My Little Mind Reader

45. Making a Move

Phana's POV

"Are you really going to introduce him to your parents?" Beam asked, his expression showing surprise. "Aren't you moving a little too fast?"

"I'm more worried that I'll move too slow and he won't know how serious I am," I responded, double checking my list. I was preparing a special date before asking him to meet my family. Hoping to charm him into agreeing to take such a big step with me.

"Exactly how serious are you two?" Kit asked, looking through my list. It was nearly two pages of my plan. Neatly organized into categories with due dates. Maybe I was going a little overboard, but I didn't want to get anything wrong. My Yo deserved the best.

I thought about Kit's question, wondering how to explain. They might not understand, maybe nobody would, but Yo really was my everything. He made me happy, he challenged me to be a better person, but he never made me feel ashamed of my faults. He was funny, smart, and when he kissed me — it was like heaven.

"I'm waiting until he introduces me to his dad, then I'm ordering rings," I said with absolute certainty. I wanted him to be mine always. I didn't just want his present, I wanted to know his past and be his future. I planned to tie him to me in every way, until even our souls were intertwined.

"Are you talking about wedding rings?" Kit asked, spitting his mouth full of water all over his papers. "Shia!"

"What else would I mean?" I laughed as he tried to clean up the mess he just made.

"You're kidding, right?" Beam looked shocked. "You do know that we're barely 20 years old? Nobody gets married that early."

"I don't care what anyone else is doing," I was adamant. "I just want to marry Yo and be together forever. You and Forth are practically joined at the lips. I'm sure someday you'll want to tie the knot, too."

"Marriage isn't a knot, it's a noose," Beam said sharply. "We're fine just the way we are."

"Not everybody is scared of marriage," Kit said, rejoining the conversation now that his papers were mostly dry again. "Someday he might want a commitment."

"I let him sleep in my bed all night, we're together all day, he doesn't need more commitment," Beam said, sounding annoyed. Poor Beam, his parent's relationship sure messed up his views on marriage.

"Not everyone is so easily satisfied. Ming and I are making it work for now, but if he never wanted anything more, I wouldn't stick around forever," Kit said. "Someday I want to be able to stand up with someone and say 'he's mine.'"

"You can do that now," Beam insisted, looking slightly worried. "You don't need a piece of paper to validate your relationship."

"It's not just a piece of paper, it's making a commitment in front of god and the world. It's a vow to be together through all the good and bad times," Kit's eyes took on a faraway glint when he talked about it. I agreed, of course, I wanted Yo to be willing to make that vow with me, but I knew that Beam would just see it as another promise to be broken.

"I know you don't really get it," I said, trying not to judge my friend too harshly, "but one day, you'll see that not everyone breaks promises. Forth is a good man, he won't let you down."

"I trust Forth," Beam replied and then whispered just loud enough that I could barely hear, "It's me I don't trust."

"Pha! Do you really expect to be able to do everything on this list by this weekend?" Kit asked, going over my checklist again. "How are you going to get everything done? We still have classes and labs. And who do you know that does fireworks that can spell out his name in the sky?"