Word Count: 3651
Warning: Language
If anyone had told me that only two weeks after my first consultation at Heart Haven that I would have a possible match, I wouldn't have believed them. It took Hazel spamming my phone with calls and texts earlier that week that I finally decided to make the appointment to start the process, take a leap of faith and trust them.
She had practically skipped down the hall when I walked through the front door of the building, a smile spread wide across her face. "You'll really like him, believe me." She called down the hallway as I made my way toward her and followed her to our usual room for the appointment, and she did not disappoint.
It had been a little over a year since starting the process, and I was completely smitten for the stranger on the other side of the screen. Dating had failed him too, most of the girls he had tried to date had wanted him for one thing or another, some things he simply wasn't allowed, nor wanted, to share. He was kind, caring, and more. His family was a big thing in his life, he had a passion for his work, and in all honesty probably had a heart of gold from what he had done for charity. He loved animals, loved spending time with friends, enjoyed having a good laugh, and so much more that made this faceless stranger more attractive. Most importantly, he was looking for someone to start a life with, and he was hoping that would eventually be me.
The most interesting part of Heart Haven's process was their way of allowing their clients to be in contact with their significant other. They don't want you to fall in love with their looks, they want their clients to fall for who they really are. In the beginning, we had to compile a large amount of information, stuff that wouldn't give enough away for them to look you up online. After a while, we were allowed to "talk" to one another, with the rules of not giving out any personal information, not even our name. The two of us would talk during sessions when we could, usually through a questionnaire, which was annoying in the beginning. Once we had gotten passed the 'boring' stuff, we were able to learn more personal things about each other. This information was recorded and typed out for the other's convenience, and still included the playful banter between his counselor and himself, like: "What side of the bed do you sleep on?: Wherever I end up falling on at the end of the day? Mate, I literally share a bed with [dog's name], I get whatever she will allow."
Eventually we were allowed to download the company's app to keep in contact with him while at home. This particular app made sure to black out any personal info that shouldn't be shared with the other, which always made for a lot of gaps in our conversations.
-----
Him
Work has been tiring, to be honest. I've been _______ for the past few weeks, working on ________. Can't tell you what it is of course. How has work been for you, love?
Her
I hope it lets up soon, give you a break. Work has been good! ______________________, I really need to get out of the house though. Gonna go visit my family this weekend, maybe even take ___________ with me.
Him
You know, I can't wait until we can read through our text messages without having most of it blacked out. I cannot wait to meet you, love. I'm more than ready to give you all my love.
Her
Well, none of that was blacked out, handsome. And I couldn't agree more. <3
-----
As time went on, the anticipation to meet the man on the other side of the screen was starting to drive me completely insane. I had been more than tempted to ask Sam or Carly about it, but Sam had moved recently for work and Carly was getting ready to have a baby, so that really didn't work too well. It took a lot of time to finally discuss it with Hazel, honestly hoping that she would bring it up herself; but, after hitting the fifteen-month mark, I decided nothing would get done unless I brought it up. Hazel agreed to talk about it the following appointment, but from what I could tell, she was nervous to tell me. And now, I knew why.
"He lives in the UK." Hazel states, folding her hands over the table, her white, blonde curls falling over her shoulders as she leaned forward. "That's why we haven't sent you two out to meet each other in person yet."
I stare at her in disbelief before rubbing my hands over my face, fingers pushing the falling strands of hair back behind my ear as I finally meet her icy blue gaze. "He lives in England; he doesn't even live in the damn country. Hazel,-"
"We have our sister companies across the world, and after some comparison we realized that you two would make a perfect couple," she cuts me off, turning her screen to show off the stats. "It's our job to find the perfect to close-to-perfect matches-"
"What does that mean for the two of us then?" I state, looking at her in fear. "We have been going through this for months, Hazel!"
"Does the fact that he lives in another country change the way you feel about him-"
"No-"
"Then why is it a problem?" She leans back into her hair, watching my every move.
"How would a proper relationship work? We can't even date normally." My mind wanders and the black silhouetted figure that held the place in my daydreams of a life with a man I have been falling in love with, it seems so far away now. No first date where he smiles so brightly at me because, well, it's finally me. No introducing him to my parents, brothers, or friends. No nothing. I wanted this, I wanted to be with him. The thought of starting over felt like I had thrown so much time down the toilet.
"(Y/N), look at me." My eyes lift from my folded hands back to her face, where she is wearing a sympathetic smile. "We thought this through already. He wants to meet you!"
"Hazel-"
"Nope, let me finish." She puts a hand up, "He was just as upset as you in finding out-"
"He knew already?" My eyebrows pinch together in confusion.
She nods, "He wasn't allowed to share that he knew." She refolds her hands before continuing, "I have been talking to his counselor, and him and I came up with an idea. One that could allow you to be together sooner." She sighs, nails tapping on her desk. "However, it'll be a big step for the two of you."
"You sound like you're about to tell me we have to get married." A laugh slips past my lips, looking at her in disbelief. No way in hell is she about to tell me that I have to get married to him before we even meet properly.
"Actually," Hazel pushes away from her desk and walks over to a filing cabinet on the other side of the small room. Unlocking it, she reaches inside the third drawer before closing it and walking back to the desk. "That is exactly what we were thinking." She sets a small, blue velvet box on the table and slides it toward me as she perches herself on top of her desk. "It's all up to you, he had his counselor send this over a few weeks ago after being told of the plan."
I look at her in disbelief. My hand moves from its place in my lap to slowly take the box off the table. With shaky hands, I open it to see a diamond ring. It's not a large ring, a circular stone set in a rose gold braided band. It's simple, but elegant, and picked especially by a man who loves me just as much as I love him.
"He told his counselor that he knows that it is a big step, but he's more than willing if it means spending the rest of his life with you." In other words, he wants to marry you, even though he has no clue what you look like, or act like in person. "We can talk more about it at your next session if you would like. He will be back home by then, then we can all talk as a group and see what we want to do, yeah?"
I nod absentmindedly, eyes never leaving the ring set on my palm, "Yeah that- that's fine."
"Do you wanna take that home with you?"
My eyes snap up to meet hers, she laughs as I look at her in disbelief, "You seriously trust me not to lose it?"
"No, but I know that something that special is gonna be on your mind; you'll want it." Hazel stands from her relaxed position waiting beside her desk for me to get my bearings to walk out of her office and into the waiting room, the ring box still held tightly to my palm. "I will see you next week, Monday remember?"
Nodding, I give her a small smile. "Yeah, I'll see you then." My sneakers thump softly against the hardwood floor as I walk. I grab my wool coat and scarf before opening the heavy door, being met with the cold January air. Carefully walking down the icy steps, I make my way down the street to the parking structure. It doesn't take too long to walk past the guards at the gate and inside. Once settled into the small SUV, I pull the box out from its place in my pocket. Opening the small box again, I admire the ring, nervously taking it out of the box and moving it around in the dim light of the car. Biting my lip, I slip it onto my ring finger. The perfect fit, he really had you in mind when picking it.
Sugarland's Stuck Like Glue blaring from my phone speaker causes me to jump, the ring box falling into the cup holder between the seats as I reach across the middle console to dig for it inside my bag. Once in hand, I notice the name illuminating the screen, Celine Turner, one of your very best friends. "Hello, this is (Y/N)."
"I know it's you, dipshit, I called you." Her voice carries through the speaker, attitude dripping off of her tongue.
"Sorry," I chuckle into the receiver leaning my head back against the headrest, "Force of habit. What's up?"
"I need a girl's night, can I come over? I'll pick up food, and I have some Marvel movies in my bag I think-"
"If you don't, I do, and yeah, that'd be great. I actually need someone to talk to. I'm not home, but should be in an hour-"
"I thought you got out of work at four on Fridays?"
"I do, I, uh," I scratch my head before placing my keys into the ignition, "had an appointment."
She doesn't speak for a minute, "If you were at the gyno you can tell me, I'm not gonna judge-"
"No, I didn't go visit my lady doctor. You have a key, I'll see you at seven, okay?"
"Cool, oh, by the way, I'm spending the night and I have alcohol too. See you soon!"
The sound of her hanging up causes a soft laugh to fall past my lips, rolling my eyes at her antics. I buckle up after discarding my phone back into the bag sitting in the passenger seat before backing out of the spot and heading over to the exit. Waving to the guard again, I turn back onto the street and head to the highway. The ring on my left hand sparkling in the passing street lights.
When I finally pull up to the apartment building, I take the time to suck in a deep breath and place the ring back inside the box before hiding it into my bag. Doing some last-minute double checking, I make my way inside the building, locking the car behind me.
Two flights of stairs and a fight with the sticky lock to get into the apartment later, I finally make it inside. The sound of Thor: Ragnarok playing from the living room and the smell of Mexican from the little place in town immediately brings a smile to my face. Phoebe launches herself off the couch, where she had been curled up in Celine's lap, and makes her way towards the front door, meowing loudly and rubbing herself against my legs as I lean down to scoop her into my arms.
"Yo! I have our feast over here when you're ready to start. Go get comfy and we can get started!"
"It looks like you got started without me, dude-"
"I was hungry!" She laughs, taking a sip of her wine.
Rolling my eyes, I make my way to my room, tossing Phoebe on my bed before stripping and redressing in a pair of navy sweatpants and a black tank top. Phoebe bounds behind me as I make my way back into the living room and plop down on the couch next to Celine. "Thanks for picking up food, what's the occasion?"
Celine fiddles with her fork, not meeting my gaze, "Uh, I had a date, but he stood me up-"
"That asshole!" I yell, watching as she begins to giggle, the main reason for the outburst.
"It's okay, I didn't think it would go anywhere anyways. He was an idiot, and he likes the opposing football team."
"Damn, well, he wasn't worth it." I state, taking a bite of my food. The two of us eat in silent for a few minutes before she speaks up again.
"What about you? Any guys you have an eye on? You haven't really talked about guys with me for a while."
I shrug, deciding it was time I told someone about my little problem besides Sam, who at this point hadn't talked to me in about six months. "Um, no dates as of late. Been talking with someone though-"
"You have been holding out on me! (Y/N)!" She pushes my arm, nearly knocking my food out of my hands, causing a squeak to leave my barely parted lips.
I set the plate down glaring playfully at her as she laughs, making me bark out a laugh and playfully fighting back now that there would be nothing to stain my carpet. "Well I wanted to wait until I had a name to tell you about it!"
She stops fighting back, a look of confusion crossing her face, "What do you mean you were waiting till you had a name? You don't know his name?"
No turning back now. "Uh, yeah, I don't know his name-"
"How? How long have you two been talking?"
I fiddle with my fingers, looking at her softly out of the corner of my eye. "Over a year-"
"Over a year! (Y/N), you should know his name by now, why on Earth do you not know?!"
"Because that's how Heart Haven works, Celine." I bury my face in my hands, suddenly feeling embarrassed that I had kept this from her, and more importantly everyone else. When she doesn't speak up, I continue. "Look, no one knows. Remember Sam Simmons? From the bar?" I watch as she nods, eyebrow raised in curiosity. "She ended up telling me about this matchmaking service and I was like 'what the hell, what could go wrong," and, I actually met someone." My lips curl into a love-sick smile, man I had it bad for him. "He's amazing, everything I thought I wanted in a man and more. I mean, he has his flaws, who doesn't? I really really like him. We talk a lot, for over a year now-"
"How long, exactly?"
"Uh, a year and two-ish months?"
"And I'm the first to know?"
I nod my head, hair falling into my eyes. "It's kind of embarrassing having to tell people 'yeah, I'm taken but I have no clue what he looks like, sounds like, or what his name is.'"
Celine moves so that one leg is tucked underneath her while the other hangs off the couch. "Are you going to meet him soon?"
"I want to, but here's the problem, he doesn't live here-"
"Then let's get in the car and take a road trip!" She throws her arms into the air, grabbing her phone, "I can call into work and we can leave tomorrow morning-"
"Celine, it would be more like getting a passport and catching a plane."
She shifts so that she is closer, her eyebrows furrowed together. "He doesn't live in the country? Then where does he live?"
"England." Celine leans into the couch more, shutting her eyes. She opens and closes her mouth trying to find the right words. "I found out today, and it turns out that he's known for a while."
"If he knew why didn't he tell you? Wait, are you two like actually talking talking?"
"We text, it's a weird app that we text from that blocks out personal info if we type it out. I can show you-"
"Yeah, that might be good." She states, "And grab the wine bottle, I think we are gonna need it!"
I roll my eyes while retrieving the phone, along with the ring box which gets slid into my sweatpants pocket, and the wine. Handing her the phone, she swipes out the password and smiles, seeing that the app had been left open. Her face continues to hold a soft smile, that slowly gets bigger as she reads through the messages.
"It looks like you two know a lot about each other, and he sounds like he loves you." She smiles brightly, turning my phone in her hand to show me the screen, "Also, can we talk about the fact that he calls you 'love'?" She places her hand that is still holding the phone to her chest, sniffing before wiping a fake tear away. "That is so fucking precious."
"Yeah, he's been busy so we haven't talked much in the past few days. He keeps up with it though."
"Now I wanna meet him, gotta make sure he's perfect for you-"
"Dude, I have to meet him first, and uh, I got some news about meeting him today, actually-"
"Yes! Get on that plane! Meet your man! Be happy-"
"It's more complicated than that, Cel."
She shifts on the couch before handing back my phone. "Yeah, I guess long distance would be kinda shitty-"
"He's ready to start a life with me-" I hint.
"You're ready to start a life with him, so why are you fighting it-"
"Celine, he asked me to marry him."
Celine stops her excited rambling. She stares at me, dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, I think I heard you wrong. Did you say that he asked you to marry him?" I nod. "When did he ask you?!"
Sighing, I fish out the box from inside my sweatpants pocket, holding it out to her to take. "He decided a few weeks ago when his counselor told him of the potential plan, he bought a ring and sent it to me through the company." Celine grabs the box and opens it, eyes going wide and mouth falling open wider. "I think he was waiting for them to tell me about him not living in the country. Simply because it'll be a huge decision-"
"You'd probably go with him back to England?"
"I don't know!" I run a hand through my hair, "Nothing has been discussed. Hazel just told me to think about it and that he would be back on Monday so we could all talk together, and I don't know what I'm going to do. All I know is that I want to be with him."
"Then I think you have already made your decision-"
"But I don't know what the consequences will be!" I throw my hands up in the air in annoyance. Why couldn't this just be simpler. "I have spent so much time finishing school, finding a job, trying to find love and now that I think I have it, it's so far away. What will my family say, or my friends, the people from school-"
"(Y/N), you need to stop thinking about what others will think and be selfish for once. You are always giving back, doing things for others. Hell, you help people for a fucking living." She pauses to take my hands in hers, placing the ring box between us. Her voice softens, "You love him, so what if people don't approve. If you're happy, those people will eventually come around. Furthermore, I'm sure he feels the same. Now," she reaches between us to grab the box, placing it in my hands, "without thinking about it, what are you going to do?"
I pop open the box, taking the ring out and pinching it between my fingers. He picked that for you, and no one else. I slide the ring onto my finger, where it already feels natural to be. "I think I'm gonna marry him."
"Good, glad we got that settled. Now," Celine claps her hands together before reaching for something on the table. "Do you wanna watch Captain Marvel or Iron Man 3?"
I laugh and shake my head as she stands to change the movie, thankful to have that off my chest, and feeling like I was on cloud nine. I'm getting married. Soon, I'll be meeting the man behind the screen.