Nate Blackwall Part 5

{Part one, part two, part three, part four}

The rest of the week passed by in a blur of math tests and yo momma jokes. Finally, Friday night approached.

I was picking Anna-Christina up at her house at six, and we were going to walk to the ice cream place, and then spend the sunset by the pond at the park.
I would have preferred taking her to the beach, but you know, Wisconsin.

It was going to be a perfect evening. At approximately 5:30 pm, I started freaking out.

My mom was telling me to relax, my dad was saying it would be fine. But my brain was saying that pretty athletic girls and spotty nerds don't mix. That she probably only said yes on a dare. That she hated me.

At 5:50, I stepped out of my house and walked the three minutes between our suburban dream houses. Tentatively, I rang the doorbell.
A lady in her forties with auburn hair opened the door, peered at my glow in the dark Iron Man shirt with disgust, and yelled up the stairs.
"Annie! Your date's here!"
"COMING!"

She ran down the stairs. "Hi Nate."
The woman (who I assumed was her mom) scowled at me. "Don't stay out to late."
Anna-Christina smiled at her. "You know you don't have to worry about me maman."
The door closed.

"You look really nice," I said, a little breathless. She was wearing a pale blue tank top, with floaty cardigan over it, and a denim skirt. She was wearing her long red hair down, with a butterfly hair clip.
She beamed.
"Thanks. I like your shirt."

"What does your mom have against Iron Man?" I asked.
Anna-Christina laughed. "If you'd worn a Captain America shirt, she'd be convinced you were the greatest thing since the internet."

She linked her arm in mine "So Mr. Blackwall, where are you taking me this fine May evening?"
"I was think ice cream and a surprise."
"How wonderfully surprising."

We walked and chatted about random things on the way to John's Ice Cream Parl r (the "o" had been lost to time), where we ordered our ice creams, and started heading for the park.

"Did you know that you can tell a lot about a person from their ice cream selection?"
"oh really?" She cocked an eyebrow in mock suspicion. " And what does this tell you?" she held out her ice cream.
"Mexican chocolate in a cup with a cone on top? That's easy. You like classics with a twist, and you hate getting messy."
She giggled. "And what does your strawberry swirl with a sprinkle cone mean? Pray tell."
"That just means I'm awesome."

FInally we made it to the park. I reminded myself to thank Eleanor-from-LARPing for helping me get the calculations perfect.
The sun had just started to set over the horizon, reflected back into the pond at the park. The light danced through the flowering cherry trees beautifully.

Anna-Christina's jaw dropped. "It's like wonderland,"she whispered, her giant eyes shining. I reached for her hand, and she squeezed it.
She looked into my eyes, a smile playing on her lips.