The dream haunted me all day but I managed to quell its anger by distracting myself with the thought of the impending surprise. What was it going to be?

Maybe what made me this excited and anxious was the fact that I never really had anyone in my life do something like this for me. Luca always remembered my birthday, yes, but he always asked me what I wanted in advance so it wasn’t the same. With Kyle I didn’t know exactly what was coming.

The night was littered with thick clouds that shielded the beautiful little trinkets that usually gleamed all over it. I knew my way to the stream now like the back of my hand, no matter how dark it was, even with my eyes closed. My incredible speed was like a second set of eyes, I didn’t have to worry about a lot, all I needed to do was to embrace it and let it become the bigger part of me in that moment. I was no longer the driver or someone who was learning, I was the passenger.

The cool air blasted me on the face in a way that it never did before and the silence was a bit too eerie. I was truly alone there. No sight of Kyle anywhere—although he had his tricks so it was hard to tell whether he was hiding in plain sight or just not there.

I thought about calling out his name but the thought of someone else eavesdropping got to me. I was safe within the thick cover of the trees but I could not take any chances. The plan was that we’d meet here and head to his house together. I wasn’t going to just show up there without warning, his parents would hear or see me.

‘You came.’

He completely startled me as his voice abruptly emerged from the shadows.

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‘Uh, y-yeah,’ I replied hesitantly.

‘You sound so nervous.’

It was now less than thirty minutes to midnight and the stream was really underwhelming without the moon and stars to light it up. The little streaks of light that came from the other side did not make a difference.

‘Well, I’m standing in the dark and still wondering what this surprise is,’ I replied.

‘Let’s go find out,’ he suggested.

His hand was held out to me as he expected mine to fall into it. It was warm despite the unexpected cold weather tonight.

As we were about to leave that nagging feeling came over me again, that awful dream that had been haunting me all day and now it couldn’t be ignored. I had to embrace it.

‘Kyle, before we go I have something to say,’ I started.

His eyes were glued to mine, focused and unmoving, waiting for me to continue.

‘Tell me,’ he replied softly.

‘I have to be honest with you. All this time I didn’t really remember what I—that day. Everything that happened, you know. Until last night.’

I couldn’t even look at him any longer and I heard him sigh and look away. The warmth that was his right hand in mine faded away.

‘What happened last night?’ he asked.

‘I had this really vivid dream and it all just came back to me, how you—what I did…’

‘It was a mistake, Jeff. Please don’t think about that now,’ he replied.

He held out his hand like before, but this time he gripped mine firmly and I did not want him to let go again and thankfully he didn’t.

‘I want to feel what you feel when you run,’ he said.

‘Don’t t let go,’ I replied.

It felt amazing running with his hand in mine, side by side. It felt like the world had stopped around us, like everything was under my spell. I couldn’t go as fast as I usually did, melt into the scene too much. I didn’t want to risk it because I didn’t know what would happen to him. I couldn't put him in danger again.

‘That was exhilarating!’ he said as he fell onto his bed.

‘That’s not even as fast as I usually go though,’ I confessed.

This was it. Time for the highly teased surprise. I didn’t want to wait any longer or else the curiosity would just engulf me. Like before, Kyle started rummaging through his closet while I sat there and waited. He brought out a well wrapped box with a large purple ribbon on it then he placed it carefully on the bed. I couldn’t tell whether or not it was heavy by just looking.

‘Well, are you just gonna sit there?’ he asked.

He didn’t need to tell me twice. Within a millisecond I’d already tugged at the silky ribbon and opened the box to reveal what was inside. The suspense was killing me and Kyle was just there sitting beside me to probably gauge my reaction to whatever it is that was sitting in front of me.