Page 135 of Nuts

I scrunched my nose and stared. “What do I have to do with it?”

“We’ll talk about it later, finish your shit.”

I rolled my eyes and took another bite. “Sometimes you give me an ice cream headache.”

He laughed. “Whatever.”

We nibbled at our cones and exchanged glances. He seemed happy about his friend, smiling each time he looked at me.

I wondered what he was thinking, and took another bite of my cone. My teeth clanked against something. I lowered the cone and pressed my thumb to my teeth.

“That was weird.”

I looked at the cone. Teeth impressions were left where I’d bitten into it. It felt like I’d hit a rock.

I raised the cone, looked at the spot where I’d bitten, and poked my finger at what appeared to be a piece of shiny metal covered in ice cream.

Idiots.

After pulling the chuck of funk from the cone, I wiped at it with my fingertip.

He tossed his cone in the trash, looked at me, and grinned. “What did you find?”

I found it odd that he’d tossed his cone, and wondered if he bit into something, too. I handed him the wad of ice cream covered metal. He looked at it, shrugged, and then poked it into the cup of water. After swishing it around, he raised his hand.

My heart shot into my throat.

I looked at the ring, and then at him. “P--Per—Percy…”

He reached for my chin with his free hand. He lifted it slightly, and looked me in the eyes.

“I was going to give this to you to let you know that I was committed to you. But, the more I look at you, the more I realize I can’t imagine living a day without knowing that you’re mine. That you’re as committed to this relationship as I am.”

He released my chin, got down on one knee, and held the ring between us. “Joey, will you marry me?”

My lips quivered against one another. My throat tightened to the point of choking me. I couldn’t respond. I wanted to terribly, but my mouth wouldn’t follow my mind’s thoughts.

So, I did the only thing I could.

I made a fist, held it between us, and nodded eagerly.

He pressed his knuckles to mine. “We got a deal, then?”

My head bobbed up and down. My lips parted slightly. My heart raced.

Then, somehow, I managed to speak five simple words.

“Yes,” I said. “We’ve got a deal.”

Epilogue

We rolled past exit 53, and I couldn’t help but laugh to myself at the portion of the image that remained on the billboard. My photoshop skills weren’t stellar, but they were good enough to merge the picture of Percy’s dick into the open mouth of an ATF agent’s wife. It looked much better that the beer bottle that was in the original picture.

The agent that had been held captive not only held true to his word, but he also helped resolve an issue Percy had with giving his word, and not keeping a promise.

As we turned onto the street that led to our home, Crip and Peyton were pulling out of the driveway. Upon seeing us, they turned around and parked.

We pulled up to their side, and Percy shut off the engine.