Top 3
?!?!??
Kade
thank u bear
Angie
you can come sleep at my place if u want BearBear
Top 3
NO HE MAY NOT
I grin—returning my attention to my lecture. Here we go again.
Chapter Forty Four
October 2023
Aaron
Itake a deep breath and wipe my palms onto my jeans. I’m not too sure why I’m so nervous—it’s not like Benjamin’s inside waiting for me. But I feel like I’m going to puke anyway. One more deep breath and I open the front door of Felix’s apartment—finding him, Kayla, and Amber in the living room. Kayla is sitting on the couch with Amber while Felix sits against it on the floor, allowing Kayla to ruffle his hair.
“You did not make me come here only to be late.” Amber glares and I blow her a little kiss.
“Sorry, babe—I had a bit of a hard time getting away from Benjamin without suspicion.” Felix furrows his brow and looks at the others.
“Wait—he’s not with you? I thought this was an emergency family meeting?” I once again take a deep breath.
“It is. It’s about him.” Felix’s eyes narrow on me—sitting up straight.
“Aaron—I swear to God. This better be good news.” Rolling my eyes, I pin him with my own glare. How dare he insinuate I would ever be anything other than head over heels for my boyfriend?
I pull out the small black box and Amber jumps to her feet at the same time Kayla screams.
“REALLY?!” Felix is asking, eyes so wide he’ll pop them right out of his head.
“Yes—really. I’m going to propose.”
“Oh, my fucking God. I totally called this way back in the day.” Amber says—eyes watering as she smiles at mefrom across the room.
“I guess my bouquet really worked!” Kayla’s jumping in place on her cushion.
“Listen—” I say, calming them and gathering their attention. “I want to do it next weekend. I have an idea. Will you guys help me?”
“Yes!” They all yell at once. I grin.
“Great—here’s the plan.”
The plan is very simple. Amber will call Benjamin tomorrow and sweet-talk him into helping her buy a new wardrobe next Saturday—at my expense unbeknownst to him. While he’s out for the day I’ll sneak away to this spot that I found by the lake. It’s secluded and under a big, beautiful tree. There’s greenery all around, so aside from the small path you take to reach it or from all the way across the lake—there’s no way to see inside. I’ll lay out flower petals everywhere—a few of those pretty antique lanterns with candles flickering inside spread out along the grass. Once it’s time, Amber will drop him off and leave.
Fe and Kayla will help hide the decorations until the day arrives—and help me set up. And when he gets there, it’ll be right as the sun starts to set—which is beautiful and symbolic—as that’s the time of day it was when I followed him into death.
His ring is beautiful. A gorgeous 14-karat gold band with a woodland theme—making it look as if the band is branches lined with leaves holding baby diamonds. In the center is a 2-carat marquise-cut diamond. It’s so perfectly Benjamin. A little magical with the woodland vibe—elegant, eye-catching. The identical band that lacks the marquise diamond completes the set and is what I’ll add to it at the altar. That is still at the jeweler.
If I still know his taste as well as I did with his bracelet—then this will blow his mind.
