Zalfie - How to Live

20. The Unpleasant Picnic

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15 years ago

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On April 27th, it was Zoe and my four-month anniversary.

Admittedly, it probably didn't seem like too much of a big deal to most other people, but both her and I were totally and completely excited.

You see, the longest she had ever been with a guy was three weeks. The longest she'd gone without smoking was three days. The longest she'd gone without stripping was two months.

Yet, in the four months since we'd been "official" she hadn't done any of the above. Four months without sleeping around, smoking, not eating ... Four months that had been shockingly easy, she admitted to me one afternoon when Troye, Tyler and I had bought a few cupcakes to celebrate.

However, I wanted to doing something *truly* special for our four-month anniversary so I got together a small picnic and picked Zoe up.

She was looking absolutely beautiful in a simple black skin-tight dress and her hair all on one side.

She climbed into Tyler's truck (he had begrudgingly lent it to me) and immediately demanded to know what we were doing.

I shook my head with a smile.

"Oh my god, you're going to kidnap me aren't you?" she said playfully.

"Dammit! How did you guess?" I asked, hitting my fist against the wheel.

She began to laugh and I felt my own face relax into a grin, pleased, as usual, to have been the source of her happiness.

"We're going to celebrate our anniversary," I told her, taking my eyes off the road to look at her.

She was still looking straight out the windshield, her eyes alight with excitement and her face in that crooked smirk.

I twisted the wheel, and could feel the excitement in my stomach mount. We were so close ...

Tonight was going to be perfect. There was no way it could go wrong.

Or at least I didn't think it could.

How wrong I was.

•••

We arrived at the picnic place and I was slightly amazed to see that everything looked exactly the way it had when I had set it all up a half an hour ago.

"Alfie," Zoe gasped as she stepped out of the car and saw the display.

A picnic blanket (yes, red and white striped) sat atop an extremely tall hill under a tree, overlooking the city. A wooden basket sat on that and some champagne was in the very middle of the blanket.

"This is ... " Zoe trailed off.

For the very first time, possibly in her entire existence, Zoe Sugg was at a complete loss for words.

And then, completely unexpectedly, she burst into tears.

Startled, I put my arm around her shoulders. She leaned into my body before putting her little face against my shirt and making it damp.

"I--I'm sorry?" I said, the apology coming out as more of a question than statement as I put my arms around her, attempting to offer some comfort.

Zoe began to laugh, while still sobbing, causing her to hiccup. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, leaning against my arms so that she could look up at me but wasn't out of my grasp. "This is amazing."

"Then why are you crying?" I asked, at a total loss.

"I--I dunno," Zoe hiccuped. "It--it's just so *nice*."