golden (mileven au)

surprise

↬ 26 ↫
6 months later

"Okay, what about this one?" El asked, excitement all over her face, as she leaned up and turned the screen of her laptop toward Mike.

Mike looked over at one of the pictures she had pulled up, instantly grimacing at what he saw. "I don't know, the floors are kinda scuffed up."

"Ugh, Mike! Every single apartment I show you, you just have to find something wrong with it." She sighed, shooting a teasing scowl his way "If it's not the floors, it's the ceilings or the size of the tub in the bathroom. I'm starting to think you just don't want to move in with me."

He knew she was only joking with him, but even if she hadn't been, that assumption wasn't true at all. He wanted to move in with her, officially move in with her, seeing as they basically already lived together now. They'd been switching back and forth between their apartments for months now, never spending a single night apart. Of course he wanted to make that a permanent thing.

"I'll keep looking then." El went on, falling back to where she laid on his couch. "Considering we have no backup plan for when we have to be out of here by next month, anything will be good at this point. You'll just have to quit being so picky, mister."

"Yeah, yeah."

Little did she know though, Mike had his reasons for being so picky and turning down every single place she found. He had a plan of his own and it was definitely no backup plan. It was the only plan and he couldn't wait to put it in motion. 

Mike watched as El resumed her search for an apartment, a determined look crossing her face. She had her eyebrows scrunched up and her lips slightly puckered and it was so cute, he wouldn't dare look back to the movie playing on the television. He could only look at her.

He truly couldn't fathom how perfect she was, even more so without a trace of makeup on and her hair messily thrown in a bun on top of her head. How had he gotten so lucky?

The longer he stared at her, the more grateful he was that he didn't have his Nana's ring anywhere near him, because he would've pulled that sucker out and proposed to her right then and there.

It was crazy how many times he's had that same thought since he got that ring from his mom, even crazier that he didn't actually go through with it. It wasn't for lack of trying though.

Ever since that night they'd had dinner with his family, he'd been trying to find the perfect way to propose to her. All throughout the summer, he had plenty of ideas, but those ideas never played out quite like he wanted them to. He would have something great planned, but somehow those plans always seemed to get interrupted by things, like Dustin and his horrible timing.

He took those interruptions as signs that it was best to hold off, until what he was certain would be the perfect moment came along. Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was freak her out by moving too fast.

It had been almost a year now since they met though, ten months since they started dating and six months that he'd had the ring. If you were to ask anyone else, it still may be too soon, but he couldn't care less. It had been long enough for him. He wanted her to be his, forever and he couldn't possibly wait any longer to make that happen.

So, with the plan he had thought up just a few weeks ago in mind, he was set on getting that perfect moment he had been aiming for. He just had to make it through a bit more time... and secure himself a new wingman.

•

"Mike, can you please just tell me what's going?" El begged, for what had to be at least the tenth time, as she was being led blindfolded by him to who knows where.