Outrageous Proposal

Chapter 6

     Craig had gone drinking with his brother until the bar closed later that night. He came home and intentionally crashed on the couch, just in case. The place had been in the same state Craig had left it in, but wasn't going to take any chances. He was so blitzed that he could have slept soundly in the floor as long as he had a good pillow. He didn't wake up until noon the next day, as someone was kicking his leg to wake him up. He slowly stirred from his slumber to look up and see a familiar face staring down at him. Craig groaned as he sat up and rubbed his forehead which was pounding from the hangover he clearly earned. After taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light that was naturally shining in from the windows, Craig finally spoke.

     "Good morning," he finally slurred.

     "Afternoon," Sandy corrected.

     "Not surprising," Craig said, groaning as he got up off the couch. "Alex didn't bring me back from the bar until four am."

     "Why were you out drinking until 4am?" Sandy asked.

     "Isn't that what you're supposed to do," Craig replied, looking back at her, "When the woman you love walks out the door?"

     Before Sandy had a chance to respond, Craig walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. He grabbed the water filter and filled a glass and quickly downed it, and then filled it again. He looked back at her holding up the jug, shaking it to indicate he was offering her a glass of her own.

     "Water?"

     "No thanks,"

     "Okay then," Craig said, putting it back in the fridge.

     Sandy stood there at the doorway to the kitchen, hoping that Craig would keep talking but he was too hung over to form a coherent thought. She seemed hesitant to talk but mustered up the strength to do so anyway.

     "If it wasn't you who proposed," she started, "Then why did you go along with the story and act like you had?"

     "I was scared," Craig replied, "I was stupid and scared, which in itself is a deadly combination."

     "Scared of what?" Sandy asked.

     "Of losing you," Craig said, putting his now empty glass down, "I was afraid that the truth about my phone would be seen as an attempt to take back to the proposal. After all the talks we had, I thought doing that would end things between us. I was caught between a rock and hard place, so I went with it."

     "So you were willing to marry me," Sandy said, trying to figure this out, "because you didn't want to lose me?"

     "Pretty much," Craig confirmed, "When I saw your facebook post and realized what had happened, I racked my brain for hours trying to figure out what to do. I knew that if I told the truth, you would be embarrassed, humiliated even, and I loved you too much to put you through that."

     "It's sweet to hear you say that," Sandy said, "But the only reason you should want to get married is because you want to spend the rest of your life with that person."

     "What makes you think I don't?" Craig countered, "Maybe there are some perfectly good reasons for my stalling?"

     "Such as?" Sandy asked.

     Craig took out his new phone, and loaded up a website. Once he logged into the site's account, he passed the phone over to her. When Sandy looked at the small screen, she quickly realized that it was Craig's bank account, and the current balance caused her mouth to gape open.