Dancing with Artem Chigvintsev: Part 1

21

"Artem?" I cried "Did you do all of this for me?"

"Well, as much as I would like to take the credit, it was all Maks." He admitted. "He knew you were dying to be the center of attention for a night." Artem winked.

I scanned the room for Maks and Peta and before I found them, my eyes fell upon the two people who mean more to me than anyone else; my parents.

"Mom! Dad?" I cried, feeling Artem hold me for support, "How?"

"Oh honey." My mom said "happy birthday. It was Maks, he flew us here to surprise you."

I looked around and saw Maks standing with Peta in the back of the huge room.

I locked eyes with him and he nodded at me. I looked back to my parents and they were already talking to Artem, they seemed to have missed him as much as I have.

I made my rounds around the room greeting all of my friends and colleagues and then finally, I arrived at Maks.

Peta was busy talking to one of the show's producers and so Maks grabbed my hand and led me out to the restaurants back patio.

"You did all of this?" I asked him in disbelief. Everything from the decorations, to the amount of money to pay for all these people to be here celebrating, to flying my parents here from their home in Florida, it was a blessing. I was under the impression that my birthday was going to be just another day, and it turned out to be so much more.

"I told Artem to take the credit, it figures he wouldn't, what a gentleman." Maks rolled his eyes.

"I'm mad at you, you lied and told me you had practice.." I glared at him.

"I had to keep the surprise a surprise. Aren't you at least happy that I showed up to see you earlier?"

"I am happy." I smiled. He has no idea how much I love him as a person, but I also couldn't believe that Artem knew about all of this and kept it a secret too.

"Did Artem have any part in this?" I asked, wondering if Maks really had done this all by himself.

"He got you here on time." Maks gave me a mischievous smile. "No, he did as much as I allowed him to, it was my idea so I was the one who made it all happen. Now don't spend the whole night out here talking to me, you have guests to entertain." He basically pushed me back toward the door to go inside.

"Thank you, Maks." I stood up on my tip toes to reach and give him a hug. Then I went to kiss his cheek at the same time he went to kiss mine. Our lips brushed past each other and my legs began to quiver and my mind flooded with a rush of memories of all the times he had kissed me in the past. I forced myself to snap out of it. We felt so awkward for a few seconds and then both started laughing.

I went back inside, leaving my fairytale Prince Charming of a best friend behind. I wanted to go and find my boyfriend and let him know how much I love him and how appreciated he is in my life. He didn't have to be a part of all of this planning for me to fall even more in love with him. Just the way he speaks to me so delicately and the way he stands talking to my father as if they were the best of friends, completely and utterly melts my heart and jolts my stomach into a flutter of butterflies.

After reuniting with him and mingling for a little while more with my parents, we all sat down in the room and ate and had a good time. Before dessert Artem stood up in the front of the room to make a toast of some sorts.

I couldn't help but look at Maks, wondering if he knew about this toast. I could tell by the way he was staring at Artem intently, that he was unaware of what was going to come out of his mouth.

Artem still hadn't given me a present yet, so maybe this is his big reveal.