Picture This

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Ian

“So when do I get my present?” Charlie asked after our waiter took our order. 

I grinned.  “Not right now,” I said.  On the outside I was looking happy when I said it but my insides were tightening up in nervousness.  Her present was in my pocket and I was having a hard time not just giving it to her then. 

She pouted.  “Why not?”

“Because I have it planned out where I want to give it to you,” I said, laughing. 

“And that’s not going to be here?”

“Nope.”

She perked up a bit.  “Where then?”

I laughed again.  “We’re going to go for a walk after this,” I said. 

She smiled, resting her head in her hands.  “Oh really?” she said. 

I just smiled and rolled my eyes. 

“And we’ve still got to take the picture!” she said, smiling bigger.  “We can’t forget about that!”

I rolled my eyes and brought my camera out of my coat pocket.  “I didn’t forget,” I said. 

“Good.  Let’s take it here so we can remember what we did.”

I reached over and grabbed her hand.  “I always remember everything where you’re with me,” I said. 

She smiled as her cheeks turned faintly pink.  “I love you, Ian,” she said. 

My heart started pounding just like the first time she said it to me.  “I love you, too,” I said. 

A waiter passed by us then with a tray full of steaming food.  It smelled pretty good to me…but apparently not to Charlie.  She looked like she was going to puke. 

“Are you okay?” I asked her. 

She covered her mouth with one hand and put the other on her stomach.  “Yeah...not so much,” she said.  Then she shot up from her chair.  “I’m going to go to the bathroom.”

Before I could say anything, she grabbed her bag and rushed for the bathrooms in the back of the restaurant. 

A few minutes later, our waiter came over.  “Can I get you anything?” he asked. 

“No, I think we’re fine,” I said, looking back towards the bathrooms.  I looked back at him.  “There is something you can do for me after dinner, though.”

Once I told him, he smiled.  “Of course, we can, sir,” he said.

I nodded.  “Perfect,” I said. 

Charlie got back just a moment after the waiter left, looking a little pale. 

“Are you okay?” I asked. 

She grimaced.  “I think I’m getting sick,” she said. 

“Do you want to leave?  Go rest?”

She shook her head quickly.  “I think I’ll be okay once I get something in my stomach,” she said.  “I haven’t eaten that much today.  I’ve been feeling a little nauseous all day.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” I said, and she nodded. 

About fifteen minutes later, the waiter came with our food.  When he set Charlie’s plate in front of her, she stared down at it like she hadn’t eaten for days. 

“Hungry I’m guessing?” I asked, laughing. 

She grabbed her fork and took a bite.  “Oh, yeah,” she said, and then smiled. 

I laughed and started eating. 

Once we were done, I signaled to the waiter to bring what I asked him while Charlie had been gone.

Not a minute later, our waiter came back with a huge piece of chocolate cake – the kind she’d been craving for the past week – with three sparklers on top of it and about ten other waiters and waitresses behind him.  And once he put it down in front of her, a huge smile spread across her face as they started singing ‘happy birthday’.

“You want me to take a picture?” our waiter asked, smiling, after they were through.

I smiled back and gave him my camera.  I got up and walked over to Charlie, kneeling next to her as she sat in her chair with the sparklers still glittering on the cake. 

“Okay, one…two…”

I leaned close to her and whispered in her ear.  “I love you,” I said, and kissed her cheek, feeling her smile, when he took the picture. 

 AWW!!!1  How sweet!

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