VALENTINE’S DAY PROPOSAL

by Wood, Lauren

  “Get an eyeful?”

  “You’re the one that dresses like that. Is that what you normally wear?”

  “You know it is. So why the sudden interest in what I am wearing?”

  I told her that there was no reason, but I knew the truth was something else altogether different.

  “Did something happen last night? It’s all a little fuzzy.”

  “Happen? What do you mean?”

  I didn’t want to come out with it, just in case this was all just a dream and my mind had made it all up. It wasn’t the reaction of her that worried me. It was something else altogether different. It really had to do with the fact that I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. Not after all these years.

  “I don’t know. I just had this crazy dream I guess.”

  I waited for her to react, but she didn’t, and I figured it was the perfect time to shut my mouth. It wasn’t supposed to be a dream, but I guess it was. I wasn’t ready for how sad I felt about that very fact. I wanted it to be real. Finally.

  “Well, you did have a lot to drink. What happened last night that you were like that?”

  I shrugged and told her that I don’t know.

  “Might have gotten something spiked. I don’t know.”

  “It’s usually girls that are roofied Scott.”

  “I don’t know. I’m pretty hot Blair. Someone could have been trying to take advantage of me.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Well, it could happen.”

  She giggled and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I didn’t want her to think that I was worried about it too much. We were just friends. Just friends. And I wasn’t supposed to care.

  Blair

  Dream indeed. I could see it in his eyes. He remembered, but I didn’t want to face it, so I told him that nothing happened. He went on acting like it didn’t and so did I. At least, he didn’t have to know what I was thinking about.

  “So, what happened at your big dinner last night? Did he ask you to marry him? I don’t see a ring on your finger, so am I to think that it is good news?”

  I stuck my tongue out at him and asked him why he had to be so complicated. Everyone else would congratulate me and tell me how much they loved weddings. A dreamy eye would come to them and they would just smile. But not Scott. He was happy that it didn’t happen.

  “No, he didn’t ask me. Or I guess he didn’t get a chance. I didn’t want to go out after you came over. You were in pretty bad shape and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  He didn’t need to know that the real reason that I didn’t go out, was because him and Lisa had put some thoughts in my head. And then the kiss. He wasn’t even going to admit to the kiss, so I wasn’t going to come out about how much it changed everything for me. I wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, but now I knew that it might not be so.

  “I’m sorry Blair. I don’t know what came over me. I am sorry. I know it was your birthday and you had this great night planned. I really feel like an idiot because of what happened. I didn’t want to ruin your night. I promise you that it was never my intention ”

  “I know. It just seemed like you weren’t ready to wait anymore.”

  That was the words that he had used before. He’d told me that he was there, at my doorstep because he was sick of waiting. I was to assume that he had meant waiting for me, but I only saw a bit of a flinch when I said that. Maybe I was wrong about all of it.

  “I don’t know about that. But whatever it was that came over me, I just want you to know that I am so sorry about your birthday. You’re going to have to let me do something to apologize for it. Anything you want.”

  I smiled at him because I liked him like this, when he owed me something.

  “I will get back to you on that Scott. For now, you can just eat some breakfast and get out of here. You can make me some of that alfredo you’re so good at making. Get back in the kitchen for me.”

  It wasn’t something that we had done in a while. A lot had changed between me and Scott since I had been dating Dominic. It was natural after all. Dom didn’t like that one of my best friends was a guy, but I couldn’t help it. There was always going to be Scott. So why was I looking at him differently than I ever had before? It really didn’t make any sense.

  He was quick to leave not too long after he wolfed down breakfast. It was a bit awkward, more so than it had been in a long time. I was glad to see him go, only then being able to breathe. I had thought about what was going to happen between the two of us. Was this going to change things? Did I want it to?

  I had so many questions in my mind, I didn’t hear anyone on the porch, until there was a heavy knock on the front door. I thought it was Scott coming back because he had forgotten something, but it wasn’t him and I was glad that I hadn’t said something I would have regretted.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “Well, at first I don’t know what I was doing here, but I’ve learned a lot sitting out here Blair. Can you imagine my surprise when a man leaves your house this morning? I didn’t get a good look at him, but he was moving fast.”

  I sighed and moved away from the door, letting him come in on his own. Of course, he would see that and go to that conclusion. Did that mean that he’d been out there all night?

  “It was Scott.”

  He instantly seemed relieved and I don’t know why that reaction bothered me so much. It shouldn’t have obviously, but it did. I wanted him to know that Scott was more than that, but I couldn’t come clean. I had to play along.

  “Oh, well that’s not a man. I didn’t see his pink shirt, so I didn’t know it was him.”

  Groaning out loud, I went to the kitchen and asked him if he wanted a drink.

  “Yeah. I’ve been out there a while now.”

  I didn’t comment on how insane that was, but I still couldn’t believe how unthreatened he was by Scott. Scott was handsome, manly, huge, so many good qualities. Why did Dominic see him as nothing to be worried about?

  Should he be worried?

  I shake the cobwebs from my brain. It’s still early and I’m trying to get myself together. I pour him some coffee and leave the creamer next to him so that he can make it the way he wants. This creamer was his, because he was usually the one, I woke up with, if anyone.

  “Here you go.”

  “Do you want to tell me what is going on with you?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Nothing really. Scott came over drunk. I don’t know. Maybe he broke up with one of his many females’ friends. I let him sleep it off here.”

  “So why didn’t you come to the door when I knocked?”

  I shrugged like I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “I don’t know. I could have been in the shower. I didn’t hear you knock.”

  “Or call?”

  His eyes narrowed and I gave him an expression that I hoped he would believe. That I had no idea what happened last night.

  “My ringer was off this morning. I saw that you called. I just hadn’t gotten around to calling you. I slept on the couch, so my neck is cricked, and I know how you don’t like snippy in the morning.”

  It all sounded perfectly reasonable for me, but Dominic had a shrewdness to his eyes, like he wasn’t sure if I was telling the truth or not. I really needed him to believe me.

  “Well, I am glad you’re not snippy now. I have something to ask you.”

  Blair

  The moment I had been waiting for, didn’t quite feel the same anymore. I knew that my suspicions were right, and he did want to ask me to marry him. But now I didn’t want to hear it and I didn’t have an answer.

  “Well I am about to leave now. I was heading out when you knocked on the door.”

  He gestured to what I was wearing, and I noticed that I was still in pajamas. Obviously, I wasn't going too far.

  “Yeah well...” I couldn't help, but laugh for a moment, because I was totally busted in a lie.

  “I was
thinking about it Dominic. I know that you're upset with me right now about last night, but everything just happened so fast and I wanted to make sure that Scott was going to be okay. He isn’t usually like that.”

  “If it was anyone else but Scott walking out of here, I probably would have lost it Blair. I just want you to know that.”

  “But not Scott?”

  I should have shut my mouth, because obviously I didn't want him to be upset, but there was a part of me that wondered why he was so unthreatened by Scott.

  “No, definitely not Scott. If he had any chance with you, he would have done something a long time ago. I am not worried about a guy like him. I am worried about the ones that will actually go for you. I know that he likes you, he has probably liked you for a very long time, but that doesn't mean that he's going to do anything about it.”

  I wanted to tell Dominic that he was wrong. Scott had finally made a move, even if he had to get drunk to do it. I wasn't going to say anything though, because I didn't want Dominic to find out. I knew exactly how he would act, and it would just make things worse. If that was possible.

  “So why don't you get dressed and we will go out and have something to eat?”

  I just had breakfast with Scott, but I agreed because I felt like he wouldn't ask me such a thing in a public place. However, I had to do it. I had to make sure that me and Dominic stayed in public. I didn't want to be alone with him, because then he would have time to ask me the question. How much had changed in just a few hours.

  Me and Dominic went out for lunch and it was nice to get out. I still had a lot on my mind, but he was able to help me think of other things. Dominic was always good for that. We have been going out for so long, because I had become comfortable with us. It really did feel like the next move would be marriage, but now I was second-guessing everything.

  When we were walking back to my place, Dominic made it clear that he had something important to talk about. My mind went instantly to the receipt that I had found, and I knew that the important thing that he wanted to talk about was going to be marriage. Lisa and Scott had tried to make me think that it would be something else, but I just knew deep down that's what it was. And I was trying to avoid it as much as possible. You couldn't say no to a man and then just walk away and expect everything to stay the same afterwards.

  “You don't have work today?”

  “No, I took the day off, because I thought that we would still be out from your birthday. I had quite the night planned.”

  I had already apologized several times for it, and I didn't know what else to say. “I'm really sorry that I flaked out on you like I did.”

  “It's okay Blair, really. What I was going to ask you last night, I can ask you now. Let's just get back to your place first.”

  I agreed with a nod of my head and a smile on my face, but I wasn’t feeling either one of them. I didn't want to go home, and I said something about stopping for ice cream. We weren't far from the place at all and it was only a block out of the way. He agreed and I was able to feel little bit more relief. I don't know how I was going to fix this, but I was going to have to do something.

  While he was ordering the ice cream for us, I called Lisa and told her to meet me at the apartment. I knew that Dominic and her didn’t really get along all that well and he would end up leaving once she got there. He always did. Dominic didn’t want to ask something like that with Lisa giving him dirty looks the whole time and then I would be in the clear.

  She was going to save me, and she didn’t even know it. Not to mention that she was going to be able to gloat about how right she was. I didn’t want to marry Dominic. I wasn’t ready to break up with him, but there was no way that it could be any different once he asked that question.

  Scott

  I was in the middle of questioning what happened with me and Blair, when my phone rang. I was hoping that it would be Blair and we could finally talk about what happened last night. I had a feeling that my dream was more than that. I could still smell her perfume on my clothes. She had laid down with me for a while and if that was true, then the kiss probably was true as well.

  “Hey Scott. You will never guess who just texted me.”

  “Lisa I really don't have time for the games today. What's going on?”

  “I don't know, but Blair just sent me a text telling me to get over to her place, so that Dominic will leave.”

  “Why would she want to do that?”

  “I don't know, but I think it's because he is going to ask her. They didn't go out last night, so maybe that's what he's doing now.”

  “But she wants that doesn't she?”

  I was really hoping that Lisa would have more information than I did. I wanted to hear that Blair did not plan on getting married. But I knew not to. Hope is what hurt me in the end every time.

  “That is what she said she wanted, but maybe she had a second a change of heart. Do you know if anything happened last night?”

  Lisa was a gossip queen and I certainly wasn't going to tell her what happened last night, but it was good to know that maybe if we really had kissed, it had made a difference. Did the kiss make her realize that she didn't want to marry him? But I wasn't going to hope. Not this time or any other time. I had before and it had always turned out badly for me.

  “I don't know.”

  “You really don't know a lot today, do you Scott?”

  She said it rudely and usually I would get lippy with her back, but not today. My heart was singing in my chest, even though I was telling it to shut up because it was an idiot. I was diving into something that I most likely was not going to be able to get out of and the last thing I needed was her rubbing it in.

  “I saw her for a few minutes last night, but there was nothing to report. It was before she had to go out on our date. You know I just wanted to tell her happy birthday.”

  “Didn't you do that over lunch yesterday? She told me that she couldn't go out, because you two had something going on.”

  “Yeah, but I forgot to give her the gift I got her.”

  I was grasping at straws and she was giving me a look like me she didn't really believe me.

  “Well anyways, I am just going to pretend that you're not acting weird right now and see if you can go over there instead. I am too far away to get over there in the next fifteen minutes when they’re going to be coming back from the ice cream shop. We both know that the last thing we need to do is let her get engaged. Then she would feel like she had to do it. Get down there and stop it from happening Scott. For me.”

  She said the last part and though I couldn’t see her at the moment, I know that she had a smirk on her face.

  As soon as I got off the phone with Lisa, I started back towards Blair’s house. I knew that I shouldn't be there, and it was going to be awkward, but I didn't care. I had to figure out a way to keep him from asking her to marry him. Because Lisa was right, when she said yes, Blair would have to do it because she was the type of person that always wanted to follow through with what she agreed to. Even when it was a bad idea. And for Blair to marry Dominic, was the worst one yet.

  I pulled up in her driveway only a minute before she started walking around the corner with Dominic. They were holding hands and she was leaned over against him. I hated to see her with anybody, but I really hated to see her with Dominic today. After the kiss that I was not sure we had shared together. Everything was coming back in fragmented pieces, but that was something that stuck out more than anything else.

  “Hey guys. I needed to grab my phone. I must have left it in your house, Blair.”

  Blair was surprised to see me, but I could tell that she was happy to see me because she had a big grin on her face. Maybe Lisa was right and now all of a sudden, she didn't want to get married. Maybe I should just let him ask and then when she says no, that'll be that. They won't be in this strange limbo anymore and they can finally break up. Once they break up, then I get my chance.

  “No problem S
cott. We were just getting back. Let me unlock the door and you can get whatever it is you need.”

  I thanked her and said hi to Dominic but avoided the dirty look he was giving me. He didn't like Lisa, but he didn't like me either. I think he knew what I felt for his girlfriend, but he didn't have anything to worry, about as far as he was concerned.

  I went in and went back into her bedroom. I stayed there for a few moments and then pulled my phone out of my pocket and went back into the kitchen. I should leave right now and give them some space, but that wasn't meant to be. So instead I sat down on the stool and asked them what they were doing for the day. Blair couldn't help but talk, because that's just who she was and after a few minutes, Dominic started getting restless and finally said that he had to leave.

  “I will be back tonight, Blair. Then we can have the evening we were supposed to have last night.”

  I caught the look that he gave me, and I wondered what Blair had told him about her not going with him. Whatever it was, it appeared that it was my fault. That did not bother me at all. It could be my fault all she wanted it to be, as long as the outcome that me and Lisa feared, didn't happen.

  Blair

  Once Dominic left, I asked him what he was really doing here.

  “Lisa called me and told me that you needed a buffer.”

  “Did she, say why?”

  He shrugged and told me that she just said that I wanted her to come down here and she couldn't make it. “I'm just here to help. I didn't realize that he would leave.”

  I knew that he was lying, but I didn't care. Lisa knew exactly why I had texted her and told her to meet me here. I didn't know if she had told Scott or not, but I'm pretty sure that Scott had an idea of why I would ask such a thing. We had just talked about this yesterday.