Chapter 25- He's On One Knee
My eyes open wearily to find Bethany, Emerald, Sasha, KC, Queen Chelsea, and many more servants that I have seen around the castle. Sasha and KC literally pick me up out of my bed and rush my sleepy self to the bathroom. I don't even have time to yawn. My room and bathroom is nothing but pure chaos. Everyone is hustling and bustling, rushing to do their specific task. My half-asleep mind automatically thinks: "What is going on?"
"It is the day of your proposal, Arizona." Emerald says as she enters the bathroom. My wheels in my brain slowly began turning, and as they turned, my mind began to wake up. I start to realize that today is the day that I... am getting proposed to today. When I was a little girl, I always dreamt of the day the man of my dreams would get down on one knee and pop me the beautiful question. Sadly, this isnt the man of my dreams, but I can't say that Jasper is the man if my dreams either. As much as I love him and want him now, I can't say that he is my 'dream guy'. To be honest, I had a secret crush on him since I was fifteen. That was around the time that he matured [if that is possible] and he would help Miles and I a lot. My heart began to ache when I saw him with other girls and jealousy would flood through me when he flirted with them. Before I knew it, I had a crush, but unlike all my other crushes, I never got over him. His presence just made me elated.
My gown is practically being ripped off my body, and I am shoved into a steaming hot tub. The hot water makes me cringe, but after time, it makes me comfortable, "What time is it?" I ask while Sasha hands me some coconut shampoo and conditioner.
"Time!" She yells over to another servant who yells the answer to her question. Sasha turns back to me, "It is 5:13:19 or it was when Erica told me."
"Wait, in the morning?" I pretty much scream while massaging shampoo and conditioner in my hair.
"Of course, we cannot get you prepared in time without waking you up this early. It isn't that bad. I wake up at 4:30:00 every morning." She mentions as she rinses my hair.
"I do not know how you stand it," I begin with a yawn, "I need my sleep. I am no 'early bird'."
"Noticed." She states as she finishes rinsing my hair and hands me vanilla scented body wash. Sasha runs off to accomplish a task and I scrub my body.
The room is filled with the noise of people quickly walking around, retrieving objects, and Queen Chelsea constantly yelling orders to her servants. Once I step out of the tub, a robe is slid over my body and Sasha and Emerald lead me to my makeup counter. Emerald fetches the nail painting machine and Sasha begins to dry my hair. Emerald shoves my toes and fingers into the machine and turns it on. Almost at the same time, they both finish and Sasha grabs hold of my hair, Emerald takes out the makeup, Bethany scurries over and gives Emerald assistance while other servants massage my feet. I don't exactly know why, but if they must, I will let them continue.
Queen Chelsea comes in and takes a look at me, "Hurry, ladies! We have to make her picture perfect! We have the proposal, the after party, pictures, and interviews! No time to waste. The press are already arriving and guests will be arriving shortly. It is almost 6:00:00."
***
When I look back into the mirror, I see a beautiful girl. Even though, I already think I am beautiful [not in an arrogant way but in a confident way], but I was... breathtaking. My brain never knew that my beauty level could be that high. Honestly, I didn't know I was capable of... this.
My hair is in perfect ringlets of curls with a pastel green headband, my eyelashes are long and black, my lips are a pretty luscious pink, and my nails match my headband. I assume I will be wearing a pastel green dress. Oh, also, my head is fully healed. The medicine worked perfectly.
Emerald and Bethany drag me to my bedroom and my robe is pretty much torn from my body. It seems that everyone is helping me get dressed and KC pulls out a below-the-knee slightly puffy strapless pastel green dress with small heels that I was able to walk in. Bethany added some body glitter to me and sprayed vanilla perfume all over me.
"Oh, you look gorgeous, Arizona!" Bethany exclaims.
"So beautiful!" Sasha comments.
"As pretty as a petunia!" KC says.
"I agree to every which one of those," Queen Chelsea tells me, "You do look lovely..."
While all the servants compliment me and tell me how excited they are, I notice one person who isn't joining in: Emerald. She stands by the window, looking out at the city. A single tear spills down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away. An empty feeling lingers in my chest, but I hide it. I have to hide all my feelings today, no matter how strong they are.
***
"Shoo! Shoo!" The queen swats me out of my room and to the Sitting Room where I will begin my 'date' with Charlie. I enter the room and following behind me are camera crews with hundreds of LivingSquares. My eyes meet my future-husband's and he smiles charmingly. My lips curl upwards and I show my pearly whites.
Charlie sits on a couch and he motions for me to sit by him, and I do so. One thing distracts me: the cameras. Every few seconds I will glance at those black lenses that soak up every move I make. Charlie takes my hand and smiles. He knows that I am distracted, so he leans into me, putting his lips to my ear.
"Pretend like they don't exist." He whispers, gently and then speaking a little above whisper. Just the perfect volume for them to catch what he says as he plants a kiss on my cheek, "I love you, ya know that, love?"
I giggle at him calling me 'love' and nod, "Yes, I do, and I love you with all my heart." The lie slips from my mouth so smoothly that it almost frightens me. How can Charlie do this all so fluently without a problem? Surprisingly, they're all buying it. Every fake smile, every fake laugh, every lie we say, they believe.
"Well, how has your time at the castle been?" He asks.
"Lovely, I wish I could stay here all the time! It is a gorgeous home, and very fit for England's royalty. Only the best for you and your family."
"I'm glad you like it." He says with a slight smirk.
Charlie wears a black and white tux with a pastel green tie which is coming undone. I point it out for a little humor, "Wow, Charles, can't take you anywhere." I quickly adjust his tie with a roll of my eyes.
"Well, blame that on the servants, not me."
I smile ate him dreamily, pretending that he is Jasper. Charlie tilts my head up to face him and he brushes a strand of curly hair out of my face. "So beautiful..."
"Thank you, handsome."
His lips press against the spot between my eyebrows and my smile grows. Charlie grips my hand tight and gazes at me. I almost thought that he was really in love with me. Almost.
"Want to go talk a walk through the garden?" He asks me.
I give a slight nod and think to myself: This is it... he is going to propose to me out there.
"Sure, I guess, darling."
"Come on..." He says and I notice that the smile he gives me is reassuring me. He knows that I feel nervous...
He leads me, along with several camera crews, out to the stunning garden. Birds sit in some of the trees singing beautiful tunes. Roses, petunias, daisies, and lilies dance in the wind. A strong scent of flowers and honeysuckle linger in the air. We walk past a series of apple trees and cherry blossoms. The pink petals from the cherry blossoms flutter down to the ground when a huge gust of wind occurs. We begin to pass a section of multicolored rose bushes. There were orange roses, pink roses, red roses, and white roses. Charlie stops and bends down to a white rose bush and finds a pair of clippers that the gardener left hanging around. With one fluent motion, he clips a budding rose off, handing it to me.
A slight blush appears on my cheeks and I don't know how I got myself to blush, "It is lovely."
"Yea, it is, but it won't ever be as lovely as you."
My hands wrap around the stem carefully and I wrap my arms around his neck tightly. His arms dragging me into his embrace and... I felt... comfortable. When he pulls back, I wrap my arms around his bicep as we stroll around the patio. Charles points out several different kinds of birds to me and shows me butterflies.
"You're amazing." I compliment him.
"You are just pure beautiful," he says with the biggest smile across his face. We pause on our walk and he plays with a strand of my hair and rubs it in between his fingers. He sighs and cups his other hand around my makeup covered face. His forehead setting against mine and I meet eyes with his emerald eyes.
"I... I... Oh, Ari... I love you... come on..." His fingers weave through mine and he quickly guides me to the gazebo.
"What are you doing, Charlie?" I pretend to act clueless when in reality, he is just putting on a good show.
He stands above me looking down at me. I slip the rose into the pocket of his jacket, and he takes both of my hands. "Arizona Alexandria Touris," Charlie says as he gets down on one knee and takes out a small pastel green box, "Will you marry me?" Charles reveals the ring and I have never seen a diamond that big! The ring was astounding. It sparkles and the diamond is cut into the style of the emerald-cut. Littler diamonds surround the large one. It is... stunning.
My hands cup around my mouth and my jaw hangs open. I try so hard to get my eyes to water by keeping them open for too long. My head nods vigorously, "Yes! Yes! Yes! A million times, yes!" How am I doing this so well?
Charlie's smile widens and his fingers slide the ring out of its older and onto my ring finger. Once he gets back up onto his feet, I wrap my arms around his neck and jerk him into a kiss. His arms wrap around my waist, pulling me closer. Once we pull back, I push on the act, "I love you, and I cannot wait until we say 'I do'."
"I cannot wait to see you walking down the aisle dressed in white." Charlie says, still holding me close.
"It will be the best day of our lives," I say. How much of a lie is that? How many lies have I thrown around just in the time I have been with Charlie? How much have I lied since I have been here? I do not know the answer, but I know it has had to be a lot. Lies. Lies. Lies.
"I agree."
We kiss again. My mind flashes through the image of Emerald crying this morning, Miles and Dylan, and Jasper on my birthday before it went all bad. I think of how I would work at a run-down antique shop and how I would work on my schoolwork. How Miles and I had to work hard but we had everything under control That life seems so distant, now. Realization hasn't sunken in one-hundred percent yet. My old life is gone. Thrown away. The worst thing that hits me is that even though I shove it away in my mind, I know that I won't ever have that old life again. It's gone.
A/N: Thanks, again, all of my lovely readers! I've worked really hard on this chapter, but I knew you would all want this ASAP. I didn't have time to proofread it, so I apologize for any misspellings, grammar errors, or misunderstandings in this chapter.
Thank you!