Pros and Cons

Patrick Sharp had never been one to want to get married. Throughout his teens and into his twenties, all he wanted was to be a bachelor his entire life. Even when he dated girls and was in a committed relationship, he could never see himself marrying any of them. That just wasn’t his style. He was a bachelor, and that’s how it was always going to be. And, then he met someone and that all changed. No, it wasn’t a love-at-first-sight story or even a fairy tale story. He didn’t just know one day that he wanted to marry this woman. And, she didn’t change him in an instant.

When Sawyer Tanley first met Patrick, she wanted nothing to do with him. Assuming he was the stereotypical idiot hockey player, she wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. But, then something changed. No, she didn’t look into his eyes and know her life would be changed forever. She didn’t even like him for the longest time. She made lists upon lists of all the things she disliked about him. That was her thing, pros and cons lists. And, there were so many cons on Patrick’s list that there was no way that she was ever going to date him, let alone end up with him. But, that all changed.

By some sort of fate, Patrick convinced Sawyer to date him. And, by some miracle, the two found themselves really liking each other. Then one day, they said “I love you” to each other, and neither of them really knew where that had come from. They had never expected to fall in love with each other.

Even knowing that he was in love with Sawyer, Patrick didn’t think that he wanted to marry her. He wasn’t a marriage kind of guy. He didn’t think he’d make a good husband. And, he was sure that if Sawyer had been in his mind, she’d make a pros and cons list to show him just how many cons there were when it came to him becoming a husband.

But, that didn’t stop Patrick from continuing to date Sawyer or falling more in love with her. And, before he knew it, the way he started seeing himself began changing. He began imagining Sawyer as his wife. He began thinking about the way she would smile at him as she walked down the aisle. And, he began wondering how she would feel about her name being changed to Sawyer Sharp. And, that was the moment he realized it. Sawyer Tanley had changed Patrick Sharp. She had made him not want to be a bachelor anymore. She had made him want to be a husband.

Everyone who knew Patrick knew he was a bachelor at heart. So, when he went to his best friend, Adam Burish, and told him that he was thinking about proposing to Sawyer, Adam was floored. “Stop fucking around with me,” he told Patrick. But, Patrick simply shook his head, trying to let Adam know how serious he was being. “You seriously want to marry her? But, why?” he asked.

“Don’t ask me why!” Patrick told him. “I just do. And, you of all people should understand that. You are married to Raylene, after all,” he pointed out. “And, everyone thought that you were a bachelor for life. So, what happened to you?” he asked, turning the table around on his friend.

“She happened to me,” Adam answered simply. “I fell in love with her, and she changed me. So, that’s what Sawyer did to you?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Patrick told him. “I don’t really understand it myself. I thought I wanted to spend the rest of my life as a bachelor. But now when I look at Sawyer, all I can think is that I want her to be mine forever. And, the only way she’s going to do that is if she’s married to me.”

“And, what about Sawyer?” Adam asked. “You think she wants to get married? I mean, she kinda already is married,” he said, and Patrick looked at him with a confused expression. “To her work, man,” he clarified. “She’s obsessed with her work, you know that. You think she’ll want to get married?”

Patrick hadn’t really thought about that before. Sawyer was obsessed with her work, being a medical physicist at a hospital. But, that work had ultimately brought them together, so Patrick couldn’t hate it too much. He sighed before saying, “I guess there’s only one way to find that out.”

“So you’re really going to go through with this, huh?” Adam asked him.

“Yeah, I am,” he stated, surprising himself with how sure he was of himself at the moment.

Over the next couple of weeks, Patrick got everything ready for the proposal, including finding the perfect ring for Sawyer. However, there was still one thing that he needed to do: figure out how exactly he was going to propose. He was discussing this with Adam and his wife, Raylene, but he hadn’t figured out the perfect way just yet. “A romantic dinner?” Raylene suggested.

Patrick shook his head. “No, too common,” he told her. “I want it to be special, to be memorable, for her to know that I thought of this just for her.”

“You can pretend to be dying and go into the hospital and then when she comes to visit you just pop up and be like ‘just kidding, I’m fine. Will you marry me?’” Adam threw his suggestion out there.

Patrick looked over at his best friend like he was an idiot. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s your idea?” he questioned.

“Hey, language!” Raylene warned him, hers and Adam’s three year old daughter sitting a little distance away, watching television.

“Sorry,” Patrick apologized immediately. “But, you’ve got to admit that was a stupid idea,” he said, looking at Raylene for backup.

“Yeah, it was,” she agreed, and Patrick laughed when he saw the look on Adam’s face, one of complete sadness that his wife had taken his best friend’s side over his own.

“Guys, it’s got to be perfect,” Patrick said, getting serious again. “I need something that would only be for Sawyer. I want it to be unique,” he said, trailing off, trying to think of something that was perfect for her.

“Something for Sawyer?” Adam asked. “Why don’t you make her a pros and cons list, now that’s something that’s for Sawyer,” he joked.

Patrick looked over at him with wide eyes. “Oh my God, Bur, you are brilliant!” he exclaimed.

“Never thought I’d hear those words come out of your mouth,” Raylene laughed.

“Wait, why am I brilliant?” Adam asked, confused. “I mean, I know I’m brilliant, but why exactly are you telling me that this time?”

“A pros-cons list. That’s it!” Patrick explained. “That’s going to be the proposal. I’m going to give her a list of pros and cons of marrying me,” he told them.

“That is Sawyer’s way,” Raylene nodded her head. “That’s probably going to be the way you get her to marry you.”

“Let’s hope so,” Patrick told her, trying to think of what exactly he was going to put on this list.

Two days later, Patrick was ready for the proposal. He had everything set, and he only hoped she would say yes. How this one woman got him to change his whole thinking about being a bachelor, he would never know. All he knew was that if she turned him down, he would be devastated.

He waited on her to get home from work. She was late, like she always was. The day that Sawyer didn’t stay over at work was a day Patrick would like to see because he didn’t think it would ever happen. Finally, she walked into the front door, shutting it behind her. “Hey, how was your day?” Patrick asked her, trying to make everything seem as normal as possible.

“Eh, okay,” she said. “What about you? What’d you do today?” she asked him.

“Nothing much,” he shrugged, waiting on her to go over to the desk that held the pros and cons list that he had created up for the proposal. She finally headed over there to put her computer down when she noticed the extra piece of paper on top. That was her desk, and Patrick never really put anything on it. So, she immediately noticed when something extra was added to it.

“What is this?” she asked, picking up the piece of paper that was scribbled in Patrick’s handwriting. Patrick didn’t say anything, instead watching her eyes move over the words as she read the list.



Pros
-You get to have hot sex with Patrick Sharp for the rest of your life
-You’ll always have someone to talk to
-You’ll get access to all of his money
-You’ll never sleep alone again
-You’re with him for the rest of your life
-You get to share everything
-You get to have the last name Sharp
-You get to go to every Blackhawks game for free
-You’ll have someone to complain to when you’ve had a bad day
-You get to have hot sex with Patrick Sharp for the rest of your life

Cons
-You have to share a bed with someone who likes to take more than his fair share
-You no longer can tell people you’re single
-You’ll have to introduce him as your husband
-You’ll have to take some time off of work to go on your honeymoon
-You’ll never get to go on a first date again
-You have to go through the trouble of planning a wedding
-You have to deal with him being gone during road trips
-You may lose some independence and find yourself leaning on him more
-You’ll never get to sleep with another guy besides him again
-You’ll have to baby him when he’s sick

Sawyer finally reached the end of the list. “Is this a joke?” she asked him, but she found out her answer when she looked over at him to see him holding a diamond ring. “Patrick?” she asked him, not being able to take her eyes off of the ring.

“This is not a joke,” he said, taking a couple of steps towards her and holding the ring out to her. “I love you, Sawyer. And, I know neither of us ever thought about getting married, but I honestly can’t see myself not being married to you. I love you. And, I want you to be my wife.”

“Patrick,” she said quietly.

“And, I know you,” he continued. “And, you’re going to have to think about this. And, I know you’re going to have to make a pros-cons list, which is why I helped you and started one,” he said with a smile.

She looked at the piece of paper again before turning back around to the table and grabbing a post-it note and a pen and began scribbling something down. From the angle Patrick was at, he couldn’t read what she was writing, and he was hoping that it would help her say yes to his proposal. She suddenly stopped writing and looked up at him. “Yes,” she stated.

“Yes?” he asked, hoping he had heard her correctly.

“Yes,” she smiled. “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she said, her smile growing even wider as Patrick picked her up and spun her around in his arms. He finally set her down and put the ring on her finger. He then glanced behind her on the table to see what she had written. When he saw the post-it note, he couldn’t help but smile bigger.

Under pros was written: I love him.

Under cons it was blank.