"This evening has been wonderful! I have my two friends here, my darling son, and my Gabby!" Edna said as she hugged me tightly from behind. After doing several rounds of shots with her two friends, she is now feeling quite merry. I couldn't help but to laugh as I reach up to pat her arm. "Ian, I am so glad that you decided to date her." She says with a smile then she swats him on the shoulder. "How come you haven't proposed yet?"
I go still as everyone looks at him expectantly.
Ian clears his throat. "Well, about that," He begins as he starts to fidget. "I was kind of waiting for a good time, and I guess that time is now." He says as he reaches into the pocket of his waistcoat and pulls out a small, red velvet box, which causes the other three ladies at the table to squeal and clap.
I don't hear any of that though, I don't hear anything, not even the music. There is only the red velvet box that Ian is holding out to me. I look up at him, then at the box. "Is that what I think it is?" I ask even though I already know the answer.I am going to need more tequila.
I sit there unmoving, unsure of what to do. A part of me wants to take the box and open it, but a larger part of me just wants to get out of here and avoid the object in the box and the series of events that will undoubtedly follow. Ian mistakes my hesitation for nerves, or maybe he thinks I had too much to drink? Either way he opens the box and takes out the ring. I can't deny it; it is a gorgeous piece of jewelry. Is that a yellow diamond? I watch him as he takes my left hand in his.
"What do you say Gabe? Will you marry me?" He asked me, hope lighting his grey eyes making them sparkle.
I wanted to respond, I did, but something was stopping me. I looked away from him to his mother and then to the other two women at the table. They were all so expectant and full of excitement as they nodded and winked at me, silently egging me on to say yes.
I can do this, can't I?I ask my self. I should be able to let Kai go and be with Ian, right?I look back at the man sitting next to me and tried to force the words from my mouth once again. Nothing.
"Gabe?" He says, his face falling a bit.
I look down at my hand, it starts to blur slightly from the tears that have gathered on the rims of my eyes. You can do this Gabe. Just say yes. Several more agonizing seconds slip by and I decide to not be so stubborn this time as I let the tears fall. At this point I wasn't even sure of the reason I was crying. Perhaps I was in mourning for what could have been, or maybe it was that I knew that Ian was the one for me and the other one was just a rich, decadent dream. A dream that I need to finally wake up from it seems.
I take a deep breath as I slowly nod my head in answer to his question. Immediately his mother and the two other ladies jumped up and down shouting as several on lookers clapped and gave their congratulations.
Ian slipped the ring onto my hand before taking me in his arms.
"You made me nervous their for a second." He said in my ear before moving away to wipe the tears from my face with his thumbs. I still couldn't bring myself to say anything, so I just smiled. "I love you." He once again brings my face to his. My lips brush against his briefly, more tears fall.
Isn't this supposed to be the happiest moment of my Life?I mean, I thought it should've been, but it just felt wrong somehow. I reach for my glass on the table and bring it to my lips to empty in one swallow. Lucky for me, the waitress was already on her way over with two more rounds, courtesy of the to women with Ian's Mom. It would save me the trouble of going over to the bar, but I think the moment away from everyone would've been for the best. Even if I had convinced myself in the short time to get an Uber back home.
The woman sits the tray before me and I immediately grab up a drink in each hand quickly downing the one in my right hand before anyone else has a chance to get his or hers.
"Someone is excited!" Edna shouts as she retrieves her own glass. "Cheers, to my son and my soon to be daughter in law!" She hoots and hollers along with her two friends as they bring their glasses together in a toast. I lifted up my now empty glasses with theirs, the alcohol quickly coming to my rescue to help turn this sad moment into one that is not so bad.
Another song starts playing from that night. Ignoring the worried look I am getting from Ian, I head for the dance floor dragging him along behind me.
And that was the last thing I remembered.
I was in a dark room lying on a bed when I came to. I noticed two things, one I was naked under these sheets. Two, I was alone in said bed. I started to sit up, but lay my head back down when the room started to spin.
I was still drunk.
I forced my brain to recall the events that led me to my current situation.
Ian?
Right, that would explain the bed. An image came to mind of him holding out a red velvet box to me, smiling. I quickly took my hand from under the comforter.
"So it wasn't a dream." I say to myself aloud as I stare at the ring realizing I had only glanced at it when he had presented it to me in the restaurant, it seemed pretty expensive. A rectangular yellow diamond set upon what looked to be white gold, but could very well be platinum because Ian is such a classy guy, surrounded by two tiers of tiny diamonds with more decorating most of the band.
"You like it?" Came a voice from the doorway.
I jumped a little because I had forgotten I wasn't here alone. "Its beautiful." I said honestly. I lowered my hand letting it rest on my stomach as I watched him cross the room taking the spot on the bed next to me.
He leans down kissing me gently on my forehead before using his hand to push some random curls away from my face. "How are you feeling?" He asks with a grin on his face.
"Fine. I'll admit that the room is still spinning a little, though." His grin turns into laughter. "What? What is so funny?"
"So you are just "fine"? Are you sure?" He was still laughing.
"What?" I ask again as my curiosity threatens to eat me alive. "Did something happen?"
"That is an understatement. I take it that you don't remember what happened exactly?"
"Well the details are a little fuzzy around the edges if that is what you mean. So tell me already."
He lay back on the pillow tucking his arms behind his head. "Where should I start? The bar dancing, or the photo shoot?"
"What?" I sit up on my elbows to look at him and immediately regretted it. "Ow." I ease myself back down as Ian laughs again.
"You had quite the fan base, and you made enough to cover the tab." He laughed even harder as my eyes grew wide.
"You are joking!" I would scream, but I would only end up hurting myself, so I settled for burying myself under the blanket. "Please, tell me that you are joking?" He only laughed in answer. I could imagine him rolling back and forth as I felt movement on the bed next to me. I groan from the movement as well as my growing embarrassment.
"You were awesome, I was very impressed with your dance moves. More so than me, my mother was impressed. She actually asked if you could teach her to move like that, although I think that was more of the tequila talking than her." I groan again. "Then the photo shoot, that was pretty spectacular, you had a few more fans approach you once they saw how friendly you were. The hostess had her other friends she was telling you about come by and- well, see for your self."
There was a pause as I heard a light, tapping noise, then suddenly the comforter was pulled away from my face. I squinted from the sudden brightness of his phone. Sure enough, there I was in the center of a photo with the hostess and her friends as well as a dozen or so, other people. I grabbed the phone from him and scrolled through the photos. "Oh. My. God." I close my eyes giving the phone back to him. "I think I will need a day off tomorrow." I reach for my phone to text David, but in reality, I have no idea where it is.
Ian tosses his phone aside. Suddenly he is on top of me. "I am getting all excited again thinking about your little dance number." He leans down to kiss me then pulls away when he notices my lack of response.
"Where is my phone?" You would have thought that I had sprouted another head the way he looked at me.
"You want your phone? Now?"
I nodded. "Please. I want to tell David I won't be in tomorrow. I need some time to recover. Not to mention, I am sure I will hear about my fabulous evening via social media. I just hope there isn't any video." There was a sigh as his body reluctantly moved away from mine.
I watch him as he leaves the room only to return a short while later waving my phone in the air. He hands it to me shortly before dropping himself onto the bed. I immediately see a message from Greg. I want to read it and respond, but now isn't the time. Pushing my curiosity aside, I open the messages from David and begin to type out a small message to about tomorrow giving a few details before closing the phone and sitting it beside me on the bed.
"Are you done?"
I turn my head a bit to look at him and was relieved to notice that the room no longer spun with the slightest of movements. "Yes. Why?"
Suddenly he was on top of me again. "Because, I would like to pick up where I left off."