Love Letter

Ian:

As she steps into the closet, I see that my newest novel is up against the corner as if it was thrown across the room. When I pick it up, I can tell it was thrown since the book's spine is bent more than what normal wear and tear would be. When I asked Lynne if she was mad at it, her face went crimson, which was answer enough to know that she had thrown it.

"It's nothing," she says.

"Was it that bad of a book?" I say jokingly, even though I am curious about what could have made her so mad about it. She could have also been mad at something else in her life, and the book was the first thing she saw, and she picked it up and threw it.

"No..." she says, grabbing my arm letting me know that she is ready to leave. My thoughts are swimming on why she won't tell me, and I tuck away my curiosity as much as I can and focus on how great she looks.

"Did I tell you how great you look?" I ask when we are stepping outside, walking to my sister's car that I left warming up.

"Yes, thank you," she says, and even though it is too dark outside, I know that her face is the same color as the sweater she is wearing. "What are we doing tonight?" she asks, trying to move on.

"It is a surprise," I say. We are a few blocks from the ice rink that I had rented out for the night. Heading down the hill to the city, I am excited about it. This was the first time I actually worked on making a date special. In a way, you could almost say this was my first true date. I try to make myself believe that it is because of what I have planned instead of who I am doing it with. I did not need to get invested with someone; I would eventually destroy all hope in men.

"We are going ice skating," she says?

My face fell since it was not the big surprise I was hoping it would be.

"Yes," I say glumly. "How did you know?" I ask, curious.

"I lived in this town my whole life just because I have been gone a few years doesn't mean I forget where everything is," she says.

"Have you gone a lot?" I ask her.

It takes her a little while, and I know she is thinking about what she is going to say. The last time at lunch, she had been blurting things out, and now it was back to her thinking carefully of what she was going to say. She was filtering what she let me know. "Use to when I was younger. I haven't gone since I was 14, probably," she says. I wonder if this is something they used to all do with her dad. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. I pull up to the outside rink and watch as she takes in the empty parking lot. "Is it open?" she asks with a confused look on her face.

"Hold on," I say, grabbing some items from the back seat and walking around to her side to open the door. I hold my hand out to her and help her out of the car. She is standing in front of me, looking confused. "Give me your hands" she holds her hands up, and I put a pair of black fleeced lining gloves on her hands. "Okay," I say, taking a step closer to her and putting a matching black scarf around her neck. I follow the scarf with the matching hat making sure it covers her ears. Black was a good choice; they would go with anything. Every time she wore them, I hoped she would think of this moment with me. Standing out in the cold ready to show her the real me, my nerves were ready to blitz. "I'm sorry if it messes your hair up," I say, smiling.

"Thank you," she says, almost speechless like this is the first nice thing that has ever been done toward her. "I think it is closed, though," she says, looking at the rink. I shake my head, giving her my arm to grab onto. I open the gate, and as soon as we step through, my guy on the inside turns the lights on for us for dramatic effect. I hear Lynne next to me giggle a little with a smile spreading over her face. I lead her over to the front bleachers, where two brand new pairs of skates are sitting.

I take the white ones I had purchased for her and tell her to sit. "How did you know my size?" she asks after I have tied the skates up.

"I will never tell," I say while I wait for a stalker comment to come out of her mouth, but none does. My sister called Kelly to ask what size her feet were. It sounded like Kelly was more excited about the date than Amanda, which is pretty hard to beat. She sits patiently next to me while I tie my skates up. I can tell she is excited to get on the ice, which I was not ready for. "Ready," I say, standing up trying to balance on the skates.

I make it to the ice before I trip over my skates. I was not about to admit to Lynne that this was my first-time ice skating. However, as soon I step on the ice, my feet fly apart and fall straight on my back. Lynne, who had already skated out to the middle of the rink, turns around and is helping me up within seconds. "Is this your first-time ice skating?" She asks suspiciously.

"It may be my first time," I say, wincing standing up. She giggles for the second time tonight, and I feel like I am on cloud nine even though I will have bruises all over my back tomorrow.