Together Forever

A couple of days before my twentieth birthday, I got back home. With Blue by my side. 

Where she belonged.

Within minutes, I looked at her and felt compelled: “Will you move in with me?” She nodded, an ecstatic smile beaming from her beautiful face. A round of kisses signed our contract.

I called the facility and asked them to send her things. Bobbi and Daniel brought them. Their shifts had finished so they stayed a while, and we all got silly, enjoying some karaoke – something I never imagined Daniel ever doing.

After they left, we cuddled up together on the couch. I was never so happy to be silent, totally silent, just focusing everything I had on Blue: all my senses on her, in that moment. She always made time stop for me.

As the night moved into morning, we gave to each other the full force of our love: unconstrained, overpowering.

We awoke at the same time, intertwined in each other, eyes locking just as right from our start. In that moment, Blue was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, or ever would see – I just knew it.

Eventually, we shared the spongy breakfast. “Adem, this isn’t bad – but you’ve a lot to learn! You need domesticating, babe!”

Blue said we needed to go shopping – shopping together for the first time! So, we autotaxi’d to a mall that Blue used to go to quite a lot, often by herself as she had been separated from her school friends since coming to care for me two years ago. “Maybe you’ll meet them soon,” she mused while buying essentials and “Girl things that I probably wouldn’t know about”.

We were smiled at and waved at by pretty much everyone that saw us. People stopped to shake our hands, to politely take our pictures, and I loved that they were so sweet to Blue.

“Better get used to this, Blue!” She smiled, face a little red. “I’ll try. It’s just new for me.”

We saw a boutique with lots of cool, classy dresses. “Tomorrow’s your birthday. Pick one for me to wear for you!” So, I did, a lovely off the shoulder number in cyan and cornflower, classy and elegant, with strappy shoes to match. “Ah, but these are expensive!” I smiled at her. “No – you can’t pay for these yourself, it’s your birthday! I’ve been saving my pay for…a long time.” Her stubbornness was funny, in the face of the reality that we were okay for money (which I had stopped feeling guilty about: I had vowed to keep earning it). “Okay, let’s go halves - on the dress. I’m getting you the shoes, Miss Zetterström. Or no dice.” She relented and seemed relieved for some reason. My girlfriend’s so adorable.

I remembered that I couldn’t go shopping for too long without pitstops. We paused for something resembling iced frappuccinos. Blue looked at me like there was something she needed to tell me. She took my left hand, studying it like she was evaluating my fingers. She suddenly stood up, like she had a mission to complete.

“I…look, my stomach is off, so…I might be a while, ok?”

I felt suspicious but nodded.

I spent the waiting time writing messages to Robbie about the band. Steph was being pestered to get Blue into the studio – we’d take time to think about that. I then saw the already-online photos of ‘The Perfect Couple’ trending, and the good-natured gossip was escalating: ‘First comes love’ and ‘Blue Girl Breaks Adem Admirer’s Hearts.’ The 2118-style comments were really sweet. ‘They look like they belong together,’ ‘She saved him, and he saved her, but love saves us all’ and so on. Finally, I read: ‘She’s so lucky.’

If only they knew that I was the lucky one. Every second of every minute I was realising, in this wonderful world, yes: it was worth all the pain. And always would be.

Blue reappeared with a mysterious little bag that she wouldn’t talk about.

Her stomach was now fine, so we went to her favourite eatery: Mount Fuji. As we approached, we saw a red panda coming towards us. A five-foot-tall robotic red panda.

With snakes as hair.

And antlers.

“Hiss bark. I am –”

“– Not today!” I replied, and we entered the eatery. It wasn’t much to look at.

Blue saw my expression and stopped me. “Oh, just prepare to be amazed.” A waiter appeared, and she ordered two tonkotsu ramen, gyoza and Millipede Megaquakes.

“I’ve never had –”

“– Well, this will be fun then!”

“I can’t use chopsticks!”

She clapped her hands, steepling them together. “Can I video this, then?”

I shook my head and insisted on cutlery.

We slurped up the tonkotsu with gusto. It was delicious. I felt guilty for calling it over-priced potted noodles. Then we shared a Matcha Mille Crepe Cake, feeding each other, which caused a lot of people to smile happily at our closeness. I bet that’s going online.

Blue sighed contentedly. “I have a lot of happy memories of this place. Now, I have one more.”

I was full to burst, but Blue wanted to drag me round some more places, ones that she used to drift to by herself. We went to a retro arcade, which I loved. An art boutique where students would sketch you for peanuts, in whatever style you chose (they did Blue in Film Noir for me, which was utterly brilliant) and a toy shop, where she showed me a famous nursing range. “That’s really how it all started for me!” She still had her original sets. I wanted to see her playing with them one day.

“It’s so much better with you here with me!” she said, pulling me closer as we walked towards the autotaxis. I had such a wonderful time with my Blue.

We spent another sweet night curled up together.

Blue woke me up with a massive birthday kiss, and said she had a special present for me later. I wanted to know more and kept questioning her playfully while we made breakfast together. She ended up threatening to brand me with a potato masher. “What’s one of these anyway?” she queried. “Who mashes potatoes in 2118?” She had a lot to learn about having an Irish boyfriend.

We ate a much better breakfast of almond milk porridge with chopped berries. “We’re having a buffet down there later, so no Millipede Megaquake for you yet!” In the news, The Sect were saying something about holding an open forum in Makime City on the 29th. I rang Steph, who was working. “I’m thinking of attending that forum, in a listening capacity.” Steph had the bulletin interrupted and amended. I heard Blue giggling secretly. Moments later, the breaking news was interrupted by more breaking news: a picture of me and Blue smooching went up, along with the cheesiest happy birthday music.

Blue was creasing up. I was bright red. Was nothing sacrosanct anymore?

The time came for the party. Blue was immaculate in every way you could imagine. I combined a crisp white shirt and bow tie with natty ripped jeans for the rawk effect. With guitar case in tow, I arrived to meet friends and those who had cared for me, some well-wishers, Blue’s family (they were utterly lovely) and some others Steph had selected from the emails she had got. There must have been about 200 in total.

A familiar blonde girl grabbed hold of me. “Juliet,” I said. “Ah Romeo, you forsook me!” She laughed. She looked deep into me. “You’re…so much happier now.” “Maybe when I’m performing, I should stop and point at you!” I said, wickedly. Blue leaned in. “Don’t mind him, he’s a moron. I’m doing you a favour, taking him off your hands!”

The band, Our Dirty Little Secret, shuffled on stage, not looking like the most confident group in the world. Robbie fronted up. “Hey, guys, a change of plan: the buffet isn’t quite ready yet so we’ll start with a few numbers. Up you come, Adem!”

I did, plugging my red guitar in, giving it a growling strum that reverberated around the hall. But Robbie promptly took it off my shoulders.

“That was the shortest song ever, Robbie!”

“Not so fast, hotshot. Someone has got something to say to you first.”

Blue self-consciously came on stage. Everyone fell silent.

She came over to me, staring into me. The lights dimmed, the mirrorball was lit up. A spotlight fell on us.

Was she…going to do a duet with me?

“Adem McGrath.” She came over and knelt bashfully in front of me, “Would you do me the pleasure of becoming my lawfully-wedded husband?” She held out a ring in her palm.

She whispered up at me, “Sorry, I couldn’t quite afford to buy mine as well!”

I laughed, then smiled at my awesome, wonderful wife-to-be. Tears of happiness came just before my answer.

“Yes.”