The Payback or The Adventures and Pranks of Zachary O'Connor

Chapter Sixteen: The Younger Hamilton

Dating Meghan was fantastic. Of course, it made the social news, but I was so happy, I hardly noticed. As the two of us walked down the hallway holding hands, I only had eyes and ears for her. We had all been a bit sulky after what happened with Reagan, but the happiness radiating from me was infectious: Gabby and Anti were also fairly content with their existence, and they couldn't stop smiling whenever they were together with me and Meghan.

Meghan was treating me differently, too, now that we were dating. Not in that we didn't talk like friends anymore or anything, but she seemed to care about things more. I normally wouldn't talk about normal stupid everyday shit, but she actually wanted to hear about everyday shit. And that blew my mind. I had never had anyone, besides my parents, who I could just tell about everything that had been going on. Not even Annabeth. And even then, I could never talk to my mother about girls, but with Meghan, I had no other girls to talk about because I was so freaking in love with her. Our first (second if you count the concert) date as a couple, however, did not start terribly well. We decided to go ice-skating one weekend, for some stupid-ass reason. We found a small rink about 30 minutes north of Walkerhall.

There was only one small problem.

As explained earlier, I am not the best at skating. I have no idea why I thought ice-skating might possibly be easier. SPOILER ALERT: IT'S FREAKING HARDER! I busted my ass at least seven times within the first hour. Meghan and I held hands a little as we circled the rink, but holding onto your girlfriend's hand while you fall with blades attached to your feet is a good way to lose appendages. I happened to be very fond of my appendages at the moment, so we decided it would be best to let me figure out what the hell I was doing before I held hands with her. There was a metal-bar-lean-on-skating-thing-that-I-don't-know-how-the-hell-to-explain-but-it-makes-you-suck-less, and a lot of little kids were using it.

Only little kids.

I had learned my lesson about four-year-olds sending me passive aggressive vibes, so I was learning on my own, without help from the stupid lean-on-things. And it was not going well. An employee at the rink had been sent out to try and teach me, but I believe that I simply was not born to skate. Turns out holding onto the trainer when you fall is also a good way to lose appendages. Blades + Feet? Why?

After a near-miss with a seven-year-old who was speeding past my ever-on-the-ground body every 30 seconds, Meghan finally suggested we take a break. We were roughly an hour and a half into our date, and all that I had succeeded in doing was quite possibly fracturing my tailbone. *secretly hopes that tailbone is intact* I readily agreed that a break was necessary, and I stumbled off the rink. Once onto solid ground, I ripped my skates off and stored them under a bench.

"I thought March was supposed to be spring," I muttered, my breaths steaming.

"Zach," Meghan said, smoothly exiting the rink behind me, "two things: 1) you do realize that the artificial ice makes this entire area around it cooler, right? And 2) shall we get some hot chocolate?"

I nearly jumped for joy when she suggested hot cocoa, but I contained myself. We went to a little concession stand next to the skate rental window, and I ordered two hot chocolates. Instead of drinking them quickly and returning to the rink, Meghan and I moved to the side of the rink, where there were little chimeneas (once again, look it up) waiting to warm up some guests. I placed my cup down and brought my (wet but de-gloved) hands before the fire and tried to restore some of my lost body heat. I leaned back on the wicker seat before the chimenea, and Meghan leaned into me, our warmth shared. The two of us watched skaters pass as we drank hot cocoa, the fire warming our very souls and the hot chocolate warming our hands.

"You know," I whispered into her ear, "every minute I spend with you, I fall more and more in love."

"Oh, you hopeless romantic," she muttered and kissed me.