Will You Keep Me Alive?

John and I were at a flea market the next morning, looking for some interesting stuff. Sometimes we get to find a really good stuff in a very cheap price, with a good quality.

“So how’s it going with Neyla last night?” he asked as we looked through a table of sunglasses.

“We ate ice cream and watched movies all night,” I answered, trying on flower-shaped sunglasses. “Remind you of childhood, no?”

He chuckled. “Totally. Those weird-shaped sunglasses are so tacky; I don’t understand why kids like it.”

“Maybe because they’re catchy. Kids like catchy things,” I said, placing it back. “Can you guess who showed up in Neyla’s doorsteps this morning? Well, her parents’ doorsteps.”

“Garrett,” he took a striped poncho, a sombrero hat and a fake moustache, put them on and posed. I giggled.

“Wow you’re smart,” I said, taking a maracas and gave it to him.

“What, he really did? I was just guessing out of nowhere.”

“Yeah. I don’t know what happened next, though – I left before anything happened. It’s their problem and I should stay away from it.” John striked another pose and I took a picture. “You should buy those.”

“What, and walk through the town, shaking the maracas saying, ‘Eyy, I am Johno Corneliuso O’Callaghano the fifth!’”

I laughed. “You just added o’s to your name!”

“And after I say that sentence,” he pulled me into him, placing his hands on my waists, “I will say, ‘And this is Daphno Carristeno Brocko, she’s the one I see myself with until deaths do us apart.’”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Really?”

“Mmhm,” he smiled back a little and leaned forward, planting a small kiss on my forehead.

“Smile,” I said, lifting my camera and took a picture of us.

- - -

We were sitting at Denny’s and we had eaten our foods, paid the bill and we were waiting for the changes to return. We were talking and as I was talking, a girl with a bombastic body (you know, great boobs, nice ass, flat stomach, tan skin) walked pass our table and I swear John was staring at her ass.

I stopped talking and just stared at him in disbelief. Oh wow, he didn’t even notice I stopped talking. I grabbed a rubber band, stretched it and let it go, hitting his face. He seemed to snap out of his mind and looked at me.

“Are you done admiring her ass?” I said coldly.

“Um...”

“John, it was only two hours ago when you told me that I’m the one you see with yourself until”—I made an air-quotation with my fingers —“deaths do us apart!”

“I know, I do, I—“ He stopped himself, seem to loss at words.

“Here’s the change,” the waitress placed the tray of money in front of us but none of us responded.

“You know... every day when I wake up, I always think if there’s another girl that made her way into you. If there is, is she prettier than me? Smarter than me? ...Hotter than me? If there isn’t, why? You’re famous, John. You’re the frontman of a well-known band and you’re really attractive, it’s impossible if no girl tries to throw herself on you. I wake up feeling insecure, especially when you’re on tour.

Look, I don’t want to be the girlfriend that puts a cage around you just because of my insecurities, but you have to prove to me that I don’t need to do that.”

He looked down to the table and I did the same, looking at our fingers just centimeters away from each other. They were so different – mine was skinny and soft and my nails were taken care of; his were lanky but big and his veins were visible and his nails were cut very short.

“I’m not... asking you to stop looking at other girls when you’re with me because it’s hard to do and honestly, I do the same when there’s another cute guy around,” I chuckled a little. “But just promise me you’re not going to cheat on me, because I’ll never do the same to you. Ever.”

“I promise,” he whispered, taking my hands and held them in both of his before kissing my fingertips. “And I’m sorry. I love you, Daphne. I really do.”

Everything seemed to freeze but us. Three years of dating and we’d never told if we loved each other and when the time came, I just froze. I didn’t know what to answer.

But when he looked to look at me with those hypnotizing green eyes, I knew what to answer.

“I love you too.”