Maybe We Were Meant to Be (Tay Jardine and Jenna Mcdougall)

Be Mine

Tay:

I woke up to the sound of little feet, or rather paws, scratching across the wood floor. I shook Jenna awake and we both started looking over the edge of the bed to see if we could find what was making that noise. We weren't really scared because it couldn't be anything big from the sound of it. We were looking more out of curiosity. After a minute of searching a little mouse came running out from under the bed. "Jenna over here!" I said, hitting her arm to get her attention.

The mouse stopped running and turned to see what had made that noise. The little guy was probably quite used to people since he lived in the cabin, he didn't seem scared of us. "Let's name him Squeakers!" Jenna said.

"Squeakers? That's a horrible name. I say he's Stuart Little."

"That's not very original." she teased.

"Oh, and Squeakers is?" I replied in mock offense.

We both laughed.

"Ok... how about Mousington?" I suggested.

"Fine. If you really don't like Squeakers."

I was proud of my victory.

The two of us didn't feel like going back to sleep. We stayed in bed for a while snuggling, chatting, flirting and making out. It was nice to not have to worry about anything at all, until your stomach starts growling and reminds you that you still have to eat.

We drove off the campsite to find a diner to eat at in the nearby town. We parked near the center and walked around. We took note of places we wanted to go back to later. There was a candy shop, a visitor center with a book of animal tracking in the window that Jenna thought looked interesting, a restaurant that said they had good burgers and a outlook spot we wanted to check off our "places to make out" list.

We stopped a pair of locals and asked them the best place to eat breakfast and they told us to go to Fat Phil's. It sounded like a suitable name if the owner's or cook's name was Phil. Either that or they served a lot of lard and you got filled with fat... I over think too much. We thoroughly enjoyed the recommendation. The food was delicious.

My mind had been thinking so hard about when the right time would be to pop the question. I had been keeping the ring in my bag. I wanted to ask her every second, it was incredibly hard to wait. I loved Jenna so much and I highly doubted she would say no. I felt like I was going to explode and I didn't want it to torture me for the rest of the vacation so I decided we should take a hike to the spot I had read about online that sounded like the perfect place to propose.

We left at 3 from the cabin. We walked under the beautiful green canopy of trees. Ferns and flowers tickled our ankles. My heart was pounding, not because of the strenuous hike up the mountain, but because of the fear I was starting to feel. I felt the ring in my bag, hitting my leg with every step I took. Was this really the right time? Or was I about to make one of the biggest mistakes of my life?

My head began thinking of different scenarios I tried hard to make them positive, but all I could see was Jenna's face stunned and then she would say I'm sorry and leave me or in another she just said no. No matter what I always saw myself getting left behind. Alone. Crying.

We stopped to take a few breaks on the way; it was a long hike. I did my best to hide the anxiety that was tormenting me. I couldn't believe I was letting something that could be one of the happiest days of my life turn into something so terrifying. I really wished I had taken my anxiety medication before leaving. This was turning into a full blown panic attack.

We were sitting on a rock at the edge of creek. Jenna was dipping her feet into the cold water, cooling off from the long hike. We had been following the path for two hours. I could barely breath anymore and tears were about to break through the flood gates. This was not how it was supposed to be. I gave up.

"Jenna, I'm sorry, I don't think I can make it." I panted.

"Are you alright Tay?" she asked, clearly concerned by my short raspy breaths.

"I think I'll be okay. I just need to get back to the cabin."

"Okay. I understand." she rubbed my back for a second before helping me get back up.

The walk back was silent, but Jenna made sure I knew everything was okay by holding my hand tightly and giving my the occasional caring, loving glance.