Next Guy Through the Door

Lifting my hand to wave, the teapot on the wall near my shoulder wobbled.

Natty pointed to it. “That looks a bit unsteady. Maybe you should take it down before it falls on your head.”

Laughing, I picked up the cute blue teapot, intending to set it in my lap, but I heard a weird tinkling noise inside.

“Oh, I hope I didn’t break it,” I said, feeling like everyone was staring at me strangely. Lifting the lid, I reached into the pot and pulled out a diamond ring. “What–”

The entire audience gasped loudly, and my head spun to see Dale stride in, falling to one knee and taking the ring from me as he clasped my hands. I began shaking, barely able to breathe.

“Lindsay–”

He stopped, seeing that I was already tearing up. Then he grinned. “Happy tears?”

I nodded quickly.

“Good. Lindsay, I love you. You’re the light of my life. I know that I always say that you’re mine, but I also need to be yours. Will you have me? Will you marry me, and let me try to be the very best husband for you?”

Everything was blurry through a wash of tears as I nodded emphatically, barely managing to squeak out the word, “Yes.”

I was nearly deafened with squealing and applause from everyone in the audience, as Dale slipped the ring on my finger, pulling me to stand so he could give me a huge bear hug.

“I love you,” I choked. “Even though you ambushed me in front of a camera.”

“You’ll forgive me,” he grinned, kissing me gently, warmly, making me tingle straight through.

Then he sat us back on the couch. “Hi,” he waved to the cameras. “I’m Dale, Lindsay’s brand new fiancé.”

“Congratulations,” Natty beamed. He seemed genuinely excited for us, and I was truly touched by the manic wave of joy coming from everyone in the room.

“So,” Natty asked brightly, “How did you two meet?”

Dale and I started laughing. Then we saw how hard the other one was laughing and became hysterical. We tried to compose ourselves, but our words came out breathless and raspy.

“She was supposed to talk to a guy–”

“My friends talked me into it–”

“From the second I saw her–”

“Forced myself. I was so scared that...”

“And then... He whispered in my ear.”

“She twisted her head and kissed me. It was like the lights turning on completely for the first time. I knew right then that she was the one.”

I didn’t care that the cameras were on us. I didn’t care that the audience was staring and I just knew they were going to cheer. Pulling Dale against me, I kissed him until we were both dizzy.

Natty began talking right over the cheers. “There you have it, folks. Want to meet the love of your life? Just talk to strangers, I guess. We hope that you’ll join us next week, when we’ll be interviewing two hot local bands, and likely still waiting for these two crazy kids to cut it out.”

The music swelled, and Natty danced wildly in his chair as if to distract everyone from our little spectacle.

“I love you,” Dale whispered.

“I love you,” I whispered back.

“My fiancée is a TV star,” he laughed.

“As long as I’m yours.”