“I’m sure if he stays in scene, it’ll be okay, as long as he’s rearing up to kick his hind legs,” Mom said even louder.
“I don’t want to talk about my son rearing anything,” Dad said. “Especially Vince.”
“Mom?” Vince asked. “Dad? Nana? Why are you guys down there in the dark?”
The lights came on then, and the pictures that would be taken later would show Vince’s wide, happy grin as people shouted, “Surprise!” up at him. And, of course, me, standing next to him, my red face buried in my hands, looking like I was about to die or something. Which, to be fair, I really wanted to do right then.
Helena led the crowd below in a stirring, dirty rendition of “Happy Birthday,” which explicitly described the blowing of a gigantic cock. The fact that my parents and grandmother were singing right along with everyone else was enough to make me wish there were no such things as birthdays, and that it was possible for me to reach inside my own head to scrub my brain of the image. They all finished with a flourish and everyone cheered, and Vince turned to me. “You did this, didn’t you?”
I shrugged. “Everyone helped.”
“Paul did it!” everyone shouted.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered.
“Kiss! Kiss him!” Nana screamed. “Kiss his face off!”
Everyone else picked it up and started chanting for him to kiss my face off. It was a little weird. I felt like a goat was about to be sacrificed to a pagan god. I grinned at him as I backed away a few feet.
/> Vince stalked toward me. “I’m going to kiss the fuck out of you,” he said as he reached for me, the crowd roaring up at us.
“Lucky me,” I managed to say before I had a mouthful of Vince.
Lucky me.
WE MANAGED to escape later on, me having only taken a couple of shots so that I’d be okay to drive toward the end of the night. Vince was a little bit tipsy, but he didn’t like to get full-on drunk, so I didn’t have to worry about him passing out on me.
Besides, I was already worried out of my fucking mind about giving him his present.
So I stole him later, slipping quietly out the back, his hand in mine as we headed for the car. “Where we going?” he asked.
“You’ll see.”
And the night was perfect, warm and clear, even though it was October. We didn’t talk much as I drove, him content to hold my hand, me content to be freaking the fuck out. I told myself I was being stupid, that I didn’t have to be nervous, but it didn’t do a damn thing to help. I’d gotten better about myself over the past six months, thanks to Vince, but since he didn’t know a thing about this, it just made me all the more nervous.
He finally figured out where we were going and grinned over at me when we pulled into the parking lot of the park where he’d taken me after our first date. On the lookout for homicidal hobos with hook hands, we walked through the dark to what I thought of as our little patch of grass. He didn’t even need any coaxing and assumed his position on the ground, his stomach becoming a pillow for my head, making our T shape that we did so well. His hand immediately went into my hair and started rubbing my scalp. The stars were so bright, and for just a moment, everything was as it should be.
“Perfect end for tonight,” he sighed, echoing my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“So….”
“So what?”
I almost didn’t say it, but I pushed through. “So, I got you a present. You know, for your birthday.”
“Yeah? Is it awesome?”
“Uh. Pretty sure. I think so. I don’t know. Probably not. Maybe.”
“Covering all your bases?”
I blushed. “Yeah.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything.”