November 17th, 2019
See her. She sits on her apartment's couch and watches the sky through a window. It's cloudy that day in Rexburg. Snow on the ground. Julian Skyler is on his way. — Today? Katherine Meaderly wonders. — How will he do it? Will he recite poetry? will he sing? will he call in his friends and play a song? or is he going to hide the ring in a fortune cookie? or put it in his mouth and loop it on the tippity tip of his tongue then my tongue as he kisses me?
Her roommates shuffle in as the night rolls closer and by. Julian walks in and kisses Kat, and sits. Her friends whisper frantic soprano chirps and cheeps. — This must be it, he told them this is when it finally happens ohhhh my goodness ohhhh we'll be married forever.
They watch a movie and the glassy snow gleams in the night and the light and the window seems clearer and the time draws nearer, and the window opens as it assumes its absence.
He holds her. The peeps and heartbeats accelerate. Gets a little nervous. The roommates sneak their phones onto their laps. Leans close. Grips a bit tighter.
—Wanna get married?
—YASSSSSSSSSSSS! she screams and the video on her Parlopage account shows the world shake and tremble as their tongues and arms and minds embrace amidst the crescendo and the roommates shriek and squeak. Just what he said he would do Julian's so cute so dependable. The couple chuckle at their praise. Julian gropes for the box in his backpack and the ring tethers to her finger and they take the best photo they can to post on Parlopage and Julian grins and her arms loop round his neck and he wraps an arm round her waist.
The shrieks fade and the night rolls on. Kat texts her mom and Julian texts his. friends and Kat adjusts the filter on the photo she chose. Julian nods to questions. And they talk and they remark on the romantic nature of it all and they share photos and Kat calls her family with Julian. She says they should call his family too and he shrugs and they do. They call the Rexburg temple for a reservation. The roommates start up another movie and Kat and Julian sit down and smile. She says she wants to hold up her ring to the window and take another picture and Julian says —Ok. She gets up and goes to the window and extends her hand and flashes her ring to the night sky. Then she leans forward and gazes down through a halfgone window at the frosted land below.
And she is staring, and nobody looks back.
