have to carry around a bouquet of flowers for our whole date.” He shook his head. “I really wasn’t thinking.”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t mind. Really.”
“No,” he said. “Give them to me. I’ll hold them in one hand and hold your hand in the other, and we’ll go and do our thing.”
“You really don’t have to,” I said, but he took the bouquet from me and held it in one hand and then he reached for my other hand.
“I hope you don’t mind that I’m holding your hand. I always feel like it’s a sweet gesture on a date.”
“It’s a very nice gesture,” I smiled. “I’m just surprised you didn’t want to hold something else,” I teased him.
“Oh yeah? Is there something else you’re offering?” he laughed.
“No, I don’t think so.” I blushed slightly at the look he was giving me, full of lust and desire.
“So you packed the picnic then?” he said. “And we’re going to have it in the cold?” He looked curious. “I mean, if that’s what you want to do fine, but I’ve never really heard about having a picnic in the wintertime.”
“Ah well, then you’ve never lived, Lucas. You’ve never lived.”
“Okay, well, show me the way.”
“Follow me,” I said. We walked slowly through the park, watching a couple of kids that were playing with a soccer ball to our right.
“Central Park is one of the most beautiful places in New York City,” Lucas said, as we walked. “In the summer, we should take a carriage ride.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” I shook my head. “I think it’s really inhumane to the horses, you know?”
“Yeah. You know, you’re right. I wasn’t even thinking about that,” he nodded. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”
“No worries. But we can still come to Central Park in the summer if you want.”
“Yeah, maybe we can fly some kites.”
“Yeah, I love flying kites. They’re so cool, though I always have a really hard time getting them up in the air.”
“Well, don’t worry. I’m super tall; I’ll be able to get it up in the air for you.”
“I’m sure you will, Lucas.” I led him down a small path that led to a different side of the park. We walked in companionable silence and I could feel a slight buzzing intensity as we made our way to the picnic.
We kept walking for about ten more minutes and then up ahead I saw the small tent set up with a reclaimed wood table and two chairs. There was a row of lights hanging around the tent and two waiters were standing by. I grinned as I looked over at him. “Surprise, surprise. Here’s a unique kind of picnic in the park.”
“Wow.” He looked shocked and amazed. “This is not what I was expecting.” He laughed. “This is fantastic.”
“You think so?” I said, as we headed over to the table. “I thought it would be a kind of cool, unique dining experience, you know? I love being in the park. But it’s winter so we don’t want to be sitting on the ground or anything, so when I saw a show about the tent picnics, I thought it would be a really cool idea.”
“I was wondering what you had up your sleeve when you said you’d planned a picnic in the park. I was a little nervous as I knew it would be a little bit cold and the ground would be uncomfortable. But this is amazing. I feel like this is something you’d see on a TV show or something.”
“Yeah. Actually, that’s where I got the idea. Have you ever seen the show, The Bachelor?”
“Um, I can’t say that I have.” He gave me a grin. “But I think you knew the answer to that already.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect you would’ve seen it. But basically one of the final dates that they had was on the beach, and it was a picnic on the beach. They had a little canopy set up with a table and two small chairs so that they didn’t have to get sand everywhere. I thought it would be a really cool idea to do something like that in Central Park, and I’m glad you like it.”
“Yeah, this is absolutely amazing.” He shook his head in awe. “Really, really cool. Thank you, Gemma.”
“Oh, you’re welcome. But don’t thank me just yet. Hopefully, the food is really good.”
“Oh, I don’t even care about the food,” he said. “The date’s already an A-plus in my book.”