Accidental Meeting (Accidental Hook-Up 3)

The white gold ring with a princess cut diamond in it will look incredible on her finger. Presuming she says yes. I think she will if she doesn’t let her past affect her decision.

How funny, it was my past that threatened to originally tear us apart, but we got past that and I’m sure we will survive this as well. We’re strong enough to tackle absolutely anything.

“It’s going to be okay,” I try to convince myself. “What Tia and I have is real. It’s everything.”

Once I’m ready I head down the stairs and wait. Tia often doesn’t get home on time, that’s part of the job when it comes to acting in movies, sometimes she has to stay on until the moment is right, until they finally have the scene, but I told her today that she needed to be on time. I couldn’t explain why because I want it to be a surprise, but I hope she sensed the urgency in my tone and she does what I ask of her.

“Come on, come on, come on,” I mutter while drinking a glass of wine to steady my nerves. “I need you here now or I am going to end up freaking myself out. I need you here, Tia.”

It takes half an hour, which feels like forever when I’m counting every single second, but she arrives. She staggers through the door, stress pouring across her face, and she smiles thinly at me.

“Are you okay?” I ask, my plans flying out the window if she’s had a bad day. “Has something happened?”

“No, nothing in particular. I think I might just need a shower.”

I am nervous and I want to get this done, but I want Tia to be ready for it, so I nod. “Okay, sure.”

“I feel you have dinner cooked, right? I can smell it. It smells great. I will be quick.”

She runs her eyes up and down me, clearly noticing that I’m dressed nice. I don’t know what I’ll say if she asks me why I’m dressed so nice, but thankfully she doesn’t. She bounds up the stairs and I hear the shower running. While she gets washed I wander around the house and look at the pictures of us together which I have insisted that I hang up everywhere. I need to see us all the time. It makes me very happy. Seeing us calms me down and reminds me why I’m doing this. It’s because I love her so damn much that it hurts.

By the time Tia arrives again she has a really sweet red dress on. It might not be quite as dressy as me but she doesn’t need that. She looks absolutely gorgeous; she makes me melt in to a puddle.

She brushes her smooth just washed and blow dried hair out of the way.

“I’m ready to eat now,” she says with a smile. “I feel so much calmer. Today was crazy but I’m glad. I’m happy that it’s over now. I’m ready to have an awesome night of chilling out.”

I smile and indicate for her to follow me into the dining room which she does. She gasps and makes some comments about how beautiful it is, but I can’t reply. I can barely hear her. The nerves are starting to get the better of me and I might be about to freak out if I don’t do this soon.

I look at her, my heart racing, and she shoots me an expectant look back. She’s waiting for me to say something. This is the time already. It was supposed to be a little later on in the night but I have been waiting too long. I don’t know how much longer I can keep it all inside. The love is about to burst free and I think it might be time to just deal with it. To say everything that’s bottling up. Even the idea of popping the question right now makes me want to scream out with excitement. I cannot wait for it.

“Are you alright, Shane?” she asks me curiously. “You have a weird look on your face.”

Screw it, I decide. It’s time to just ask. Screw the plan, just ask her already.

“Tia, take a seat,” I plead with her. “I have something that I need to talk to you about.”

I’m shaking. My whole body is trembling with fear, but as she takes my hand she makes me feel more confident again. I can do this; I know that I can. It’s the next logical step for us.

“You do?” She does as I command but looks at me weirdly. “What’s that? You’re freaking me out.”

I suck in as much air as I can manage and check that the ring is still in my pocket. It is, that’s a good sign. Then, once she perches on the edge of her chair I fall to one knee. She doesn’t seem to know what’s going on until I pull out the box and I show her the ring inside.