He looked over at Megan, a bright smile still plastered on her face, but her eyes were full of indecision as she looked over at him. It was almost like she was having a war of words internally. She looked down at his arm as she stumbled slightly over her next step. Declan had to fight himself to keep from reaching out to her and instead just lifted his elbow in offer. He saw her tentatively reach out her hand before finally grabbing ahold of his arm. He heard the loud exhale of breath leave her as she relaxed, and he couldn’t help the warm feelings that stirred inside him at her simple touch.
After a few minutes of getting their legs to cooperate, they started skating normally, but Megan kept her hand on Declan’s arm for a little longer. He truly liked it; he liked her touching him, freely.
“Okay, so, as friends, tell me about yourself,” Megan asked.
“What do you want to know?”
“Anything, everything? I don’t know. How’s your family? How were you when you were a little boy? What do you do on Friday nights?” she teased.
“Hmm, okay. Well, my family is awesome. My mom was a stay-at-home mom and took care of me and my brother. I was her baby, so she let me do pretty much anything I wanted. Dad is a lawyer and pretty rough around the edges, but he cares about me and even calls every week to check on me. Don’t really know too many dads that do that.”
“Brother?” she asked.
“Yeah, Lucas,” he said softly, but he didn’t elaborate. Instead, he continued answering her previous slew of questions. “I was actually a really good little boy. I did everything my parents asked, except I refused to play piano. My mom thought it would be good for my discipline, and she tried to put me in lessons. It took exactly two times of me sulking while the teacher banged away on the keys before she gave up. I guess I did get into trouble for normal kid stuff like breaking a dish or tracking in mud. I can’t really remember anything crazy that stands out, not when I was a kid, at least. When I was in high school, though, whew. I was out of control, but I won’t get into that.”
“Oh, no you don’t. Now I’m curious.”
“I rebelled, got with the wrong crowd, did some things I shouldn’t have.” He gave her a true answer. It didn’t mean he didn’t downplay it as much as humanly possible. He made it seem like he was just a normal teenager acting out against his parents when he knew it was more than that, so much more. But he wasn’t sharing that with her. Oh no, he wasn’t going to share that ever, period.
“And your last question. What do I do on Friday nights…hmm? It depends, I guess. Sometimes, I see my parents. But, more often than not, I’m pretty beat from the work week and I tend to stay in. I do go out occasionally, though, if there is something to do.”
“So pretty much like me,” Megan mused.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“That’s good.”
“Why is that good?” Declan asked, completely confused.
“Because if you stay in on a Friday night, it makes it okay that I do too.”
“Meg, I hate to break it to you, but most people with day jobs and busy weeks are pretty boring when Friday rolls around. That’s not just you and me.” He chuckled.
“But Friday nights are always packed any place you try to go. We’re clearly in the minority.”
“You know what, you’re right,” he stated
“Wait, what?” she asked.
“We’re going out next Friday!” he exclaimed.
“No, Dec, that’s not what I was trying to imply. I just meant that-”
He cut her off. “I know what you meant. It’s back to this normal stuff you keep thinking about, that if there was someone who didn’t fear intimacy out there, and they didn’t go out then at least that is something normal about you. That’s the wrong thinking, Meg, but you were right. Friday nights are meant for going out, so that’s what we’re going to do. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
“Did you really just say that?” Megan laughed.
“If I say yes, will you agree to hang out with me next Friday?” he teased.
She pretended to think for a minute before finally nodding while giggling. “Yeah,” she said quietly before saying it louder again. “Yeah, I need to do this,” she said almost to herself more than Declan.
“Perfect.” Declan smiled.
They spent about another twenty minutes skating and chatting about nothing in particular. The ride back was in comfortable silence, and when they got back to his office, he walked her to her car.
“Thanks for coming today,” Declan told Megan as she climbed into her car.