by Hotcheri
“Wow,” Luke said appreciatively, nodding. “I’m pretty impressed.”
We continued to chat, our coffee getting cold as we kept finding other subjects to chat about, both of us unconsciously trying to extend our time together. It was as if we knew that after we opened the time capsule at the Empire State Building, the magic would be over.
“Will Seiko join you here once you get settled?” I asked Luke, trying to keep the rank jealousy out of my voice. All I wanted to know is if she would be okay with me going to visit Luke from time to time, I promise. I mean, since he’s invited me over and all.
Luke popped a cherry from his fruit salad into his mouth before replying. “We broke up,” he said casually, like it wasn’t a big deal. “I thought I told you.”
Meanwhile, my hand froze with my fork en route to my mouth, eyes bulging with shock.
Say what now?
“You what? When?” I spluttered.
Shrugging, Luke said, “About five months ago.” He shot me a lopsided grin. “I guess I found out that she wasn’t the one and I didn’t want to keep leading her on.”
My heart jumped in my chest at the way he looked at me when he said ‘she wasn’t the one’ but I tried to stay cool. Luke was single? Did that mean anything for me?
“I thought you didn’t believe in soul mates,” I quipped, relieved that my voice sounded normal. Inside I was a mass of conflicting emotions, none of them making sense. I still loved Luke, had never stopped. Was there a possibility for us to rekindle what we had once had now that he was single or was I just reaching?
Luke's grin widened. “I learnt from the best, CiCi.”
Empire State Building
It was windy on top of the almost deserted skyscraper and I shivered in my lightweight jacket. Ever gallant, Luke shrugged off his jacket and slipped it onto my shoulders, ignoring my feeble protests.
“You never did know how to dress for the weather,” he chuckled, squeezing my shoulders lightly as he walked me to a quiet corner. I pouted playfully, remembering the times when Luke had forfeited his jackets and hoodies because I got cold.
Ah, the good old days.
Quick to defend myself, I said, “I thought it would be warm tonight.”
“Why would you think that?” Luke snickered loudly. “It was raining yesterday!”
I narrowed my eyes suddenly, raising one eyebrow as I looked at Luke. “How do you know?” I asked suspiciously. “Weren’t you in Japan yesterday?”
“Weather Network,” Luke explained in a ‘duh’ tone, but I was positive he was blushing as he tried to turn the subject back to my dumb statement. “Don’t try to change the subject.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “It was raining and science proves that when it rains, the next day will be sunny-.” I stopped talking, stalled by the amused expression on Luke's face. He’s laughing at me again! “Okay, you win.”
“You’re still as cute as hell when you make shit up,” he chuckled, pinching my cheek playfully.
“I wasn’t making anything up,” I lied, keeping a straight face.
Smirking at me, Luke twisted open the capsule with a flourish as my heart thudded with excitement. I watched as he reached into the capsule and scooped out the zip locked contents. How I remembered that day we had put our treasured items in there. Five years on, we were about to revisit that day.
He immediately located my locket and walked behind me to fasten the necklace around my neck. I ran my finger over the heavy heart shaped locket, shivering as Luke's fingers brushed the nape of my neck.
“Did you ever find your mom?” he whispered into my ear.
I could hardly trust myself to speak from being so close to Luke, but I forced myself. “Yes and no.”
Slipping his hands onto my shoulders, he turned me around till I was facing him, looking quizzical. “Is she- was she-?” he started, unsure of how to pose the question he wanted to ask.
“Yeah. She’s dead.”
His eyes were sad and he hugged me tight. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I replied, and it was okay. I barely knew my mom anyway, and while I wish I’d had a chance to see her before she died, I could appreciate the fact that everything happened for a reason. “I was pretty sure that it was inevitable.” I shrugged as Luke's arms fell from my shoulders and he stepped back from the hug. “Sure, I wanted to find her alive because I have so many questions, but that wasn’t to be. I’ve made my peace with it and I know that she’s resting easy after a hard life. And- why are you looking at me like that?”
Luke was staring at me, a mixture of awe and incredulity on his face. “Teach me.”
“Teach you what?” I frowned, not understanding. For such a cutie, Luke sure wasn’t making any sense.
“How to come to terms with things that easily.”
I smiled bitterly. “I only make it seem easy,” I admitted, staring unseeingly at the New York skyline. “It pisses me off that she left me when she didn’t need to, but at the same time it was for the best. If I had stayed with her, I would have ended up dead.” I gave Luke a twisted smile. “And we wouldn’t have met, which would have sucked.”
“I know,” Luke said, nodding in agreement.
We went through the rest of the items in silence, each wrapped up in our own memories, recalling what the treasures we unwrapped meant to us.
I grinned when we finally turned to the letters Luke had made us write.
“Read yours first,” I coaxed Luke, who picked up my letter to him, opened it and started reading out loud, a big grin on his face.
He cleared his throat. “‘Dear Luke, if you’re reading this it’s five years later and life has changed. You overcame your aneurysm, made headway with your bucket list (thanks to me) and you’re probably thinking that you’re the man. And you’re probably right.’” He chuckled as I listened, ears smarting at how corny but true the letter was. “‘I just want you to know how proud I am of you overcoming all these obstacles you’ve had recently. And I’m even prouder of you for doing it all with a smile on your face and a positive attitude.’” I flushed harder as he read the last part of my stupidly embarrassing teen love letter. “‘Love, Celsi Sawyer, aka CiCi.’ You’re so sweet! Come here!”
Luke wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to his body in a super squeeze. He kissed my cheek, sending tingles up and down my spine.
“I just spoke the truth,” was all I could splutter once he let go of me, grinning happily.
He handed me his note to me. “Now read mine,” he pressed.
“Okay,” I said, taking the surprisingly heavy letter from him. I started unfolding it, my eyebrows rising with disbelief as the piece of paper grew larger, like some kind of origami trick. “What the hell.” It was one of those ginormous pieces of paper. “How many times did you fold this?” I asked Luke. “Do you have a life?”
He chuckled from the other side of the paper. “Trust me, it was hard work,” he replied simply.
I could only see Luke's Nike clad feet but the rest of his body was blocked by the massive sheet of paper, as creased as it was. “This better be worth it,” I said, wondering what the hell kind of essay Luke had written me. But how come I couldn’t see any writing on the paper?
He better not have written in invisible ink!
“It’s so worth it,” Luke said softly.
Finally I finished unfolding the piece of paper, which was almost as tall as me and twice as wide. Luke's small, neat handwriting was written in all caps in the middle of the huge sheet of paper and I squinted, reading the words out loud. “‘Celsi, will you marry me?’” I let out an exasperated groan. Classic Luke. Should have seen that one coming. “Very funny,” I drawled. “I actually took the time to write you a heartfelt letter and you play this joke on me?” I stomped my foot in fake tantrum mode. “Luke!”
“Who said it was a joke?” Luke said from behind the paper.
Chuckling reluctantly yet appreciatively at Luke's impressive timewasting s
kills, I said, “Well, it can’t be anything else!” I started to crumple the ‘note’ into a huge ball as I spoke, shaking my head in despair. I wasn’t going to fall for yet another one of Luke's ‘marry me’ gags. He kept trying that on me though, didn’t he? Sheesh! “I know you’re not really asking me to-.”
A gasp tore itself from my throat as I stared at the sight that the paper had been hiding. He planned this. He planned everything!
Luke was on one knee, an open box in the palm of his hand and a hopeful yet nervous expression on his face as he looked up at me. As I stared in shock, the familiar soft, melodious sounds of ‘Suddenly’ by Billy Ocean piped through the speakers on the observatory deck. And for a moment, I was sure my heart stopped as my body went cold.
It can’t be. It can’t be.
“It’s not a joke. Will you seriously marry me, Celsiana Sawyer?”
CHAPTER 36
i believe...
Luke's Point of View
Months of intense internal debate and soul-searching, weeks of planning and hours of fine-tuning to get things just right had culminated into me getting down on bended knee in front of CiCi, holding the ring I hoped she would let me slip on her finger.
And yet I still didn’t know if she would say yes.
The look of astonishment on her pretty face wasn’t giving me anything positive to work with. Her eyes were huge and her mouth was slightly ajar, giving her a ‘deer caught in headlights’ air.
“Celsi? Did you hear me?” I asked, staring up at her frozen features. Hey, maybe her shock was due to seeing me on one knee in front of her and she actually hadn’t heard a word of my (corny, I know) proposal! It was pretty windy up here. I tried again, clearing my throat nervously. Here goes nothing. “Will you marry me and- at the risk of sounding mega corny- make me the happiest guy in the world?”
Swallowing as her hand slipped to her throat, CiCi managed to splutter, “Luke- I- what?”
Okay, so she wasn’t speaking in full sentences, but that was a start.
“Huh?”
“Is this a joke?” CiCi whispered, her eyes almost willing me to admit that I was just playing a mean prank on her, some sort of vicious mind game, and there was actually a candy ring in the box, as opposed to a platinum plated blue sapphire and diamond ring that I had picked out just for her.
I couldn’t help cracking a smile as I replied, my knee cramping. “Celsi Sawyer, I’m kneeling in front of you with an engagement ring in a box, asking you to marry me. Trust me, it’s not a joke.”
I mean, I had gone through a lot of trouble (all worth it if she said yes) to get things perfect for tonight. Contrary to what I told her, I actually flew into New York early yesterday morning so that I would have enough time to put my plans into action. Yeah, that’s how I knew about it raining yesterday. Seriously, I’ve got better things to do than check the Weather network when I’m not even in the country. I spent almost two hours in jewelry stores, finally settling on a beautifully simple ring from Tiffany’s. I thought that CiCi would appreciate a gorgeous, non-flashy ring, but apart from the initial first glance, she hadn’t even looked at it. After buying the ring, I headed to a stationery store to buy the huge piece of paper, hopped on the ferry to Liberty Island, switched the letter I had written 5 years ago for my handwritten proposal, arranged for a surprise that would only happen after CiCi accepted my proposal and she was asking me if this was a joke?
Just how malicious would I have to be to go to all this trouble for a joke?
Pretty damn malicious, I’d say.
“Luke- stand up.”
“Um, I’m pretty sure that I have to be on one knee when I propose,” I replied semi-teasingly, shrugging as I looked up at her. CiCi’s forehead creased as I continued. “You know, for effect and all that-.”
Her voice firm, CiCi cut in. “Get up.”
The tone of her voice didn’t change but the way her lips tightened and her eyes hardened made me realize that, for whatever reason, CiCi was pissed the hell off. I didn’t want to piss her off more by not adhering to her wishes (or maybe I did since angry Celsi had always been able to turn me on) so I scrambled to my feet in a hurry, groaning as blood started recirculating through my leg. Shit, I was in for a major attack of pins and needles now.
I sighed to myself as I looked into CiCi’s face, her hazel eyes filled with bewilderment and irritation. Okay, so maybe I had gone about this the wrong way. We hadn’t seen each other in two years, she thought I was madly in love with someone else and I came back and dropped a proposal on her without any warning.
Yeah, I can see how that would throw someone for a loop.
“CiCi, listen-,” I started, unable to get over the anger flashing in her eyes. I hated having CiCi mad at me, hated it almost as much as I hated seeing her cry.
She interrupted me, her mouth set. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I was-.”
Before I could even get a chance to finish my sentence, she talked over me again, her voice embittered. “Proposing, yeah, I get it. But- ugh!”
She ran a hand over her face, kneading her forehead as she tried to find the words to say.
Biting my lip, I stared at her. “I don’t get it, though. Why are you so mad?”
“Really?” CiCi raised her head and fixed her eyes on my face, her nostrils flaring. “You show up after two years, tell me you just broke up with your girlfriend, randomly propose to me and you think that’s okay?”
I scratched my head, feeling a shamefaced blush spread. Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly think this through. “Well-.”
“Luke, forgive me if I think this feels like one of your high school jokes,” CiCi said sarcastically. “I mean, you can’t just ask me to marry you just like that! Why are you proposing, anyway? Just because you feel like it? Or do you want me to be your rebound chick, is that it?” I was blown away by the vehemence in CiCi’s voice. She really thought I was just punking her? “Or maybe you proposed because you’re bored and you thought this would be a fun way to shake things up when you came back?”
My heart thudded against my ribcage as CiCi spoke. She was totally missing the point!
Couldn’t she tell how I felt for her? I couldn’t get her off my mind on a good day. On a bad day, she was the only thing I could think about. All I wanted to do was spend the rest of my life with her, giving her everything she wanted, taking care of her and letting her take care of me. Sure, we had only dated for a short while in high school, but didn’t the fact that I was still in love with her after all these years show that our relationship had been anything but puppy love? I had never been able to get her out of my mind, even when it became apparent that her memory was slowly eroding my relationship with Seiko.
But CiCi didn’t realize that because I had never told her what I felt for her. I never told her about the sleepless nights I spent, trying to remember how she felt in my arms, replaying memories of our conversations, our kisses, hell, even our arguments. I never told her about how I had punched a hole in the wall of the hotel room I was staying in when she told me she was dating Ahmed or how elated I had felt when she called me to tell me they had broken up. Part of me had hoped, wished that the breakup had something to do with the fact that CiCi still loved me, but I never had enough nerve to ask her. We rarely talked about those few, heady months we had been a couple, with CiCi preferring to sweep those memories under the rug and act like we never happened. Sure, it was kinda presumptuous of me to think she would agree to marry me when we didn’t really have much of a history to fall back on, but I liked to think positive. As clichéd as it may sound, I knew CiCi was the one for me the very first time I kissed her. I never believed in that soul mate stuff until we got together and now- well, now I knew that we were meant to be. Maybe this proposal was the worst timing in the world (in hindsight, it totally was) but at least it cleared the air so that we could finally talk about things we had been wanting to talk about for years. Namely- our feelings.
I grinned s
heepishly at CiCi, tugging my ear. “My timing is pretty messed up, isn’t it?”
“In a major way,” CiCi replied, her voice small as all the fight went out of her. I wanted to hug her, comfort her, make her realize that I wanted her, that I loved her, but I knew she probably wouldn’t appreciate me touching her without at least explaining my thinking leading to this point.
My shoulders slumped as I spoke. “I’m sorry, Celsi. I thought this would be perfect.” I spread my arms, gesturing at the starlit night sky. “I had a firework display ready to go off when you said yes. I guess I just planned this with no respect to what you wanted.”
“You got that right,” CiCi said, shaking her head as she stared at me.
But I wasn’t done. “That being said, I have no idea why you think I’m joking or doing this out of boredom or spite.”
Her eyes troubled, CiCi opened her mouth to say something. “Luke-,” she started, her throat working. But I talked over her, needing to get this confession into the open before I chickened out again.
“I love you, Celsiana Sawyer,” I said passionately, leaning forward to grasp her cold hands in mine. “I love your eyes, your smile, your body, your hair. But most of all, I love you. I love the loving, caring CiCi who helped me get through one of the darkest periods of my life, the forgiving CiCi who gave me chance after chance after chance, the brave CiCi who went through hell just to get to me when my aneurysm ruptured.” CiCi’s huge eyes never left my face as I poured my heart out to her. I couldn’t stop talking, the words kept tumbling out of my mouth without a filter, but the amazing thing was I had wanted to say all these words for years. “I never stopped loving you. Ever. You’re like- you’re one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”