By Sunday afternoon, I knew I needed to pull myself together. I’d have to face my friends at school the next morning, and SBB/Simon/Sally wouldn’t even be there for me to fall back on for moral support. Since I knew I’d feel much better equipped to make up with my girlfriends if I could get over the sinking feeling in my stomach related to the recent loss of my boyfriend, I decided to swallow my pride and try calling Alex—for the sixth time.
After the dance on Friday night, I’d texted him a few times but still hadn’t heard back. I wasn’t sure how many more apologetic voice mails I could leave, but I tried to remember what Patch had said. Floods always get what they want.
Okay, I told myself in the mirror, I’m going to give it one more try.
WILL YOU JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN? I texted.
This time, the reply was instantaneous.
STEP OUTSIDE AND GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT.
What? After the hell of the last few days, this seemed too good to be true. Still, when I went out to the hallway and looked out at the street, the Prince’s town car was stalled outside of my house.
I rushed downstairs.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to decide whether my heart was racing because I was nervous or excited.
“Not giving you a chance to explain,” he said.
“But—”
“Why waste time?” he shrugged. “I’ve already forgiven you. I think I might have overreacted on Friday night. What do you say we forget about it and go grab some hot dogs?”
“Umm, I say—” Thank god! “I say, let me just grab one more thing before we go.”
I didn’t know where the afternoon would take us, but I did know that I wasn’t going to miss another opportunity to give Alex his gift. I grabbed my bag and slipped the little box inside.
“You might want to bring your heavy scarf,” Alex said, pointing at the sky. “It feels like snow outside.”
When the town car dropped us off at the world’s best hot dog stand, I could tell Alex was right. There was that electricity in the air that usually meant a rare Manhattan snowfall. I gripped his hand with excitement. It felt so good to have him back—almost too good to be true.
“I know it’s freezing,” he said, rubbing my hands as we waited for our two hot dogs with extra relish. “Should we get these to go and eat them in the car?”
I shook my head. “We can’t go inside now. There’s nothing better than being in Central Park to catch the first few flakes of snow.”
Alex gave me that you’re-kinda-insane-but-I-like-it smile and we grabbed a seat on the bench to dig into our hot dogs. It was pretty amazing how much better food tasted now that the giant lump in my throat had dissolved and I could actually swallow it.
“So can I ask what made you forgive me?” I said. “I was sort of looking forward to this whole groveling act I’d worked up.”
“You should file that act away in case you need it next time,” he said, then nudged me. “I’m kidding.” Alex looked down at his shoes and started swinging his feet. “Well, partially it was that I kept replaying that scene with you and that guy Bennett in my mind. I knew something about it wasn’t right, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Then, last night, I was playing pool with Phil and Saxton, and Phil sort of came clean about the note he sent to you last week.”
Oh, crap.
“I was pissed at first,” Alex continued. “But when Phil told me how you reacted, how it was never even a question in your mind, I knew that my instinct about Friday night was right. I had to come make it up to you.”
I breathed an enormous sigh of relief. “Well, you just about covered all of my groveling points anyway.” I laughed.
“I’m sorry, Flan,” he said, leaning in to give me a kiss.
“I’m sorry too,” I said.
At that very moment, the first snow began to fall.
“Wow, it’s like this is out of a movie,” I said.
Alex held up a finger. “Just wait—” he said.
“Don’t tell me,” I guessed. “There’s more?”
This time, I was ready to insist on being the one to top the perfect moment with my belated Valentine’s gift.
But once again, before I could take it out of my bag, Alex was standing up and holding his hands out to me. “I need to whisk you away to a secret destination and I need you to not ask any questions.”
“Uh-uh.” He shook his finger at me. “That sounds suspiciously like a question.” He held open the door to the town car. “Hop in.”
“More ice cream?” I guessed.
“No questions,” he said, shaking his head.
The car started rolling east, and as I looked excitedly out the window for clues about our destination, Alex thwarted me again by pulling out a blindfold.
He shrugged. “How can it be a secret destination if you know where we’re going?”
I considered protesting, but I could tell from the look on his face that he was enjoying this whole game, and the truth was, I was kind of into the mystique of it too. I leaned my head forward and accepted my blindfolded fate.
When the car finally came to a stop, Alex hopped out and took my hand so I could stumble out too. Even blindfolded, I could tell that we were on the water, because the wind was really biting into our faces. I could also tell that we weren’t alone—there was a buzz in the air that wasn’t just the snow’s electricity.
“When am I allowed to ask questions?” I said to Alex.
“Patience,” Alex said, reaching around the back of my head to untie the blindfold. “Not yet, not yet.”
Standing in front of me on a dock facing the East River were Camille, Morgan, Harper, Amory, and SBB dressed as herself.
Before I could ask questions, a small fleet of helicopters swooped down to land next to us on the dock. Their propellers were loud, but my friends were louder, and they all held out their hands and yelled, “SURPRISE!”