From Beginning to End

He had everything planned perfectly. He had written a letter asking her to dinner on Saturday, that she would read when she would came home from college on Friday morning, and then they would go to dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town, and he would order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with a simple silver ring inside it, that had 'from beginning to end' inscribed on it. Then, he would get down on one knee, and ask her to be his girlfriend.
Everything would be perfect. Now all he had to do was find out what time exactly she was arriving so he could have time to go to her house and leave her the letter, before picking her up at the airport.

Jason walked over to a small, wooden nightstand, and picked up his cell phone.
He quickly dialed her number, and waited patiently for her to pick up.

"Hello?" Her soprano voice answered, sounding more beautiful then a choir of angels.

"Minny, hey. It's Jason." He said, with a huge grin plastered to his face.

"Jason! Hey! What's up?" She asked, obviously in a good mood.

"Um, not much. Listen, I was wondering what time I should be at the airport to pick you up?"

"Hm, well the plane lands at... 10:30, so I'd say be there at 10:00?" She said slowly, trying to remember the times.

"Alright. I'll be there at 10:00." He said writing it down on his calendar.

"Great! I can't wait!" She declared happily. For the first time, Jason felt a sudden panic, and didn't know what to say.

"You okay?" She inquired, sounding a bit concerned. He shook his head, and tried to calm himself by breathing deeply, and imagining everything the way he intended it to go.

"Yeah, yeah. I've um. I've got a surprise for you." He blurted out awkwardly, resting his forehead in his palm, waiting anxiously for her reply.

"Really? That's wonderful! I have one for you too!" She revealed cheerfully. A few muffled voices could be heard in the background, and had obviously caught Minnie’s attention, because for a few moments she said nothing.

"Hey, listen. I gotta go for now, but I can't wait to see you on Friday!" She said, then abruptly ended the call.

Jason sighed and set the phone down, biting his lip awkwardly, wondering if he could actually pull this off.

xxx

Friday morning, 7:00 am:

A nicely tanned arm emerged from underneath the many blankets piled up on Jason's bed.
Warm rays of sunlight streamed in through the window, making everything in his room seem brighter. He yanked the covers off of his body, and sat up. He rubbed his eyes routinely, and shuffled along the floor until he reached the bathroom. He preformed his morning routine flawlessly, then dressed quickly, and headed down the stairs to start his day.

On his way out the door, he grabbed the envelope that held the letter he had written, inviting her to dinner. As he made his way towards the car, he began to remember all the memories the two of them shared, and how much he wanted to take this to the next step.

Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and he wanted everything to be perfect, down to the words he used to ask her out.

He thought about her the whole way to her house. She had been a part of his life for so long, that he was almost afraid to take it to the next level. As he got out of the car, a shiver ran down his spine as a horrible thought crossed his mind. What if she said no?

Petrified, he tried to imagine what his life would be like without her.

'No. no. She /will/ say yes.' He told himself, though he wasn't really sure she would.

All through the rest of that morning, butterflies presented themselves in his stomach, making him even more nervous.

Finally, after 2 more hours of what seemed like endless waiting, he found himself standing by the escalator in the airport, waiting to see her beautiful face ride down it to greet him.

A few moments later, he heard a familiar laugh, and looked up to see if he could find her among the crowd of people. When he did, it wasn't at all how he'd pictured it to be.
Wrapped around her waist was a man’s arm, and gently pressing against her cheek was someone else’s lips.

Jason felt a sharp pain in his stomach as she glided over to greet him.

“Jay! It’s good to see you again!” She wrapped him in a hug, and patted his back quickly, before releasing him, and returning to the other man’s side.

“Jay, I’d like you to meet my fiancé, Adam.”

Adam was a tall, dark haired man, who looked to be in his late 20s. He wore a white button up shirt, and pair of black, perfectly ironed dress pants, and around his wrist hung a gold Rolex watch.

“Jason, Minnie’s told me a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you!” His deep voice boomed, making Jason feel even smaller then he had when he first saw them together.

‘So much for a perfect Christmas.’ He thought, as he shook Adam’s hand reluctantly.