At twelve on the dot, Luke pulled up in his uncle’s pickup. Gia, Ronnie, and I were already outside sitting on the front stoop. “Hey my party people, are we ready for today’s adventure!” He ran up, wrapped his hands around my waist, and kissed me gently.
“Ew!” Ronnie and Gia said in unison.
We drove about five minutes away when Luke said “we’re almost here!” We took a turn and approached the Coopersville Aquarium.
“Oh my gosh, I love the aquarium!” I said.
“Well, I have a few surprises up my sleeve too,” Luke replied. We parked the truck and walked towards the entrance.
A kid around our age in an ocean blue “Coopersville Aquarium” polo immediately greeted us. “Luke, my man!” They shook hands.
“Randy, this is my girlfriend Sutton, her little sister Gia and her friend Ronnie.” We all waved.
“Nice to meet you all! Are we ready to have a blast today?” Randy rubbed his hands together.
“Thanks for hooking us up, dude.” Luke patted him on the back.
“Anything for you.” Randy winked.
Randy guided us through the entire aquarium giving us inside information on all the exhibits.
“Penguins are my favorite!” Gia yelped.
“Not turtles?” Ronnie asked.
“Of course turtles come first,” Gia replied.
“Well, you’re in for a treat,” Randy said with a smile. “Want to meet some penguins?” He asked.
“Oh my gosh, are you serious? I asked, gazing at Luke.
Randy took us to a little room attached to the penguin exhibit. We sat on the floor in a circle and penguins waddled in. Gia and Ronnie squealed with excitement. When they came close enough we were even able to pet them. Randy grabbed a bucket of fish and stood in the middle of the room. He tossed each penguin a few fish and they caught them in their mouths.
“This is the best day ever,” I said, kissing Luke on the cheek.
After we finished up with the penguins, we walked over to the area with the dolphins. “Anyone wanna swim with some dolphins?” Randy asked.
“No way,” I said looking over at Luke who had a big grin on his face.
We got into black wetsuits and headed into an area of water. We met our instructors and they explained that we could climb into the pool and a dolphin named Bubbles would join us. It was important to let Bubbles approach us and then the instructors would help us with our interaction with it.
A gate was lifted and the dolphin swam in swiftly. We started out by petting Bubbles then we moved on to instructing her to do all sorts of tricks. She did twists and turns and flips and even high fives. Before we left the exhibit they snapped multiple photos of Bubbles kissing each of our cheeks. It was an experience unlike any other.
The next day the week of adventures continued. Luke went into the pizza shop to help out during the day because his uncle called out sick.
Don’t worry our day of fun isn’t canceled. It’s just a night of fun now. I’ll pick you up at 8.
At 8 pm, I heard the truck sputtering down the road. When I opened up the front door, Luke was standing there fixing his hair. “Oh, hi Sutton.” He smiled and pulled me into a hug. We walked hand in hand to the pickup. He opened the door for me and closed it gently after I got in.
We drove for a while and I started recognizing where we were going. “Are we going to the sunflower field?” I asked.
Luke just grinned and replied, “you’ll see soon enough.”
We pulled into the lot of the sunflower field.
“I knew it!” I yelled. Luke laughed there was a huge white sheet hanging down from a wire. Luke backed the pickup up and the bed faced the sheet.
“Stay here for one second. I need a few minutes to set up.” He kissed me on the forehead.
“Ready!” I hear Luke belt out a few minutes later. I opened up the truck door and walked towards the bed. The wire holding the sheet up was decorated with bright lights and there was some kind of projector sitting on the roof of the truck. Luke was lounging in the bed cushioned by a bunch of blankets. He was munching on a giant tub of popcorn and there were a variety of boxes of candy too.
“Come on in,” Luke said, extending his hand to me. I climbed into the bed of the truck and nuzzled into his side. “This isn’t just any movie. This is special. Sutton Rae, I want you to meet my parents.” Luke swallowed and reached up and hit the on button on the projector and footage started projecting onto the sheet. Home videos.
As soon as the footage started playing, a warm feeling took over my whole body. They started out following the adventures of a girl with beautiful wavy hair and a cute boy with sandy brown hair. His hair was cut short but I could tell if it was longer it would be curtly like Luke’s. One ringlet curl fell smack in the middle of his forehead. He was filming each video but would turn the camera on himself every once in a while.
There were lots of clips of them just enjoying their time together in Coopersville, at the beach, riding bikes, and eating at the Pizza Shack. The footage continued. “Tell the camera what we found out today, Jenny.” Tears started to stream down her face. She smiled through her tears and held up a pregnancy test.
“We’re having a baby.” Michael turned the camera on both of them and sat next to Jenny. “Hear that folks. Jenny and I are going to be
