The Good Times

   I could smell freshly cut green grass and I could taste country air and feel Aaron's long, slender fingers precariously places ontop of my eyes. I could hear no traffic, nothing but the methodic thudding of our dog, Beast's paws and the modest whisper of the grass beneath our feet.

 Aaron lead me blindfolded to a surprise. Excitement and anxiety knotted my stomach as we came to a hault.

"Are you ready?" Aaron's voice was beaming with excitement.

"Yes! God, to keep me waiting this way is criminal, Aaron," I grinned.

"Okay, okay. Jeez, you can surely have a temper, can't you?" He chuckled, "I mean, here I am doing something out of my devoted love for you and I get your lip?! How unkind is that, Allyson Harper? Maybe I should just pack up this little surprise we have here and we can ride on-"

I shoved blindly at him, "oh, stop it. You sound like a menopausel woman."

"Open your eyes, Alice," he cooed in my ear quietly. I opened my eyes one at a time, while taking in the flat clearing. Willow trees and roses decorate the rich landscape. Spread in the center was a pristine white sheet filled with baskets of food.

I giggled, "a picnic? Really?"

"Oh, yeah! Romantic, huh? I know I'm not great at all this feeling stuff, but..." Aaron breathed deep. I knew that stern, solemn face he was making. It was his honesty face. I knew at that instant that something important was going to be dropped on me like an airborne bomb.

"Yes? But?" I stepped nearer, reading his clouded blue fire eyes.

"Well, I love you. I want to work on talking about... feelings and all that great stuff." He ended with a quivering laugh. His body was tense, filled with nerves.

"Is that all you had to tell me?" I watched him closely, reading him like a book and knowing that there was something beneath his speech about feelings.

"For now, babe." He took my hand and led me to our sheet. "For now it is..."

   We sat there until the sun was retreating behind the trees, and turning the clouds hues of pinks and purples.

   We sat with locked arms and intwined fingers. We didn't speak much, our silences were excepted and welcomes.

   Once and awhile I'd feel his soft lips touch my cheek, his fingers run through my hair and I'd smile sweetly.

   As the dark swept the sun away and settled above us, only the glowing stars and the lumescent moon lit the night. Everything was all shadows, silhouettes and silvery light. Aaron had brought a blanket and wrapped me in it, not saving much for himself. Which was so like Aaron. Waves of warmth radiated off of Aaron's lean frame and washed over me like waves breaking the tide.

   Finally, after what felt like hours of undisturbed silence, Aaron whispered softly, "do you ever think about the future?"

I though momentarily, fishing for the accurate words. "Well, yes. But the future is so uncertain so it's hard to think about it without feeling unsettled, you know?"

He squeezed my hand in his, while fiddling with his lip ring. "I know."

   We sat in silence for a few more moments, but the wheels in my head were spinning relentlessly. Curiousity got me beat. "Where did that question come from?"

Aaron chuckled, "I've been thinking about the future a lot lately, actually."

"Why is that?" I studied his face framed in his disheveled black waves of hair. His lips were pursed and he was twirling his lip ring, which was a nervous habit that he possessed.

"I've been making plans." I listened to Aaron as I absentmindedly ran my fingers through the black hairs of our dog.

"Plans, huh? What for?" The glow on his face was silver, his pale skin was looking pearly and flawless in the dim light. When he blinked, his long eyelashes grazed the top of his cheeks.

"Plans for us. You and me..." He trailed off quietly. He sounded strangely shy.

"Oh!" I squealed, "like travelling? Oh, you know how I've always dreamed of seeing Paris!"

Aaron shook his head, and a mess of dark waves fell infront of his eyes, and he smiled shyly, "not exactly, Alice..."

"No?" I pursed my lips in wonder, "then what?"

"Well," he shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat. "It's a plan for forever. A future in which we'll be together, with kids and a house. If you want, that is..."

I stopped petting Beast, "wait... What?"

   With the stars alluminating us, Aaron dug through his jean pocket. He extracted a small red velvet box, and my heart fell from my chest into my stomach. My heart beat sounded like a caged hummingbird as it thumped. He clutched the box, then snapped it open fast. Nestled into the red silk within was a simple gold band with a ruby heart centered. I stared in awed silence.

He placed the box in my shaking hands, "I want you to be mine forever, Allyson Ivory Harper. I need you to be my wife. Will you marry me? Maybe?"

My heart beat out an uneven rythmn and words seized to form on my lead tongue.

"Yes." I spueaked.