On the Boulevard

“Vanessa?”

The girl looked at the dark-skinned man next to her as they stepped off the elevator.

“Let’s do something dumb tonight.”

She smiled at her best friend.

“Sure, Pete.”

He grinned before leading her into pounding music hall that was the hotel’s bar.

Vanessa watched him as he pulled her onto the dance floor. She saw how his short black hair caught the multi-colored lights and how his chocolate eyes flashed with the mischievousness that only she was privy to.

Oh, how she loved him. But of course, he would never know that.

The school years had flown by since the fourth grade when she moved to Honolulu. They had been inseparable through the years even with Peter’s tendency of being a wallflower while Vanessa flew around on her social wings.

A trip to Las Vegas seemed like the perfect way to celebrate both their college graduations and Peter’s budding musical career.

“Three patron shots, bartender.”

Vanessa snapped back to the present.

“Is that our dumb something?” she asked him, a grin slipping into place.

Peter grinned back her, his dimples greeting her.

“Not yet, Nessa.”

He took the shots from the bartender and handed one to Vanessa as they moved to sit at two of the stools.

“Yams.”

Vanessa smiled and clinked her glass against his.

“Yams.”

Yams. Their code for ‘you are mine silly.’

Vanessa tipped her glass back at the same time as Peter did. She held back a cough as the rough liquid burned her throat slightly.

“Sharp stuff that is.”

Peter laughed, agreeing.

“Forgot that you aren’t the biggest fan of tequila.”

She jokingly glared at him.

“Can I offer a dance to make up for it?”

Her eyes lit up automatically at the thought of dancing.

It was most definitely Vanessa’s true love. Her favorite songs all had a self-choreographed dance.

She pulled him onto the dance floor.

“Pete, you know this dance! You only learned it last week!”

He tripped over his own feet trying to keep up with her, but he just laughed with her.

“Nessa, slow down!”

“It’s a fast dance, Peter!”

Peter chuckled before stepping back and allowing her to do what she did best.

Her long hair swept back and forth against her back as her bright eyes closed in concentration.

Vanessa didn’t notice the guys start to flock around her.

Peter, on the other hand, saw it perfectly. He felt jealousy push into edges of his heart. She was his best friend, not theirs.

He downed his last shot and then moved onto the dance floor, ignoring the burn.

Vanessa felt hands on her hips and her eyes shot open to see Peter.

Peter concentrated on dancing along with her dance. He saw the other men move in to dance around her in his peripheral. He pulled her into him and kissed her forehead.

“Hey, baby. Miss me?” he asked over the music.

She froze for a second before she smiled at him. “Of course, Pete.”

Peter could see the other men still moving in. He quickly pulled her off the dance floor and towards the door. “Come on, Nessa! Las Vegas is waiting!”

“Aw, but Pete, I wanna keep dancing!” Vanessa whined, tugging on his arm playfully.

“But it’s our last night and I think I wanna marry you.”

Vanessa stopped in the front door of the hotel.

“What did you say?”

“I said that it’s our last night and we should find our something dumb!”

She studied his dimpled smile and dancing eyes.

“Okay, let’s go!” she finally said, shoving the door open and pulling him through it.

The duo made their way down to the boulevard.

“Look at all of the stars, Pete!”

They passed a little chapel and waved to the just married couple.

“Aw, that was cute!”

“The couple or the doves?”

“The doves, silly.”

She then pulled him over to a stretch of little shops along the boulevard.

After passing a few shops, Vanessa pointed excitedly into one of the windows.

“Pete! Look at this ring!”

There was a blue-stoned ring sitting in the display.

“It’s beautiful! Please, please buy it!”

He smiled at her.

“Sure thing, Nessa.”

In a few minutes, the ring was in his possession.

Peter shushed her before she could ask him for it. “Nessa.”

“Peter?”

He led her over to one of the trees along the wide avenue.

Her eyes were questioning, though excitably curious.

“I think I wanna marry you.”

______

Sunshine streamed in through the curtains of the hotel room.

Vanessa blinked her eyes in the bright light and regretted it immediately. Her brain was pounding against her skull. She groaned before trying to turn over.

There was a deeply tanned arm wrapped around her waist.

She heard a loud snore ring out from just above her head.

It was then that she realized that her head was being lifted up and down in a steady rhythm
as well as warm skin against her face.

Vanessa, very slowly, lifted her head to see her best friend’s face, sleeping peacefully.

“Pete. Peter. Bruno. Yams,” she whispered softly, knowing his hangover was going to be
worse than hers.

Peter shifted slightly before opening his eyes.

“Sunlight burns.”

“You said it, Pete.”

He froze for a moment before looking down at her.

“Vanessa?”

“Who else would it be, Yams?”

She turned over so she was lying next to him, but her hand and cheek still rest on his chest with his arm still around her.

“Nessa, look at your left hand, baby.”

Vanessa lifted her hand and immediately saw the blue-stoned ring.

“Pete, did we get married?”

His silence gave me the answer we were both thinking.

“Well, this will be interesting to explain to the fam.”

As much as she loved him, Vanessa couldn’t contemplate telling her parents that at age twenty-one, she was married to her best friend. In Vegas no less!

There was a long silence that Peter broke.

“If you wanna break up, it’s cool, Nessa.”

His whisper betrayed his attempt at smoothness. He just sounded sad and broken.

Vanessa twisted in his arms and looking into his soulful chocolate eyes. She watched him for a moment before smiling.

“We never found our something dumb last night, did we?"