Love is patient (KickThePJ, Dan and Phil)

Hope

So we just kind of got used to life like that. Everything became normal. Haf went to the white lodge centre a lot and then it dawned on us. The girls were going to start primary school soon. You hear the phrase "they grow up so fast" a lot but it's seriously true. We were just getting used to everything when we realised they weren't babies anymore. They had to go to actual school. So they did. I don't really remember much about them going to school. I just remember that they did it, they enjoyed it, and they made friends. They were still good friends with baby Jack, obviously.

One weekend near the first half term was Jack's 5th birthday. He had a party at his house and Dan and Phil decided that they didn't need us to go. This had been the first time it was just us with no worries for a while. We were cuddled on the sofa in silence until Enfys started singing.

Skin,
Heat,
Hair in your mouth,
Feet touching feet,
Oh you,
And I,
Safe from the world,
Though the world will try,
Oh,
I'm afraid,
Of the things in my brain,
But we,
Can stay here,
And laugh away the fear,
No,
Fine,
You create a rarity,
Of my genuine smile,
So breath,
Breathe with me,
Can you drink,
All my thoughts,
Cause I can't stand them,
Oh,
Oh,
Intertwined,
Free,
I've pinned each,
And every hope on you,
I hope that you don't bleed,
With me,
I'm afraid,
Of the things,
In my brain,
But we,
Can stay here,
And laugh away the fear,

I knew she was actually happy at that point because it was the first time she'd sang since Haf's diagnosis. The first time she'd sung in years and I didn't even ask her to. She just did it. I remember that day being a happy one because I could tell that she wasn't depressed or alone any more.

How did I respond? The only way I could think of. Kissing her and telling her it was beautiful. Just like her. That evening we just sat. Content. Happy with eachother for company. I was so happy I'd forgotten about the ring in my pocket. Enfys' phone pinged. She looked at it briefly, typed a reply then told me that the girls were going to stay over and Dan and Phil's house. She went over quickly with their things and came back and snuggled into me again.

It wasn't until the morning, when we woke up after falling asleep on eachother, that I remembered the ring in my pocket. The girls would come back soon and I realised I'd missed my chance.

After telling Dan, he agreed to have the girls over again next weekend. I had to plan something better. I had to do something romantic I decided to ask Phil for some help because he's one of the few people I knew who had proposed before:

Phil: Don't let her do anything. Have the whole day together and do it when you feel ready.

I still had no idea how to do it though. I decided I'd be kind of traditional. One day when she went to a meeting and went to film a video with someone else, I sneaked out and went to see her parents. I told them my intentions of marrying their daughter and looking after our daughters together. They both stared at me blank and expressionless for a while then looked at eachother.

"Well I don't see why not" said her dad. He was a very odd human being: he was one of those people that looked so scary they could kill anything by just looking at it. I heard that if he doesn't like a person, he can do very similar things. When I first met him he appeared to dislike me because I wasn't "manly" and I didn't like football. He appeared, this time, to like me a lot more. I think by then he'd realised that I wasn't going to hurt his daughter.

Enfys' mother said "it would be a pleasure to have you as a son in law" and hugged me almost crying. With that the conversation was pretty much over and I was on my way back to the train station when I bumped into Luke.

I hadn't seen him in years yet he looked almost the same. "PJ. I haven't seen you in a while" he said, almost desperately like he had to talk to me urgently. "Yeah. How are things"
"Not bad. As you can see, I'm still a boring old Walton boy. You?"
"I'm not bad. A lot happened since we last saw you though. We had twins and I'm planning on proposing soon"
"Oh wow. Enfys told me about the daughter thing. Sorry about the one that's got that thing. What was it? Cereal pawsy?"
"Cerebral palsy. Yes that wasn't great but we're leaning to live with it now."
"At least you're doing something. All I do now is sit around and work."
"You got a job?"
"Yeah. It's not very interesting. I just work at excel. The sports place down the road. Yeah I teach children football"
"Oh cool. Enfys told me you were always great at football"
"Take care of her PJ"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I always loved her but I never got anything back. Her love is a hard thing to get. Cherish it PJ"
"I will. Thank you"
"Now go out there and marry her"
"Bye Luke. It was great to see you"
"You too mate. See you around maybe?"
"Yeah. Maybe one day you can come to stay in London"
"Nice" he shouted back, now walking down the street facing the other way. What a strange man. Nice but strange.

So I slowly started walking back to the train station with the past conversation in my head. He'd had a crush on her too.

So eventually I got back home and everything just went back to normal for the rest of the week.

Did I propose in the end? Of course I did. I don't just have this ring on my finger for decoration, young one. How did I propose? I'll tell you that next time.