He loved looking at her sleeping, she seemed so...peaceful. Ben stood there, laying down on the bed next to her, just looking at her beautiful features, watching his little angel. He felt so lucky to have her by his side, for many years he thought he'd never find someone that would make him truly happy, much less in such a short amount of time. Falling in love so fast was not something Ben believed in, until now, because he was truly, hopelessly in love with Carol.
Ben gently stroked Carol's face, feeling her soft skin against his big manly hand, giving her a tender kiss on the forehead. Then he got up and went downstairs. That little special moment of just appreciating his relationship with Carol made him be sure of something, so he started to put up a plan that she was definitely not expecting and Ben knew well how much Carol enjoyed sleeping, so there were a couple of hours left for him to make it happen.
It was 11 am when Carol woke up. The room was dark, because Ben knew how much she loved to sleep in a real dark bedroom. She stretched her entire body, just enjoying how much that feeling was good, letting a deep breathe escape her mouth, after that, she yawned and rubbed her eyes, trying to see something on her way. She tapped all over the bed, trying to find her love, even knowing he liked waking up early to take a nice walk on the park right in front of the house.
She got chills all over her body feeling the shock of her hot body touching the cold floor. Carol went downstairs, looking all over for Ben, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Good Morning, sleeping beauty!" Carol yelled, completely scared by the mysterious voice just behind her "oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scary you".
"Joe for fucks sake" she rested her hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat going crazy "you scared the shit out of me".
"I'm sorry ok!" He got up from the sofa, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek "I've been waiting for you to wake up, for-ever" he sounded so dramatic.
"But why the hell are you waiting for me? And how did you get in? Where is Ben?"
"You have a lot of questions for someone who just woke up" he laughed "put this on" Joe handed to her a big box.
"But why!" she was getting nervous.
"Do it, no questions asked!" Joe pushed her to the stairs and well, she went upstairs.
Carol opened the box and there it was, a sort of beige shirt, a light blue jacket and a black pantacourt pants, the clothes she fell in love with at the mall while hanging out with Ben not even a week ago and with all that, there was a small black velvet box, with the earrings and rings she was dreaming of and in another big box, a dark blue boot, that she also told Ben she loved. Everything got her very confused, why was Joe giving her those? Was it Ben that bought or was it Joe? What the hell was happening?
Without really questioning Joe, or calling Ben, Carol put the entire outfit on, feeling beautiful,something Ben would tell her every single day. So she went downstairs, looking at Joe once again.
"So? What now?" she finally questioned him.
"Now we go"
***
"Aren't you going to tell me where we are going? Really?" Carol felt so frustrated about the whole 'not knowing anything' vibe, she was confused and also hungry, something that always got her on a bad mood.
"No"
"really?"
"Yes"
"But"
"Shh" Joe put his finger on the tip of her lips "shh shh shh"
"Okay i got..."
"SHHHH" he said louder "okay see, we are already here".
"Here where?"
"Get off the car!" he opened the door for her, while still been inside the car "GET OOOOUT" Joe kept pushing her away.
"JOE WHAT THE FUCK" Carol yelled, as her body was falling out on the street.
"YOU WILL BE THANKFUL, JUST WAIT FIVE MINUTES" he closed the door, waving goodbye at Carol, laughing out loud.
"what the..." Carol said, before turning around to see two tables on a pier, not so very far away, but she could see that there was a blonde, very familiar dude just looking at her from distance.
Her phone ringed and she quickly checked it and there was a text from Ben.
Ben
Come here, bebê
Yes that's me on the pier, just helping you figure it out
you slow headed beauty
Carol opened a big smile, mostly because he used a sweet way to call her, a sweet brazilian way she always called him, "bebê". Carol pretty much ran to the pier, hearing a song getting louder and louder as she got closer, it was 'O Trem Azul' from Lô Borges, one of her favorite brazilian artist. She had shown him many brazilian songs, but she never thought Ben would actually remember one of them, so she hurried up, couldn't wait to find out what he was hiding.
She rushed into his arms, giving a big hug, as he lifted her off the floor, hugging her back and giving a long, tender kiss on her red lips.
"What took you so long, my sleepy queen?" he joked, putting her down.
"What are you doing!" Carol looked around, finally finding a table only with Brazilian food "BEN WHAT IS THIS" She quickly hurried to the table, mesmerized by all her favorite foods, that includes brigadeiro, farofa, rice, beans, a delicious peace of meat, tapioca and a lot of other typical Brazilian food.
"I also got you caipirinha" he said, handling her a glass with her favorite alcoholic Brazilian drink.
"Oh my god!" she drank it "did you try it too?"
"Yes and it's delicious, just like you" he stole her drink, taking a long sip, making Carol laugh.
"But seriously Ben, what is all this!".
"Don't you wanna drink and eat first? I bet you're staving" he held her hands.
"You really know me, ruh" Carol couldn't stop smiling "but no, I'm confused and you have some explaining to do" she kissed the tip of his nose.
"Ok ok! Fine!" Ben pulled her by the waist, as another song started, it was 'Roda-Viva' by Chico Buarque, Carol's favorite Brazilian artist, he got so used to hearing it that he ended up loving it, even been able to mumble some Portuguese words, already adding it to his spotify playlist, she was right by telling him how full of culture and great songs Brazil was "but first, let's dance" he leaded her, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, touching her forehead with his, dancing by the rhythm "I love this song".
"Did I ever tell you what is it about?"
"No you haven't and I have no idea of what he's saying" he laughed "portuguese is hard!"
"Oh yes it is" she laughed too, giving him a kiss "In 1964 a military dictatorship took place in Brazil, it was awful, many people died and were tortured, the was a horrible censorship, you couldn't oppose the 'government' and if you did, you could get killed, so artist would have so censor themselves, so in this song, Chico Buarque sings, very poetically and full of metaphors, about how he missed expressing himself and how he hated censorship, how he missed the old days, oh and this songs is from 1968 I think".
"How many years did that least?" he had no idea that actually happened.
"From 1964 until 1985 and in that year, when we were finally free, a music festival was born, it was and still is called Rock in Rio, I've been to a few and guess who played on that year"
"Who?"
"Queen" she smiled "That video from Queen singing Love of my Life, the most beautiful video, was from that day, my mom was there, she told me she cried during the entire concert".
"That's amazing" he said, but regretted it " I mean, the Queen thing, not the dictatorship...do you know someone that went through that?".
"My aunt died because of it... and I have many friends that lost their parents...my college teacher have parents that are torture survivors".
"That's insane, I'm so sorry" he hugged her tight.
"My mom tells me I'm just like my aunt, her name was Gabriela" she felt her eyes tearing up "but this isn't why we are here, right? We can talk about this when I take you to Brazil"
"Oh are you taking me to Brazil?" he smiled "Am I meeting the famous city of Rio?"
"I'll take you all around that country" she laughed "but now, can you PLEASE tell me why we are here?".
"Fine!" he gave up, taking a step back while still holding her hands "Today I woke up and I saw you, something hit me when I realized how lucky I am to be with you...and well, today makes 4 months that we've been together, did you know that?".
"Of course I did! I was just waiting to see if you remembered" she laughed "4 months since you saw my weird ass taking pics while you searched for a bathroom and called me pizza lady" he laughed.
"I'm so glad I was staving, just getting off the borhap first meeting" oh he could remembered it like it was yesterday "I was so happy, I had just made this new friends and got so lucky, by seen you there...you got me captivated on that moment, that I saw you on your uniform, just looking through the window...seeming so in love, so interested, I knew you were special" by that part of Ben's speech, Carol's eyes were already tearing up and her chest been filled with anxiety and also, the most sincere feeling of love, she was still trying to figure out how she ended up with such an amazing guy "and I love you, that you already know, that I truly love you, with all my heart" now he felt the anxiety hitting him "I know I took a long, long time to ask this, but I wanted to know if you would like to be my girlfriend?"
Ben's nerves were killing him, waiting for that goddamn answer and it came, with tearing running down Carol's face, smiling like a silly girl.
"Why did you take so long, dummy!" she laughed, kissing the love of her life.