So she picked me up at the house. We chatted as I finished getting ready, late as usual. She wore a pretty pink outfit. I mocked her for matching, but really I was impressed she looked decent. We drove down to Spring Rolls where we planned to have some dinner and shoot the shit. As we rolled up to the booth to pay for parking, I heard a guy behind me say, "Would you like mine?" Instinctively I turned around and darted towards him, knowing that he meant we could bum free parking off of him. That set the tone. She said to me, "You know, if this was a date, it sure started off perfectly, huh?"
We walked to Spring Rolls, as we entered we saw that there was one table left unoccupied on the patio outside, which is what we wanted, we figured it was reserved. We went inside and requested the table and it was ours. We ordered our meals, cantonese chow mein for myself, mango salad and some sort of thai chicken thing for her. Fluid conversation from years of friendship coupled with warm weather on the patio on front street. Less than 25 bucks combined and we were off to get some ice cream.
From this point on spontanaeity was our guide. We took Front to Yonge and decided instead of going north, why not go south and hit the lakeshore? Then we saw a mime. His appearance was as random as my mentioning of it. We reached the boardwalk and continued to joke about how this would make for the perfect date - you know, dinner followed by a walk along the boardwalk as the sun falls beneath the tall downtown buildings. We stopped at a couples spot and watched the sea for a bit, joked around pushing each other's buttons a bit. After seeing two or three ferries pass I said, "Hey why don't we head over to centre island?" I tried to scam cheap rates by claiming we were students, which we are. He caught me in my web of lies when he asked for my age and liscence although. I figured when I turned 19 getting carded would no longer pose a problem, kind of ironic.
I had a feeling the ferry would arrive and then depart just as the sun began to set. I'm becoming clarvoyant it seems. It was overcast although, which made for the perfect weather, but I guess not the perfect sunset. I took pictures all the same. We arrived at centre island and began our walk. She ponders, and then says, "It would just be perfect if there was like, a swan in that pond." Lo and behold, it appeared. We debated whether or not it was a real swan. I was right, as the neck finally moved there was no room for doubt. I'm not overly impressed by swans. Who cares if they're white? They simply don't interest me. We turned the corner and there were people playing soccer. We joked about how, she's such a miss cosmopolitan and seeing the swan was perfect for her, and I definitely was out and about in my soccer jersey, which is like my uniform, so the soccer was fitting for me. We walked and talked and took a few more pictures. Then we realized that we had reached Centreville.
Centreville was closed, but we were free to walk through it. Which basically meant that all the rides which we are too big to go on were closed, so we got to take a walk down memory lane looking at them, with no bratty kids around, in fact nobody around. Then we reached the petting zoo. The goats were playing with each other as we approached them. A couple was there feeding them. We didn't bother feeding them, so the goats amused themselves and us by cuddling with each other. We were both moved by the romantic vibe set forth by this gesture. Then we both laughed as this vibe was crushed by the gigantic shit one of the goats took. What animal plays and shits at the same time? Then we looked at the donkey, saw a pig sleeping (which was a first for both of us) and I think there was a horse. We took a few more photos as we left the petting zoo.
We arrived at a tiny bridge which traversed a tiny pond - sort of romantic. I had a bright idea at that point. There was a bench at the edge of the pond, I asked her to implore me and we sat on the bench and watched as the swans and geese swam around and enjoy themselves. By this time the sun had set even over the horizon. As we sat there, I scrolled through my phone and decided to play an mp3 from it, softly on speaker. It only took her about five seconds to realize that I was playing her favourite classical song, Canon. You see, she's already told me that she wants to play Pachelbel's classic at her wedding, and with my great taste in music of course I was playing Canon in D, performed by the New York Symphony Orchestra. She whimpered. I couldn't hold in the laughter. We joked about how on a real date, that would've pretty much sealed the deal, it was awesome, not to mention we were sitting in a perfect makeout point, with virtually nobody left in all of centreville. We got up and continued south.
We reached a highly arched bridge traversing what at first seemed to be an even larger pond. As I began up the bridge I started to say, "For the love of..." as I knew what I was about to see; the most beautiful view of the water from a bridge either of us have ever seen. We had to stay and soak it in for a bit. We stopped again. At this point we both had to admit that this was the most romantic night of either of our lives. Both of us had to admit that we wish we were sharing this moment with someone else, it was wasted on us. We continued on, took pictures in front of a beautiful fountain. Walked through a well-groomed garden pathway. At this point she said, "I think it's a dead end." But I had a feeling.
I said to her, "Well, you're half right." Indeed, it was a dead end, but it also happened to be a peer that stretched over the waters of Lake Ontario on the south edge of the island, such that we could gaze into the endless night sky, and if we wanted to, further still into each others eyes. We settled for the endless night sky; another moment to soak in. There was an old couple already there, but otherwise it was unoccupied. After chatting a bit and looking around, we picked up and left as the old couple left as well.
I forgot to mention that at this end of the island, there was an actual beach. So I took off my socks and shoes, she her flip flops, and we walked through the sand. There was a bunch of flatrocks along the shore, so we skipped a few rocks together. I was eventually successful, third try is a charm. It's been awhile for me. She simply sucked at it. We decided that when she takes a guy out on a similar date, she'll get him to hold her by the wayside and show her exactly how to skip rocks. We walked back from the beach, walked back along the island, walked back to the northern coast and waited for the ferry as we looked at downtown Toronto from the south, the southern skyline, fully illuminated under the night sky - a beautiful sight.
We took the ferry back, drawing closer and closer to this precious image until finally we were in the midst of it. Back downtown, back to reality. We walked back to the car, it started to drizzle as we reached the parking lot. We drove home and listened to some sweet sounding songs along the way. That was my sunday night. The memory of it will resonate for some time. I appreciate this night will all my heart.
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