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This is so weird.
Yeah! I’m aware!
I was just about to excuse myself so that I could go die of mortification when Ken slowly rolled his hand over, exposing his palm.
I stared at it in disbelief as my skin tingled with the pricks of a thousand tiny heart-shaped arrows. Placing my palm flush against his, I bit my lip and squealed on the inside as Ken slid his warm fingers between my ice-cold ones.
I remained in my own little world for the rest of the show, thumbing through the glossy, Technicolor pages of my program, drinking the tart white wine Ken had bought me whenever he noticed that my glass was empty, and pretending to focus on anything other than the place where our hands were joined.
Once the show was over, I realized that I was having trouble focusing on the ground as well. It tilted and rolled beneath my feet as I tried to walk out of the tent. Ken and I had gotten dinner before the show, but I’d only ordered a salad and managed to push enough of it around on my plate to make it look like I’d eaten something. My stomach was full of cheap wine garnished with expensive lettuce, and I was hammered.
“Ken,” I whispered, leaning on him for support, “you got me drunk.”
“You’re welcome.” He gave me a smirking side-eye as he steered me around a couple taking a selfie outside.
“Ooh! Let’s take a picture!” I pulled Ken to a stop and dug my little point-and-shoot camera out of my purse.
Shoving it into the hands of the cute couple, I wrapped an arm around Ken’s waist and cheesed for the flash. I didn’t want to let go once our photo op was over, so I didn’t. I stumbled toward the parking garage, buried as deeply in Ken’s personal-space bubble as I could get. I loved it in there.
“Did you know that being next to you is like being inside of a dryer?” I hiccuped.
“A dryer, huh?” Ken pointed at the ground in front of us. “Watch the curb.”
“Uh-huh.” I giggled, stepping down as we crossed the street. “You’re really warm and quiet, and you smell like fabric softener, and there’s, like, this tingly buzz all around you.”
“Like static?” Ken pulled up on my arm. “Curb.”
“Mmhmm.” I nodded, gripping his bicep through his coat as he guided me back onto the sidewalk. “You’re all staticky. I can’t even tell what you’re thinking because you’re so staticky. Just buzzzzzzzz. It makes the hairs on my arm stand up.”
“I think you’re just cold.” Ken smirked down at me. “Two steps here.”
We stepped up into the parking garage and made our way toward the back where Ken’s little Eclipse was parked.
“Uh-uh,” I argued, shaking my head with a little too much force. “You’re electric.” I giggled, the lyrics to “Electric Boogie” suddenly coming to mind. “You can feel it. You’re electric! Boogie woogie woogie.”
Ken laughed a deep, echoing sound that bounced off the concrete walls and warmed my bones. “That’s not even how it goes.” He chuckled, hitting the unlock button on his key fob. “Are you spending the night?” he asked, opening my car door and making sure that my ass actually landed on the seat and not on the pavement next to the car.
“Uh-huh.” I nodded, smiling from ear to ear.
“Good. ’Cause there is no way you’re driving home like this.”
I made a frowny face as he came around to the other side of the car. “I’m not that drunk.”
Ken tried to suppress his amused smile as he cranked the engine and shifted into reverse.
I scoffed and pointed a finger at his handsome fucking face. “Hey, I saw that. You did this to me on purpose, didn’t you? Are you trying to loosen me up for butt stuff later?”
Making Kenneth Easton laugh out loud would forever go down as one of my life’s greatest accomplishments. With an adorable blush, a chuckle, and sparkly white grin, Ken simply shook his head as he pulled out of the parking spot.
“So, no butt stuff?” I pouted.
Ken avoided eye contact with me but kept smiling. “I like you drunk.”
“I like you…”
Those three words floated into my ears, swirled around in my brain, and sprinkled down onto my heart like glittery confetti.
I like you, too.
