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“You’re usually more sour when you lose,” Feix teased as he wrapped her scarf more securely around her face.
Annette’s voice was muffled by the thick cotton as she replied, “It’s your birthday, I can let you win one day of the year without being too competitive about it.”
That was a two-pronged lie.
First, Annette certainly didn’t ‘let’ Felix win. There was no universe where her clumsy self would throw knives better than Felix. But hey, that meant she chose well for his birthday date activity, right?
Second and more importantly, Annette didn’t have time to be indignant considering she was more pleasantly engaged watching the contours of his back and arms fluidly shift with each throw.
It wasn’t her fault her boyfriend chose to wear a tight-fitting black turtleneck during a physical activity–not that she warned him beforehand; that would ruin the surprise!
“I can’t promise to be as nice on your birthday,” Felix laughed, opening the door for her.
A gust of frigid wind greeted them and the pair stepped out into the night. Annette grabbed Felix’s gloved hand, and they hurried to her car.
The decade-old light blue car came into view. Annette’s hand fumbled in her purse, praying she remembered to put the key in its designated pocket with her anticipation for the first part of their date.
“Aha!” She exclaimed, finding the key and jamming it into its slot to unlock the car.
Annette dived into her seat and quickly started the ignition and maxed out the heater. The car spluttered in protest, the gurgling sounds coming out of the heating vents not the least bit reassuring for the vehicle’s expected life expectancy.
“You’re gonna have to let your car go,” Felix said from the passenger seat, bringing up a perpetual debate between them.
“I am not selling Bubbles,” Annette proclaimed. “We’re together until the very end, whichever of us dies first.”
Felix’s nose wrinkled. “That’s morbid.”
“It’s true love,” she countered.
In her rush to escape the cold, Annette hadn’t realized her predicament. She had been lucky to find a wide space to parallel park into earlier, but since then new cars had come and parked so close she was practically bumper to bumper with the vehicles in front of and behind her.
How was she going to get her car out of the tightest parking spot she’d ever faced in her few years of driving? Annette cast a nervous glance towards Felix as she considered her options.
Her usual go-to-strategy was to jump out of the car with every inch she moved to make sure she still had room and wouldn’t hit the car. But now was way too cold and she didn’t want Felix to make fun of her driving.
Annette pressed the pedal tentatively. The car didn’t budge, and she belatedly realized she forgot to shift the car to ‘Drive.’
“You can do it Annie,” she whispered to herself as she placed a determined hand on the gear shift.
“Annette?”
She jumped in her spot.
“Need help?”
Annette pursed her lips. “I’m perfectly capable.”
“You’ve been sitting like that for a minute.”
“I have?” Her brows furrowed. Perhaps her fear of paying for car repairs she couldn’t afford paralyzed her.
Felix’s hand drifted to the door’s handle. “Let’s switch, I can get it out.”
“No!” Annette exclaimed a little too loudly.
A creeping sense of failure crawled over her. Felix always did so much for her, she wanted to do everything for his birthday, including driving him to wherever she planned. She folded into herself, abashed. “I just wanted to do this for you,” she confessed quietly.
Felix chuckled, giving her such a soft smile it transformed his face. “You already do too much, Nette, you make it hard to be a good boyfriend.”
“You’re the best boyfriend!” Annette cried in return, his affectionate words wrapping her up in a warm hug. “Come on, let’s get Bubbles out of this spot so we can eat something yummy.”
Felix’s eyes narrowed, he still didn’t know where they were going for dinner. Annette’s response was a cheeky smile, she wouldn’t let him know she got a reservation at his favorite steakhouse until they got there.
They switched spots. Felix was forced to push her chair back before being able to get in while Annette rubbed her arms to dispel the chill that settled in her bones from the few seconds back outside.
“Be careful with her,” she warned.
“What made you decide the car is a girl?”
“It’s a feeling, Felix. An affinity.”
Her boyfriend scoffed. “It’s a car.”
Any further debate from Annette was snuffed out as Felix extended one arm to grab onto the headrest behind her as he looked back. He had taken his jacket off earlier, and Anette’s gaze was level with the veins that snaked down his arm. Felix only needed to back up twice to deftly pull them out, turning the wheel one-handed.
“Where are we going?” Felix asked.
The words didn’t register in Annette’s brain as a million questions spun through her brain. How did Felix make driving attractive? Why was her brain a ball of mush just from the smooth, circular movements of his toned forearm? Why did she suddenly want to jump his bones?
That–and the knife throwing earlier–was certainly to blame for Annette’s subsequent harebrained actions.
She anchored herself by grabbing the arm that was still holding her headrest–quite convenient, truly–as she practically pounced at him across the console, kissing Felix’s question away.
Her car park-savior was just as enthusiastic, his hands flying to her waist to steady her as he brought her closer. Felix hummed in approval as her hands dug into his hair, and Annette would rather remain like this, heated up by Felix’s warmth, than ever leave the car again.
A loud siren blared, and Annette startled, hitting her head against the car’s roof as she scrambled back to her seat. “Oh, the car’s in the middle of the road. Are we going to get a ticket?”
There was to be no interrogation or arrest–an ambulance passed by them, and the sound of its sirens faded away.
The pair locked eyes before bursting out into laughter.
“I thought it was the police,” she exclaimed.
“Me too,” Felix agreed before placing his hands on the wheel. “So, where to?”
“Nuh uh, Felix. You won’t know till we get there. Thank you for getting Bubbles out safely but now it’s my turn to drive.”
Annette revelled at how Felix’s face lit up once they reached the restaurant, and Felix certainly enjoyed his birthday steak.