Back in the Saddle

My Favorite Person and My Favorite Place

Nick's POV:

Once dinner is over and I've successfully swiped the bill from under Karl's nose and paid it before he even realized what happened, it's time for part two of our date, the second to last portion. The entire drive to the second destination I get an earful about how I should've let him pay for himself, but I just smile and laugh at how adorable he is.

He seems content after I agree to let him pay for the ice cream we're about to get, which is somehow even cuter than him wanting to pay for himself at dinner. I pull into the drive thru of an Andy's and we get what we want before I start driving again. Karl seems confused as to why we aren't stopping to eat and why I'm pulling onto a road that he's probably never seen before. Well, this is part three.

He doesn't ask about where we're going because I hand him the aux cord and he gets excited and plugs his phone in, immediately opening spotify. It's about a twenty minute drive to where I want to take him, which gives him the opportunity to play a good assortment of songs.

Being a DJ and taking random bites of ice cream keeps him occupied the whole time and by the time I drive off the road onto the gravel path that leads to my favorite place on earth, he's barely spoken four words to me. But, once he feels the ground beneath us change from smooth to rocky, he looks up from his phone, a curious expression on his face.

We're on the path that goes by a small meadow with a pond in its midst. The grass is plentiful but not overgrown, and there are an abundance of flowers growing throughout them. Surrounding the pond are bushes and other plant life, and in the pond there are lily pads with purple flowers growing on them. Going out into the middle of the pond is a wooden gazebo, lit up by yellow fairy lights and decorated in vines.

Karl's jaw has dropped to the floor and he's just staring at it, dumbfounded. I smile as I steer off the road and park in the grass, getting out of the car and walking to Karl's side before he's even fully taken in what he's looking at. When I open the door, he seems to snap back into reality.

"Nick, this is gorgeous," he exclaims as I help him out. "How did you know about this place? It's in the middle of nowhere."

"My mom, um, Tony, helped fund this place. It's kind of like the town's own park of sorts. During the day it's usually more crowded, but for our purposes, I'm happy that no one's here."

I take his hand--the one without the ice cream--and lead him over to the gazebo. My ice cream, I have to say, is delectable. After tonight, Andy's might become one of my go-to ice cream shops, because they definitely did not disappoint. That and the fact that now I'm going to have it as part of my memory of my first date with Karl, so it'll be nostalgic.

"So, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you like it?" I chuckle, admiring how his face lights up every time he sees something new in the scenery.

"Like it? I love it. This is truly incredible, Nick. Thank you so much. Although I have to ask, what happened to something chill? Don't get me wrong, this is so much better than anything I could've imagined, but I thought that we weren't doing anything like this."

"I was lying so that I could surprise you. Did it work?"

"Oh yes, definitely."

"Good. That means I achieved my goal."

He giggles and I'm reminded once more why exactly he's become one of my favorite people so quickly. It's at this point in time, when his face is lit up in the soft glow from the lights and there's a cool breeze over the water that's sending the sweet, clean smell of his cologne straight to my brain, that I realize for the first time what clicked when we first met that immediately made me so infatuated with him.