Hold Me Close: A Jemi Story

Chapter 6

Two weeks later and nothing had happened. Every time that I hinted towards the ring, or marriage, Joe looked at me like I was crazy. He hadn't said a single word, and always just shrugged me off whenever I subtly brought up that night of him going out to buy ice cream. All of this denial from Joe made me feel like Selena was seeing things that day, maybe mistaking a random Joe look alike to be him. I had to admit, I was extremely disappointed when we ordered Chinese food that night and when I opened my fortune cookie, there was only a little piece of paper with a "fortune" scrawled on it in tiny font. 

Ironically  it said, "Good things happen to those who least expect it." I was growing impatient, and after two weeks of waiting, I decided to let it go after one more attempt.

"Baby," I cooed, cuddling up into Joe on our king sized mattress. It was already midnight and we were both exhausted from a long working day. 

He kissed me on the forehead and said, "What's up, Buttercup?"

I smiled at his little remark. "So I was thinking, maybe tomorrow after work instead of going out for dinner we could take a little trip around town." 

"What kind of trip?" He replied, yawning. 

"Well..." I started, "I was really thinking that want to get myself a little piece of jewellery, you know, for like a representation of our relationship or something--" 

"Really?" He sighed loudly, "You're really doing this?" 

I sat up a little and looked at him. "Doing what? I was just suggesting--" 

"You knew something was up, when I came home that night telling you that Target was out of chocolate ice cream. You're too smart for me, Demi." Joe laughed, getting out of bed and walking towards the dresser. He opened his sock drawer, and started rummaging around.

All I could feel was my heart performing summersaults in my chest, a couple thousand butterflies doing back hand-springs in my stomach, and my eyes start to water. This was it, this was the moment. He had a plan for his proposal, he was waiting for the right time and I was worried over nothing. 

"I wanted this moment to be special but I guess that this will have to do," Joe walked back over to the bed, carrying a little black box with a pink ribbon neatly placed on the top. 

I wiped at my eyes, catching a tear that had escaped. "Oh my god, Joe..." 

"Demi, I love you. You are an amazing girl, with so much passion for all things good. You have such a big heart, and you deserve the best. What I love most about you, is that you're so spontaneous all of the time, you're always catching me off guard. I guess that I wanted to show you that I can be spontaneous too..." 

Joe was sitting beside me, one hand placed underneath the box and one hand resting gently on top. He wasn't on the ground on one knee like I had imagined, but maybe he just wasn't old fashioned like I thought.

He smiled at me, and pulled the top part of the box open. Inside on a tiny white cushion lay a white gold heart necklace with two diamonds inside of it. 

"One diamond represents you, while the other represents me. I hope you like it, baby." He pulled me into a giant hug, resting his chin on my shoulder. 

I hid my shocked expression, not wanting him to see my disappointment. After thinking these past two weeks, I was ready to marry Joe. I loved him a lot, and even after a short period of time being together, he was the one. 

"Do you like it?" He asked, pulling away from the hug and looking into my eyes.

I just then realized I hadn't said anything yet. "I love it Joe, and I love you too. It's beautiful." 

He smiled again, warming my heart. "I wanted to surprise you, but somehow you knew it was coming." 

I smiled too, letting go of the silly marriage thoughts. "I'm always one step ahead of you." 

He chuckled while he removed the necklace from the box. "One of these days, I'm just going to have to out smart you." 

I moved my hair away from my neck and let him clip the necklace on. It really was beautiful, and I was happy to see that Joe was so sincere. 

"Once again, I love you." He kissed my cheek gently.

I took his hand in mine as I looked into his eyes, "I love you too, Joe."