Point of Retreat

behind her and untie the blindfold and remove it from her eyes. She opens them and looks around. Yep, she’s pissed.
     
    “What the hell, Will! You brought me on a date to your house again? Why do you always do this?”
     
    I laugh. “I’m sorry .” I throw the blindfold on the coffee table and put my arms around her. “It's just that some things don't need to be done on a stage. Some things need to be private. This is one of them.”
     
    “ What is one of them?” She looks nervous.
     
    I kiss her on the forehead. “Sit down, I’ll be right back.” I motion for her to sit on the couch, so she does.
     
    I go to my bedroom and reach into the closet and pull out her surprise. I stick it in my pocket and walk back to the living room. I turn on the stereo and set I & Love & You on repeat; it’s her favorite song.
     
    “You better tell me now, before I start crying again…does this have anything to do with my mom? Because you said the stars were the last thing.”
     
    “They were the last thing, I promise.” I sit down beside her on the couch and take her hand in mine, looking her straight in the eyes. “Lake, I have something to say and I want you to hear me out without interrupting me, okay?”
     
    “I’m not the one that interrupts,” she says, defensively.
     
    “See? Right there. Don’t do that.”
     
    She laughs. “Fine. Talk.”
     
    I start to say what I need to say, but something just doesn't feel right. I don't like how we're so formally seated. It's not us. I grab her leg and arm and pull her onto my lap. She straddles me, wrapping her legs around my back. She hangs her hands loosely around my neck and looks me in the eyes. I start to speak again, but I’m cut off.
     
    "Will?"
     
    "You're interrupting me, Lake."
     
    She gives me a half smile and brings her hands to my face. "I love you," she says. "Thank you for taking such good care of me."
     
    She's sidetracking me, but it's nice. I slowly slide my hands up her arms and rest them on her shoulders. "You would do the same for me, Lake. It's what we do."
     
    She smiles. A tear makes its way down her cheek, and she doesn't even try to hold it back. "Yep," she says. "It's what we do."
     
    I take her hands in mine and bring her palms to my lips and kiss them. “Lake, you mean the world to me. You brought so much to my life…right when I needed it the most. I wish you could know how hopeless I was before I met you, so you would realize just how much you've changed me."
     
    "I do know, Will. I was hopeless too."
     
    "You're interrupting again."
     
    She grins and shakes her head. "I don't care."
     
    I laugh and push her down onto the couch and climb on top of her. I press my hands into the couch beside her head to hold myself up. "Do you have any idea how much you frustrate me sometimes?"
     
    "Is that a rhetorical question? Because you just told me to stop interrupting you, so I'm not sure if you want me to answer it."
     
    “Oh my god, you’re impossible, Lake. I can’t even get two sentences out!”
     
    She laughs and grabs the collar of my shirt. "I'm listening," she whispers. "Promise."
     
    I start to believe her, but as soon as I begin to speak again she crushes her lips to mine. For a moment, I forget what my whole point to tonight is. I'm suddenly consumed by the taste of her mouth and the feel of her hands making their way up my back. I lower my body onto hers and let her sidetrack me some more. After several minutes of intense sidetracking, I'm somehow able to tear myself away from her grasp and sit back up on the couch.
     
    "Dammit, Lake. Are you gonna let me do this or not?” I take her hands and pull her up to a sitting position, then I get off the couch and kneel down on the floor in front of her.
     
    Until this moment, I don't think she had any clue what tonight was about. She looks at me with a mixture of emotions in her expression. Fear, hope, excitement, apprehension. I'm sharing those exact same emotions with her. I take her hands in mine and take a deep breath.
     
    "I told you the stars were the last gift from your mother, and technically they were."
     
    "Wait, technically ?" she says. She realizes she's interrupting me again when I glare at her. "Oh yeah, sorry." She puts her finger to her mouth, indicating she isn't going to say anything else.
     
    "Yes, technically . I said the stars were the last thing she gave us, and they were. But she gave me one star that isn't in the vase. She wanted me