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Max
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I CLOSE THE PASSENGER door of my Jeep as I help Magnolia into the car. We’re just leaving the Katsura Gardens after Hiroshi’s ramen opening night. Or at least, a pre-opening night just for friends and family. Tomorrow night the press and the authorities, and everyone who’s anyone in Silver Springs will be at the official opening night.
What can I say? I’ve never had anything more delicious than Hiroshi’s ramen and I was delighted to see the pride in his parents’ eyes at his accomplishment.
But the food wasn’t the only thing that made dinner interesting. “So, what did you guys think about the “girlfriend”?”
Hiroshi met someone in Japan, a gorgeous video game designer named Fumiko who followed him here to Silver Springs.
“I really like her. I think she’ll be good for Hiroshi,” Porter says from the backseat. “Have you noticed the way he looked at her? Our friend is done!”
Blake chuckles. “Yeah, now I think I’ve seen it all. Hiroshi was always the biggest flirt in our group but I think Fumiko might really be the one. After all, when you’ve found love with a capital L, you know it.”
Magnolia is strangely quiet. She doesn’t chime in but sits by my side, looking down at her own hands in her lap.
We’re driving to the sky bar where we’ve planned a romantic proposal for the woman of our dreams. Porter was a little salty that Blake won our rock, paper, scissors challenge but I’m ok proposing at the sky bar. To me any place is special as long as Magnolia is there. Of course I’d have liked to be the one to put the ring on her finger, but at the end of day what really matters isn’t who asks the question but the answer she’ll give.
“Baby, are you ok?” I ask and she doesn’t immediately answer. I know the evening didn’t exactly go smoothly but there’s nothing any of us could’ve done.
“I’ll be fine.” She sighs. “And you guys are right, Fumiko is lovely. I wish I could say the same thing about Peaches. Seriously I wonder what’s wrong with Gemma for inviting her over tonight.”
We all agree with her. While at first we didn’t see anything wrong with Gemma staying friends with her ex, we don’t blame Jen for disliking the retired army officer.
“Jen is really upset,” Magnolia explains. “You’ve all seen how Peaches constantly flirts with Gemma and tries to put Jen down. Gemma doesn’t seem to notice, now she’s invited Peaches to stay with them indefinitely. Or at least until she finds a place of her own.”
“Has she decided to settle down in Silver Springs?” I ask.
“Apparently so. And it’s a really weird situation. I don’t think Gemma fully realizes what’s going on.”
I have to agree with Magnolia. “You’re right. She’s kind to her ex but she doesn’t flirt back. So I don’t really think that Jen has anything to worry about. She should just ignore Peaches’ provocations.”
Porter intervenes. “Yeah, before someone ends up getting hurt.”
He obviously refers to tonight’s “Ebi Chiri” incident.
“Right. What did she hope to prove by challenging Jen to who could eat the spiciest shrimp?” Blake shakes his head, making me laugh.
“Come on, dude! That’s something you would do to prove a point. We spent our childhood challenging each other to stupid stuff and we have the scars to prove it.”
Magnolia smiles indulgently. “You guys still do. I’ve never seen anyone more competitive than you three. I’m just glad that you understand that I love you all equally and you don’t need to try and impress me. I wish Jen understood that too. You’re right, Gemma isn’t flirting back. But after Jen ate that shrimp with extra spicy sauce, I thought we’d end up in the ER. She almost choked on it.”
I smirk, parking the car in front of the sky bar. “Yeah well, regardless I wouldn’t wanna be Gemma tonight. Spicy food always makes me fart if I overdo it.”
“What are we doing here?” Magnolia asks, suddenly realizing that we aren’t home.
We all smile, electricity crackling in the air because this is it. We’re nervous and excited beyond belief.
“We just thought that since we’re all off for the weekend and your mom arrives tomorrow morning, it’d be fun to let go and be a little wild. I heard from Blake that a certain sexy nurse has a penchant for dancing on tables and I wanted to see that for myself.” I tease her and I’m relieved to see the lines of worry on her forehead smooth out as she opens the car door.
“This is such a great idea. You guys are the best! I’m the luckiest girl on earth.”
I smile, looking forward to seeing Magnolia’s expression once we pop the question. I know she was worried that Blake and I would feel threatened by the fact that she told her mom that she’s dating Porter but we actually understand. Magnolia comes from a very traditional southern family and we reassured her that she can take all the time she needs to tell her parents about our relationship.
***
Max
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THE BAR IS AS CROWDED as one would expect on a Friday night but Blake planned this to the tiniest detail and called ahead reserving their best table and making arrangements for his proposal. He wouldn’t tell us exactly what he planned but promised that it would be awesome and romantic and I trust my two brothers with my life, so I’m buzzing with excitement as we ride the elevator to the top of the building.
My eyes rake over Magnolia’s gorgeous body, wrapped into a short, little black dress and I have half a thought to press the “alt” button and show her just how sexy I find her. But a foursome in an elevator isn’t why we’re here and I hope there’ll be time to ravish my fiancée later on. While Blake organized the proposal, Porter and I made sure to sneak some scented candles into her room and spread rose petals all over the bed in the hope that we’ll get to celebrate our engagement the way we know best.
Magnolia obviously made an impression the last time she was here with Blake, because the bartender immediately recognizes her and fixes her a cocktail. “This is on the house,” he explains checking her out.
I grin at the guy, not jealous in the slightest because I’m confident about the feelings my woman has for me, Blake, and Porter and I really can’t blame any other man for noticing how gorgeous she is.
We’re ushered to a long table with a direct view of the widest side of the clear glass walls that constitute the whole room. This building is probably five or six stories high, and it’s one of the tallest in town. So we can see the whole of Silver Springs shrouded in the dark blue velvet cape of a spring night and shimmering with the brightest stars I’ve seen in a long time. My heart picks up its pace, full with the feeling that even our town seems to make an extra effort to look pretty tonight. It’s as if the small town we grew up in had a pulsing heart and wanted to look especially charming to help us get a “yes” from the woman of our dreams.
The first round of cocktails goes down real fast but I don’t feel like I’m missing out for just nursing my beer. It’s not just because I’m driving, I want to remember every second of tonight, I want to fully commit the look in Magnolia’s eyes to memory.
“Let’s dance,” Blake proposes as an old 90s song Murder On The Dance Floor begins to play. I’m about to protest that no one else is dancing but Magnolia nods with a big smile and Blake lifts her up, depositing her on the table and climbing on it with her.
Before I know it, not only are we all dancing on the table with Magnolia but a lot of the other patrons follow our lead and the bar is buzzing with excitement and the sheer joy of moving in synch with the 80s and 90s songs.
When a waiter approaches our table carrying a tray with four champagne glasses, I know it’s time for our proposal and my eyes go to Blake, waiting for any cue on what to do. All my best friend said to us was that he had the situation under control but Porter and I weren’t given anymore details on how this whole thing is supposed to go down.
As we all climb off the table, the waiter places the tray on it. “Champagne for the most beautiful lady in the whole room.” I shoot the guy a warning glare, I mean, not that he’s wrong in any way but he’s obviously checking my girl out.
“Aww, you guys spoil me. But that’s just what I need, dancing made me thirsty.”
Magnolia grabs the champagne flute directly in front of her, bringing it to her mouth with a smile and downing the whole drink in one go by tipping her head back.
The first thing that tells me that something’s wrong is the look in Blake’s eyes. His facial expression goes from an excited, amused smirk to a gasp of horror. I don’t have time to ask what’s the matter with him because I see Magnolia bring one hand to her throat and gasp, her mouth open in a surprised, silent “o”.
I don’t realize what’s happening until I see the way she keeps gasping without sound, like a cute little fish out of water.
“Baby, are you choking?” I ask immediately concerned and she nods, her mouth still open as she’s trying to breathe but can’t.
My training makes me immediately spring into action like second nature. I stand behind my girlfriend and put a gentle hand on her back to make her lean forward. I then deliver five sharp blows between her shoulder blades. When nothing happens, I surround her waist with my arms and place my clenched fist right above her belly button. I then thrust in and upward. Once, twice ... on the third thrust I’m relieved to hear a loud gasp coming from Magnolia as a shiny, silver colored object literally shoots out of her mouth, flying across the room and hitting the glass wall immediately close to our table.
It’s only after we’ve made sure that Magnolia is all right that we look at what caused her to choke.
“What the fuck?” I ask Blake as I realize that what just flew out of Magnolia’s mouth was the engagement ring we were going to propose with.
“I ... shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to take this moment away from you and Porter, so I asked the waiter to put the ring inside one of the champagne glasses and to make sure he placed the tray so that the glass with the ring would be right in front of Magnolia. I thought she’d see it and then we could all ask. I couldn’t think—”
I look at Porter who’s just as gobsmacked as I am by what just occurred, but Magnolia is the one who speaks first in a bid to comfort Blake.
“You couldn’t think that I’d down the whole drink without looking. I’m sorry guys. But...” Her eyes land on the engagement ring and Blake rushes to retrieve it. “Were you guys really going to ask me to—”
“Heck yeah!” We all say in unison. And just like that, we all fall down on one knee in front of the woman of our dreams as Blake quickly wipes the ring clean and then takes Magnolia’s hand in his.
“Magnolia Marie Kinsella, you have no idea how much I love you. How much we love you. We want to spend the rest of our lives with you. Will you marry us, Magnolia?”
For about five seconds she doesn’t say anything and those are probably the longest five seconds of my entire life.
Her green eyes fill with tears and her voice is rough with emotion and maybe also a little bit from having a platinum ring stuck in her throat. “Are you guys sure? I mean, I love you. I love each of you more than anything or anyone in the whole world. You complete me in ways I didn’t even know I needed before I met you. But are you sure you want this hot mess?” She gestures to herself.
“Fuck yeah.” Porter answers for each of us.
“In that case, my answer is yes, one thousand times yes.”
Finally the ring goes where it belongs, on Magnolia’s finger.