(As told from the bride's point of view.)
14 December 2009
It was late. We were both sitting on the couch at our apartment, both on our laptops, most likely chatting on Facebook even though we were sitting right next to each other. Noticing Steve seemed a little stressed out, I asked him what was wrong. He didn't want to talk about it. I did. So I kept bugging him and bugging him and bugging him until he said, "FINE. But if you want to talk, you have to come with me. Put on a jacket."
???Huh??? .......okay.
So I put on a jacket and follow Steve out the door. I figured we were going for a walk, like we do sometimes when we need to talk. Glad that my curiosity was about to be satiated but slightly annoyed that we had to go outside where it was freezing cold, I followed Steve down the stairs of our building. He leads me to the car and, puzzled and cold, I get inside. When Steve takes the wheel I begin pressing for answers yet again, trying to figure out why Steve doesn't want to talk to me. When he parks, I finally look up and see that we're at school. We get out of the car and Steve takes my hand, saying softly, "Let's go for a walk."
As we walk across the parking lot, Steve puts his arm around me to keep me warm and, seeing my disgruntled face at having to be outside in the cold in the first place, guides me to the track. I figured since the track was close to the parking lot, I would be able to run back to the car and jump in to get warm as soon as our conversation was over. Relieved that we weren't going to be walking all over campus like I'd thought, I walked with the love of my life to the track.
We get to the track and Steve keeps walking, across the track and to the middle of the soccer field.The sky was clear, the stars were bright, our breath was frosty. This was how we had met, on a soccer field in the middle of the night, underneath the open sky. Steve turns to face me and pulls me into his arms, whispering sweet things that I can't even remember anymore because I was too busying arguing with myself about whether of not this was IT. It couldn't be. Not yet. I would've known. He doesn't have the ring yet; we had just gone to look a few days ago. I would've known when he got the ring; we're always together, so it would've been obvious if he'd left my side long enough to buy it. This definitely wasn't the moment.... Was it? No, it can't be. He doesn't even have the ring yet. He's just being a sweetheart, even if he did make me come out here in the cold. He doesn't even have the ring yet.....
I shivered, not so much from cold, but from realizing that he had me. I was so sure that I would've found out his plans ahead of time. I didn't think he could surprise me, not with something as big as this. And yet here I was. I hadn't seen it coming at all.
I didn't know he had the ring until I saw it in the box he opened as he knelt before me, asking me to be his wife.
(I said yes.)
