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He groaned in his sleep, but didn’t open his eyes.

I climbed out of bed and walked over to his jacket, stopping to pull his varsity jacket over my shoulders because it was freezing.

I slid my hand into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out the ring box. I hadn’t even really gotten a chance to look at it yesterday. I flipped open the top.

If any part of me thought I was dreaming, this would have woken me up. The morning light made the diamond in the center sparkle. It was simple and classic. Yet the sides were twisted in a way I’d never seen before. And the band didn’t look quite gold. It kind of matched the color of my hair somehow. I lifted it out of the cushioned box to get a better look.

“You could try it on,” Axel said.

I spun around and almost dropped the ring.

He chuckled.

“Oh, no, I...”

“Just to see if it fits,” Axel said. “For when I ask you again.”

I felt frozen in place. I didn’t want him to ask again. He’d already asked. And it wasn’t like I didn’t know the answer.

He climbed out of bed and walked over to me. He’d somehow found his boxers in the mess on our floor last night. My eyes dropped to the waistband. There was a little splattering of hair that left a trail from below his bellybutton, disappearing beneath his boxers. I had the oddest sensation that I wanted to trace the path with my tongue.

“Here,” he said. He lifted the ring from my fingers, grabbed my left hand, and slid it onto my ring finger. “A perfect fit.”

I swallowed hard. My eyes darted up to his. The blue hue looked even more vibrant in the morning light.

“You know...you could just wear it,” he said. “As a promise. That you’ll say yes later.”

I shook my head. “No.”

His fingers slowly fell from mine.

“I mean yes.” I pressed my hand against his bare chest. I stared at the ring on my finger. There was no way I was ever taking this off. “No to that proposal. But yes to the other one.”

Axel lowered his eyebrows. “Are you saying...”

“If the offer still stands. I want to be your fiancée.”

I don’t think I’d ever seen him smile so big before.

“Yeah?”

I nodded. “A thousand times yes.”

He laughed and lifted me up into his arms.

I wrapped my thighs around this waist.

He stepped forward, pressing my back against the wall. “What happened to wanting to be my girlfriend for a while?”

“I think I said for like one day.”

“It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet.”

I was smiling so hard it hurt. “Well someone very wise once told me he was done wasting time. Remember at homecoming? Were you talking about counting down the days until we could be together?”

“All I ever did was count down the days.”

“Well, technically today is a new day. And I don’t want to wait 24 hours. I want to be yours forever.”