Echo

Nicole:

Today was Tyler's birthday and we had a surprise party planned for him. I told him we were going to dinner at his favorite local restaurant to celebrate a great season so far. We were dressed and ready to go when Ty wanted to change the plans. "Nicole, we don't have to go. You don't have to take me to some nice dinner for my birthday. We could just stay in." "No, I want to do this really. Plus I already made reservations so we have to go."

I grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door before he could give me a response. We got to the restaurant and Tyler seemed a bit confused as to why there was no one else there. We walked inside and everyone jumped out and yelled surprise, and he was definitely surprised. I know the whole 'surprise' thing is corny, but I knew Ty would get a kick out of it.

"Wow, Nicole you put all this together?" "Yup, well some of the guys helped out too, but it was mainly me." Tyler laughed and walked up to some of his teammates and I went over to a few of their girlfriends. "Well Nicole, you pulled it off." "I know, thank you guys so much for helping with decorations and all that." "What kind of friends would we be if we didn't help? "Um, not very good ones?" We all laughed.

"Tyler seemed really shocked." "Yeah he did. He tried to get me to stay home instead of going out and I was like what! But I got him out of the house." I looked over at Tyler laughing with his teammates. "You really love him don't you Nicole?" "Yeah, and I mean you guys no everything that he has been through and I feel terrible that I don't know what it's like for him. And after the horrible fight with his dad, I just feel like now I really don't want to let him go."

All the girls seemed a little sad now, I felt like crying. "Aw, Nicole this is supposed to be a happy night." "Yeah, don't make us cry!" We all laughed and I began to feel like Tyler doesn't really know that care this much about him.

Milan Lucic had brought his guitar with him in case anyone wanted to go up on the small stage and play or sing something. I asked him if he would play something and sing with me. He agreed and we took the stage. "Hi guys. Well, Ty, this one is for you. I love you." The crowd cheered and Tyler smiled.

I began singing and Ty's smile faded. I knew he was really listening to the song, which is what I wanted. This song really explained our relationship and what we've been through, it was perfect. I looked at Milan a few times and he just smiled. Everyone was smiling, and all the guys were holding onto their girlfriends, it was sweet. I felt like I was in a high school musical movie, once again I'm being corny for Tyler. Tyler looked like he had tears in his eyes, which was going to make me cry.

Since the mic was cordless, I took it off the stand and walked through the small crowd. I walked up to Tyler and took his hand. I sang the chorus looking right into Tyler's eyes while he rested his forehead on mine. We stood there and it felt like time was frozen, I liked that. I walked with him back to the stage. He and I started slow dancing while I sang.

It made the crowd start dancing too. It was like we turned this party into a love fest or something.Ty sat on the stool and I sat on his lap. Milan just looked at us and smiled. We rocked back with our small crowd as the song finished. I gave Tyler a kiss and everyone cheered.

As we left the stage, Tyler took me outside to talk. I was nervous to hear what he thought and was going to say,but I had a good feeling.