Bride to Be

Proposal

The breeze is photogenically lifting my curls into the air inches at a time, the sunset splashing through the breaks in the trees onto the stone beneath my feet. My hands are clutched onto my phone and keys in my pockets of my jacket, nervous but from the outside seemingly casual. I take another breath and try to relax into the park bench, shifting my purse around my lap and clenching and unclenching my fists.

Out of the corner of my eye I glimpse the first camera, flash off, but clicking away in the trees and low bushes on the other side of the fountain, trying to be sneaky. As expected they leaked it to the press. Great. Just what this day needed. I sigh out a deeper breath then I knew I was holding and pulled up my phone in front of me. I subtly snapped a photo of the papparazzi and texted it to my mother. ~ Can you believe this?~(Photo sent)

~Put your phone away! If those pictures show up in the paper and your slunched over that damn thing while your future husband aproaches you..

I giggle at her reply and stash my phone away again, dazing out in the picturesque clouds catching the sunsets' orange. "Excuse me, Aren?" I jump slightly and stare at the figure standing between me and the paparazzi, not a foot away from me. He is not ugly, not even slightly. Tall, lean, dark hair, dark eyes, white teeth in a dazzling smile. "Aren?" I jump again, remembering where I am and pull out my best fake smile. I gaze up 'dreamily' at Oliver and jump to my feet, greeting him with a hug. I make sure to turn our hug sideways in the line of sight of the camera.

"So I hear we are getting married?" I prompt, turning my face away from the camera. He blushes slightly and lowers his face before answering. Adorable. "That's the plan, how are you?" I smile and tilt my head in a way that is less pointing and more 'look at how cute I am' for the benefit of the paparazzi. "I'm fabulous. There is a camera across the way that I saw before you got here and I'm sure way more now." I bounce on the balls of my feet, turning away from him and walking slowly, waiting for him to follow. "Good to know, so you understand why I need a wife?" He says, matching my pace. "You need to look respectable and put-together for the sake of the family's image? Your mom's been feeding me weird facts about you all week. You're cuter in person." I add turning my head away from him to hide my little smirk.

"Pretty much, and do I look bad in photos?" He asks now intrigued by my opinion of him. He needs a little flirting, poor thing. "Not in the slightest." I reply letting him see my cheeky grin. He matches it and holds my hand. I cant say my chest is fluttering from the cold, but even though he's a stranger I am loving this. "So we are going to finish this lap around the park near the fountain we started at, dont worry too much about what to say, they're too far away to hear us. Are you about ready or should we..." He trailed off, suddenly less confident in his plan. I squeeze his hand, causing him to look down at me. "Can't wait." I say looking back ahead.

I focus on making my demeanor scream flirty and in-love, trying to ignore the cameras that are now around the fountain from every angle. He walks me up to the lip of the fountain and sits me down, I look to him as if suprised and confused as to why he is standing in front of me instead of sitting with me. I stare up at him as he reaches into his pocket, displaying suprise, hopefulness, excitement. He gets the little black box out of his pocket, opening it and knealing down all in one swift movement. I'm suddenly entranced by his eyes, gentle clickings in the breeze as the cameras go wild. "Will you, Aren Grents, do me the honor of being my wife?" He says, smirking into my mystified gaze. I stare as he shifts uncomfortably with the ring, watching me.

"Oh, sorry. Yes yes. Yes!" I say snapping out of it. I stick out my hand and watch as he slides the already sized ring onto my finger. I look back into his eyes and smile, feeling a tear or two escape my eyes as I jump up to hug him. He pulls away from me and leans in to kiss my cheek. Thank god he didn't just kiss me, catching me off gaurd in front of cameras would be a bad way to kiss him for the first time. He holds me around my waist and we walk back out of the park, some of the paparazzi getting up and following us, flash turned on. Have they no shame?

By the time we aproach my car the cameras have all gone, the sun set behind the trees. I get in, rolling down my window to look up into his dark eyes once more. "Thanks for saying yes Aren." He smiles leaning on the car door. "Thanks for asking Oliver. Mind if I get my fiancé's number?" I ask, blushing at my own use of the word. "No problem." He says with a smile, handing me his phone. I add my own number and add his to mine before handing it back, our hands touching again. "So your mom said I'm moving to your family's property in England? When is that?" I ask, putting the key into the ignition. "Why don't we discuss this over coffee? I'll text you after work tomorrow." He leans off the car door and shoves his hands in his pockets. "Sounds good. Bye" I wave as I pull away from the curb. He waves back and I notice how cold my car is from the winter air.

I turn on the heating as I pull onto the main road, trying deperately to keep my mind on driving. I phone my mom and put her on speaker as I near my apartment. "Hey!!" Sarah squeals, my sister giggling like a schoolgirl on her end of the line. "How'd it go darling? Is he as handsome as he looks in the paper? What's the ring look like?" For the first time my eyes flash to my hand, the streetlights catching the diamond and I silently gasp at it's size and beauty. " It went great, tons of paparazzi, he's gorgeous but still something of a stranger to me, and the ring is big and beautiful. Can you put mom on?"

I turn off the car, getting out and rushing to the door of my flat, pushing the key in the lock and quickly throwing myself into the warm apartment. "Sure sure! -MOOOOM! Arie is calling about the fiance thing!"I laugh as she shouts through my parents house, shuffling overheard on the line before a perky- "Darling! How're you, how'd it go." I giggle, pulling off my coat and throwing it over my couch on the way to my room. "You know, you nearly ask as many questions as Sarah." I tease, pleased by her short laugh of a reply.

"It went well mom, I'm doing well. I called because I need you to contact Diana and ask who she wants to handle my events and scheduling, or if I need to find someone myself. You got that?" I have her repeat it back to me and flip the phone into FaceTime. I flash the ring into the veiw of the camera and hear her gasp. "Oh honey, it's lovely! You know the more I hear about this boy the more I think you will actually like him." I turn the camera to my face, smiling at my lovestruck mother. "I don't know about that but we are having coffee tomorrow afternoon. We need to make plans for me moving back to England."

I walk back through the house, kicking my shoes into the closet before pulling a waterbottle out of the kitchen and throwing myself down on the couch. " Darling, I cant wait to see you. Dress fittings, cake tasting, you girls and I will have so much fun. Sarah really misses her little sister you know, and I miss my daughter." I smile at her, knowing exactly how she feels. "I know mom, I miss you guys too. I am glad I got to live out here but I cant wait to be back. I'm gonna make some dinner so I'll talk to you later. Love" She waves and I hang up, tossing my phone at the other side of the couch.

This is gonna be perfect for me, I hope.