Come A Little Closer

“So, whats the deal with your two best friends and why are you all dressed up?”

Lindsy asks me as she walks into my room. Don’t people know how the hell to knock before entering a room? I look at myself in the mirror and examine my outfit. I had a little black dress on and black heels, with my hair pulled back into bobby pins. I thought I looked nice. “Marc is taking me to dinner and I was told to dress up.”

“Awe, how cute, your finally dating prince charming…unless you guys are engaged and we all don’t know.”

How the hell was Lindsy good at guessing these things? It’s not like Marc and I even told anyone about the engagement, because honestly, we didn’t. I watch Lindsy sit at the chair over by my desk as I sit on my bed. She had the chair backwards, so she folds her arms across the base of the chair, shaking her head at me. “Why are you shaking your head Lindsy?”

“I always knew you and Marc would end up together…Jared and Sydney? Not so much.”
“I think they are adorable!”
“Jared can’t hang on to a girl to save his life.”
“Oh come on, Jare’s just…Jare. Plus, he really likes Sydney.”
“You know he wants to play in Florida for a while before playing with Carolina, right?”
“I know. He asked Syd to move to Florida with him.”
“Is she going to?”
“She applied for teaching jobs out there, but since the economy sucks, no one is hiring and she doesn’t have the money to get her masters right now.”
“Shit that sucks. So now what is she going to do?”
“She can’t move, plus she’s one of the best teachers at Loyola.”
“Yet, she cant afford to go get her masters?”
“Chatolic schools don’t pay well.”

Lindsy sighs. I feel bad for Sydney. She really does like Jared and would drop everything for him. I honestly believe he’s the one for her. However, she can’t find a job to save her life in Florida and can’t afford to go back to school. I feel bad for the fact that she’s scared to tell Jared that she can’t move to Florida with him. And even she does and an explosion happens, they’ll both want me to choose sides, which I refuse to do, even if they are my best friends.

“Well..has she told him yet?” Lindsy asks me.
“Not yet, she’s going to tell him soon though. And when she does, it’s not going to be pretty.”
“Yeah, especially with Jare’s temper…oh God poor Sydney.”
“I know…you know, if Jared wasn’t such a lazy ass, he’d probably not make this decision.”
“You have to keep in mind though that Jared has been like this since we’ve known him.”
“He’s stubborn too…just like Marc.”
“They’re defiantly related,” Lindsy laughs as we heard the doorbell. “Is that Marc? I’ll get it.”

I get up one last time to go look in the mirror as Lindsy goes to get the door. Ever since I broke the wedding up, she’s been better. She vowed to stop drinking and smoke, she even enrolled into school. I take a last look in the mirror and fix my dress. Why Marc told me to dress up is beyond me. “Ewe, what do you want!?” I hear Lindsy say jokingly to Marc as she closes the door.

“Real cute Lindsy. Where is your sister?”
“GINA! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!” Lindsy yells.

I walk down the stares and watch Marc bring his face to mine, as I stand infront of him. He’s wearing a white button down shirt and black pants. Who knew that Marc Staal could dress up. “Did your mom dress you up?” I joke as I give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Real funny,” he smiles, looking me up and down. “You look beautiful by the way.”
“So do you.”
“Okay you two stop being lovey dovey and have a good time. Marc, I expect her to come back not looking like she came out of sex.”
“NIGHT LINDSY!” We both yell as we walk out the door.
“I MEAN IT STAAL!”

Marc opens the passenger seat door for me and helps me in. He then closes the door, makes his way around to the other side, and puts the keys into the iginition. He turns to me and plants one on my lips. I kiss him back for a good few minutes, as I feel him bite my lip. He pulls away and smiles. “I thought your sister gave up drinking?” He jokes.

“Hey, she’s nuts, remember?”
“Yeah but you love her. By the way, you really look beautiful.”
“Thank you,” I smile as he pulls out of my driveway.

We arrive at Italian restruant and I notice everyone is dressed up. Figures, Marc obviously has something up his sleeve. The host brings us to a table and Marc pulls the chair out for me then pushes it back in when I sit down. He then takes the seat across from me. I put a confused look on my face. “Marc, we are probably in one of the nicest restruants in Thunder Bay.”

“What, I can’t take you somewhere nice?”
“It’s just random.”
“Hey, anything for you, okay?”
“Okay…Marc, you’re hands are shaking.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re a liar,” I smirk.
“Anything to drink?”

We both look up to see the waiter dressed in nice clothes standing before us. Marc looks at me and I shrug, because I could careless. “Merlot, please,” he tells the waiter who nods and walks away. He chose wine. Last I checked, Marc was a beer guy. I was a beer girl. He had something planned and he knows for a fact I hate surprises. “I can kill you right now,” I smirk.

“I know you hate surprises.”
“Oh, so you do have something planned?”
“Can’t I be the cute boyfriend I should’ve been when I had the chance to be when you weren’t dating assholes and when I wasn’t dating bitches?”
“Okay, you win,” I smirk again.
“Good,” he replies, winking at me.

The waiter comes back and pours two glasses of wine. Marc then proceeds to order bruschetta as the waiter nodds and walks away. He lifts up his glass as I look at him weirdly. “To us…may we have a great life together…finally,” he spats as I laugh and clink my glass with his. Now I just wanted to know what he had planned up his sleeve.

“Marc, what is going on?” I ask, frusturated at this point.
“Okay, do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Too bad.”
“Screw you.”

The end of dinner rolled around and we were sharing tiramisu. I looked at his hands, which were still shaking. I drop the spoon and roll my eyes. “Marc damnet, you’re hands have been shaking all night. Are you okay?” I ask.

“Okay, honestly, here is why they were shaking,” he replies, putting out a box and handing it to me.
“Marc, what did you buy me from Tiffany and Co.?” I spat at him.
“Open it,” he smirks.

I pull the ribbon and open the box to see another box. He gets up and grabs the box. Now the whole restaurant is looking at us both as he gets down on one knee and opens the box. I gapsed along with everyone else when I see the heart shaped diamond on a silver band. “Marc…” I say, as I begin to shake.

“Because I didn’t propose the proper way in Niagra Falls, I’m going to do it now. Gina Isabella Pisani, will you marry me?”
“You’re mother is going to freak.”
“I believe I wasn’t acting if Linda was going to freak out,” he laughs. “Seriously though, Gina, will you be my wife?”
“Yes!” I say in a fit of happy tears.

The whole restruant is clapping as he slips the ring on my finger. We both get up and I kiss him for a good few mintues, and then give him a hug. No wonder Marc wanted me to dress up tonight. He wanted to give me a night to remember, even though he’s given me plenty of those, but he really wanted to give me the one night to remember.

And let me tell you, Marc Staal really outdid himself this time.