I stared at the last note before biting my lip. I loved him too.? Honestly, I wasn’t sure if we’d be together once we were out of high school. But here we were. Two months later we would even be celebrating four years of being together.
I placed my hand on the door handle. My heart was beating faster. I wondered what he had planned for tonight. I took a huge breath before opening the door. The first thing I saw were candles. Scented candles were bordering the room, its sweet smell filling the whole room. It was dark inside, the only source of light being the light from the candles. The floor was adorned with heart shaped balloons, giving it a romantic vibe.
I stepped into my room and spotted Brian leaning against the wall, staring intensely at me as I shut the door behind me.
“This is beautiful, Brian,” I said. I saw his lips twitch up in a smile.
“Not as beautiful as you,” he said, and I blushed. “You like it?”
“No,” I said. “I love it.”
He pushed himself away from the wall and walked towards me. He pulled his hands from his jeans’ pockets and engulfed me in his arms, snuggling his face into the crook of my neck and placing a soft kiss on my collar bone. I shivered involuntarily.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“Come on, I have planned so much for tonight,” He said with a smile as he held my hand and led me to the coffee table.
“That’s why you forced me to go to the mall?” I asked. “You didn’t have to. I would have loved to help you.”
“But I wanted this to be a surprise for you. I made the Nutella French toast and it turned out to be good. But I was not sure whether you would like this or not,” He said, rubbing his hands together nervously.
“I love boys who can cook,” I stated.
He looked up at me, “You love boys who can cook. I can cook, I think. So, you love me?”
“You already know that. I love you,” I said, staring intensely into his eyes to let him know that I really did love him?. So much. He grinned at me. “Well what did you make?” I asked curiously.
He cleared his throat, “Caramelised onion and Brussels sprout pizza.”
“Oh! And it’s heart shaped!”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, this is so cute. Thank you, Brian. I didn’t know you could cook this well, heart shaped and all.”
“Well, I really don’t know how to cook. I just looked up for the recipe on the internet,” He said, smiling sheepishly.
“That doesn’t matter. You did cook something that-” I sniffed, my nostrils filling with the pizza’s delicious smell. “-smells so heavenly.”
Brian looked at me with amused eyes. Okay, I shouldn’t have sniffed the pizza like that.
“Well then, let’s eat,” I said. Brian took out a slice of the pizza and brought it to my mouth.
“Aw, thank you,” I said before taking a bite of it. The pizza was so good. It definitely topped my favourites list.
I did the same thing to him. “It’s awesome! I love it!” I said, taking another bite of it.
We ate the heart shaped pizza and talked about a lot of things. This was one night I will never forget.
When we were finished with the pizza, I put the dirty plates in the kitchen sink. I’d wash them later. I turned back to Brian.
“And what’s for dessert?” I asked.
“Red Velvet truffles,” He said. “These were a bit hard to make.”
I felt guilty. Brian had done so much for me and I didn’t do anything for him. I felt like a bad girlfriend now. As bad as a girlfriend who forgot her boyfriend’s birthday.
I pouted as he put forward the delicious, lip smacking, mouthwatering red velvet truffles. I wet my lips at the sight.
“Brian,” I said and he looked up at me. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” He asked, scrunching up his eyebrows.
“I’m sorry for not doing anything for you, whereas you have done so much for me today. I feel terrible. I’m sorry for being such a bad girlfriend.”
He chuckled at this. “It’s okay, Brooke. You don’t have to do anything for me. Just be with me. That’s all I ask of you. Just by being my girlfriend, you’ve given me everything. And I love you for who you are. I don’t need anything else.”
I stared into his eyes to see if he was lying to not make me feel bad. But when I saw that he was telling me the truth, I smiled at him.
“But that doesn’t mean I won’t do anything for you,” I said as I picked up a truffle. “Thanks for making this day very special for me,” I said as I brought the truffle to his mouth and he took a bite of it.
I picked up my own truffle and placed it in my mouth. I couldn’t suppress the moan that followed. The red velvet truffles were seriously the best I had ever ate.
As we finished the truffles, I set my plate down and turned to him. “Brian, seriously just tell me something you’re not good at.”
He chuckled, “I’m not good at dancing.”
“Really?” I asked. “Well then, let’s see.”
I pulled out my phone and began scrolling up my playlist. I put the song on play and turned to Brian.
“Come on, get up,” I said, holding his arm and making him stand up.
“Jeez, you like old songs?” Brian asked as he recognised the song.
“Hey! No matter how old, I like Can’t Help Falling In Love With You by Elvis Presley,” I said, hitting him lightly on the chest. “And besides, I think it’s the perfect song for today. That’s how a good Valentine’s day must go for me, eating a delicious meal made by my boyfriend just for me, and also the desserts like red velvet truffles. How could a dance not come in here. And there’s no other song better than Can’t Help Falling In Love With You for a perfect slow dance. I like things old and simple.” It always reminded me of my dad and mom. They used to dance on this song sometimes and so I loved this song.
“I don’t care what the song is as long as I’m dancing with you,” He said, placing his hands on my waist and pulling me closer. I put my arms around his neck as we began to sway to the music.
Brian was not that bad at dancing. He just did some weird dance moves. But those were quite cute actually.
I gazed up into his blue eyes, seemingly lost in it. He stared right back at me. His eyes seemed nervous. Why was he nervous? It was perfectly fine if he didn’t know how to dance. It seemed like he was deciding upon something, but was quite unsure about it. The song seemed to fade away until it just became background music.
“Brian, what happened?” I asked, trying to find the answer in his eyes, if only they were able to tell.
He stared at me for a long time and I fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, “I want to give you something,” He said before detaching my arms from around his neck. My hands fell limply at my sides. He reached out to the back pocket of his jeans and took out something. I gasped as I saw that it was a ring.
“Are you asking me to marry you?!” I bursted out.
His eyes widened, “What?! No!” He said quickly, before quietly muttering to himself, “at least not yet.” I caught that but didn’t comment on it. “I mean this is not an engagement ring or something, no it’s not,” he chuckled at that, “but it’s a promise ring.”
“A promise ring? For what?”
“It’s a promise ring, my promise that I will never, ever leave you. Brooke, we’ve been through two break ups in the last three years and I don’t want a third one coming up. Ever. This is my promise. I’ll never give you a reason to break up with me. No reason is more important than you. I love you.”
My eyes filled with happy tears and I quickly blinked them away so that he wouldn’t notice it. But he did.
“Hey, you’re not supposed to cry. You’re supposed to say that you love me back and kiss me,” He said, pouting in the end.
I chuckled at him before putting my arms around his neck and pulling him to me, “I love you too,” I whispered in his ear. He hugged me tight. I pulled away to look into his eyes before leaning in and placing my lips on his. He immediately responded, pulling me against him tightly by my waist.
We broke apart for air, “Sealed it with a kiss,” I said as he brushed the tip of his nose with mine.
“Let me put this on your finger,” He said, holding my right hand. He was about to put the ring on my finger, when I realised something and jerked my hand back.
“W-What happened?” He asked me with wide eyes.
“You’re putting it on the wrong hand. You were going to put the ring on my ring finger of my right hand. That’s for the engagement ring. Place it on the ring finger of my left hand,” I said, extending my left hand.
“Oh, right,” He pushed the ring on the ring finger of my left hand and I marvelled at how pretty it looked.
“Thanks.”
We sat back down. Brian threaded his fingers through mine and held my hand. We stared at our intertwined hands.
“I almost thought you were going to propose me for marriage today,” I said, chuckling.
“Wouldn’t you like to, someday?”
“I would love to, but I’m just twenty and too young to get married.”
“Of course. I wasn’t proposing for that though. It was just a promise ring.”
I nodded.
“But I do dream of marrying you someday,” He said after a while and I looked up at him in shock. “And dream about making twelve kids with you. But that’s when we both settle down. When we both have jobs and are stable in life. That’s when I’ll ask you to marry me, Brooke. Because that’s the only way I can be closest to deserving you. I want to give you the life and love you deserve.”
I barked out a nervous chuckle. “Huh, and you dreaming about marrying me and making twelve kids with me is not creepy at all.”
Brian laughed, “I was just kidding about that part,” He said and I relaxed. “Is what I would have said if I wasn’t actually serious.” He muttered afterwards and I stared at him. He didn’t look like he knew that I heard what he just said. So I let it go.
And it didn’t matter though. I was planning on spending my whole life with him. It didn’t matter if he proposed me now or later. My answer would be yes both the times.
I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I felt a pair of lips brush against my forehead and I opened my eyes to see Brian kissing my forehead. I smiled up at him.
“I want to kiss you,” He whispered and my breath hitched as I heard the longing, desperation and desire hidden beneath it. He leaned down once again to place his lips on mine.
“I love you,” He whispered against my lips.
“You’re probably saying this for the hundredth time today but I love you too,” I said, without detaching my lips from his. Instead I pulled him closer and pressed my lips to his passionately.
“Do you trust me?” He asked as he broke the kiss. I saw it in his eyes, the desire. I knew what he wanted. And I wanted to give it to him with no hesitation. Because I did trust him. I hadn’t given up my virginity till now and I wasn’t ashamed of it. If someone did love me enough to stick with me till I was ready, he was the one for me. Brian was the one for me because he didn’t just love me for my body, he was as much in love with my soul and who I really was, as I was in love with him.
I had always wanted to give up my virginity after marriage, but now when I look at Brian, I see the rest of my future with him. So I didn’t the see the point in waiting. From today, we would be each other’s forever.
“I do,” I said before pulling his shirt off of him. I wanted him as much as he wanted me. I trusted him and I knew that I wasn’t going to regret this one bit. Because as Brian made love to me that night, I knew that we were in this for the long term.
I didn’t regret pranking the wrong guy. It brought me to Brian. If not for the revenge plan, I would’ve never met the good boy of our high school. And to think it all started with a revenge plan gone wrong.
Maybe we were just destined to have? something between us.