‘Alice?’
‘I think I’m starting to fall in love with you.’
Zach scoops me into his arms, covering my face in kisses and stopping every few minutes to look at me, this incredulous look on his face.
‘I think you know that I love you already,’ he murmurs.
The supermoon shines bright overhead as we kiss under the glistening stars.
Train Trip
Zach
Alice is falling in love with me.Alice is falling in love with me. I keep repeating that phrase in my head as if I need to remind myself that it’s true. I imagine this is what it must feel like if you win the lottery, the constant buzz that something really incredible has just happened. Even the stuff that usually annoys me is water off a duck’s back, like needing to remember my pin code when I’ve spent a few quid over the contactless limit, or my alarm going off when I’m in the middle of a deep sleep. Which is exactly what happens this morning.
I reach out to hit snooze, painfully aware that it’s not even light outside yet when I remember that today is the start of our T date. Showered and dressed in record time, I check my phone as I walk to the train station and find a message from Natalie.
All going like clockwork here, the birthday girl is excited and confused!
Today is Alice’s thirtieth birthday and I’ve been quietly planning a special date to celebrate for almost a month now, roping Natalie in to help me out with the logistics. It’s been really tough to keep it a secret. The amount of times I’ve wanted to blurt it out to Alice, even though I know she loves surprises. And then there was the situation after that disastrous ping pong date, where I thought I’d have to request a refund and cancel the whole thing but something told me that we could work it out so I’m glad I had a rare moment of confidence and hope, and I’m grateful I listened to myself that day. Everything between us is better than ever and I’m really glad I can show her how much I love her with this surprise.
Now Nat’s confirmed they’re on their way and I feel myself relaxing into my plans.
The earliest commuters have started trickling into the station, hands wrapped around coffee cups, while I flick through a newspaper. I’m reading an article about jet pack paramedics when the station doors slide open again, allowing the bite of cool early morning air inside. Followed by Alice. My heart leaps.
Natalie trails alongside her, pulling a wheelie suitcase which has a cluster of helium balloons attached to it. I notice that Alice also has one around tied around her wrist and laugh.
‘Whatareyou up to?’ She grins as she gets closer.
‘Happy birthday, beautiful,’ I reply.
‘Ta daaa!’ Nat gestures with magician hands. ‘May I present the birthday girl. It took a bit of persuading to get her up at such an hour on her auspicious day but in the end I bribed her with balloons.’
‘I may be officially thirty today but I will always love a balloon,’ Alice chuckles.
‘Thank you, Natalie,’ I say, grateful to her for executing the plan perfectly.
Natalie wafts my thanks away with a wave. ‘Right, I’m going to leave you lovebirds to it. Might get back into bed to be honest. Have fun!’
I turn back to Alice, looking bemused as she stands there in a green T-shirt tucked into slim white trousers on this chilly September morning. She runs her hands up her arms and shivers so I circle my arms around her for warmth.
‘I hope there’s a jumper in there,’ she points towards her suitcase. ‘Natalie was so bossy this morning. She insisted that I spent a full twenty minutes in the bathroom, putting a timer on my phone and everything, and when I was finally allowed back into my bedroom she’d packed all my clothes and was pushing me out the house. I didn’t have a chance to grab any layers!’
Top marks, Natalie, I think as I pull off my own jumper and ease it over Alice’s shoulders. It swamps her but she snuggles gratefully into the warmth before jumping up and down excitedly. ‘Come on then! I’m guessing that we’re at Sheffield train station at the break of day because our T date is train based?’
‘Correct.’
‘Where are we off to?’
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and point to the departures board.
‘A birthday trip to London?’
‘Come with me,’ I grin.
I feel a bit bad, letting Alice tick off all the things she’s excited about doing in London, and resist the temptation to tell her everything now, reminding myself that I spent ages planning today out for a reason and that she’ll love it even more if I keep the suspense building for a little bit longer.
‘Obviously Columbia Road Flower Market, too,’ she’s saying. ‘I mean, that’s the place to go for flowers in London. I’ve never been before so I’d love to do that if we have time?’
