Page 36 of Hilarina and the Ogre

“You’re supposed to hit me back with an insult there. That’s how you banter.”

“Why would I insult the man of my dreams?”

The boy was hopeless. “Because it’s fun.”

“Your eyes look very nice today.”

“You’re still going in the wrong direction.”

They did both the zoo AND the ice skating, deciding to each pay for one of the things, a compromise Hilary was quite happy with until he realized Trenton had tricked him, since it turned out that Wednesday was the zoo’s free entrance day. “I need to pay for something,” he insisted.

“Not my fault you picked the zoo.”

It was in the gift shop that Hilary found them—small clip-on plushies meant to put on your bag. He chose the penguins because they were cutest, but of course Trenton, being an ogre, had to go reading into it too much. He took hold of his little penguin with great solemnity. “Because they mate for life?”

Hilary flushed, practically an admission of guilt even though it hadn’t been.

Trenton put it right onto his bag, the little creature looking right at home beneath the emblazoned pink FAG. “It’s true. We’ll always be together. Thank you, Hil. I love it.”

That might have KO’d Hilary, yet another crime to add to Trenton’s list, though he recovered a little when the boy added, “though you shouldn’t buy things from gift shops. There’s a five hundred percent markup.”

“You got something against making memories?”

Trenton took his hand. Annette had recently bought them matching gloves. “Not with you, I don’t.”

Hilary was excited to go ice skating, and he didn’t hide that most of the excitement had to do with the sight of Trenton finally being worse at something than he was.

“But you’re better than me at lots of things,” Trenton countered.

“Name one.”

“Ballet.”

Hilary didn’t know why that made him blush. Of course, he was better at ballet. He’d been doing it since he was three. “That doesn’t count.”

“You’re really good at Pictionary.”

“Is that even a skill?”

“And you eat way faster.”

“Okay, now you’re just being mean.”

Trenton kissed him, catching him on the corner of the mouth. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Nothing else even comes close.”

Trenton didn’t suck at the skating for nearly as long as he should have. Sure, he was wobbly at first, going down to a knee a few times, but he stabilized insultingly quickly.

“What happened to going through the ice?”

“I need to be careful. A fall from this height could kill me.”

Hilary pushed the boy. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Trenton, being the stupid gentleman he was, made sure to turn as he fell so that his body provided cushioning to his traitorous friend.

“Idiot! Don’t protect your abuser.”

“I thought you just wanted a hug.”