Surrendering Series Box Set

“Oh, shut up, I would, too.” She pouted and I could feel myself doing it too.

“Well, at least my heart isn’t tied up with someone else’s. I get to do whatever I want,” Chloe said. “I can fuck whoever I want, whenever I want. No strings. No complications. No having to call, no dealing with needy bitches.” She made it sound like she was happy with her situation, but I knew her better. Looking down at my engagement ring, I watched it sparkling in the light of the fire. Picking out a wedding band to go with it had been a bit of a chore, but we’d found a jeweler who was able to custom make a band that would fit around the oddly-shaped class ring. They’d also made the ten-year band at the same time so that eventually I’d get to have a ring sandwich.

“Sounds great, Chlo,” Marisol said. “But I like coming home and knowing someone is going to be there. After so much uncertainty, I definitely prefer this over anything else. He’s there for me when things aren’t good with Mom and he’s there when I need to talk. He’s just… there.” I shared a look with Sloane because Marisol was rarely open about her relationship with Fin. It had been like pulling teeth to even get her to tell us that they’d moved in together and she’d hidden that her mother was dealing with Alzheimer’s for as long as she could.

“Marisol?” I said. She’d been looking down at her hands. At her left hand specifically.

She looked up and I met her wide blue eyes.

“I didn’t want to steal your thunder,” she said and pulled something out of her jeans pocket.

“Shut up,” I said. She started to cry as she pulled out a ring and pushed it onto her left ring finger. Sloane and I both screamed and got to our feet to hug her.

“It just happened,” she said, her voice muffled because we were squishing her so hard.

“I really didn’t want to steal your weekend,” she said and I waved her off.

“Fuck that, you’re engaged!”

“I know, I can’t believe it,” she said, looking down at her hand. The thing was fucking huge. A statement if I’d ever seen one. Fin was a “go big or go home” kind of guy. He wanted everyone (including the aliens looking down on us from space), to know that she was his.

“I really can’t believe it,” she said, brushing away a few more tears. We all sat down and Marisol looked at Chloe.

“Chlo?” she said.

“When did this happen?” Chloe asked, still sitting in her chair. She had a half-pissed, half-confused look on her face.

“Two days ago,” Marisol said in a quiet voice. I almost wanted to back away to give them a moment. Sloane and I sat down again and waited to see how this was going to go.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Marisol said, crouching in front of Chloe’s chair.

“Why didn’t you call me, you asshole?” Chloe said, a few tears falling down her cheeks and landing in her lap. Then she smiled through the tears.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I just… I didn’t want to rub it in your face and I guess I just didn’t even feel like it was real yet. I still don’t feel like it’s real. I mean, what the hell. I’m engaged?” She held up her hand and shook her head in bewilderment.

“Of course you are, you moron. That boy has loved you since that very first night and I’ve been waiting for him to grow a pair and ask you. I want to smack him for waiting for so long, Jesus Christ.” She dove forward and tackled Marisol in a hug and they were so close to the fire that both Sloane and I screamed. That was something I didn’t need this weekend. One of my bridesmaids setting themselves on fire.

They both just laughed and rolled away from the flames and kept hugging. I couldn’t really talk because I’d pretty much done the same thing with Sloane a time or two. Friendship couldn’t be explained.

Once the crazy was over, we asked for the proposal story, but Marisol wouldn’t say.

“It’s private. I just… I want to keep it for just the two of us for a little while. I might tell you eventually, but right now, it’s just for us,” she said and though we protested, she stood firm.

“Well, I think that calls for another round of drinks,” I said, pulling another bottle of wine out of the cooler we’d brought out so we wouldn’t have to keep going back and forth to the fridge.

We all filled our glasses again and toasted to Marisol’s engagement.

“Congrats Mari,” I said. “Really. I’m so happy for you. Now this officially means my mom can let that dream of Fin and me running away together die a final death.” Marisol just laughed.

“I should hope so.” Of course now that she was engaged, we had to pester her about when she was going to have kids and so forth.

“Great, now it’s starting,” she said, looking at me.

“Yup. And I went through it, so I’m going to be even worse on you. That’s how it works.” She glared, but she was smiling.

“I don’t know about babies. That’s something that’s going to be down the line. I just graduated and I still need to find a job. I’m barely starting to be an adult. Babies aren’t on my mind yet.” I felt the same way, as did Sloane and Chloe was definitely against having a baby herself.