This Is Torturous

The next morning, I woke up with the biggest grin on my face. Rolling over onto my back, I admired my ring, making it sparkle in the sunlight coming in from behind the blinds. I couldn't stop looking at it. The ring was perfect. There was a princess cut diamond in the center with small diamonds on the band amongst small engraved details. It sparkled and shined, but not in an extravagant way which I liked; I never liked attention.

I sighed contently then turned to John's side of the bed, realizing he wasn't there. I looked around for any sign of him, my eyes landing on his iPhone still plugged into the wall on his nightstand. This relaxed me, so I went back to admiring my beautiful ring.

“What are you doing?” My hand fell and I looked at John, who was standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“I'm just looking at my pretty ring.” I said then lifted my hand and wiggled my finger so it sparkled in the sun again.

John chuckled as he trudged across the carpet to the bed. I arched my neck so I could look at him. He was setting his cup down and unplugging his phone. Once he crawled into bed, I took his sitting position as an invitation to lay my head on his thigh. I sighed contently again.

“I don't think I've ever been this happy before.” His leg rose, as did my head, and he leaned down and caught my lips with his.

“Me neither. I never, in my life, thought it was possible to feel this euphoric.”

We stayed like that, in silence. It was a completely comfortable silence. His fingers were threading through my hair while he scrolled through something on his phone and my mind kept thinking about him, us, our future. We were getting married.

“When did you know?” I asked softly.

He moved his hand holding his phone away from his face and our eyes met. I knew he understood what I was asking despite it being so vague. “When I watched you shove a whole grip of melted cheese into your mouth at that restaurant the day we met.” I closed my eyes as I smiled through a laugh, “But in all seriousness, it was in November, when we were playing the show at Chain Reaction.”

I lied there, listening as I remembered driving out with Tim to Anaheim that Tuesday morning so I could see the show, “We were playing “Thinking of You” and I looked over at you and you had this incredible smile on your face. It just made my heart swell and I couldn't breathe. I was overwhelmed by this feeling in my gut, it told me “this is the one”.” I smiled, “So when we got home the next day, I demanded that my mother come look at rings with me. That's why she's been acting so weepy around you.”

My jaw went slack, “I knew something was up with her!”

He laughed, “Yeah, she's a crier.”

I reached up and found his hand, squeezing it, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

We lied there in another comfortable silence before I jumped up, “I need to tell my sisters.” Quickly, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and pulled it off the charger. John laughed at me as I stuck my hand out and took a picture. “Shut up! I'm excited!” I stuck my tongue out at him over my shoulder before going back to the task at hand.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw John move. Suddenly there were arms being wrapped around my waist and a squeal emitting from my mouth. His face buried in the crook of my neck as he placed his lips to my flesh. Quickly, I reopened my camera app and turned it to the “front camera” option. Positioning the camera so we both were in the frame, I snapped a picture. Then another one where I was showing off my ring.

“You're so silly.” John said against my neck while I went back to sending the first picture to my sisters along with the caption “Ahhh!!!!”

“Silly in love!” I joked and he snorted, lifting his head.

“Now that was cheesy.”

“I think it was punny.” I continued on.

He rolled his eyes with a smile just as my phone notified me with the sound that my message was sent, “What do you want to do today?”

I shrugged, “What we're doing right now is good.”

His arms unwrapped from around me which caused me to look over my shoulder at what he was doing. His body was turned to the nightstand and his hand was reaching for his coffee. My phone chirped and vibrated in my hand twice in a row then again a few seconds later.

Winter: HOLY CRAP!!

Clover: OH MY GOD!!!

Ryver: Dude, WHAT?!

I laughed at all of their reactions then sent them all a message saying “details later.”

“Do you want to go get some lunch?”

I looked down at my phone, noticing it was nearing noon, 'Yeah, that sounds good.”

We ended up at a small hole-in-the-wall Mexican place we frequented. They had the best taquitos. We ended up getting a plate of nachos to share while I got two taquitos and he got a chile verde plate. We sat in the corner for privacy despite there not being many people there seeing as it was New Years.

I was so unbelievably happy. I was already a naturally happy person, but what I was feeling was so much more than that. Every time I moved my left hand, my eye caught my ring. It was just so beautiful. I couldn't believe I was getting married, to John, no less.

John chuckled half way through lunch, breaking me out of my daze. “What?” I questioned.

“You keep staring at it.” His hand moved his fork around his plate, mixing the meat with the rice and beans on his plate.

I laughed, “I can't help it! It's so pretty and I'm so happy.”

He reached across the table and squeezed my hand, “You are the biggest nerd, but it's okay because I love you.”

I smiled at him cheekily, “I love you, too.” I pouted, then.

“What?” He asked.

“I wish you weren't leaving next week.” I said, pushing around the rice on my plate.

He frowned, “I know, but I'll be home in time for Valentine's Day.”

I groaned, “That seems so far away.”

“But then you get me all to yourself until the end of March.”

My brow furrowed, “US tour?”

He took a breath and shook his head, “We're most likely going to Australia again. And the Philippines.”

I nodded, “Okay, not bad. That won't be a long tour.”

“We're doing a spring US tour after that.”

I groaned, “Then there's talks about going to South America again.”

Dropping my head against the table, I groaned again, “You're killing me here.”

He squeezed my hand again, “I know, but I think we'll probably do a Fall US tour and another trek to the UK and be done.”

Lifting my head, I frowned, “So, wedding next year? After all this madness?”

He smiled, “If that's what you want. I'd get married to you right now if you wanted.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles.

The idea of running off to elope sounded so great at that moment, but then I remembered how badly I've always wanted to plan a wedding, “I want to plan it. That's one thing I've always wanted to do.”

He nodded, “Okay, then I won't stop you. Plan the wedding as you want and I won't object to anything.”

I raised my eyebrow at him, “Really? Anything goes?”

He nodded again, “Yup.”

“So, what if I wanted a circus theme and everyone had to dress like clowns?”

He stared blankly at me for a few seconds before regaining composure, “Okay, maybe not anything, but I'll like pretty much anything you'd seriously choose because you have good taste and know what looks good.”

I smiled, “Thank you.” He smiled right back at me, “It's most likely going to be outdoors. I love outdoor weddings.”

He nodded once more, “Sounds perfectly fine to me.”

This was happening. We were getting married. My mind seemed to suddenly be in a whirl.

That night, I texted all three of my sisters, telling them to get on iChat so we could discuss what happened the night before. They all obliged even though it was almost midnight where Ryver was. Winter had to get out of bed because it was pretty late in Chicago as well. Clover didn't mind because she was just a city over.

I was sitting in the living room, on the floor, with my macbook on the coffee table in front of me. John was lounging on the couch next to me, watching something on the TV, but I wasn't really paying it much attention due to the fact that I couldn't see it over my screen.

As soon as we were all connected on one chat and I could see all three of their faces, I smiled widely. Seeing all three of them hardly ever happened, especially on iChat.

“Okay, what the fuck?” Ryver started off. Her language sure had gotten a lot filthier ever since she moved to New York.

“Yeah! What the fuck, Sparrow?” Winter laughed, mocking Ryver a little bit.

I turned and caught John's eye, who was grinning at me. “What?!” I asked them as soon as I turned back to face the computer.

“That message was telling all of us that you're engaged, right?” Clover asked, hesitantly.

I couldn't help the roll of my eyes. Neither could Winter or Ryver, “Yes, Clover, the engagement ring on my ring finger in that picture was telling you that I am engaged.”

“Well! I don't know!” She defended herself, “You never know with you kids these days!” I shook my head at her with a laugh.

“So, are you going to tell us how he did it?” Winter questioned. I looked over my shoulder at John again and smiled. “Wait, is John there with you?”

Seriously? What was up with my sisters tonight? “Of course he is! Where else would he be? He lives here, you know.”

Winter rolled her eyes at me and Ryver spoke up, “Why the hell are we all so sarcastic?”

“Because we're all also dumb.” Clover said.

“No, that's just you.” Winter quickly interrupted.

“Oh my god, all of you shut up. This is why we never get on this shit at the same time. Holy crap.” I laughed, holding my head up with my hands. “Now, to answer your question, Winter, John proposed last night, right at midnight.”

“Awh!!” The three of them cooed. I looked at John, who was rolling his eyes. “You're so cute, John!” Clover yelled and he laughed.

“Thanks, Clover!” He called out to her.

“What was the first thing that went through your mind?” Winter asked with a wide smile.

I thought back to the night before when he first presented the ring to me, ““What the fuck, is this really happening right now?” was my first initial reaction.” I answered truthfully.

“I had the exact same reaction.” Clover said to which Winter nodded, agreeing.

Behind me, John sat up, so he was in the frame, “You guys really should have seen her; she was freaking out. She kept saying “oh my god!” over and over.”

I slapped his knee with a laugh, “I was caught off guard pretty badly, what did you expect?!” He smirked at me then leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

“Awh!!” They all cooed again, “You guys are so cute it makes me sick.” Ryver said.

I reached up and laced my fingers through John's and smiled at him in complete adoration.

“Okay, I think they're about to jump each other. We should leave the happy couple to themselves.” Clover said as soon as John looked down at me with the same look.

My head whipped back to the screen, “You guys are complete assholes.” They all laughed and we said our goodnights.

“We're really happy for you, Sparrow. We're glad John came in and swept you off your feet.” Winter said sincerely.

I smiled at them all and closed the app, signing off in the process.