She Used to Be a Pearl

I walked up to the O'Callaghan residence with my new sense of self confidence. I knocked on the door firmly and after a moment a young girl answered the door.

"Hi." She greeted. She was a cute girl with green eyes and chestnut brown hair.

"Hi, um, is John home?" I asked.

"Yeah. Are you Caty?" She asked.

"Yeah, and you're Daisy?" I replied.

"Yes! It's about time I finally met you. Anyway, I'll go get John." She said before turning around and shouting her brothers name up the staircase.

"John! Caty's here!"

It wasn't long before I heard thumping and saw the lanky boy jogging down the stairs.

"Well, this is about to get awkward. See you later." She waved.

John stepped outside and shut the door behind him for some privacy.

"Hey Caty." John smiled. "I was just talking about you." He greeted sweetly as he went in for a kiss.

I turned my head and stepped back.

"We need to talk."

"Whoa... Did I do something wrong?"

"Where do I begin? Yes! You made me fall in love with you! I hate that I love you so much when you just keep hurting me. I wish I could just stop loving you and be done with this mess but I can't-"

"Do you really mean that?" He asked softly. He looked like somebody had just killed his puppy or something.

"You slept with me while you were still with Daisy. You didn't think to stop and tell me that you're still with her. And then you flat out lie to her when she calls you?" I screeched.

"I broke up with Daisy last night before I came to your apartment. That was my sister on the phone." He informed me.

I opened my mouth to speak again, but quickly shut it and looked down.

"I'm really stupid, huh?" I mumbled.

"No, you're not stupid. You're amazing, just a little presumptuous sometimes." He chuckled awkwardly. "Did you really mean what you said about wishing you could stop loving me?"

"Yes." I answered.

His face fell and he looked crushed and heartbroken.

"I don't like love, John. It scares me to be so dependent on you, you don't even know the power you hold over me. I don't like feeling like everything we have could come crashing down at any second like it did before."

He stepped closer to me and took my hands in his.

"I would be doing the right thing if I asked you if you wanted to walk away and then promise I would never bother you again so you could just forget I existed. But, I can't do that. I could never leave you alone. Sometimes we have to take risks in order to get rewards. Will you take the risk with me?" He paused.

I felt my chest tighten in a good way. My heart was beating like an 808 when he got down on one knee in front of me. He pulled a worn ring out of his pocket and gazed up at me nervously.

"Caty? Will you marry me?"