“Why are you standing like that?” she asked with raised eyebrows.
“I’ve got a present for you,” I told her.
“Oh?”
I took the bouquet out from behind me and presented them to her.
“Oh my god, it’s beautiful!” she said as she took the purple, red, and orange bouquet. “Aw, babe, you didn’t have to do that!”
“I know,” I told her, “but you deserve it. Come on, let’s go eat, I’m starving.” I placed my hand on the small of her back.
I’d been planning to ask her to be mine as soon as I’d given her the bouquet, but I panicked a bit at the last minute. Ah, oh well, it would probably be better when we were both sitting down rather than awkwardly standing outside the cafeteria.
We walked in, she slid her card twice for two meals, and we grabbed trays to quickly get our food. They actually had burgers and fries today, and I went with that while she grabbed some pasta salad.
“I’ll grab drinks,” I told her as I went to get us two waters. Emily didn’t drink anything besides water, and lately, I’d been trying it out, too. It was healthier, so why not?
We took our seats, I handed Emily her drink, and we immediately started eating. At least, she started eating. I kind of just picked at my fries and tried not to make it obvious that I didn’t have much of an appetite.
Maybe the burger wasn’t the best idea, because the fact that it was untouched was a big tip-off, but I had a feeling my appetite would come back as soon as I willed myself to finally pop the question.
“Babe, is something wrong?” she asked me. “Are you not feeling well? Because we could totally go home—”
“No! I’m feeling great!” I told her quickly, seeing the perfect segue into the conversation. “In fact, I’ve been feeling great for a long time, and I think I have you to thank for that.”
She blushed slightly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. And, I think when you find something or someone good in this world, you need to hold on to them. Because there just really isn’t that much good out there anymore…”
She squinted at me. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m trying to say that I like you. I’ve liked you for a month now, more than liked you, and I want to do something about it. I was wondering… will you be my girlfriend?”
A grin shot across her face. “Seriously?”
“Absolutely. If it’s not moving too fast for you…”
“No, no, it’s perfect!” She leaned over the short table, and I matched her lean, our lips meeting in the middle.
She squealed for a second. “Girlfriend…” she said softly to himself. “I’ve never been able to use that word before. Not when talking about myself, anyway…. my girlfriend.”
I laughed. I couldn’t say I had the same feelings as she did about using the word girlfriend for the first time or anything, but I did feel the same elation. She may not have been my first girlfriend, but she didn’t need to be. She was something special for me. Something undeniably special… she was unlike any other person I’d ever dated, that was for sure.
“Oh my god!” she said suddenly. “I’ll get to introduce you as my girlfriend on Saturday!”
“Saturday?” I asked, wracking my brain for some kind of plans we had.
“Oh! Sorry! I didn’t even ask you… my roommate Abby invited both of us to her friend’s birthday party. Her friends really like to go out, and Abby wants to get to know you, so… you can totally say no, though, if it’s too much pressure or something.”
“No, of course not, that sounds great,” I lied.
It actually did sound like a lot of pressure, but I was also excited that she wanted to show me off to some of her friends. Or her roommate’s friends, I guess. The nervousness I was experiencing was outweighed by the excitement.
“I was hoping you’d say that! It’ll be so fun to finally go out and do something with other people. Not that I haven’t been enjoying our time together, of course. I have, but there’s only so much time that can be spent cooped up in the room.”
“Don’t worry, I get it.” I smiled. “It’ll be nice. Are her friends, uh, pretty nice generally?”
“Oh, yeah! I mean, there are a few I don’t care for. They’re art majors, and some can be a little snobby, but on the whole, they’re really nice, and the few snobby ones don’t even come to all the events.”