The Question

He had a feeling of emptiness in his stomach, a certain queasiness that flowed through his veins like a virus.  About a month of planning went into this and the uncertainty of it all drove him mad, whether she'd say yes, whether she'd say no; hell maybe it'd flip a switch in her brain that might cause her to go on an arsonist rampage.  Every conceivable, ridiculous notion passed through his mind like a wave of insanity washing over him.  He worried whether he placed everything correctly, whether she would be willing to jump through all the hoops, whether she'd get all the way there and bestow upon him the ugliest word in the English language, "No".  All he could do was wait for his chance, he only had one more step. 

She woke up on a regular Saturday morning and begrudgingly walked down her long, winding driveway to grab the mail.  Shuffling through the usual pile of bills and catalogs for her parents she found herself holding a white envelope with an artfully drawn red heart.  She examined the envelope, lifting it towards the sun to see if she could see through it.  The red heart on the envelope induced a wide smile and she clawed it open, she began to read, "Good morning beautiful! you have begun your journey.  Go to the coffee shop at once!".  Confused and awfully zealous she got her keys and drove to the local coffee place where she went everyday before school.  She walked in the shop and was timorous for what awaited her; she was shocked to discover it empty.  Disappointed and morose, she walked to the counter to order, "I'll have a...", "A large coffee, two creams, one sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon." the barista said with a smile.  "How did you know that?", "He's been making me practice all week to get it right.", he placed the cup down in front of her with an envelope placed on top.  Her eyes lit up when she saw the envelope resting there, the letter inside said "Now that you've gotten your daily caffeine, it's time to have a good read".  She rushed to the bench in the park near her house, where she sat and read on a daily basis, and once more an envelope awaited her perusal.

He saw his window of opportunity and acted quickly to get the finishing touches squared away.  She found herself on the bench carefully opening the envelope.  "I know how much stress you've been under lately; with schoolwork, your dad's health issues and the way your friends were treating you this school year. . .", she was flabbergasted, "how could this person know so much?" she thought to herself, she thought back to who she may have told and there were quite a few people, she couldn't pick out who it was.  ". . . you deserve a day of pampering, you should go visit your mother at work".  She quickly got into her car and drove across town to her mother's spa.  She arrived and saw that there were no lights on, but that a envelope was hanging inside the door.  She reached for the door handle and pulled it open cautiously.  Standing in the waiting room, she opened the envelope, "I worked with your mother to make this work, you have a spa treatment waiting for you in the backroom".  She opened the door and saw her mother smiling beautifully.  "Mom, what's going on? Who's doing this?", "I don't know what you mean honey.", her smile became devious.  "Oh come on! Tell me!", "That's not why your here, you're here to relax.", her mother gestured towards a masseuse's table with a robe and towel on it.  She begrudgingly changed and lied down on the table; she drifted away into the smell of the candles, the soothing tone of her mothers voice and she was finally relaxed.

"I'll be right back honey, i have to use the restroom" her mom scurried away for a moment and called him,  "You'd better hurry up, we're nearing the end over here.", "It's almost ready, give me a few more minutes and it will be perfect!".  He had gathered his closest friends and they were all working together at her house.  She dozed into slumber as her mother rubbed her shoulders.  She was awoken by the slam of a door, she quickly jerked up and looked to see what it was; "Mom?" she projected her voice throughout the room and got no response.  She quickly went for her clothes and found yet again, an envelope.  She got dressed and tore it open, "Now that you're relaxed and worry free, meet me at your favorite place, where it all began".  Her eyes welled up as she came to the realization of whose treasure hunt she was following.  It was her childhood neighbor that she grew up with, he moved away when they were thirteen and recently moved back this school year.

She rushed out of the spa and saw the sun setting over the trees while she unlocked her car.  She had a posted note on her steering wheel from her mother, "Hi honey, i had to rush out, park on the street tonight, we're having people over".  She parked on the street and walked along the tree line towards her drive way; she turned the corner and stopped in her tracks.  She stood in awe as she looked at her candle lined driveway, all the way up the winding drive way were lit white candles.  She slowly walked to the house while she admired the ornate driveway.  Up the three steps to the porch she saw him sitting on the swing where they used to talk when they were kids.  "I don't know if your favorite place changed while i was away, but i took a leap of faith", "Will you go to prom with me?" she blushed and looked away from him and down at her feet.  He stepped closer, lifted her chin with his finger and brushed her hair back behind her ear.  He placed his hand on her hip, she stood on the tips of her toes and leaned in and kissed him.  He wrapped both arms around her back and lifted her off the floor.  Their ethereal moment ended as she broke away, she smiled wide and tenderly let out "Yes".

The First Date

It was a mere three days ago that he had the brightest moment of his life.  With months of being paralyzed whenever she waltzed by, he finally found the courage, he stumbled to her door and knocked.  She opened the door and flashed the grin that made his knees tremble, he was at a loss for words, as if her beauty whisked the oxygen out of the air; he couldn't speak.  Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stood in silence, "Is everything alright?" she asked as she placed her hand on his arm, her embrace lifted him over the psychological precipice of his mind that he'd been dangling from.  He cleared his throat and  blurted out "Would you like to uh... go on a date this weekend?" a brief moment of solipsistic silence was shattered by her timid voice, "I'd love to".

In the course of three days, he lost all the focus he previously had on his work and aligned his gaze on what to do for their date the upcoming weekend.  He couldn't focus in school, he was sent to the nurse several times on suspicion of a concussion.  His teachers were all concerned by the worry that washed over his face, the vague and empty answers that he gave during class unlike his typically insightful and meaningful points.  His mind was off, running through a meadow of spring flowers with her as "You Make Me Feel So Young" by Frank Sinatra played in the background.  His brain was unhinged for those few days, simple tasks like his chores had slipped his mind and he failed to do his homework for half of his classes.  Nothing seemed to matter besides her.

Just grazing by the scolding he received from his parents about his improper behavior in school, he began to get ready for his date; four hours early.  Three showers, countless outfits tried on and a myriad of attempts of how to greet her when he picked her up.  Many options were tossed around his mind, "There's a party in my pants, and you're invited" and "If you were a booger, I'd pick you first" were both thrown around jokingly.  His self-amusement calmed him down and he settled with a simple, "It's very nice to see you" not pushy, not too eager, it was the sensible way to start the date.  He warmed up his voice as he drove over to her house, he tested his vocal cords as he sang along with Mr. Bing Crosby.  

He pulled up in front of her house and walked to the door with an unprecedented swagger.  He knocked a few times and was greeted in by her father who said "Come on in, she's still getting ready" they exchanged innocuous conversation talk about one another as well as a very firm handshake with an underlined 'Hurt my daughter and I'll hurt you' aura coming from the father's hand.  A creak on the stairs drew the sudden attention and they both looked up to see her, wearing a simple attire of jeans and a sweatshirt, he had never seen someone so beautiful.  She made it down the stairs to have another occurrence of his lack of words, ". . . you look gorgeous" he said with such sincerity she quickly turned a shade of pink he had never seen before.  She sat down in the car and fiddled with the music, pressing play accidentally; with the press of a button she heard the velvet like baritone of Frank Sinatra, he quickly apologized and tried to turn it off as he had been forsaken by others in the past for listening to such old music, she grabbed his hand as he reached, "Why would you turn this off? This is such a great song.".  They both smiled and said nothing more.

She waited in anticipation as he didn't tell her of what they would be doing on their date.  She was gradually becoming more and more confused as they drove further out of town.  He pulled into the drive in movie grounds that were deserted and parked smack in the middle.  The screen lit up with the introduction to "It's A Wonderful Life", she slowly smiled and stared in awe, "How did you do this? How did you know i loved this movie?", he grinned and said "I know a guy, and you mentioned it freshmen year English.".  Her eyes welled up while he got out of the car and gestured for her to join him in laying on the hood of the car.  She leaned her head onto his chest and he coiled his arm around her shoulder.  

The movie ended but they found themselves staring at the stars, she was an astronomy enthusiast so she began lecturing him on constellations.  He didn't hear a word she was saying, he was too busy admiring her.  They lied on the hood for an hour while she talked about the stars, "Did you know there are approximately four hundred billion stars in the galax. . ."  she was cut off by him placing his hand on her neck and kissing her tenderly; "I'm sorry, i cut you off, what were you saying?", "Who cares." They both smiled and she leaned her head against his shoulder.  Their fingers were inter-twined as he moved his thumb back and forth along her hand.  The moment was perfect but was short lived as her phone illuminated her pocket; her father called her and said it was getting late, that she should head home.  

She slid off the hood and landed wrong when she met the ground, she had sprained her ankle.  He instinctively ran over and picked her up off the floor.  He placed her in the passenger seat and she quickly cranked up the Sinatra.   Windows down, the music blazing, the warm air washing over her face she hung her head out the window, he looked over and saw the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.  They turned the music down as they arrived into her neighborhood, he pulled in front of the house and quickly ran to the passenger side and gave her a piggy-back ride to the house.  "Thank you so much, this was perfect" she said with a medley of adorable things, her hair that was a mess, her red rosy cheeks from embarrassment and her standing on one leg.  He kissed her vigorously and said goodnight.  

Monday, he woke up just like any day, he got dressed, brushed his teeth and headed to school.  He walked through the halls to class and ran into his buddy outside his Math class.  "Hey man, did you do anything fun last night?", "No not really, but i had one hell of a dream."