"So how was tonight?"
I walked into Katie and Mel's apartment only to be greeted by two of my best friends waiting eagerly on the couch, both of them seeming to have been waiting for me to get home.
I gave them both a strange look as I closed the door behind me, walking over and sitting on the armchair beside them.
"It was fun." I replied, narrowing my eyes. "Since when do you two care so much about how my dates with Connor go? I've been dating him for four years."
Katie and Britt looked down at my hands before exchanging worried glances between the two of them, both of them silent.
"Alright, you're starting to worry me." I said, unsure of what was going on. "What's up with you two?"
They looked at each other again, a silent communication obviously taking place while I sat and watched. Katie shrugged at Mel as their final cue and they both looked at me.
"Dan let something slip when he called a few hours ago."
"And?" I prodded, unimpressed with that bit of information. Dan was terrible at keeping secrets; it was something that everyone in our group knew about and made fun of him for.
"And your left hand is bare."
"I didn't wear any rings tonight; Connor doesn't like a ton of rings. He says they hurt when he's holding my hand."
"As adorable as that is, I think he had a different reason for not wanting you to wear rings tonight, Syd." Mel piped up, shaking her head at me. "If you catch my drift..."
"I don't." I replied. "You both know I can get dense when it comes to things involving relationships, so just tell me. Lay it on the table."
"Connor was going to pop the question tonight." Katie finally admitted, "And if you're too dense to know what that means, it means he was going to propose. Get on one knee, ask for your hand in marriage, fulfill your every desire." She shook her head, "Did you say no?"
I shook my head, my eyes wide as my heart started to race. He was going to propose? Connor Hall was going to ask me to marry him?
"If he was going to propose tonight, then he flaked out." I said, standing up and beginning to pace around the apartment. "He didn't ask me."
Katie and Mel both cocked their heads to the side, and I had to repress a laugh at the image.
"That's bizarre." Katie said, "Dan told us that he was dead set on asking you tonight. Didn't he take you to the place where you guys had your first date at JMU?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, he did. But that doesn't mean he was going to propose--he didn't ask me, guys."
"Did you say something to make him not want to?" Mel asked, "Did you say something that made it sound like you didn't want to marry him?"
I thought back to the past few hours and recounted everything I said to him, until one thing came to my mind.
"Oh no."
"Syd, please tell me you didn't screw this up."
"I think I did." I sighed, thinking back to a conversation that had occurred pretty early on in the evening, beginning with Connor's nervous babbling.
"I just want to make sure that we're on the same page here."
"On the same page?"
"Yeah, on the same page. Like, about where we're heading. I know that in the past we talked about having a future like Dan and Britt are having...you know, getting married, having a normal life..."
"I'm going to stop you there, babe. That all sounds marvelous in the long run. But for me, it needs to be in the long run. Right now...right now I just need to take things slow."
"He talked about marriage." I told the girls, "He said something about us heading in the same direction as Britt and Dan, and then I told him that I wanted to take it slow."
"Well, do you?" Katie asked, "Because there's nothing wrong with that if that's how you feel. But I have a feeling that you were trying to make it so that he didn't feel obligated to rush into anything, instead of voicing how you really feel."
I shook my head.
"I don't know. I don't know, I mean...we always talked about ending up together. Getting married, having a family. And we're in our twenties, which is still pretty young."
"But hey," Mel spoke up, "If you know it's right, then what's the point in waiting? If you didn't feel like you were going to end up with Connor, you wouldn't have gotten back together with him." She shrugged, "We can't tell you what to do, Syd. If you want to wait, then you want to wait. But there's no time like the present to do the thing that you always knew you would end up doing in the long run."
"For once, I agree with Mel." Katie grinned, "He's the love of your life. You can date for another four years and realize it then, or you can take the step that he's already ready to take. I've never seen someone as in love as Connor is with you. You're his dream girl, and I think he's your dream guy. You guys were just lucky enough to find each other earlier in life rather than later."
I looked between two of my best friends and nodded.
"Alright. Just give me one more person to get advice from."
Katie and Mel rolled their eyes.
"Just admit it, Syd. You trust her more than us."
I laughed.
"How could I not? She's my cousin."
***
"You do realize that there's a time difference and that I am currently eating dinner right now, don't you?"
"Well, hello to you too Ri." I rolled my eyes, "Dinner can wait, your favorite cousin cannot."
"I always liked Hayden and Nate more, to be perfectly honest."
"The little demons? I doubt it."
"Yeah, you're right. Did you know that on Christmas they stole my Fitbit?"
"I'm not surprised."
"I got a lot of steps in that day, though."
"I'm sure."
There was a slight pause as I considered what to say next, knowing that Riley always had my best interests at heart. She had been the one who thought that dating Connor in the first place had been a bad idea, but then she had met him and loved him as well. I knew that I needed her advice, but I was wary of hearing an answer I didn't want.
"So I have a question."
"Shoot."
"Did I tell you about how Connor and I broke up?"
"You what?"
"So I didn't tell you." I laughed, "Don't worry, we got back together. It was a short split."
"Glad to know that I matter this much to you, that you won't even tell me when you're planning on dumping someone, Syd." I could practically hear her rolling her eyes, "That's low."
"Well, actually, he dumped me."
"What? Little Hall dumped a babe like you?" Ri sounded absolutely shocked, "Does he have a brain?"
"Well, we're back together now, and I think that he wants to propose."
Silence.
"Ri?" I asked, "I would think that you would have a strong opinion about this."
"No." Riley's voice was firm. "I can't give you an opinion on this one, Syd. I love you to death, but this should be all you. That's a major decision, but it's one that you need to make for yourself."
I paused for a moment before replying.
"I honestly wasn't sure what I wanted you to say, but I think that was the best thing I could have asked for." I said, "Thank you."
"Of course." Riley replied, "And make sure to let me know when you come to a decision."
"I think I already have." I nodded to myself, "I have a flight to postpone."
A/N: I didn't put any social media in this chapter because I'm scared that the Wattpad glitches will mess it up.
It was so fun to write as Riley again, I missed her and Sydney's back-and-forth. Tell me what you thought of having her back for a little bit!
-Katherine