Today was the day! Zayden Sinclair was finally coming to my tiny little apartment to hang out with me and my roommates. The thought induced some panic of severe magnitude each time it crossed me. What if he hated it? What if he got super claustrophobic? My entire apartment, after all, was the size of his living room. Surely it would bother him more this time around, because when he was here last time he had just hovered around terrorizing Nick. To spend an entire evening here was a different matter altogether.
As though this wasn’t enough of a source of crippling stress, this afternoon I was supposed to
accompany Nick to purchase an engagement ring for Stacey. The afternoon after Zayden and I had excitingly finished my paper, I had found Nick lurking around the living room all alone, trying to hide a jewelry magazine underneath some book. He had jumped a little too comically when he’d seen me gazing, and it had taken less than two seconds for him to blurt. (there seems to be a sentence missing here?)
This afternoon, Stacey was going to be off buying baking products to bake some of her popular goodies for dinner with Zayden tonight. I had intentionally piled a long grocery list on her – including things she would have to drive far away to get – and begged that she retrieve those things for me while I prepared the apartment for Zayden.
It was surprising that she bought it, however, considering there was hardly much to “set up,” and I had stayed up all of last night cleaning up. Luckily, Stacey didn’t ask many questions and was off mid-afternoon. As soon as she was gone, Nick knocked on my door. He looked like he was ready to throw up.
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said sympathetically. “You need to calm down a little there, Nicholas. If you freak out so much while buying the ring, how do you suppose you’re going to handle proposing?”
He quietly sat on the edge of my bed, looking deeply sickened. “I haven’t quite thought that far yet. One step at a time. It’s the ring first. Just the ring.”
“Nick.” I looked at him incredulously, and even as Stacey’s best friend, I should have been nothing short of a complete cheerleader when it came to this looming engagement, as I was also Nick’s friend, so I had to ask, “You’re sure you want to do this, right?”
His eyes widened as though understanding exactly what I was thinking. “It’s not... I’m not being forced into this proposal or anything! Stacey has absolutely no idea. It’s just that the other day – you were around for this –when I mentioned us being married in the future, her reaction really took me by surprise. She looked shocked at first, as though this simply hadn’t occurred to her, which was not a good sign. After you left she started tearing up and seemed so happy...”
“And that gave away that she was ready, so you decide to propose right away?” I asked, starting to somewhat tear up.
“Yeah, pretty much. I’ve been ready for years now. Honestly, a couple of months into us dating I knew where we were going, that we would obviously get married someday.”
“So did I,” I said and nodded thinking back to those days. “And everyone else knew, really. You and Stacey were a match made in heaven, Nick. It’s incredible that you found each other. I can’t imagine a world where you hadn’t…”
“That’s really sweet, Aria,” Nick said, looking like he was about to tear up, too. It made me a little uncomfortable, because Nick wasn’t exactly an expert at showing his feelings. “It gives me quite a boost. I am so glad we have you in our life.”
I took his words as my cue to tell him something that I had been considering over in my mind since I had first run into him with the magazine and found out what his plans were.
“And I am really glad that I have two of the most amazing people in the world as my best friends,” I said sweetly. “Who are now going to be married, which is an incredibly wonderful thought. I can safely assume I’ll be the maid of honor at this wedding, since Stacey already promised me that when we were like 15. That’s a role I am looking forward to fulfill in your lives. There is one role that I can no longer play, Nick, because you guys are about to start an epic life ahead and you need your privacy. Don’t even try to deny that! After the proposal, I am going to move out.”
Nick looked disappointed but nodded. “Stacey is not going to be happy about it. Neither am I.”
“I’m not happy about moving out, Nick!” I exclaimed, hoping he didn’t think it was because of anything they did. “I love living with you guys! You’re my second family. And my God, these past few years have been some of the best of my entire life. You guys are growing up now though, and I have to do the same. I can’t be living with a couple that’s about to be married.”
“If there is anything I or Stacey can do for you – in terms of finding a place or beating someone up or anything – you just have to say the word.”
“I know that. I always knew that, don’t be silly, Nick. Nothing has changed. I do need your help telling Stacey about this after the proposal, though. I’ll need someone to grab the pillow she will most definitely throw at me,” she joked.
He bowed as to say, ‘At your service.’
“Of course that’s not for a while, and I have this freaking party with Zayden tonight to worry about, too,” I said, suddenly remembering. “When do you plan on doing it anyway?” Then I eyed him suspiciously and added, “And how do you have so much money for a fancy ring?”
“I want to do it next week on her birthday. And my grandma gave me the money. She was quite the anarchist back in the day, so her and my grandpa decided to get married without spending a dime – something about love not needing a show – so there was no ring. Now that she’s older, she thinks there should have been one so she could pass it on to my bride. Since she can’t, she’s been insisting on buying it for me.”
“That is so adorable,” I said and smiled. “Okay, let’s get going, Nick. We don’t know when Stacey will be back and we need to spend as much time as we can to find the perfect ring. Both Stacey and your grandma deserve that.”
---
By the time Nick and I were back with a beautiful, princess cut diamond ring that she would definitely adore, Stacey was already home and in her baking gear.
“Where did you two go?” She raised her eyebrows. “I thought you were supposed to be setting up the place, Aria.”
“I was! I was scrubbing the floor. Look how much cleaner it is now,” I said, pointing at the floor, which hadn’t been touched, but she would probably believe me because, who can really tell the difference? “I got super exhausted from doing that so Nick and I went for a walk…to get some ice cream.” I must have sounded obvious to anyone in the world, but Stacey shrugged, oblivious, focusing on the batter she was beating with surprising intensity. “When are you going to start the chicken? I only ask cause the stove is going to be very hot for the next two hours because of the oven beneath, and I don’t think you cooking over that heat is the best idea.”
She looked at her watch. “We still have about three and half hours before your boyfriend is supposed to get here.” She paused and gave me a very amused half-smile. “You’re grinning really hard, Aria.”
“Oh, sorry,” I said, feeling the sides of my mouth stretched. “I didn’t realize I was doing that. It’s just that…you called him my boyfriend.”
Stacey made an “aww” face and said, “If I wasn’t completely covered in cookie batter I would give you the biggest hug right now. But more importantly, let’s make the best of our time here. Why don’t you go get ready – it’s bound to take over an hour since your man is coming – while the oven is on and then you can make the chicken? I’ll cook everything else. I already have the rice cooker running. I would do the chicken too, but he has yet to try your cooking and your chicken and sausage curry really is to die for!”