GALE
A month. That's all I needed to redeem myself and forgive myself for everything I did. . . well. . . I thought I did. After Christy had told me everything that had happened, how she explained everything that WASN'T my fault through a badly designed Powerpoint presentation that I didn't have the heart to critique, I finally let go of the past.
Throughout the whole month, I had to constantly remind myself that I was Lev now. I was the man that Christy loves. The man who can show his love to his future wife. . . Not that I have proposed yet. But it won't be long until I do.
One month. That's how long it took me to finally gather up the courage to let everything go, and start from where I left off.
Before the accident, I had promised myself that I would ask her to marry me. To kneel down on one knee and ask her to spend the rest of her happy days with me. But that hadn't been successful. But now, now that I have forgiven myself, and now that the car that I was driving was double-, no, triple-checked for possible hazards, I finally had the courage to ask her the question that has been waiting patiently inside my mind.
"Lev! You ready yet?" Christy shouts from outside.
I rustle through my hair and subconsciously spray myself with the-almost finished-lavender perfume.
"Be there in a sec!"
I open the door and walk to Christy, giving her a peck on the lips and opening the door for her.
A date after another, and another after that. That's what happened in the course of the month that we spent together. And I smile at that.
"You smell nervous. Are you alright?" She says, making me turn to her. "Lev?"
With a shake of my head, I laugh. "I'm not. Don't worry, bub."
She places her hand on mine and giggles. "Where are we going?"
I grin and I hide the excitement. "You'll see."
The sky was dark, and the pathway was dim. The evenly spaces streetlights shone over Christy's beautiful face and I couldn't help but stare at her while we were walking.
"You're beautiful, bub." It slipped out. Whoops.
"Tell me something I don't know." She says with a smug face.
This is it. This is the moment that I had been hoping for. Passing by the park where we had our first date, I walk her to the bench where we had our first kiss. The 29th walk we had. Though I never understood why she liked walking in the scorching weather of San Francisco, I never once declined her request.
The first date we ever had, God, that was fucking awesome, The first formal date we ever had happened here. She asked me out first when I never had the courage to.
The first time she moved her hands and tangled her fingers with mine. I never got the chance to tell her how much I loved her before she first laid her lips on mine while I was standing up from tying my shoes. I remember all the dates we had after that and after the accident. All those pieces of the past has led us here, and I have to take it all one step at a time.
"Why is the kitchen in the house so big?" She asks, breaking the silence with a conversation starter. "I never got the chance to ask you."
I shrug. "I like to cook as much as you do."
She says "Woah." with wonder. And that makes me smile.
I give her another peck on the lips. "Do you remember this park?" I say. "This was when I first kissed you."
"I kissed you, not the other way around." She says while chuckling silently. "And yeah, I remember this place. I'm the one who asked you out on a walk here after all."
I feel my cheeks tighten from the massive smile on my face. She's the one.
I could feel my body grow warmer when she loosened the tie on her hair and let her locks flow with the cold new-year winds. "So what now?"
"Secrets game. You can start." I say, folding my arms to my chest and waiting for her to open her mouth and say the weirdest shit ever. But I love her, so I always answer with even weirder shit. "Don't hold back."
She glances at me with a smile. "Sure. Why do your armpits never sweat? Your whole body smells like sweat, but your armpits don't. Why is that?"
I open my mouth and clamp it shut again. Of course.
"I'm not saying that you stink. Your sweat smells like watered-down lavender perfume.
"What?" I laugh. "You can smell that?"
"Uh-huh."
I laugh then I uncross my arms. "My armpits never sweat because. . ." I shrug. "I don't know. They just don't."
She nods in reply, waiting for me to start asking my question. "Why are you always so pretty?"
The color of her skin turns pink, and then she giggles, but she doesn't stop giggling. "Because I just am. Tell me something I don't know."
I grin. "You sure?"
She nods while laughing now.
I tilt my head. "Something that you don't know. . . what about this," I say, wrapping my hand around her waist and pulling her close to me.
I put my mouth close to her ears, and I deliver the most important question. "I'm going to ask you to marry me. And I know you'll say yes, Christy Trenton."
She stops giggling.
And I feel my knees go weak when she does.
Did I fuck up?
Oh shit.
Why. . .
I was about to let go of her waist, but I stop when I look down and see her smiling at me.
"What do you say, Christy? Will you marry me? Make me the happiest man in the world? Happier than those who said the exact same thing?" I say, hoping that I didn't sound too cocky.
She rests her tongue on her cheek. "Shouldn't you be kneeling down?"
My eyebrows arch. "Do you want me to?"
She cups my cheek. "It wouldn't make a difference, Lev. I love you. And no."
No? No to what?
"No?" I recoil back.
"No, as in you-don't-have-to-kneel-down-no. I'll be the best wife, so yes, I will."
I open my mouth, and tilt my head, "Maybe I should propose again so it sounds a little bit more. . . authentic?"
She nods, "Yes, yes. Do it."
I part my hug from her and look up at the bright moon above us. "You ready?"
She nods once more.
I take a deep breath, and I lean close to her. "I'm not going to do this again. Will you marry me? Christy T. Merrick?"
She sighs, and she let her answer roll out of her mouth. "Yes I will, Gale Levelle."
A burst of happiness hits my heart.
Looking back at the past, all those things that happened, everything wrong thing that had happened because of me. Everything that caused Christy to suffer, everyone who hurt her, and everyone who made her feel sad, all those things had led up to this very moment. To her agreeing to become my wife and spend the rest of her life with me.
I promise her that we'll grow old together. I promise her that I'll take care of her and that I'll love her until my very last breath. I promise her that I'll protect her from harm. I promise her that what happened in the past wouldn't happen to her ever again.
This is the day that I change the course of the future. The day that I will change, and fix everything, fix every problem that Christy has and will ever encounter.
Because for better or for worse, I'll be here, beside her, and I'll do my best to not let the past impact her life as much as it had for me.
History doesn't repeat itself, not if I can help it.
The end.