The Engagement: Part 2
In case you missed it, here’s Part 1.
IF I HAD ONLY LOOKED CLOSER, there were many hints throughout the week that we would be getting engaged. The weekend before he’d said something along the lines of, “I reserve you for next weekend”, and then you throw in the sudden need for a nice shirt, and all the ring talking…you’d think I would have had it figured out.
And I thought I had.
But my guess was it would be on Friday, March 19th, not Saturday March 20th. The 19th was our five month dating anniversary, and we all know that any anniversary is a possibility for probable engagements.
So the 19th was likely.
Then again I’d also thought it would be February 19th.
Or February 14th.
Or New Years.
Or Christmas.
So basically I really had no clue when he was going to propose, I just liked to speculate.
We left the mall and headed to a jewelry show, and it was sometime in between the two that I brought to attention his horrendous driving skills.
“What’s on your mind? You’re driving like hell,” I declared from the passenger seat. I am a pro backseat driver.
“Aww. Am I a bad driver?” He asked, the corners of his mouth turning down in a slight frown.
“No, normally you’re a great driver but you suck today. Do you need me to drive?” I was joking, but only sort of. I still hadn’t caught on to the nervous edge about him. Instead I figured it was because it was the first day of Spring, it was warm, it’s the weekend, and there’s a million people out trying to do things. I didn’t even think anything was up when his brother Bryan called him and said he needed help moving a bed, and there wouldn’t be room for me in the car. Kevin dropped me off at my house on his way to his brothers. I didn’t mind, we had his friend’s wedding reception to go to later and I still needed to find and iron my skirt.
Kevin picked me back up at around five thirty and we went to visit Ashley since she lived close to where we were headed.
“Tonight could be the night!” I whispered excitedly to Ashley when Kevin was out of earshot.
“I dunno dude, I wouldn’t get your hopes up about it,” she cautioned me.
“I wasn’t,” I was defensive now. “I’m just saying that it could be. You never know. I don’t have my hopes up.” I was mumbling the last part, partially because he could hear me by now and mostly because it was a lie. I did have my hopes up, very much so in fact.
We left to his friend’s reception and in true Aubrey style, I got us lost on the way. We went through the line, congratulated the bride and groom and sat down next to his friend Chad to talk for a bit, when out of nowhere Chad asks, “So you guys getting married?”
“NO!!” I blurted. Both Kevin and Chad’s eyes widened.
“Wow – erm – that was pretty insistent!” Chad laughed, glancing out the corner of his eye at Kevin to see how he’d took it.
I tried to backtrack pretty fast too. I didn’t want to hurt Kevin’s feelings, but I didn’t want to make it sound like I was too eager either. I’d already brought up that ring conversation and I needed to lay off the wedding cracks for a bit. “I didn’t mean ‘NO’ as in ‘not ever’, I just meant ‘NO’ as in ‘not now’ or ‘not yet’.” I met Kevin’s eyes for a split second and then moved mine to the floor.
Just great. I’d been trying to not throw out hints and be desperate and here I was, talking about marriage for the second time today.
“Well it was nice seeing you, but we gotta go, we have a reservation to make,” Kevin stood up and moved towards the door and I did too. He’d told me to bring jeans to change into, so for all I knew the reservation could have been anywhere or nowhere. He waited for me to change and then he was driving like a maniac, weaving in and out of the lanes as he headed towards Salt Lake City. I decided to pass the time by playing twenty questions.
“Is there really any reservations?”
“Where are they at?”
“I have to pee.”
“Are we eating at Chili’s?”
“Do they have a bathroom?”
“I really have to pee.” (oh so glamorous, I know. It’s the night we got engaged and all I could talk about was how badly I needed to pee).
My questions weren’t really helping either. He kept mumbling about how we should have left sooner, something about reservations this, plans that, and getting irritated at other drivers. I finally looked at him and was like, “Dude. Calm down. Chili’s – or wherever it is – will wait. The only emergency tonight is that I have GOT to PEE.”
“We’ll get where we’re going in twenty minutes. Can you wait that long?” He asked. I could tell he was on a mission, set on his warpath (five points for verbiage) and I was too intrigued to throw him off. He punched the gas and maneuvered his car into the inner city traffic.
It only took me a few minutes more until I found out where he was taking me…
