Victor zoomed up to the front doors of the movie theater and Kota opened my car door with a huge grin.
"Happy Birthday, Ten!"
I gave him a quick smile then turned back into the car. "I love you guys, thanks for a great birthday lunch."
"We'll see you later, Princess."
"Love you, Trouble, have fun."
I let Kota take my hand and pull me out of the car, leaving my bag of arcade goodies behind.
"You look amazing," Kota complimented me. "I'm glad you made it on time, Nate was getting anxious and went to save us seats."
I could have guessed as soon as we pulled up the theater that Nate would be on this part of my birthday date. Kota flashed two tickets at the attendant who waved us on through and he led the way into a theater in the middle of the hallway. The lights were already down, but the video playing was just the theater intro with the reminder to turn off your cell phone, so it hadn't actually started yet. The theater was about half full and Kota headed straight to the back, turning into the second to last row where Nate was already sitting. He grinned broadly when he spotted us and I sank into the seat next to him with Kota on my other side.
"Happy Birthday, Peanut," Nate whispered in my ear as I sat down.
"Thanks, Honey," I whispered back. "What are we watching?"
"What movie have you been talking about for the past two months? That we had to rewind commercials so you could watch the trailers?"
"Monster High!" I squealed as loudly as I could while still whispering. I'd been so excited for this movie that I almost forgot it came out this weekend. It was childish and silly, but I loved it. None of the boys had any interest in seeing the teen musical, but I loved that they were humoring me.
The trailers wrapped up and the intro music started. Kota lifted the arm rest between us and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling us that much closer together. Nate mirrored him and lifted the arm rest on his side, taking advantage of the fact that there was no one behind us and snuggling in close as well.
The movie was great. It was funny and the boys even seemed to enjoy it; I definitely caught them shaking with laughter a few times. When the lights came on as the credits rolled I saw that the theater was filled almost entirely with teenage girls and I squeezed both their hands, silently thanking them for coming to see this with me.
We took our time leaving the theater and as we left the building instead of heading towards the parking lot as I'd expected Nate turned the opposite direction and moved toward the river walk. We strolled along the walking path hand in hand in hand. After a few months dating all the boys I'd discovered that more often than not people don't really notice if I hold hands with two of them at once; those that do usually dismiss us as playful teens or look confused for a moment but forget about us shortly after we cross paths. No one had ever confronted us on it or even given me a dirty look for that matter. We still avoided too much PDA in public, but in this moment I was glad to be able to show my affection for both of them.
"How has your birthday been so far, Peanut?"
"It's been pretty great," I told him, leaning my head against his shoulder. "Even better now that I'm getting to spend some time with you two."
"You had fun at the arcade and the spa?" Kota inquired, rubbing his thumb in slow circles over the back of my hand.
I nodded enthusiastically in response. "The only things that could make it better I think are still going to happen."
"And what's that?"
"Well I haven't seen Sean and Owen yet, but I assume they're next. Otherwise I'd just want to spend some time with all of you, together. But I think that's how the night will end, based on what the others have hinted. And getting to spend more personal time with each of you has been great too."
Nathan shifted his grip on my hand and slung his arm over my shoulder, pulling me against his side. "There's really nothing else you want for your birthday?"
"What could possibly be better than a day with my boys?" I asked sincerely. No gift or activity or destination could possibly compare.
"Huh," Kota said, his voice holding a thread of lightheartedness, "guess we should return your gifts then, huh?"
"I didn't say that," I teased right back, pulling him closer and settling his arm around my waist. He grinned down at me and pressed his lips to my temple.
We rocked and bumped against each other as we tried to walk with our arms around each other until we matched our strides a little more evenly. Eventually we ended up walking completely in sync and I started to swing my steps wide, stepping in front of the boys. They mimicked me and soon we were doing The Monkeys walk down to side of the river. I started to giggle at our silly antics and soon the boys joined me and we stumbled, losing our rhythm. They both stepped away enough that we could walk independently, slipping their fingers back between mine. Nate pulled my hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of my hand.
We slowed as we approached a small crowd and found a pair of men at the center of the circle break dancing. They were really good and we stopped to watch as they flipped and spun in impressive synchronicity. Kota stepped up behind me and I leaned back into his chest, enjoying the music flowing from the portable speakers and the skills of the dancers as they took turns center stage.
A third dancer moved into the circle and began to battle one of the dancers. My eyes widened as I recognized the broad shoulders and red hair. I quickly scanned the faces closest to me, somehow thinking Nate would still be standing right next to me, but he obviously wasn't. He was in the center of the circle, spinning faster and faster on his back and shoulders, and then popping seamlessly to his feet and stepping back to let the other dancer back on the floor. The crowd went nuts and cheered and clapped for him as he gracefully bowed out and trotted back over to us, a broad grin on his face.
I stared at him in awe as he stood in front of me, smiling sheepishly. I didn't even notice the song ending, the duo finishing their dance, or the crowd breaking up after dropping money into a bucket. Nate held eye contact with me steadily, a playful smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. I stood in shock and finally broke out of it when Nate turned as the guy he had battled came up and tapped him on the shoulder. They shook hands and he complimented Nate on his ability and I turned to face Kota.
"Did you know he could do that?"
Kota tried to restrain a chuckle. "Well, yeah." Of course he knew.
Nate turned back to us and I shook my head in disbelief then wrapped him in a hug. "That was incredible. I had no idea."
His chest rumbled against mine, "I'm a bit rusty, but I couldn't resist." These boys would never cease to amaze me.
Kota looked down at his watch and then nudged us along the river walk once more. "We've got to wrap up our date, Ten. The next phase starts soon." I expected them to turn around and head back toward the restaurant, but instead both of them turned to walk further from where we came. A bit further down Kota started steering us on a more determined path toward a little tent and then guided me into line to board a small ferry.
"One last surprise before we have to hand you off," Nate whispered in my ear as we found a bench toward the back where all three of us could comfortably sit. It wasn't long before the boat was pulling out into the middle of the small canal and heading back toward the end where we'd started our movie date.
I relaxed as the breeze blew my hair back. With two warm, hard bodies snuggled close I enjoyed a few moments of peaceful companionship before the boat docked at the other end and my time with Nathan and Kota ended.