and grinned at me.

“Well, get ready. We have plans.” I threw a random shirt, bra, panties and jeans at her from her dresser.

“What are you doing?” her voice was sharp with sudden alarm.

“I’m hurrying you along.” I closed the drawers and she started putting on the things I’d picked for her.

“That’s really not fair. I’m supposed to dress up for this.”

“You can get dressed up all you want later, but right now, you need to be comfortable. Come on, hurry up.” I clapped my hands and she stuck her tongue out at me and put her arms through the sleeves of the shirt with deliberate slowness.

“You’re pushing my buttons,” I said, crossing my arms and glaring at her. “If you don’t get dressed in the next ten seconds, I’m going to pick you up and take you out as you are, and it’s pretty fucking cold out right now.”

Her dorm room was a sauna thanks to the faulty heating, but judging from the pedestrians outside, it was cold enough to freeze your balls off. Not that Aud had balls. Or at least they were only figurative.

She made a little squeaking sound and dressed so fast I didn’t even have time to start counting to ten and time her.

“Can I please wash my face and brush my teeth and maybe put some mascara on?” I sighed.

“I
guess
so. Hurry up.” She grabbed her bathroom kit from the top of her dresser and dashed out of the room. I had my own stuff at her place, so I did the same, even running a brush through the ends of my hair. I’d learned from my sister that you should never brush curly hair. In my case, I ended up with a ‘fro and that wasn’t good for anyone.

Aud took far too long in the bathroom and I was sitting on her bed with my knees bouncing up and down when she finally came back.

“I thought you fell in. I was going to be all heroic and rescue you.” She just let out an exasperated sigh and started putting her coat on.

“Well, reading Harry Potter has taught me that going to the bathroom alone is dangerous. Bad things always happen to girls when they go to the bathroom alone.” She proceeded to list all the things as I got my coat and started shoving her out the door.

“Are there murderers chasing us?” she asked.

“No, we just have to get going. The Day of Romance needs to start.”

She snorted. “The Day of Romance?”

“What, you have a better name for it?”

We spent the next twenty minutes (while I drove) trying to come up with a better name, but we had nothing.

“What about Sex Partner Appreciation Day?” Aud said.

“Okay, that’s kind of awesome. Good thinking, Sex Partner.” I held my fist up and she bumped it with hers.

“Thank you, Sex Partner.”

“This isn’t some sort of way to introduce me to BDSM, is it?” Aud said, as I tied the blindfold in the back of her head.

“No but if you want to try that, I’m absolutely game. For right now, I just want to make it so you can’t see.” I waved my hand in front of her face and then gave her the middle finger, but she didn’t respond.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” I held up three.

“Three?”

“Okay, how about now?” I held up three again.

“Five?”

“Good.” The second phase of Valentine’s Day (or as I would be calling it from now on, Sex Partner Appreciation Day) was in motion. I’d taken her out for breakfast and now we were on our way to the roller rink. She said that my surprise could wait until we were done with her surprises. I didn’t even care what she had planned because I was so focused on what I’d planned for her. I could barely contain myself.

“You’d better not hate this because it’s non-returnable.”

“Can I re-gift it?” She tugged on the blindfold and I tried to smack her hand away as I started the car again. I was going to drive us around for a while so that even if she had an idea where we started, she’d get quickly confused by my change of direction. I was like a Sex Partner Appreciation Day ninja.

“No refunds, no exchanges. So there.” I pulled into a random driveway and backed up to turn around and go in the opposite direction for a little while.

“You’re trying to confuse me, aren’t you?” she said, crossing her arms.

“Maybe. I want you to be completely and utterly surprised. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” she said, a little smile on her face. “I kind of love how serious you’re taking this. It makes my heart feel all warm and melty.”

“Um, do we need to take you to the hospital? That sounds like something a doctor should check out.” She smacked me on the arm.

“It’s a good thing I love you.”

“I love you too, Sex Partner.”

If it was anyone other than Will, I would have been very suspicious of his motives, but he was practically vibrating with excitement in the driver’s seat next to me. I also knew that he was driving around in circles to throw me off. As if I had the town somehow mapped out in my head.

He was really taking this surprise thing to the extreme. I’d thought Christmas had been intense, but this was in a whole new ballpark. If this was how he was with holidays now, I had no idea what he was going to be like in a few years. Would the presents just get more outrageous? Elephants and helicopters and diamond jewelry danced through my mind.

First, we had to survive today. And tonight. I had Will’s surprise all ready to go. I’d had to recruit Zan to help me hide Will’s presents because, apparently, Lottie couldn’t keep anything at all from Will. So I just put everything into the most non-descript cardboard box I could find and told Zan not to tell Lottie where it was so she couldn’t tell Will. Zan just smiled and said he’d take care of it.

The car finally came to a halt and Will turned off the engine.

“Here we are,” he said, and got out. I waited for him to open my door.

“Can I take the blindfold off yet?” I said as he took both my hands and helped me stand.

“Nope. Not until we get inside.” Great. He was going to parade me around wherever we were. I could hear music and voices of people walking by, so there were at least a few people who saw me.

“Humiliating me isn’t part of the surprise, is it?” The only upside of being blindfolded was that I couldn’t see the people staring.

“Don’t let me trip,” I said as we walked slowly forward.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, baby.” He’d never called me that before. I’d always found it a little condescending, but from his mouth, it made me feel tingly and like I wanted to smile and giggle at the same time.

“Okay, stay right here. I’m going to get the door.” He walked me through the door and I hoped he was going to take the blindfold off. But no.

Will made me walk a little bit further. The music was louder now, and voices of kids swirled around me. Flashes of light kept trying to get under the fabric of the blindfold and I was starting to have an idea about where we were.

“Sit down. Slow.” I sat and Will took off my shoes and then shoved something heavy on my feet. He set each foot down with a clunk and I did a little test.

Roller skates.

Will removed the blindfold and I looked down at my feet.

“You didn’t,” I said.

“Clearly, I did.” I looked up from the skates to Will’s grinning face and I started to cry.

“Oh, Aud. Don’t cry.” Will leaned down and clasped my face between his hands.

“I can’t help it. You’re ridiculous.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Ten minutes later Will was holding my hand and leading me slowly around the floor of the roller rink in my sparkly pink and purple skates. I had no idea how or where he’d found them, let alone in my size, but he’d done it. He’d even donned a pair of black skates, despite being a rollerblade fan.

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.