About ten minutes went by, and I still hadn't got any texts from Anthony. The anticipation was starting to kill me. What could he possibly have in mind? What could possibly be taking him this long? I started to just scroll through my phone, trying to make the time pass.
It wasn't until another five minutes went by that I received a text from him. It simply said:
Ready :)
On my way :)
I went outside and started to make my way to the dock he had pointed out. It was a good distance away, so I put in my earbuds and looked at my phone again.
As I got closer, I got another text from Anthony.
Take out ur earbuds :)
Um ok
I did as he said and it just made me wonder what he was doing even more.
When I was very close to the dock, I received a third text.
Dont look up from ur phone until I say
Ok
I continued to look at my phone, but I really wanted to look up. I was about to step onto the dock when he sent me the fourth message.
Ok u can look up now :)
Ok im so excited 2 see what u did :)
Just look :)
I looked up and gasped. There were lit candles of all different shapes and sizes all along the dock. There were some flower pedals on it as well. I covered my mouth and nose with my hands as my eyes filled up with water.
The more I looked around, the more I noticed. There were little dolphin statues, little surfers, ice cream, bikes, kites, and so much more.
When I reached the end of the dock, I saw Anthony sitting on a stool holding a guitar. There was another stool next to him. By his feet, there was a tiny statue that looked like us holding hands.
Once our eyes met, he simply smiled and started playing. I recognized the song at once. It was I Love You Too Much that Diego Luna sang in one of our favorite movies. By now, I was crying tears of joy.
I took my seat on the other stool next to Anthony. I listened to him play and loved every second of it. I remembered in the movie that the guy was singing this to his true love and at the end, he tried to kiss her, but she put her finger to his lips and asked, "Did you really think it'd be that easy?" So as he finished, he looked at me and I said:
"It really is that easy."
He giggled and then, we kissed. But this wasn't like the others. This was a real, we-belong-together kiss. I love him and he loves me. When we pulled away from each other, I had to ask him a question.
"So, this is what you were planning?"
"Yes. I didn't know how else to really get the message to you."
My eyes were probably sparkling in the candlelight because of the water in them.
"Wait, when did you learn to play the guitar?"
"Oh, my friend Tyler taught me when you left. He noticed how upset I was that you were gone, so he showed me how to try to keep my mind off of it."
"That's nice of him."
There was a little silence, but I kept talking.
"I never would've thought you'd be singing and playing the guitar! That was a great surprise."
He laughed a little.
"Yeah, me neither. That's the first time I've ever done something like that."
"Well, you did great. I loved my surprise."
"I'm so glad. It took a lot of practice, but it definitely payed off."
We smiled at each other for a moment until Anthony spoke again.
"Oh, there's actually a part two to your surprise."
"Really?"
"Yes."
He pulled out a tiny purple draw string bag about the size of my hand.
"What's this?"
"Open it."
I opened the bag and reached my hand inside. I pulled out a necklace with a sparkling gold chain and a heart at the end. On the heart it said "Anthony and Maggie ♾."
"Anthony, it's beautiful."
"You like it?"
"Yes! It's amazing."
"Good. Let me help you put it on."
He put his guitar on the stool when he stood up and I put my hair out of the way. I could feel the cold chain against my neck. It took a little bit because Anthony started to struggle with the hook, but he got it.
"There. A beautiful necklace for a beautiful girl."
"Thank you so much. You've really made this night special."
"Don't mention it. Now, tell me some of your most favorite songs. I'll play them and you can sing along. After all, there's no one around except for you, me, and my guitar."
I let out a small laugh.
"Um, let me think."
For a few hours, we sat there. Just the two of us, singing and having a good time.
When it was starting to get late, Anthony asked me if I wanted to go to his house.
"I guess so. Don't you have to put all this stuff away?"
He shook his head.
"No, Tyler said he's clean it up for me. Do you wanna keep any of the statues?"
"Yeah, I'll take one of each."
Anthony laughed as I picked up one of each different statue. When I got to the one of Anthony and me, I had to ask him if he wanted it.
"Do you want this one?"
I held it up.
"I already have one. That's for you."
"Okay!"
Once I had all the statues, I quickly realized that it would be hard to carry all of them on my own.
"Need a little help there, Mag?"
"Yes, thank you."
"No problem."
We headed off the beach, but I just wasn't ready to leave yet. I did the first thing that popped into my head. I tapped Anthony on the shoulder.
"Tag! You're it!"
I put the wooden statues on the sand and ran away laughing.
"Oh, it's on!"
Anthony our his half by mine and ran after me also laughing. We ran and chased each other, laughing and having a good time for a while.
Then we picked up the statues and went to Anthony's house. We snuggled next to each other in bed and slept after an amazing last night.