Picture Perfect

by Hayden Hunt

  There were still some residual fears, of course. I was still going to be worried that Pat would jump and run again, but I wasn’t going to focus on that. I was going to focus on the fact that I loved him, and that I’d do anything for this to work out.

  “Is this your photograph?” I heard a voice from behind me ask.

  I turned around. “Oh, yes, it is.”

  “Very excellent work. How long have you been studying?”

  “Oh, uh, formally just this year. I’ve been a hobbyist for awhile now.”

  He raised both eyebrows. “Interesting, very interesting.” He extended his hand. “Hi, my name is John Hamelton. I’m a local portrait photographer.”

  “Hello! So nice to meet you!” I shook his hand, taking my arm away from Patrick for a moment.

  He glanced at my photo again. “I always come to these things, so I can keep my eye out for an upcoming talent. I’ve got a revolving door of interns and assistants, so it’s good to meet new people.”

  “Wow, you must get a lot of business!” I answered.

  “I do, I’m contracted to a few of the high schools nearby to do yearbook and senior photos.”

  “That’s awesome! Well, hopefully there will be an opportunity to intern with you when I’ve got a little more experience under my belt.”

  “I think you’ve got enough experience for now,” he smiled. “That’s what internships are for. If you’re interested, that is.”

  I could feel my eyes widen in surprise. “Absolutely! Yeah, that would be fantastic.”

  He pulled out his wallet and handed me a business card. “Give me a call Monday morning, and we’ll set up a meeting.”

  “Thank you!” I said excitedly. “Thank you so much!”

  When he stepped away, I actually squealed a bit.

  “Did you hear that?!” I asked Pat in disbelief.

  “I sure did, baby,” he said, as he kissed my cheek. “I absolutely did. Congratulations!”

  “Thank you!” I hugged him.

  It felt so good, to be in this place with him again. To be able to talk about my accomplishments and not be concerned that they might insult him.

  “This is going to be really good, isn’t it?” I asked him.

  “What is?”

  “Life.” I grinned. “Just… life.”

  10

  Patrick

  I woke up next to Rich, and, for a moment, I was a little confused about why he was still here. Normally, at this time, he’d be up and have left for work already.

  Then, I remembered, it’s a Saturday, of course. That explains why he’s still snoring in bed next to me.

  I did my best not to move around on the bed too much. I didn’t want to wake him. But I did want to adjust my body so that I could easily stare at him. It was kind of a pastime of mine, staring at him while he slept.

  It’s been a year that I’ve been with Rich now, and each day still surprises me. I had thought after the first month that the newness would wear off, and I’d eventually become comfortable and acclimated to being with Rich. But it hasn’t been like that at all.

  I mean, I am comfortable. I am totally comfortable in my relationship with him, we’ve become incredibly close. But I never feel like I’m used to the relationship, if that makes sense. Like, it still amazes me every single day that I’m lucky enough to be with him. Especially after everything I did.

  We’ve come along way since the day I blew up and broke up with him, and I like to think I’ve become a fantastic, committed boyfriend since then.

  We’ve had a few setbacks still. Six months ago, when he asked me to move in with him, the part of me that is scared of commitment reared its ugly head again. It wasn’t extreme or anything, I didn’t try to demolish our relationship like I did the first time. But it took awhile to come around to the idea, and Rich definitely noticed my initial hesitance.

  I could tell he was hurt by it. He’d never had any issues with committing to me. He knew he loved me, and he was willing to do anything to show that to me. Moving in together didn’t scare him.

  I was doing my best to change that, though. I didn’t want to be a commitment-phobe in every step of our relationship. I didn’t want him to have to push me to move forward. So, today, I’m going to take the next step for us.

  I’d made plans for today, and we had to leave in two hours, but I didn’t want to wake Rich yet. He looked so peaceful. And he gets ready fast, it won’t be a problem if he has another half hour to sleep.

  Unfortunately, my phone started vibrating on the nightstand next to him. I tried to carefully reach over him to grab and silence it, but my shifting above him was enough to wake him up.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” I grinned at him.

  “Mmm… good morning.” He mumbled as he stretched. “Who is it?” he asked, referring to the vibrating phone now in my hand.

  I looked down at the caller ID. “Oh, it’s just my mom.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Calling to tell you more about how much she hates me, huh?” he asked.

  “Oh… she doesn’t hate you,” I said halfheartedly.

  But she totally did, and I have no idea why.

  Rich has met both my parents multiple times in the time we’ve been together. My father absolutely loved him, thought he was the kind of nice guy with whom I deserved to be. And he was right, Rich was perfect for me in about every way.

  My mom didn’t react nearly so well, though. I don’t know why, but she wasn’t ever receptive to Rich. She froze him out from the first day they met. She never even gave him a chance.

  So, it’s not like she actually hated him for any real reason. There was no valid reason. He’d been a complete angel around her from the very beginning.

  The only reason I can think of for her coldness was because she really believed this relationship would eventually fail and that Rich would hurt me. It’s the only thing that made sense. Based on what I’d told her the day we first got together.

  So, we haven’t visited my mom much lately. I know this annoys her, but what can she expect when she treats my boyfriend so badly? Of course I’m going to go see her and watch her treat him like an outsider.

  She combatted my refusal to visit, though, by calling me nearly every day. It was getting a little annoying.

  But, hopefully we can fix all this soon. I think, after today, my mom might warm up to Rich. Maybe we’ll be able to start visiting her again and can maintain a decent relationship with her. We’ll see, only time will tell.

  “You don’t need to lie, I know she hates me,” Rich laughed. “But, oh well, can’t win them all, right?”

  “She’ll come around,” I smiled at him. “Hopefully sooner than later. “

  “Yeah… hopefully,” he yawned. “So are you finally going to tell me what it is we’re doing today?” he asked.

  “No! It’s a surprise, I told you. Why would I keep it a secret for two weeks and then spoil it the morning of?”

  “Ugh, fine,” he groaned. “Can you at least tell me how I should dress for this event?”

  “You can dress however you want. Casual works, but look cute. Just for me.”

  He smiled, “Don’t I always?”

  “Yeah, you do,” I kissed him. “Let’s hop in the shower.”

  We got ready quickly, and, when it came time to leave, I went a little overboard and demanded that Rich put on a blindfold.

  “Oh, you’re kidding me, right? Pat!”

  “Just do it for me! Please? I’ve planned this all out, and I want it to go smoothly, okay?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Can’t I just keep the blindfold off until we get there?”

  “No! It’ll spoil it to see where it is.”

  “Okay…” he was still trying to compromise. “So I’ll put it on when we’re halfway there?”

  “No!” I insisted again. “You’ll know where we’re going by my driving. Trust me, you need to have it on the whole time.”

  “Alright, fine, but if I get carsick
and puke all over you, that’s on you.”

  I laughed, “And I’ll clean it up, like the loyal boyfriend I am. Just, don’t get it on your clothes. I don’t care about how the car looks, but I don’t want your outfit ruined.”

  He laughed, too, “Yeah, yeah, all right.”

  I had to wonder if he knew what I was up to yet. I hoped not, but, with everything I did, I felt like it was becoming increasingly obvious.

  I drove us to the lake where we had our first photo shoot. As I parked, I shot off a quick text. I still didn’t allow him to take off the blindfold. Instead, I went to the passenger-side door, opened it, and gave him my hand.

  “Come on, I’ll lead you to where you need to go,” I told him.

  He was pretty nervous about this. He took little steps, every once in awhile stopping to put his hands out in front of him. It was both adorable and hilarious.

  “Oh, geez! Don’t you know I’m not going to let you fall or run into anything?” I asked him. “Trust me!”

  But his nervousness only got worse as I led him into the nature area. He could hear twigs and leaves snapping under his feet, and the ground was definitely uneven.

  “Okay, how much longer do I have to do this?!” he asked.

  “Almost there…” I assured him.

  When we got to the dock where I first took photographs of him, I stopped.

  “Alright, you can take off the blindfold now.” I told him, as I faced him directly toward the dock.

  He did, and as he saw it, his jaw dropped.

  The dock was covered in rose petals and lavender. White candles lined the rim, though a couple had understandably blown out from the wind, even though they were lit just mere minutes ago.

  “This… this is so beautiful, babe!”

  I took his hand and sat him down on the dock. Out of my bag, I pulled a gift wrapped in gold wrapping paper.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  “Just open it!” I smiled.

  He did. Inside of it was one of the photographs I had taken of him in a wooden frame. On the bottom, in black ink, I had written ‘The Day I Fell in Love with You.’

  His eyes sparkled and welled up with tears.

  “Baby…”

  “Rich, it’s been a year to the day since I fell in love with you. Right here, right on this dock. I saw something in you that I’ve never seen in another person before. In you, I have found my best friend. In you, I have found a life partner. You mean the world to me, and I’m so sorry for the times where I’ve let fear keep me from you. But, today, I’m promising to never let anything keep me from you ever again.”

  I stood up off the dock only to get back down on one knee.

  “Oh my god! Pat, what are you doing?”

  “I’m showing you my commitment. I’m proving to you that I will never be afraid to be with you ever again. Rich, you are my everything. And I want you to continue to be my everything for the rest of my life.” I pulled out a small ring box from my pocket and opened it. “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes!” he nearly shouted “Oh my god, of course, yes!”

  He wrapped his arms around me and started crying. I could feel my self tearing up, too.

  We stayed like that a while, wrapped up in the love of each other. For minutes, all I did was take in the smell of his cologne and the shimmering light of the candles on the lake’s edge. I wish this moment could last forever.

  It didn’t, of course, but thankfully there were plenty of more good moments to come once he pulled away.

  “How did you pull all this together?” he asked, as he wiped his eyes.

  “I may have paid the park employees a little something to help me out.”

  “You're incredible. This is seriously… wow. And that ring!”

  I pulled it out, it was a simple shimmering rose gold band.

  “Speaking of which,” I said as I pulled the ring out of my pocket. I slid it onto his finger.

  He extended his hand, fingers sprawled out as he looked at it. “It’s perfect. This is perfect. And you’re perfect.” He kissed me.

  “Were you expecting it?” I asked.

  “No! Not at all!”

  “Really?” I asked. “Are you just saying that? Because with the blindfold and all my hints that something romantic was on the way I feel like it was pretty obvious.”

  “No, it definitely wasn’t. I mean, maybe it should have been. Maybe if it was someone else, it would have been obvious. But coming from you? Absolutely not.”

  “Really?” I asked. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean, the last thing I expected was for you to be the one to propose! And after only a year? I was sure that I was going to have to wrestle you into an engagement after five years, and even then you might be hesitant.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I could see that. I know I haven’t been the most open to committing to you, but this is my genuine attempt to try to change that. I really want to be better for you.”

  “Oh, baby, you don’t have to do that. You know I’d wait forever for you if I had to. As long as I have you, I don’t care how slow you are to commit.”

  I truly believed he meant that, too. That’s the kind of person he is. He loves me for who I am, not what he hopes that I’ll one day become. And I love him for that.

  But I did want to change, and this was the first step.

  “So, you don’t feel it’s a little fast?” he asked.

  “Well, yeah, of course. But our relationship has been a little quick to begin with. And, I know, in my heart, that you are absolutely the man I am going to end up with. I don’t see the point in waiting. You are who I want to spend my life with, you’re who I want to have kids with, it’s you all the way.”

  He kissed me again. “I couldn’t agree more.” He glanced around at the candles, more of which had blown out now. “You know, I’m surprised the park employees actually let you put up candles. ‘cause, you know, forest fires and stuff.”

  “Oh, yeah… I kind of thought they wouldn’t, either. So I didn’t even ask them about that. They just gave me the permission to propose here and everything, I think they might have put out the rose petals, but they weren’t who did the candles. I asked someone else to do that.”

  “Really? Who?”

  This was another part of my surprise proposal. “James, you can come out now!” I said excitedly.

  From behind a tree, James came out, camera in hand.

  He was an employee at the photography company for whom Rich worked. Right after he’d won the photography contest, he’d gotten himself an internship there, and he’s been moving up the ranks ever since. He’s a total natural, and his boss realized that immediately. Now he's actually getting paid to work there as an assistant.

  James was a senior photographer there, and he had become a mentor for Rich. He really took him under his wing, and the two became close. He was the perfect person to ask to shoot this. I wanted someone very talented, and James definitely was.

  “I hired James to photograph the whole thing. I figured, photographs were how it all started. So, I wanted some when I committed myself to you.”

  He started crying again. “Are you kidding?! How long have you two been planning this?”

  “Oh, a little while.” James gave a cheeky smile, before he leaned in to hug the both of us. “Congratulations, you two! I’m so incredibly happy for you both.”

  Rich laughed. “I seriously can’t believe you two. Oh my god, can I see the pictures?”

  “Absolutely not!” James said quickly. “I’m not showing you these until they’re printed and framed. This is going to be my early wedding gift to you two. A full album and a few framed portraits of your engagement.”

  It was more than Rich could handle, I could tell. He was bursting to the seams with happiness and excitement.

  And it felt so good to know that I was responsible for that.

  We left shortly thereafter. We were sure to blow out all the candles and collect them bef
ore we left, and I had a fun time when we got home decorating the living room with them.

  My joy couldn’t be contained. There was no way I could be any happier than I felt currently. I was sure that nothing was going to be able to ruin this day for me.

  Unfortunately, I was very wrong.

  As you do when you’re recently engaged, both Rich and I wanted to share the news. I was eager to call my family, especially my mom. Because I was sure this would be the turning point for her.

  I mean, if she’s so concerned that Rich is eventually going to hurt me, then this news should actually make her very happy. Us promising to be with each other for the rest of our lives meant that this was more serious, it wasn’t going to end at the drop of a hat. It proved Rich was serious about me.

  I dialed her up.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hi, Mom!” I said excitedly.

  “Hi, honey, tried to call you earlier. Must have missed you.”

  “Oh, you did, I’ve had a very busy morning,” my heart was racing in excitement.

  “Oh? Doing what, exactly?” she questioned.

  “Getting engaged!” I chirped.

  “What?!” she asked, shocked. At first, I believed this was an excited kind of shocked.

  “Yes! Rich and I are getting married!”

  “You can’t do that,” she said immediately.

  “Uh, what?” I asked.

  “You cannot get married to that boy. He is trying to trap you.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about. “Mom, what the hell are you talking about?”

  “Honey, read between the lines! It’s only been, what, a few months of you two dating?”

  “A year…” I corrected.

  “Fine, whatever, a year, then. A year is far too soon to be getting married. And the fact that he is proposing to you after only a year proves he is going to trap you. This is how it starts, honey. They act all sweet and loving and then once they have you they completely change. And before you know it, you’re trapped in a marriage for years of which you can’t get out. Take my word for it.”