Page 43 of Ten Years and Then…
Daniel, March 16
Daniel sat on his bed holding Bianca’s birthday card, squinting to read his cousin’s tiny writing. She’d managed to squeeze three or four pages worth of questions and advice and birthday wishes into the inside of a single Hallmark card. She ended it with a postscript:
I assume Nora’s got something big planned for you. I hope it’s amazing, Danny. But remember, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!
“No promises, Bee,” he whispered, setting the card aside. He was curious exactly what Nora had planned. She hadn’t given him the slightest hint, and that in itself was surprising. She was a lot of things, but good at keeping secrets generally wasn’t one of them.
It was cute, actually, the way she got so excited, bursting to share whatever she was trying to keep quiet, until she lost the last little bit of willpower and she blurted it out. More than cute, really. Like that time right after Thanksgiving, when she found that poetry book over at Turn the Page. “It’s perfect. Rachel will love it,” she’d told him. And then she proceeded to call her aunt, telling her how she had the best Christmas gift ever for her, and she couldn’t wait to give it to her, and all in all it had taken less than five minutes before her aunt knew exactly what she was getting.
All she’d said about tonight was that she’d come over as soon as she finished her paper for Intro to Financial Reporting, and she hoped to be finished by dinnertime. And that it’d be worth the wait. He had no idea what that meant, he just knew it was true. Because everything about Nora had been worth the wait, from the very first moment.
Nora, the same night
Nora buttoned the last button on her coat when Kim walked in. Her roommate looked her up and down, uncomprehending. “Nora, it’s seventy degrees out. What are you doing?”
She couldn’t help herself. “Gift wrapping.”
Kim stood there, mouthing the words, looking very lost, and then recognition dawned. “Oh. Sure. But where’s the gift … oh!”
“It’s Daniel’s birthday.”
Kim nodded. “And you’re going to surprise him. I hope he appreciates it.”
“He will.” She would make sure. She’d tried something similar for Halloween, and that had been a wonderful night—better than it would have been if it had gone the way she’d initially imagined.
But she still wanted to do what she’d intended that night. She wanted to surprise her boyfriend with a gift only she could give—and one he’d never, ever forget. “And don’t wait up. I won’t be back tonight.”
Daniel, the same night
It was just after eight-thirty when there was a knock on his door. He’d been here the whole time; he hadn’t wanted to even run to the dining hall in case she picked that moment to show up. But he was a big boy; missing one meal wouldn’t hurt him. Anyway, he’d gotten caught up on his reading for Intro to Data Structures for the week, so it wasn’t a total loss. He set the textbook aside, and called out, “It’s open!”
There she was.
She smiled at him as she walked in, closing the door behind her. He couldn’t take his eyes off of hers, flashing with humor and mischief, maybe? And love. Definitely that. He did, just barely, hear the lock clicking behind her as she said, “Happy birthday, Daniel!”
“It is now,” he told her, only now looking down and seeing—why was she wearing an overcoat? It had been almost seventy degrees today, she didn’t need a coat. But she noticed his gaze moving. She stepped over to the bed, cupped his chin in her hand, redirected his eyes back up to hers.
“Don’t you know? Presents are supposed to be wrapped.”
He gasped, whether at her touch or her words, he wasn’t sure. And then it didn’t matter, when she leaned down and her lips touched his, and the whole world disappeared for a moment. When it came back, his hands were tangled in her hair, and his heart was pounding.
She pulled his hands away from her head, guided them to the top button on her coat. “Usually the birthday boy unwraps his own presents.” His fingers didn’t want to work. Or maybe his entire nervous system was misfiring after that kiss. But Nora helped him with the first couple of buttons, and then he remembered how the process worked. He took his time, savoring her closeness, her touch, the scent of jasmine and vanilla, savoring everything about this moment.
When the last button was undone, she shrugged the coat off in one motion, and what he saw then took his breath away.
Nora—his girlfriend—stood there, in his dorm room, wearing that dress. Blue, picking up her eyes, perfect against her skin, and fitted everywhere, every curve. How was this even possible? How was this for him? How was this his life?
“You know it’s not enough to unwrap the gift, right? You’re allowed to touch it. You’re supposed to.” And then she kissed him again, and he kissed her back, and eventually she backed away and laughed gently. “Please tell me you weren’t one of those kids who never took your Star Wars action figures out of the package so they wouldn’t get broken. Because I don’t believe in that. You should always play with your gifts.” He didn’t know how he was still capable of conscious thought at this point.
Another kiss, another touch, another moment where he barely knew who or where he was, and then, not knowing how it had happened, he was sitting in his desk chair, the swively one he’d rescued from behind Addison Hall. And she was turning him around slowly, kissing him again, and somehow, with every revolution, another button on his shirt came undone too.
Sometime after that, she still wore the dress, but his shirt was on the floor, and his jeans appeared about to join them. And then there was another kiss, and this time when he kissed her back she didn’t stop, didn’t break away, didn’t let him breathe. And then there was no noticing or thinking or anything except pure sensation and it seemed to go on and on and on …
Nora, much later that night
He had the cutest little half-smile as he slept. Nora had stirred awake a few minutes ago, and she’d been watching him. Just watching, not moving a muscle.
Daniel was on his side, his left arm flung over his head at a weird angle. Any other night, Nora would have wondered how he could possibly sleep in that position. But after what she’d done for him—with him—he was well and truly wiped out. She doubted she could wake him up now if she wanted to, not that she did. He deserved this peaceful rest and, she hoped, sweet dreams to accompany it.
