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6) I volunteer at a nursing home, and I love it. I call one resident Grandma and we exchange books with each other. She’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a real grandparent.
7) I’m obsessed with reading. I’ll read any type of book - romance (straight or gay), mystery, thriller, graphic novels - it doesn’t matter. I wish I could read every book to ever exist (that goal might be just a tad unrealistic).
8) My mom and I read books together. It started when I was little with picture books, but now we read novels together.
9) If something is gay (whether it’s a show, movie, book, song), I will eat that up. We need more sapphic content, which is why I want to get my books out into the world.
10) This one might scare you off (hopefully not), but I’m madly in love with you. I have been for a long time. I know we’re young, but I don’t think I could ever love anyone the way I love you.
The last point doesn’t scare me off. It does the complete opposite actually. I feel like I’m floating as I read the words over and over again. They look blurry through my tears, but the tears are there for a different reason than what I expected. All I want to do is run into Payton’s arms, but I’ll make myself wait until tomorrow. That’s for the best anyway, since I’m still scared to death.
***
I only work for three hours, yet it seems to drag on forever. As soon as it’s time to clock out, I rip off my visor and run to the back to change into the outfit I put in my locker that morning. Since I don’t know what we’re doing, I decided on jeans and a white sweater with brown boots. I throw a jacket over top of the outfit, fix my hair and makeup, then head outside.
I walk to the back of the parking lot, and there she is. Payton is leaning against the hood of her car and staring out in the opposite direction of the ice cream shop. I can tell she’s not wearing a coat, and while it’s not freezing out, is still too cold for just a long-sleeve shirt. “You’re gonna get sick, you know,” I yell over to her.
Payton turns her head, eyes wide and a smile bigger than I’ve ever seen it, as if she actually thought I wouldn’t show up. “You’re here,” she says before pushing herself off of the car. “A jacket would have ruined the outfit and it took me forever to decide what to wear.”
She has done a good job though. She’s wearing a black button-up shirt, red pants, and black shoes. As if that’s not enough, she’s wearing a red and black checkered bow tie. A goddamn bow tie. I’m putty. Absolute putty. I’m so distracted by the bow tie I don’t even notice the single red rose that she’s holding at first.
I walk over and straighten the bow tie. I told myself I wouldn’t touch Payton, at least not this soon, but when a girl wears a damn bow tie on a date, what choice do you have? At least I have enough self-control not to run my hand through her smooth ponytail, which is something else that I very much so want to do. “You don’t fight fair. A bow tie? A rose? That face. Ugh, you’re killing me, Payton Benner.”
Payton smiles shyly and bites her bottom lip. “When you’re going on a date with Marjorie Madden, you have to pull out all the stops.” Payton’s smile suddenly drops and her face turns red. “I mean, that is, if you want… it doesn’t have to… we don’t…”
Now, I do reach out and run my hand through her hair. “It’s a date, Payton.”
Her smile returns, but if possible, it’s even bigger now. “Cool. In that case, we should get going.” She rounds the car to the passenger side and opens the door for me then gets in on her side.
“So, where are we off to?” I ask once she starts to drive.
“You’ll see soon enough.” She fiddles with her phone and turns Dixie D’Amelio on over Bluetooth. “Well, by soon enough, I mean about forty-five minutes.”
I have no idea where she could possibly be taking me that’s so far away, but I don’t question it. Instead, I enjoy the music and the conversation, which is surprisingly easy, even with two weeks of silence between us.
After a drive that goes by much quicker than I expect, Payton pulls into a big parking lot. At the front of the parking lot is a building with a big sign that reads, “Mr. Ardley’s Arcade.”
That’s when it hits me. “My perfect date,” I whisper under my breath.
Payton nods. “I won’t be able to stick to it completely, but I hope you like what I came up with.”
“I’m sure I will.”
Before I can get out of the car, Payton jumps out of her side and opens my door for me. As we walk beside each other, she rubs her hands together then looks from her hands to mine. Since she’s not the least bit discreet (something I actually really appreciate about her), I know exactly what she’s thinking.
“You can hold my hand if you want.” I told myself I wasn’t going to give in so easily, but what’s the point in holding back? Sure, there’s a lot we need to talk about, but we might as well enjoy the time Payton planned.
Payton smiles the sweetest smile before taking my hand. I don’t know what’s better—that smile or the feeling of her hand in mine. I’m so caught up in the girl beside me, I don’t even notice how amazing this arcade is at first. It’s huge.
“I picked this one because it has a bunch of different basketball shooting games. I figured you could show off on all of them.”
That’s exactly what I want to do. After Payton buys a game card that she refuses to split with me, we head over to the section with all of the basketball games. There are low hoops, high hoops, moving hoops. There’s even a hoop with a clown that tries to block your shots.
Payton raises her eyebrow when she notices me staring at that one. “Want to get your revenge on your archnemesis?”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” I grab the card out of Payton’s hand and swipe it in the game.
It only takes a few shots for me to figure out a pattern, then I make that clown my bitch. We make our way from one basketball game to the next, and Payton competes against me on the two-player ones. I do beat her at those, thank God. After basketball, we move on to racing games, trivia games, then all the games that will win us a bunch of tickets. Payton uses all of our tickets to get me a little stuffed bear who’s holding a basketball and wearing a jersey with the name of the arcade. If it wasn’t for the fact that she won it for me, it would be the biggest waste of tickets ever. Instead, I find myself swooning over the little teddy.
