Stolen Rings

"Are you sure you want to go?" She asked me.

My eyebrow rose. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Well, I know you get a little fidgety when you don't get to play." I couldn't argue: I never sat still when someone was playing hockey. Either I was playing to or cheering on the top of my lungs.

I gave Elle a smile. "I'm fine, babe. It's just one game. I'll be fine by the next one anyway." Besides, if you say "yes" I really don't care about the hockey... Elle grinned and began to hurry me toward the elevator. Kelly stood by the doors, practically holding Conner on a leash. We stepped in and, as if on cue, Conner shoved his face into the security camera and began screaming, "WE'RE GOING TO THE LEAFS GAME AND YOU'RE NOT!"

We laughed as Conner carried out his antics, and he practically had us rolling on the floor when he launched into a big monologue about our "secret affair".

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this, Elle." he said dramatically, slinging an arm around my neck. I rolled my eyes. "You wish I was your boyfriend, Con." I shoved him off and grabbed Elle's arm. "I wouldn't cheat on Elle with anyone." She smiled up at me gave me a small peck.

Conner cleared his throat. "Because no one else wants you..."

Elle wrapped her small arms around me and stuck her tongue out at him. "Well that's good for me, because he's all mine."

I'm all yours.

        ⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘

"C'mon guys! Score, score!" I waved my fist in the air, narrowly dodging Kelly's nose. The teams were tied and second intermission was about to begin. Five more minutes, I thought. Five more minutes and then you'll hopefully be an engaged man. 

Elle stood next to me, practically falling over the railing. Our eyes followed the puck as it was passed straight down the center and right under the goaltender's legs. We let out a scream of victory, Conner all but jumped into Kelly's arms and Elle stood on her chair. I smiled up at her as the bell rung for second intermission.

"Babe," Elle leaned down. "I'll be back; I need to use the restroom."

I frowned slightly. "But can't it wait?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask my period?" I blushed as she walked away without another word. I looked over at Conner and Kelly, the two leaning over and speaking to Edi. He looked over at me. "You ready, man?" Jay skated over, grabbing Edi's shoulder to steady himself. "Yeah man, it's the big night!"

I nodded. "I just hope she doesn't take too long in the bathroom."

Conner grinned. "Yeah; just imagine you didn't get engaged just because of her bladder." I smacked his arm as he and the other laughed. Don't worry, I thought. You'll get engaged. I patted the pocket to feel the box, but I didn't feel it. My eyebrows furrowed as I searched the opposite pocket and my pants. All empty. The ring was gone. 

"Guys!" I screamed. "It's gone!"

Conner grabbed my shoulder. "What's gone?"

"The ring! It's gone!" Without question, Conner and Kelly dived beneath the chairs and Edi and Jay went to check the locker room, where I'd visited prior to the game. We checked everyone's pockets, the seats behind us, the aisles, and even in a bag of chips the man next to us held. I ran my hands through my hair.

Fuck.

I sat back on chair in defeat, my head in my hands. No ring meant no proposal. And no proposal meant no engagement. Conner sat beside me. "Don't worry, Scott. We'll find it... Just maybe not tonight, but we will find it." I glanced up at him: his eyes had never been more serious and compassionate. I couldn't help but agree with him. We all sat back down, only ten minutes into the intermission, as Jay and Edi skated back and reported the locker rooms clear.

Jay reached out. "I'm sorry man. I can't believe this." Edi looked as though he was about to elaborate, but a loud yell from Coach Monroe assembled the team together. I sighed and lay my face back in my palms, wishing this was a dream. In my peripheral hearing, I acknowledged the announcers voice asking us to direct our attention to the large screen. I sat still.

"Scott Wilson?"

I couldn't ever block out that voice.

I shot up (almost re-fracturing my ankle in the process) and gazed into the rink. And there, standing in the center, wearing my stolen jersey, was Elle Monroe.

I couldn't move as we locked eyes. Smiling, she brought the microphone back to her lips. "If you could come down here..." I still couldn't move. 

She rolled her eyes. "Today, Wilson." The audience laughed as struggled on to the ice, where a beaming Jay met me with an ice walker. Blushing slightly, I handed off my crutch and dragged my feet toward the center where Elle stood, somewhat impatiently, waiting. I managed to make it there in one piece and once I was situated, she spoke again.

"Now, a lot of you have probably guessed what going on, but Scott here has always been a bit slow-" I shot her a look "so let me explain: a few years ago, I met Scott after his Leafs try out. I noticed some flaws (that still may exist) so I asked him to practice. And he accepted. Then he asked me to dinner, and I accepted. Then he asked me to move in, and I accepted. So I thought, in the spirit of evening things out in the "asking" department..." Elle reached into her pocket and extracted a small black box.

A ring box.

She rolled the microphone away: it was so quite you could someone breathing from across the stadium. And slowly, she lowered herself to one knee and flipped the box open. A thick, silver band was placed to the right of the slit. And on the left: my ring. The one I bought for her in all its shining glory. My jaw dropped to the floor as Elle grinned. She cleared her throat.

"Scott Wilson, will you marry me?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Y-yes."

The crowd stood together and screamed as Elle leaned forward and slipped the ring on my finger. I shoved the walker aside, grabbed her waist and quickly kissed her. Just before she could respond, I grabbed the box from her hand and, as carefully as possible, dropped to one knee. The crowd immediately fell silent once again. 

I coughed. "Now, I know this has already happened, but I've kinda always wanted to do this. So if we could pretend the last minute did not just happen for a second, I'd appreciate it." Elle laughed in front of me, but nodded nonetheless. "Elle Monroe, I love you more than anything in my world. Even more than Conner-" A loud 'hey!' resounded through the room "-and I want to wake up next to you every day for forever. Will you marry me?" 

My speech was small, but it was enough to make Elle tear as she shouted yes and the crowd cheered, waiting to properly celebrate until the ring was placed. I pulled it out of the box, pulled her left hand toward me and slipped the ring on. 

It stopped half way down her finger. 

Everyone stared at her hand. If staring could generate energy, we would've created enough to power the entirety Canada. We looked at each other, and we couldn't take it: we laughed. She all but jumped on me and we fell to the ice. I pulled her close. "You little thief."

She smirked. "Get used to it. You're kinda marrying me."

"Sounds like a mistake." 

"What's a mistake is this ring size." she said, waving her hand. 

I grabbed her hand and kissed it. "Yeah, but you still said yes." 

"Well, someone has to put up with you forever."

"Forever sounds nice... But who the hell knew there were ring sizes!?" She groaned as she pulled me into a kiss, making me forget everything. And in the place where everything started, we started something new. 

Something I could definitely spend forever and ever with.