“Okay, now tell me the weirdest thing about you” she asked wonderingly
“This is a hard one, you sure you don’t want to ask me a different question? Anything you like, as long as it’s not embarrassing” he replied, attempting to cover up his mortifying chubby childhood days when he used to burn ants with his glasses for fun.
“I’m positive, I really want to know! Plus, I promise I’ll tell you mine if you go first,” She swore as her dark eyes meandered about the room in deep thought.
He wondered why her eyes rarely met his, it was so eccentric and different, and he loved to watch her think. “Okay, well, when I was a little kid, I sort of had an obsession with lighting things on fire. Not because I was one of those hard core kids who set the losers’ bikes on fire and liked to graffiti walls, but because I really liked the concept of fire, and starting out with a piece of matter and then ending up with nothing but a little bit of ash. Alright, now you go”
She attempted to compile her thoughts in a reaction to what she just heard. Finally, she decided and exclaimed “Wait, that’s really interesting! I would’ve never known you to be so philosophical and, well…unique! This is why I asked you, because you can never know absolutely everything about a person, even if you think you can’t possibly learn any more. Don’t be embarrassed, once you hear mine, yours will sound as normal as rain in April.”
Hers was simple. “There’s no better feeling than walking in grass barefooted. It’s my guilty pleasure. I look like a freak just walking around my back yard with no shoes on, but when I grip the grass with my toes it just feels amazing… like I’m connecting with the earth. I don’t know, it just feels right to me, it always has. I used to call myself nature girl when I was little.”
He suddenly noticed her little silver dress, her perfectly soft locks, and the whiff of her elegant perfume. How is it possible for him imagine her so vulnerable, walking barefooted in her backyard, so consumed and in love with pure wholesomeness?
“Marry me.” He said spontaneously. Everything was right, the soft jazz in the background, the openness of the Q and A session they decided to have tonight over linguini, her. She was just…so perfect. He had been waiting for a year now, always being sure to keep the ring her father helped him pick out in his pocket, handy for the right moment.
***
“Are you satisfied now Kate? I think it’s time for bed, and no more stories, you’ll be exhausted for school tomorrow if you stay up any later.” She coaxed, as her daughters fluffy pillow was fluffed yet another time and her Princess blanket was neatly tucked under her small frame.
“Yes, but just one more thing.” Her daughter’s dark eyes that mirrored her own began to droop with tiredness.
“Yes, dear.” She sang sweetly with as much patience as she could collect
“Daddy was a freak when he was little, wasn’t he? Why’d you say yes?”
“Because it was meant to be, good night hon.” She replied without having to think for one moment, no compilation of thoughts, no wandering eyes. Just instinct.