‘I know this place is fancy, but do you think we could get away with a little drinking game while we wait for our puddings?’ She stage whispers.
‘Absolutely,’ I laugh.
‘Never have I ever. Drink if you have,’ she suggests. ‘I’ll start. Never have I ever worn a black lacy body out for dinner.’ Her eyes flick down to her chest rendering me temporarily paralysed with lust.
We both drink.
‘What?!’ She laughs. ‘Youhave worn a lace body out for dinner too?’
‘It was a long time ago, in my defence,’ I explain. ‘We got caught up in the usual Freshers stuff at uni and got dressed up one night, which ended in me in McDonalds wearing black lace.’
‘I think it could be a good look for you,’ Alice giggles.
I find myself blushing so I take another turn. ‘Never have I ever skived off school.’
Alice drinks. ‘You never skived?’ She asks.
‘It wasn’t especially easy at boarding school. I was deliberately late for Latin once, though.’
‘Ooh you rebel,’ she teases. ‘Me and Dylan used to skip a fair bit which I’m not very proud of now. We’d go and sit in the skate park and pretend to be Avril Lavigne.’
‘I bet Dylan made a great Avril.’
‘My favourite fact about Avril was that she willingly married a man called Deryck Whibley. I mean, that must have been love.’
My heart’s a beating drum by the time we get back to our room, arms wrapped around each other. I feel like the luckiest human on the planet to have Alice by my side. As soon as we’ve shut the door she slides the straps of her dress down and lets it fall to the ground.
She stands there in that black lacy underwear and I walk towards her, realising that there’s nothing more I want from life than to be in this hotel room with her right here, right now.
Later, as Alice pads back into the bedroom in her robe, she folds herself into my arms.
‘Nowthatwas the best birthday present,’ she jokes.
I watch as she pulls her hair up into a bun, her cheeks still flushed from an incredible end to the night. She turns back to me with a smile and I wrap my arms further around her body, wanting to stay like this for the rest of my life.
‘I love you, Zach,’ she whispers into my chest.
The girl who made it crystal clear that she didn’t believe in dating when we first met has told me she loves me again. She could say it a thousand times and I will never take it for granted.
‘I love you too,’ I reply.
Unplugged
Alice
‘Happy belated birthday my love!’ Dad cheers. ‘Come on through! I’ve got a surprise cake and some of those party popper things, too.’
I chuckle to myself as I head inside. Dad’s idea of a surprise is to tell you about it repeatedly, several times before the event, so that by the time the surprise is happening you will be distinctly unsurprised. It’s one of the many endearing things about him.
‘SURPRISE!’ He shouts, letting off the party poppers as I walk into the living room.
‘What a great surprise!’ I reply obligingly as he waves towards the cake.
‘Oh hang on, I need to light the candles.’
‘I’ll go back out,’ I say, closing the door.
Seconds later I’m called back in to find Dad proudly holding the cake in his hands, candles blazing on top of it as he sings ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. I cut us both a slice and hand one to Dad.
