Sneaky Boy

We walked to church today, up the hill in the hot sun, with my bright yellow shoes and his plaid red tie. Holding hands. We walked up the hill.

And I remembered what today was. One year and one day ago, Joe held my hand for the first time. It was while watching Thor. Super romantic, right? But I was giddy as heck watching that movie. The story I want to tell you today is not the story of holding hands during Thor, it's the story of the day before.

When we held hands the first time. What? I thought you said you held hands the next day! That's true, I did. We held hands for a few hours that night. But the day before we held hands for a few minutes. And that was... shocking... hahaha. It's a pun. You'll get it at the end.

He texted me on a very hot day, asking if I'd ever been to Nickelcade. HECK YES. I loved that place when I was a kid! Joe said he'd been thinking of good places to go for inside dates, and decided that an arcade would be a good place to go.

We walked in with a little red solo cup full of nickels and got to work. Dance dance? Check. Air hockey? Check. We looked at all the old games, Pac Man and stuff like that. We rounded a corner and there we found the most ridiculous game.

It was one of those shocking games. With two rods that you hold on to, you know those? They "electrocute" you, but really they just vibrate really hard and buzz your hands. It had a big sign on it that said for added fun, hold hands with someone holding another rod! It adds extra electricity!

Joe raised his eyebrows at me and tipped his head towards it. "Wanna try this?"

*Gulp* "Holding hands?" Please don't let him see me blush, please don't let him see me blush...

"Yeah?"

"Hehe... ok!" Oh gosh... did my voice just crack? What am I.... 13 years old... 

And so we did. We held hands. And we had to hold on pretty tight! Apparently! That's what the sign said! But when the machine started up, there was no choice, because even though it didn't really electrocute you, it did shake every fiber of your being.

And then it was over. And he let go of my hand.

"That was fun."

"Haha.. yep! Sure was..."

And he got a silly look in my eye and asked me if we wanted to do it again.

And that is when I realized that maybe he liked me.