My Greatest Escape

𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕦𝕖

I walk to the nearest worker. A woman with dyed blonde hair. "Well, hello there," she purrs. "How can I help you?"

Her eyes take me in, and I know immediately that she wants to help me differently. "I'm looking for an engagement ring for my girlfriend," I say, and she pouts. She grumbles something like "the good ones are always taken" and heads over to the ring showcase.

Amanda pops up next to me while Anthony keeps window-shopping. "These are engagement ring selections. Feel free to look and let me know which ring you'd like."

My eyes scattered across the rings. "Oh, that one is cute," Amanda says, pointing to a diamond ring in the corner. It looked old-timey. Something from the late nineties. "That's not Maya," I say.

Amanda looks around before pointing to another ring. "What about this one?" I shake my head. "That looks like something her mother would wear. Definitely not Maya."

Amanda goes through every ring on the display case, and I don't like any of them. "I thought you said Pandora was the best," I say, irritation rising in me.

"Pandora is the best," Amanda says. Clearly not if I can't find a decent ring for my girl.

"Excuse me, sir?" Amanda and I turn around to see the blonde worker holding a large, velvet box. "If you're having trouble picking out of our display, I could offer you to look at our more private collection, though it is heavily expensive."

"Show me the box," I said. The worker opens the box and immediately I know what I want. I picked it up out of the box.

"Oh, that one. That's beautiful," Amanda says.

"It's Maya. Of course, it's going to be beautiful," I breathe.

                                                                         ~~𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧~~

The last person graduating walks across the stage and we all throw our hats up in the air. I hear a ruckus of cheers and claps.

Angela runs over to me and scoops me up in a big hug. "We did it!" she screams, happiness oozing out of her. "We're officially done with college."

"Well, I am," I point out. "Law school is ahead for you, correct?" She smiles and rolls her eyes. "Whoopie, more loans." I loop my arm with hers and walk over to where Kol and our family are sitting.

Angela takes Kat in her hands. "Hi, baby. Did you see Mommy up there? Yes, yes you did. She's finally graduated."

I smile at Kat looping her arms around Ang. Angela was an amazing mother to her daughter. When Kat was born, she tried to reach out to Leo again and got an email from him to leave him alone. Since then, she's been raising Kat alone, the best she can.

My mom stands in front of me before wrapping me in a hug. "Congratulations on your achievement, Maya." When she pulls back, she hands me a velvet rectangle. I open it and see a diamond necklace with an M hanging from the chain.

"Your father got me the same kind of necklace after he asked me to be his girlfriend. Except mine had an A. I thought it would be fitting. I know how much he would've loved to be here today," she says. She looks over to Kol who is slowly walking up to us. She kisses my cheek and struts over to where Angela and Kat are.

Kol comes up wearing a silly grin and a bouquet of pink roses. There's a gift bag in his hand. I take the roses and peck his lips. "I love the flowers."

"I love you in this gown," he whispers, bringing me close together. My arms wrap around his neck, and I kiss the hell out of him. "Open the gift bag."

He holds the flowers for me while I look through the bag. There's a paper book. I take it out and each page is filled with gift cards. To Amazon, Sephora, clothing stores, and restaurants. "It's this thing I saw online, and I thought I'd try it," he explains.