Chapter Seventy-Nine
Zack's Point of View
Annabelle and I walked to my car, hand in hand, her head leaned all the way back, staring up at the star filled sky. "It's so beautiful out tonight," she said softly. I didn't say anything back. We reached the car and I began to dig around in my pocket for my keys when Annabelle said, "Let's not go home right away. Let's go for a walk." She had that glint in her eye I knew too well; she wanted an adventure.
I looked up to Aiden and Colleen's house, the living room and kitchen the only rooms lit as they cleaned up after the dinner, together. They looked happy. I looked back to Annabelle, who stood across me in the dark, her pale skin shining against the night sky. "Okay," I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. Annabelle smiled and wrapped her hand around my upper arm.
"Lead the way," I told her with a nod of my head. She pulled me forward and we headed down an unfamilar street. No one was out, given the late hour. All our friends had already left, some planning on continuing the night, others preparing to call it a night. Annabelle's heels clicking on the sidewalk were basically the only sound besides a dog barking a few blocks over and the low hum of the summer cicadas.
"So...do you think you're ready to be an uncle?" I sighed and stared straight ahead as I answered, "I don't know. I mean, I guess I'll have to be, in six months." Annabelle laughed softly and held on tighter to my arm. "I hope it's a girl," she said after a few moments of silence. I looked down at her and asked, "Why?" She sighed, brushed her hair out of her face with her free hand, then answered, "I don't know, it's just easier for me to picture Aiden and Colleen holding a little baby girl. While you were on the back porch with Aiden, Colleen told me that if it's a girl, she wants to name her Amelia. Isn't that beautiful?"
I agreed, and we reached the end of a street that was shaped like a T. I really didn't know how long we'd been walking, or how far we were from my car that was still parked at Aiden and Colleen's. Across from this street was a small playground, with only two swings, a slide, a few picnic tables, and a sandbox. Annabelle gasped at the sight of it. "Zack! Let's go swing!" With that, she ripped off her heels and held them in her hands as she dashed across the street, not bothering to even check to see if a car was coming, which there thankfully wasn't.
I jogged after her, and took off my jacket and tie before taking the swing next to her. We swang (is that the right past tense form of swing?) slowly side by side for a few minutes in silence until Annabelle said, "Swinging was my favorite thing when I was little. My dad would always push me, and I'd laugh because I was actually taller than him for once." I didn't know what to say, so I got up and began to push her. "Higher!" she screeched, giggling. I laughed and pushed her with all my force, which made her almost fly into the nearest maple tree. I thought she'd be mad at me for that, but she just laughed louder.
I pushed a few more times before she said, "Houston, bring me back to Earth," so I slowed her down before grabbing one of the ropes of the swing and stopping her. We were nose to nose, her in the swing, me leaning down in front of her. "Thanks for that," she whispered. "Don't mention it," I whispered back before kissing her. A cool breeze blew through the playground as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
We kissed for awhile, and when we pulled away for air she said, "Let's go lay in the grass and look at the stars." She stood up and grabbed my hand, then led me to the middle of the playground and laid down on her back in the grass. When I just stood there, awkwardly, she patted the ground next to her. "C'mon, lay down next to me." So I did exactly that. She took my hand as her eyes roamed the sky and said, "This is nice." I turned my head and looked at her beautiful face. "Yeah, it is."