Paper Planes

“Hello Padma.”

“Hey, Tucker,” I said. My breath for some unknown reason was hitched in my throat.

“Want to go out tonight?” he asked.

“Sure. Where would you like to go?”

He lost all apprehension in his voice. His body language loosened up, and he said, “It’s a surprise. Dress warmly.”

“When would you like to go?”

He looked at his watch, then looked outside. “Right now.”

I took off my light jacket and put on a warmer one, along with the gloves and scarf I had taken as my own. Tucker stood next to me and did the same. I caught him staring at me out of the corner of his eye, but decided not to acknowledge it.

We got in the car and he took the familiar path to the city.

The tension between us loosened up and we started talking as we normally would. When we arrived downtown, he made a few turns that he had never done before with me in the car. He parked, and then we held hands as we walked.

“So, really, where are we going?”

“I just wanted to show you Christmas before we left.”

I looked at him and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Well, suburbs are good for decorations, but in the city, people get really inventive,” he started. “As you see on the left, there is a bike tire, most likely the only one that was on their bicycle, being used as a wreath. Pretty light, though.”

We continued the tour of the city. Some of the decorations were very elegant. Some were strange.

“And there is Santa hanging by his feet from the balcony…” Tucker said. “Sad day.”

I laughed. “This is really nice,” I said. He stopped and turned to me. My smile felt weird. My face was frozen and I felt like I was pulling apart thick taffy between my teeth just to smile a little bit. I stared into his eyes, and a smile grew on his face. I leaned up and kissed his cheek.

He laughed. We were no longer two people about to have a green card wedding. It was a date. A real date. And the fact that we were getting married in four days didn’t cross my mind.

“Come on. Have you ever been ice-skating?”

I shook my head. “Never. It seems difficult and painful.”

“It’s not bad. There’s an ice-skating rink outside right now. It’s right by this huge Christmas tree. It’ll be fun.”

I smiled. “Alright.”

So we walked a few blocks to get there, then rented some skates. “It’ll be difficult at first, but it’s really not hard. Just put your feet at an angle, like this. Push with this foot, glide with this foot. I’ll be right here holding on.”

He was right! It took me a little while, but I got the hang of it. “So where did you learn to skate?”

“Hockey. I wanted to be a hockey player.”

I giggled. “Aren’t you a little small?”

“Yeah. I play video games for a living. I work on computers. I’m a nerd. It was mostly just years of me getting the hell beaten out of me.”

I laughed. “That’s awful!”

“Yeah, but I can do this,” he said, turning around and pulling me while he skated backwards. “And I got to meet some of the Rangers.”

“The Rangers?”

“They’re a hockey team. We’ll have to go to a hockey game one day. It’s a lot more interesting than football, I promise.”

I laughed. “Okay. I didn’t know you played hockey.”

“My parents kept me busy when I was little. Music, sports, the works. And now I do what most kids do instead of doing those things.”

“Do you like doing it?”

“It’s a little stressful sometimes, but I really do enjoy it.”

“That’s nice then. So is today. And Christmas. Even if it is cold.”

He laughed. He seemed to get a little serious. He tensed up a little, then screeched to a halt, sending ice flying from his skates.

“Padma,” he started, “I…” He stopped. He sighed. My heart fell into a deep dark pit in my stomach. “You’re frustrating.” I felt like crying. I should have known this wasn’t a date. “You’re difficult to read. I never know whether you like me as a friend, or as more than a friend, or even like me at all. Sometimes I think that you just do things to make me happy.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. “But I love that. And I love how every time I show you something new, your eyes light up. Even if it’s something that you would never ever want to do, you go through with it. You’re never afraid. Or at least you never show it. You’re nice, and confusing, and you always try. You’re beautiful and you make me so happy just to be alive and around you.” I bit my lip, trying to hold back a smile. “Padma,” he set, taking his hands out of mine, “I love you.” He got down on one knee and pulled a box out of his pocket. He opened it up to reveal my engagement ring that I must have never taken back after our fight. “Will you marry me?”

And that’s the story of Tucker and Padma. That’s how we fell in love.