𝑨 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵 𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑬 ✓ 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐞

𝟒. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞

Luca puts both his feet on the ground, takes a deep breath and rests his elbows on his thighs as he leans over and plays with his own hands. "As you know, Sarah and I love each other very much. We've known each other for a long time already, everything has been great in the past year too. We've been talking, you know, about the future. We want the same. I want to propose to her. Well, I'm gonna propose to her" he tells. Ransom and I both look at him. Happy, shocked, but happily shocked. It takes the both of us a few seconds to process what Luca just revealed to us, but once it strikes, we instantly light up with luminous smiles. "That's awesome, man. Wow, congratulations in advance!" Ransom chuckles, shaking Luca's hand happily as he pats his shoulder with the other. I stand up, give my brother a hug and congratulate him as well, already knowing what my best friend's answer to his important question will be. "But the best is yet to come; I need your help" Luca adds, looking back at us again.

"Of course, anything!" I reply, nodding my head at him as I sit back down. Ransom, luckily, agrees with me. "I want you both to come with me when I pick up the ring. Ransom, I need you there to tell me if it's big and good enough. Amelia, I need you there to tell me if she'll like it. She's your best friend, you'll know" he explains, so I nod my head yet again. "You chose a big rock?" Ransom asks, leaning back to rest his back against the couch. "Not too big, I didn't think she'd like that. But big enough, I think" Luca sighs, lifting his shoulders for a moment. "I'm sure it's perfect, Luca. I don't think you have anything to worry about, she'd marry you with a two dollar ring" I add, giving him a smile to let him know it's all alright. "Then I'm sure it's gonna be okay. I still need you two to come there with me, but I also need you to help me with the proposal. I want to decorate the hall and the living room, you need to help me with that" he says, to which Ransom and I both nod again.

"And when do you want to do all this?" Ransom asks him. "I can pick up the ring the day after tomorrow, we can stop by the mall to get decorations and get it done before she comes home from work? I know she finishes at six" Luca suggests, playing with his hands. He's nervous, I can see that. "Sounds good to me, absolutely. Can you make it too, with your job? Oh, wait, you don't have a job" I say, looking at Ransom now. "Says the girl who makes recipes for a job. I'm a writer, miss 'pastry chef'. It's just as much of a job as yours is" he annoyingly replies, rolling his eyes instantly as he finishes the comeback. "Did you publish a book, ever? No, you did not. Did I accomplish anything? Yes, I did, because I've got pastry shops of my own. Now tell me who's job is real" I add, raising one eyebrows. He scoffs, and shakes his head. "Sure, Amelia. You can't bake for shit. All you do is make up recipes, send them to your bakers and let them do all the work for you. C'mon, you can answer emails and calls from home, you don't even have to 'go to to work'" he continues, while Luca just sighs.

"And aren't I lucky? In case you're wondering, I make up recipes because I bake. And if I bake something good, I write it down and, boom, that's a new recipe. Are you sure I 'can't bake for shit', Ransom? Are you sure about that? Or are you just mad that I make my own money instead of taking it from my fam-" I try to finish, until he roughly interrupts me. "Shut your fucking mouth" he hisses, causing me to instantly go quiet. "Okay guys, that's enough for the day" Luca comes in, shaking his head. "Enough Amelia-Rose for the day, absolutely. I'm gonna split, thanks for the beer. I'll be here then at uh, noon or something the day after tomorrow" Ransom starts, standing up and walking straight to the door. "Bye bye!" I quickly say, while he grabs his coat and walks out. "Grump" I mumble, getting myself on my feet as well. "Ah, he's fine. You two just need to see the good in each other" Luca replies, kissing my cheek before he walks up the starts. I let out a silent sigh, clean up the mess we made and get to the guest room.

Before getting some sleep, I grab my laptop and rent an apartment for a couple of months. Once Sarah and Luca are engaged, I don't want to be in their way anymore. I want them to be in their own little happy bubble, without me being here all the time. I found a nice apartment with a good kitchen to work with, in the city of Boston. I'm more of a suburbs girl, but there's not a lot available right now and the kitchen in this one was too good to skip. So, I guess I'll be living in the city for a while. I start to put my clothes and the things I don't need in the next two days in my bags, so I can put them in my car the day after tomorrow. I just want to be able to give them their space, starting right at the moment of their engagement. The boxes Sarah and I will fill up with all of my things, can stay in a storage locker for the time being. Convenient, really. I can get into the apartment the day after tomorrow, at any time. I'll be meeting the original owner there where she'll explain everything to me, and then make it my home for a while. It'll work out.

"Ready to go get your stuff?" Sarah asks, right after finishing breakfast in the morning. "I'm ready. Thanks for coming with me today, I really appreciate it" I reply, giving her a gentle smile. She nods her head at me, smiles as well and gives me my coat. "I bet you ten bucks that his mom is there" Sarah laughed, taking the keys to Luca's truck in her hands. "I'm sure she's there. She's everywhere, really. She's probably gonna stay at the house for the time being! Just so poor Jack isn't alone, you know" I mock, causing Sarah to laugh even harder. Sarah drives us to the house, singing along to our favorite songs on he way, and parks the car out front. We walk up to the door, where I try to open the door with my key. "C'mon... Why isn't it working?" I mumble, but before I can start over, the door already opens. "Oh, Amelia, there you are. We changed the locks, best to give me yours now. You won't need it anymore anyway" Jack's mother tells me as soon as she sees me, and puts her hand up for me to put my keys in. "Good morning" I reply, giving her my keys as she gives me a fake smile.

She walks back inside, so we follow her after Sarah whispered "I told you so". I try my best not to laugh, and just walk further inside. "Hey, Am! Hey Sarah, too!" Jack says, being way more kind than his mother. "Hi, how are you?" I ask, giving him a hug. "I'm alright, I'm fine. How are you two?" he asks in reply, giving Sarah a quick hug too now. "We're good!" she says, nodding her head. "Good, great, I'm glad. Mom and I are gonna go run some errands, so you can do your thing and pack. Everything is yours so... Take what you want and need. I'll see you around, I hope" Jack adds, giving me a kind smile. I thank him and say bye for now, while his mother just glares at me. I thought she liked me, but I guess that's over since I dumped her son. It doesn't take us a long time to pack up my things, it's a lot but it's easy to see what I want to keep and what I don't want to keep. Afterwards, I say goodbye to the house and make my way to the storage area with her. I have a locker here, so we put the boxes in there and lock it again.

Sarah sighs, pulls me into a hug and rubs my back. "Chapter; closed. I'm proud of you Am, really" she says, making me smile softly. "Thank you, I'm glad this is over now. Is Ransom coming over for dinner again tonight or is he finally eating on his own for once?" I ask, as she slowly let's go of me. "Oh sweet Amsy, you hate him so much but still your mind seems to find him in every situation" she calmly tells, patting my shoulder twice before she walks back to the truck. I frown, slightly tilt my head to the side and turn around. "You coming? I'm starving!" Sarah loudly adds, stepping into the car and starting it. I silently sigh, take a little run to the car and sit down on the passenger seat. "You wanna hit a drive-through? There's enough of them near" Sarah suggests, starting the car while she speaks. "Yeah, I'm in" I answer, nodding my head. I'd never say no to drive-through food. While we're making our way to get us some food, I can't help but think about what she said. About Ransom.