The cold November air whipped past me, leaving my face and hands as red as a tomato. My thin sweater and scarf from the girls department were doing next to nothing at keeping me warm but it was my choice to sacrifice warmth for the November fashion. I hurried along the sidewalk, trying to get to Primo. It was the Tuesday before senior year Thanksgiving, and the boy now almost man I had the pleasure of calling my boyfriend was taking me out somewhere and returning me the next day. To say I was excited was an understatement. I made it in, my hands scalding from the sudden transfer from cold air to warm air. I ordered my usual, and sat down at the table in the corner with Megan, our usual spot, waiting for the two boys to show. She looked at me and we shared a look that said she knew why I was in such a smiley mood today. Seriously like had Mitchell told the whole school of my plans?
And speak of the devil, I thought as Mitchell walked in, his wireframes in their usual just barely crooked fashion and wearing his favorite sweater. He ordered his usual and talked with Jay, the barista as he prepared it, finally coming to sit with us after about five minutes. He sat down ever so gracefully, spilling coffee on his hands and shamelessly licking it off within seconds. He looked at me with that look that I knew meant a joke was coming.
"No glove no love," he said innocently and I glared at him as I noticed Megan in my peripheral trying to stifle a laugh. I was growing redder every second.
"Hey," I shot back, "you.. you shut up. Nothing of the sort will happen." Nice one. I could tell he wanted to push me more but he decided against it, opting to hear something else instead; "So if not the you know what with the you know who, then what are your plans for a cold and... possibly snowy night," he quizzed, looking out at the greying sky.
"I'm not telling," I told him, "but if you ask really nicely, maybe 'the you know who' will tell you." He grinned at my use of his term and the air quotes around it and his glasses fogged up with the coffee steam.
"So even though I'm sure you two are keen to pry in my love life," I asked, turning to Megan, "what are your plans for the evening?"
"I'm driving us into the river," Mitchell interjected, which earned him a playful slap.
"No," Megan began, "though that does worry me, our actual plans should be a dinner at some apparently really good mac and cheese place out past Sandy he seems determined to bring me to." I looked at Mitchell with a knowing look, and he winked at me. Suddenly the door chime sounded and finally in walked Braden, with a smile at me as he walked to the counter to order. I felt the need to take off my scarf.
"Primo is nice and all," started Braden with that voice that turned me to jelly as he walked over, "but I really do think it's unfair that it's walking distance from your school and like half an hour from mine." He punctuated his sentence by kissing the top of my head and sitting down.
Megan winked at me and Mitchell shot back; "Well too bad. We've had this conversation at least thirty times now and every time the result is the same. 3-1 there's no changing it. Plus we kinda already have a 'claimed table' and we can't give that up."
"Whatever," smiled Braden, knowing he'd been beat. "Can we at least hurry ourselves up today? Me and Kaiya have.. somewhere to be." I noticed he was choosing his words carefully, because the truth was I didn't know what we were doing.
"Yeah about that," Mitchell said going almost big brother mode despite not actually being my brother, "where might that somewhere be?"
Braden glanced at Megan and she got the idea; "Kaiya, join me I gotta use the bathroom." I slumped, defeated once again.
"Fine," I moaned and walked into the bathroom. I couldn't really be mad though. It was a surprise after all. I pushed Megan playfully once inside.
"You big bully," I laughed, "how am I supposed to find out now?"
"I don't know," she offered back, "maybe just wait and find out?" She grinned cheekily. I rolled my eyes in an exaggerated fashion. Guess I have no choice then.
We walked out of the bathroom and Mitchell gave me a high five and a smile from ear to ear and directed me toward the door where Braden was waiting with my stuff.
"Bye Jay!" I called and he waved and then I was back in the frosty air. I climbed into Braden's midnight blue Subaru Outback and he pulled out wordlessly, and headed to my place to get my stuff. We arrived home, and I noticed my family had already left for the day as I ran in and dropped my pack upstairs. Braden followed from outside and I thought he'd stopped in the kitchen for a snack like he normally would. However, as I grabbed my suitcase and turned around, I found my wonderful boy smiling at me, inches from my face. He grabs my suitcase and just as I think he's about to leave, he turns like I'd expected and then threw my bag out my bedroom door. Then, unpredictably he turned another 180 degrees and he's facing me again. He ruffles my hair and for once I don't mind and he grabs me by the waist and carries me to the bed. I'm smiling now as he lays me on the far side, and lays down next to me. I look over at him and he jumps on the opportunity and he kisses me. I cannot get enough of his kisses. They are filled with love and caring and melt my insides. He pulls away and stands up.
"What was that for?" I ask him as he stands looking at me.
"No good reason other than I wanted to," he tells me, and picks me up bridal style. We walk out of my room and now Braden is carrying both myself and my suitcase. He puts me down, and we walk out as if nothing had happened. He put my bag in the overhead which I thought was weird because he had trunk space, but I didn't care that much. We rolled out of the driveway singing to Alone by Alan walker and soon we were on I-5 South.
A few songs later, he exited the freeway at Highway 205. That narrowed down my search significantly, and I thought I had a guess at why he'd brought the overhead.