“Then that’s what you shall be, Mr. Gaston,” she whispered into my lips. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her tightly against my body as I ran my fingers through her hair and kissed her harder. I could feel Emily’s hands flat against my chest as we kissed more deeply.
“Jesus, get a room, you two!” a guy dressed in a Celtics jacket yelled as he passed us.
“Jealous?” I shot back, before Emily punched my shoulder and shushed me. When I looked down at her again, she was giggling.
“Now you really are my boyfriend,” she laughed. “Defending my honor!”
“Your honor?” I said with a lopsided grin. “Lady, I was lording it over that jackass!”
Emily dissolved into a fit of laughter as she took my hand and pulled me toward the stadium. Once inside, we bought beers and headed to our seats. My dad had sprung for some incredibly good seats, and as the teams took the floor to warm up, Emily went through the lineup and explained the odds on the Celtics winning. I listened intently and nodded despite the fact that I had no idea what she was talking about.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” Emily asked.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?” she replied.
“Never mind,” I said, smiling as I leaned down and kissed her. The arena erupted in cheers, and when I looked up, I saw that Emily and I had been caught by the Kiss Cam. We were up on the arena's screens, encircled by hearts and flowers as the crowd cheered. Emily leaned back and laughed as I went in for a second kiss, and the crowd went wild.
Emily’s intense interest in basketball was contagious, and by the second quarter, I was cheering as loudly as she was. The Celtics took the lead, and by halftime, they were ahead by a very comfortable margin as they exited to the locker room. While Emily went to the bathroom, I looked around the arena, wishing I could take Emily somewhere more private.
“You okay?” she said, as she returned to her seat.
“Yeah, fine. Why?”
“You looked like you were lost in thought,” she said, as she handed me a beer. “I hope it was a good one.”
“Definitely,” I said with a grin that she immediately recognized and returned.
“You know, I was wondering…” Emily said, as she leaned toward me and lowered her voice.
“What were you wondering?” I said, as the teams began to take the floor.
“I was wondering if we really need to stay for the second half,” Emily said, as she looked up at me, flashing a suggestive grin. “I mean, they’ve got this in the bag, you know?”
“Oh, do they?” I said, grinning at her
“Mmm hmm,” she nodded. “I just think our time could be better spent…elsewhere.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” I said, as I kissed her lips then set my beer on the ground and reached for my coat.
We quickly made it out of the arena and back to the car, where we stopped to make out like a couple of high school kids before Emily put the car into drive and headed back to Waltham. Neither one of us spoke the entire drive. Instead, Emily turned up the radio, and we sang every classic rock song that the DJ played. A half hour later, we pulled up in front of her house.
“Emily…” I said, with my hand on the door.
“Inside, now,” she replied, as she quickly pushed open the car door and got out. I wasn’t going to argue with her, so I followed her up the walk and into the house.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Emily
I gasped when we stepped inside the front door, and I saw the living room lit up by strands of tiny white lights draped across the top of the curtain rods. On the coffee table was an enormous bouquet of long-stemmed red roses, and next to it was a box wrapped in shiny red paper with a big white bow on top.
“Blake?” I whispered, as I looked around the room. “What on earth is all this?”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Teach,” he smiled, as he pulled me to him and kissed me softly.
“How on earth did you do this?” I asked, confused about how he’d managed to get the house decorated without me knowing.