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“Both?” I said.
“Okay, you get to decide what’s real and what’s fake. So, I am either sitting on my couch, eating two-day-old cold pizza and scrolling through reality TV star’s social media accounts, or, I am at a fabulous party surrounded by dozens of friends who adore me, wearing a fabulous designer dress.”
I listened and didn't hear anything in the background except for Echo chewing.
“Will you be offended if I say the first thing? It doesn’t sound like a bad night to me. Unless you want to spice things up a little bit and come over. I can make fresh pizza and you can eat it off my ass.”
There was a pause and a shuffling sound.
“Fuck, where are my keys?”
“So how would you feel about meeting my parents?” I asked as she handed me an ax. It was heavier than I thought it would be and I wished I had said yes to a less-intense date. At least I got to eat after this.
“Do you mean, like, right now?” she asked, stepping up to the area where the ax-throwers stood. The firing range? I had no idea. Echo was clearly comfortable with this whole thing and I was out of my wheelhouse. Next date, we were doing something I picked, like reading books on the beach, or walking through the rich area of town and trying to peer in the windows to see what their living rooms looked like.
Echo wound up and threw the ax with perfect precision, lodging it in the target to the cheers of the other people around.
“No, I mean like this summer. Maybe in August? They’re coming up to visit and they want to meet you. It’s absolutely fine if you don’t want to. No pressure.”
Echo moved aside and then it was my turn. I’d been given lessons on how to do this safely, but I was still convinced I was going to lose an appendage on this date.
My first attempt to throw the ax just . . . didn’t even go anywhere near the target.
“This is like archery camp all over again,” I said.
“You went to archery camp?” Echo asked as we picked up our second axes.
“Yeah, I read a book and thought I could be an archer for some reason. I was completely obsessed and begged my parents to sign me up. Then I went and it was so embarrassing, that they literally gave me a participation award, because everyone else earned a certificate.”
It wasn’t a memory I enjoyed.
“That’s so cute,” Echo said.
“If by cute, you mean pathetic, then sure.”
Her second ax hit right near the first one, and my second was another fail.
“Hey, come here,” she said, taking both my hands and pulling me close. Echo wrapped her arms around me and held me tight, rocking us back and forth a little.
“You’re so cute and sweet and sexy and amazing. I’m so lucky we have this second chance. It’s almost like we needed those years to come to our senses.”
I leaned back so I could look her in the face.
“Do you think so?”
“Yeah, I do. I’m not sure if things happen for a reason, but it feels right that you’re back in my life, Kiri. Doesn’t this feel right?”
It did. I’d never felt anything so right as having her arms around me. She kissed my forehead and then my mouth and I forgot all about throwing axes until someone whistled and told us to throw the axes or get out of the way.
“Oops?” I said.
“Not sorry,” she said, picking up another ax and hurling it directly into the center of the target.
“It’s okay,” she said later as we fueled up on burgers and fries and local beer.
“What’s okay?” I said through a mouthful of burger.
“Meeting your parents. I’m okay with it. I think. I mean, your parents sound great. I guess I’m just a little wary around parents because of mine, but everything you’ve said makes them sound like wonderful people.”
