I love her. Obviously, I love her. But I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how it works. I bought her flowers and presents, but I have no idea where to go from here.
“Pick up, Brin.”
“Hey, Goober, what’s up?”
“I need your help. I have no idea what to do today. I thought I had more time, then suddenly it was here, and I—”
“Bro, relax, okay? It’s Ember. She’ll love anything you do,” she replies. “I’m kind of disappointed you didn’t have something planned, though. I thought if anyone had something crazy planned, it’d be you.”
“Well, we were all sure that Zeke was lying about throwing a party until he left the house like two hours ago. I mean, when does Zeke Harris leave the house before ten unless we have training?”
“Lucky for you, maybe it’s a good thing that you didn’t make any plans.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Just then, there’s a knock on the front door.
“Sounds like you’re about to find out. Bye, Goober, love you.” She hangs up as I walk to the door. When I open it, Ember’s on the other side.
“Hi.” She gleams.
“Hi,” I reply. “What are you doing here? I mean, I’m happy you’re here, but it’s early; I didn’t expect—”
“Well, I wanted to make sure we had enough daylight,” she continues. “So, we should probably get going.”
“Oh, um, okay.” I walk back into the house, and she follows me in. “What should I wear?”
“Something warm.” She grins. “Oh, and Declan, bring your hockey stuff.”
We’ve been driving for over an hour. When she showed up at my place earlier today, I didn’t expect our journey to be this long. I mean, there’s driving away from campus to avoid being seen, and then there’s driving away from campus to make sure no one ever sees you again.
“Where are we going?” I wonder.
“You’ll see. It should be right around the corner if I got the directions right.” She laughs, but I can’t tell if it’s a joke or if she’s actually worried the drive will be for nothing.
And then I see it—
The pond.
“Ember, is this?”
“Hopefully, the right place,” she says. “Brinley gave me an address and then some instructions for after I passed it, but—”
“It’s the right place.”
I haven’t been out here all year. I guess part of me was worried that my dad would find out and join me on the ice.
She parks the car, and then we head to her trunk to unload some stuff.
“Do you have your own hockey gear?” I wonder, seeing another bag and hockey stick that I don’t remember being in the car when she picked me up.
“My brother’s life revolved around hockey,” she replies. “You think I don’t know how to play?”
This girl is full of surprises.
“God, I love you.”
“Good. Or else I’d be upset that I wasted half a gas tank on you. I mean, it’s like four dollars a gallon right now.”
