Got It?

A Proposal

Soleis

Today's the day. I'm doing it today. I have to do it today. If I don't do it today, then I won't ever do it. When I get home from work, I'm gonna do it. I'm going to propose to Aries. But what if she says no? Can she do that? Am I trying to move this too fast? I try to push this out of my mind. She can't say no, she's my soulmate. And she loves me! I mean, she tells me every day, whenever she can. How could she say no? Is that a thing soulmates do? Okay, no. I've never heard of that in the history of ever. I'm going to do it. But how?

I walk into the kitchen, distracted by my thoughts, and I bump into the girl my mind was just reeling about. Aries looks down at me from her height of 175 and me up at her, standing at a measly 152. She smiles at me and me at her, and she bends to place a quick kiss on my head as she makes her way out of the kitchen. We don't exchange a single word but we've been together enough to know what the conversation would have been.

I push thoughts of the proposal aside and grab my coffee, car keys, and violin.

"I'll be back around 4:30, Aries. Love you!" I holler into the house, hearing a faint "love you too" from somewhere. I walk out the door and down the stairs of our building, strapping into the car (after carefully placing my violin, of course), and get on my way to rehearsal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I get back from rehearsal, all thoughts of the proposal are pushed away, my mind still humming with notes and rhythms. I make my way upstairs to our apartment without a thought straying from my solo piece, opening the door without a word. I walk inside and place my violin next to the door, and kick off my shoes a few moments after. I realize I'm at home and I look up. Aries is standing in the kitchen with a cup of tea in hand, looking over at me with a lazy smile on her face.

"You're finally home. Took you long enough. It's like 5:15." I sigh and walk over to my wonderful girlfriend, wrapping my arms around her slim form. I breathe in her scent–cotton and her shampoo and something floral I can't quite identify. She smells like Aries. I mumble something incoherent into her shirt. She moves a free hand to my back, rubbing up and down gently as I peel myself away from her. I look her up and down once, and then trudge into our shared bedroom. I don't hear Aries follow me. She's probably still drinking her tea. As my eyes stray to my desk I suddenly remember my promise to myself earlier today. The proposal. I have to do it. But how?

I grab the ring from its spot on the back of one of my drawers, in its silky white box. The ring itself is quite simple. It's got a small diamond in the centre, silver band, with some gold accents weaved into the silver. Very pretty, and perfect for Aries. I picked out a ring for myself, rose gold band with a diamond in the centre. I wanted Aries' ring to be a bit more extravagant than mine, just because I feel for the wedding it would be more appropriate than "two" brides. I don't want to go through the clichè "bachelorette party with a needy bride blah blah" thing. I want it to be Aries' day. Because I love her. I shove the ring box into my bra, hoping it isn't too blatantly obvious that it's there. I'm not exactly well-endowed in that department. I make my way into the kitchen again, and see Aries has moved into the living room, watching television while I scramble into the counter with an idea. I could put it somewhere up high, and have her reach for it, saying I need her to get something for me. Then she'd grab it, and I could propose to her like that. It's just so stupid it'd work.

I place the box higher up in one of our empty cabinets and quietly hop onto the ground. I then begin making some sort of a distraction, making noises with the cabinet. I hear Aries stand up and smile slightly. She walks into the kitchen and sees me on my tiptoes reaching for the cabinet.

"Need some help?" There's a teasing tone to her voice but the butterflies in my stomach push it away. I nod and smile at her and she comes over, planting a kiss on my head before reaching into the cabinet. From the expression on her face I can tell she's searching, but then her forehead crinkles when she grabs hold of what I'm presuming is the box. She draws her hand down and the white box is clutched in her grasp. She looks down at me, confused, and I take the box from her quickly. I kneel down on one knee, making myself impossibly shorter, and open the box, revealing the ring. Aries lets out a gasp, one hand going up to cover her mouth. I smile.

"Aries Rose Collins, you are the single most important thing in my life. More important than food, water, breathing, life itself. As long as I have you, I could survive literally anything," I can see tears welling up in her eyes. "Today, I thought to myself 'what if she says no? Is that a thing people can do?' and I almost didn't do this. But from the expression on your face, I can tell that I'm not as crazy as I thought I was. Aries, you mean everything to me, and I know that we'll be together forever. So if you'd do me the honour of making me the happiest woman alive, please just do me a favour and say yes to this question," I pause and take a deep breath, meeting her gaze. "Aries, will you marry me?" There's a moment of silence, and then Aries tackles me to the ground, planting a firm kiss on my lips as we tangle on the floor. She pulls apart quickly to whisper in my ear.

"Yes, dummy. Of course, I'll marry you." I smile and pull her face down to meet mine in a passionate kiss, the ring momentarily forgotten as we cry happy tears together and kiss on the kitchen floor. I pull away from her and sit us both up, so we're both sitting Indian-style, and I grab the box with her ring. I take the ring out and slide it onto her finger and she smiles, then looks at me, a bit confused. "Where's your ring?" She asks me. I smile back at her.

"In our room. I'll get it later. Right now what matters is you." She scoots closer to me and pulls me into a gentle kiss, stopping after a moment to mutter against my lips a barely audible,

"I love you, Soleis."