KISS: Road Trip

Ch 59: So, Carrie... (Eric)

It was Gene's week to have a night out and he was very happy to come over to our apartment. "Oh man I'm so glad that Shannon gave me a night off," he said, sinking into a chair and closing his eyes. "I'm surprised you're with us instead of Paul," Bruce teased. Gene shrugged, waving his hand dismissively. "Paul's at dinner with Eric, he's busy."

I looked up from my phone, giving him a grin. "Oh no I'm late for my date with Paul!" Gene laughed, shaking his head. "Nah, not you, obviously. He and Eric Singer ran into each other at the bar and wanted to catch up more so they're at dinner. No idea if they're actually dating, I'm sure Paul will let us know."

"Aw, that's nice though. Good for them," Bruce said, taking a seat and cracking open a La Croix.

We fell into talking happily, all of us glad to be chilling with each other. I stretched out even more on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "Nick is such like...such a boring name though. I mean he's a cute kid, but you could've given him a way cooler name," I said. Gene rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. My suggestion was King but Shannon said hard pass. King Simmons would've been sick though. Damn, missed opportunity."

Bruce gave me a look. "Okay Eric, what the hell would you name your kid?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I sat up, giving him a huge grin. "Race!" He immediately let out a groan, burying his face in his hands. "You'd seriously name your kid Race Carr?"

"Hell yeah man!" I said, taking a long sip of beer. "Yeah good luck convincing Carrie to agree to that," Gene said with a grin, shaking his head. "Race Carr. Heh." "Think of how cool that would be though! Race Carr would be a great name!" "Eric, no! That's stupid. I'm so glad Carrie at least is responsible," Bruce said.

"I'll convince her, you'll see," I muttered. He just laughed, shaking his head. "Sure you will. Are you going to marry her though? You talk about it all the time." "Yeah, are you? Bruce's right, you always say stuff like 'when I get married to Carrie' or 'if I get married to Carrie' and the like," Gene chimed in.

I shrugged, face going pink. "I dunno. I'd like to. Probably! Yeah, I think so! I'll propose to her eventually. Maybe soon. I dunno. I mean are you ever going to have an actual wedding?" Now it was Gene's turn to go red. "Lay off, man, you sound like Shannon. I will when we're not so busy and have more money and Nick's a little older."

"Why'd you wait? Like, I know you guys are legally married, but why wait on having a ceremony?" Bruce asked, taking a sip of sparkling water. Gene let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Okay so I took Shannon to the beach and we had dinner and then I proposed. My plan originally was like yeah, we get engaged in the fall, we have a summer wedding, it'll give us a few months to get everything together. Then she turns around and hits me with the news she was pregnant, and like...I'm not about to spend money on a wedding when I have to save up for a kid, you know? And she agreed and she's just teasing when she keeps nagging me about it, but I will have a real wedding. Eventually."

"Old habits die hard, huh?" I teased. He grinned, shaking his head ruefully. "Yeah. I mean hey, I spent 18 plus years being poor as shit and saving money whenever I could. Even if I have enough to live comfortably now, it's still hard to convince myself I can buy things." "Nah, I feel that. Anyway hold on, Carrie's calling, I'm gonna take this," I said, jumping to my feet and walking into Bruce and my's room, closing the door behind me.

"Hey love what's up?" I asked. She giggled. "I dunno, just missed you tonight! How're Bruce and Gene?" "Oh they're good like always. Gene likes to complain about his kid but it's sweet how much he loves Nick," I said, taking a deep breath and realizing what I wanted to do. "Anyway um Carrie this is really sudden and out of the blue and probably not how you imagined this going but I was thinking, was thinking about how much I love you and I was wondering...will you marry me?" I blurted.

There was a long silence before she let out a stunned laugh. "Eric Carr, did you just ask me to marry you? Did you just propose over the phone?" My face turned red. "Yeah! I know you probably wanted something more romantic but I was just thinking about you and I really love you, you're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with and I didn't want to wait anymore."

"Yes! Yes I'll marry you! I love you, I've loved you since you showed up late to French class on the first day of school! I will absolutely marry you!" she cried. My heart swelled and a huge smile split my face. "Yes! Oh, yes! Carrie you've made me the happiest man alive! I promise I'll do a more official proposal, a real one with a ring and everything soon, I just couldn't wait anymore."

She laughed. "Oh, you don't even have to! Oh, Eric I love you."

We talked for awhile longer, thankfully agreeing to have our wedding in a year or two so we could plan a good wedding before reluctantly saying our goodbyes. Heart pounding and unable to stop myself from smiling, I walked back to the living room. "Alright I did it!" I said cheerfully.

They both looked at me in confusion. "Did what?" Gene asked. "I asked Carrie to marry me and she said yes!" There was silence as they both stared at me in shock. "You--you did what?!" Bruce choked. "Asked Carrie to marry me! Bruce you wanna be my best man?"

"You just proposed to Carrie?!" Gene cried. "Yeah! You guys were asking me about it and it got me thinking about how much I love her and I was like damn I do wanna marry her so I proposed!"

Bruce sat back on the couch, running a hand through his hair. "But you...you proposed? To Carrie? Carrie Stevens? Just now?" he sputtered. I nodded, grinning, absolutely thrilled with how shocked they were. "Yeah! I asked her to marry me! So I guess I gotta say thank you for setting us up senior year. Because if you hadn't convinced me to ask her to formal we wouldn't have started dating and then we wouldn't have still been dating and then I wouldn't have asked her to marry me."

Bruce buried his face in his hands, shaking his head in disbelief. Gene gave me a huge smile. "Congrats, man! Didn't realize everyone was getting married all of a sudden," he said with a laugh. I shrugged, face pink. "Hey, might as well, right? I love her, she loves me, I want to marry her and since she said yes I guess she wants to marry me too!"

"Damn I can't believe you really just went and proposed over the phone," Bruce said, still shaking his head. "Like spur of the moment just went and proposed." I shrugged, sitting next to him on the couch and nudging him. "I wanted to! You never answered my question, will you be my best man? Oh and Gene you'll be a groomsman of course."

"Eric, why on earth would I not be your best man?" Bruce said, evidently still somewhat in a state of shock. "I dunno! I just wanted to ask!" He shook his head, giving me another hug. "I'm really happy for you, you guys are a cute couple," he mumbled. I hugged him back, heart melting. "Damn right we are."

"I can't believe we just peer pressured Eric into getting married," Gene mumbled, shaking his head. "Oh shut up," I said, throwing a pillow at him with a grin.

I really just went and did that though.