I wasn’t exactly sure of what to do, lying on the bed. I started to sit up and she pushed me back down. “Lay down.” She said, grinning wickedly at me.
I fell back on the bed, but not for long. I started to shift again, propping myself up on my elbows and she put a hand on my chest. “I said down.”
“But—”
“Lie down and enjoy yourself.” She said, a smirk playing along her lips.
I groaned and flopped back on the bed. She could barely even touch me before I started to sit back up. “If you don’t lie down, I will pull out some handcuffs and make you lie down.” She said, smiling innocently.
I felt my breath catch in my throat. “But—”
“No buts, lie down or I’ll make you.”
I had no choice other than to lie down and let her take control, something I was not used to in any situation.
I woke up, Sara draped across me. It was cold in the room, and I struggled to grab the blanket without waking my lover. I pulled it up over us and slid my arm back underneath it. I let my fingers skim across her back briefly before resting my hand on her.
I needed to see Jan. I had things to do today, but they could wait. This couldn’t. Lying here with Sara, morning light streaming through the windows and making her glow, her curly hair seeming to fall haphazardly on the bed and on me, and her slow relaxed breaths sliding over my skin as she breathed couldn’t wait.
I glanced out the window and thought back to the night before.
Sara was different from any other girl I knew. She had this quality about her, something I had noticed about her from the first day I saw her. It was indescribable and drew me to her like a moth to a flame. It wasn’t beauty; it wasn’t something I could point out to someone. There was no word for it, just a piece of Sara that I couldn’t stay away from her. Sara was my drug of choice.
“What are you thinking about?” I heard her ask. I didn’t even realize she had woken up I was so caught up in my own world.
“Just that I love you.” I said and turned to smile at her.
She smiled back and pressed her cheek on my chest. “I love you too.”
“I have some errands to run today, I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, what are you doing?”
I tried not to look like I was nervous. I wasn’t comfortable with even thinking about lying to Sara, let alone actually doing it. “Just going to help Jan with her car. She wants some help in the shop today, says she needs a second opinion.” Jan worked in a mechanical shop, and so long as I came home with some grease under my fingernails, Sara wouldn’t ask any questions.
“Yeah, I don’t mind. What time will you leave?”
“Maybe in an hour. I’ll only be gone for a couple hours.” I tried to slow my heartbeat; I was terrified she’d see through me. I couldn’t have that.
“Ok. We can have lunch when you go back, and maybe take a walk with Cooper?”
I smiled. “That sounds wonderful, Sara.”
She nuzzled into me. “Good.”
I grabbed my phone and sent Jan a text saying that I’d be at her house soon. She seemed confused, but didn’t ask questions, which I was thankful for.
An hour later I was knocking on Jan’s door.
She opened it up and leaned against the doorframe. “What do you need, Dev?”
“You’re help. Sara thinks we went to the shop, that I’m helping you with a car. I need you to tell her that if she asks.”
“Why? Dev, don’t screw this up; you’ve got something real good here. Don’t screw it up for yourself.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t think I’ll screw it up.”
“What are you doing?” She asked skeptically.
“The only thing I can imagine myself doing. I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
Jan didn’t say anything for the longest time, she just stared at me, her face showing no emotion. Finally, she said, “You haven’t known her long.”
“I know.”
“You just found out you love her.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t even want to get married in your life a few months ago. Hell, a few weeks ago.”
“I know.” My smile only seemed to get bigger.
“Why did you change your mind?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I can’t see myself waking up without her. I can’t think of a day where I don’t see her smile. Five years from now, fifteen years from now, even when I’m old and gray and am sitting in a rocking chair on my patio, I want Sara by my side. I want her hand in mine and I want to see her blush and take me by surprise. She’s everything I want and so much more. I’ve loved her for longer than I’ve know. I feel like I’ve always known her, cliché, I know, but true. I can barely remember a day where I thought of a woman who wasn’t her. She is what I want Jan. Sara is all I want in a girl, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep her.”
“You can wait to do this you know, it doesn’t need to be today.”
“I know, and I’m going to wait to ask, but…I need you to support me in this Jan. You would be my best man, so I need you to say that you agree. I want to know that you think I’m doing the right thing.” I mumbled.
She smiled. “I think you’re an idiot. You were always behind, always waiting and overanalyzing and trying so hard to not believe in love and good things. And now you’re ahead, asking her to marry you so soon. I don’t think you’re wrong though. Any marriage can end at the drop of a hat, just like any relationship. Do you really think that you guys can make it?”
I didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”
“Then of course I support you. Now, you didn’t come here just to ask my permission, you don’t need me for that, you need her parents’, so what do you need?” Jan gestured for me to come inside.
I shook my head. “I need a ring, Jan.”
“I thought you were going to wait a while?” She asked.
“I am, but I need a ring first, then I can come up with a plan. I need the ring now, or at least start looking at them.”
She nodded. “Get in the car.” She grabbed her keys and I followed her down to her car and got in the passenger side. “I know a pretty good jewelry place.”
I didn’t say anything; I just tried not to throw up the entire ride there.
When we went inside the little bell jingled and a woman looked up from behind the glass counter. “Good morning ladies, how can I help you?”
Jan jabbed a finger in my direction. “She needs a wedding ring for a girl.”
“Of course. My name is Jane, and you are?”
“Devon.” I thought my voice cracked and I felt my face flush.
“Don’t be nervous, hun, almost everyone has to do this at some point. Now come over here and tell me about this girl and we’ll see what we can do.” Her smile seemed so real, but I think that was part of her job.
Jan pushed me over to her and I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and looked down at the displays of necklaces and rings and everything else under the sun.
“So, what’s she like?” Jane seemed so interested in Sara, and when it came to my girl I couldn’t help but smile.
I scratched the back of my neck nervously and said, “She’s wonderful. She’s smart and talented and beautiful and she’s funny. She’s so interesting because there are times when she’s just nervous and blushes at everything and it’s pretty damn cute, but there are other times when she is the complete opposite. She’s got these striking green eyes and there’s a freckle on her right shoulder blade that I love more than I thought it was possible to love a freckle. She has this scar on her thumb from when she was cutting vegetables and her knife slipped. She’s just…she’s wonderful. There’s so much that I can’t say about her because there just aren’t words for it.”
“How do you describe love?” She asked after a moment, sounding genuinely curious as she pulled out a few rings that just didn’t seem right.
I couldn’t say anything for a long time. I just stood there, thinking about it. I could feel it, I could see it, I could hear it and smell it in the vanilla and lavender and I could sense it when I held her close, but love didn’t seem to have words. It was like smoke, it was there but you couldn’t catch it.
After a few minutes I opened my mouth, but she stopped me. “Don’t say anything.” She said with a smile. “Love can’t be described, and I think you realize that. Anything you said would just be inadequate, you could spend hours trying to explain it. This is the real deal, isn’t it? Not just a quick decision.”
“Well,” I started shuffling my feet, “it was a quick decision. But it is real. It just…hit me. I want everyone to know that this is the woman I love, that she is someone I can’t see myself without. I don’t want to marry her because it’s what people do; I want to marry her because I want her to know how I feel. That she’s different from every other girl out in that crazy world.” I sighed. “I can’t imagine a day without her. And our stupid dog.”
She smiled. “You should take him to the wedding.”
“I don’t know if she’ll say yes.” I laughed nervously.
“She will if she feels half as much as you feel.” She stopped and started putting the rings away.
“Wait,” I started, “I need a ring. I mean, I’m not asking her today, but I would like to have it as soon as possible.”
“These rings aren’t what you want.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.
She reached into another case and set a closed box in front of me. “There’s only one ring for every couple, and you have to find the right one. The ones I’ve been showing you are just generic rings, rings that work for just anyone. They may not be the right one, but they work. This, I believe, will be the right one for you two. I can tell you won’t just settle for one of those, you’re looking for the ring for the girl.” She opened the little ring box and a lump grew in my throat.
I nodded. “That’s it. That’s the one. That’s the one I’m going to propose to Sara with.”
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Short little chapter, I know, but I'm tired.
Hung out with that girl, she's cute and pretty nice. I talk a lot more than her though haha, I felt pretty bad about that part, but I had fun. I think I may have accidently made it sound like a date, but I didn't mean to, but it may not be so bad in the long run. I don't know.
ANYWAYS.
Devon is going to propose?
What?
I know, it's going a little fast, but it's taken so long to write that it feels right. Also, my parents married after three months of meeting one another and they're still going strong, 18 years in December. A speedy marriage isn't always a weak one.
Let me know what you think, you know I always wanna hear that stuff.
Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing haha. See you guys next time!
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Oof, hi guys, Nikolai here. I get a lot of comments about four months being too fast and she's only 19 and just a couple things about that because I read those comments and I groan a little?
My mother was 19 and knew a guy for 3 months. She's happily married with this guy still. She knew this was the guy after a couple months, she was 19 but that doesn't mean she didn't know what she was doing, as proven by the fact she is still married to the same man.
Second, and kind of more importantly. Welcome to the world of romantic fiction where everyone falls in love too fast, everyone's love is the love story of the century, and they are the only one for each other. This is typically why I don't like romantic fiction. I think it's boring and predictable and very fast and I don't like it. I like fantasy with a romance side plot that moves at a realistic pace, but when a book is focused on falling in love, and you're 55000 words in and coming to a close, they want to see the good stuff. And you don't want to time jump too much and lose everything going on in their lives.
So that's my two cents about being 19 and loving someone for 4 months. I would do it. Because I don't see getting married and divorced as an awful no good thing. And if I was getting married I would believe in us not getting divorced. I'm not saying I'm going to do it, but I've been ready to settle down with people I've loved before. And I don't think that's a bad thing, as proven by my mother. I mean, it's pretty recent for people to wait so long, my grandparents were married by the time they were 21. And even if I didn't like the idea, it's romantic fiction, Dev has to do a big romantic gesture like marriage. I'm not saying you've got to agree or like it but just please realize that it's been the end game since the book started for Devon to ask her and that's just the way it is. Love is weird. Sometimes you just know. And the only people who get to say if they're ready or not are the people making that decision. Support your young married friends.