Infinite

"Ronnie, you're being crazy," I told him softly, glancing around at the large amount of people here in the restaurant, "Lets not do this tonight. We have an infinite amount of time on our hands." I reached over the table slid my fingers between his, watching as he shook his head and smiled at me.

"Stop trying to change my mind," he demanded, "We're going to get married." He turned to smile as the waitress, a different one than the one who had previous helped us, walked over with an iPad in her hands.

"Hello, you two look wonderful tonight. Would you like to start with an appetizer?" She greeted, licking her lips shifting between her feet.

Ronnie glanced at me. "I think we'll just order," he spoke, not looking back to her at first. After a few quiet moments we both relayed to her what we wanted, although we'd barely glanced at the menus.

She wrote down what we said without a word, seeming to finally notice the slight tension between us. Or at least the tension that I felt that Ronnie was laughing off. "Is that all?" she asked, continuing when we both nodded, "Alright, then I'll get these orders into the kitchen and I'll be back with your dinners in just a little while."

Ronnie smiled thankfully and watched her walk towards the back of the restaurant before he turned and looked at me again. "Marry me."

"Ronnie-"

He cut me off, "Atticus, marry me. Tell me right now that you'll marry me."

"I think you've taken our relationship a little too seriously," I said, watching the smile slip off of his face. I sighed dramatically. "I mean, the sex never meant we were anything more than friends." I grinned widely as Ronnie groaned, realizing that I was just messing around with him.

"That's not funny, Atticus." Ronnie shook his head. "I thought you were about to break up with me."

I covered my mouth with my hand as I laughed, wondering why he would possibly take me seriously when he knew that I loved him so much. "You're a crazy man," I stated. "I will never, ever let you go." I pressed my thumb against his bottom lip, unable to imagine a future that didn't contain him in it.

"Then marry me," he asked again, licking over his lips. "Say you'll marry me right now." His hand covered mine and held my palm against his cheek. His eyes seemed wider and darker and in that moment I couldn't conceive another reason why I should refuse him.

But I shook my head anyway.

"Why not?" Ronnie questioned loudly, reading my face, "Give me one good reason why we can't at least get engaged?"

I folded my arms and rested my elbows on the table. "Because engagement means marriage and I'm not ready to marry you yet," I replied, shaking my head. "I thought we'd agreed on this, Ron."

He sighed and nodded his head. "We did," he stated simply, "But I changed my mind, Atticus. I want to get engaged. And we can stay engaged until you're ready to get married, but I just want something more than what we have now." He shook his head again, his shaggy hair falling into his eyes.

"What's wrong with what we have right now?" I asked. I loved the relationship that we had. I loved being able to have him for myself. I loved knowing that everyone else knew that I was his and he was mine. That the fans knew and supported us.

"Nothing," Ronnie spoke, "But having the same last name can only make it better," he explained, that contagious grin coming over his lips. It was a reckless sort of grin, the kind that made my insides tighten. Reckless was the exact word for it. Reckless was Ronnie but that was another reason I'd fallen for him so easily and why I kept falling deeper everyday we were together.

"How long are you planning for this engagement to last?" I questioned, smiling as Ronnie's own grin became larger.

"How ever long you want," he replied automatically, "I just want something entirely permanent. You and me forever, Att."

"I hate long engagements with no date," I replied, shaking my head, "It's not a promise to get married, it's usually just because people have been dating for too long and want to make it seem like they're getting married or they're too lazy to do everything."

"I don't care about other people," he answered, frowning, "I just want to know that you'll marry me someday."

"Of course I will," I answered, staring at him across the table. The lights behind his head were white and the haze of them made him seem like he was glowing. All dark colors and bright eyes. I could practically see the outline of his blood as it sloshed through his veins.

"Then why can't we get engaged?" he asked softly, "We can wait until you want to get married. Until you have the job you want and until you want to have kids. We can get married tomorrow, a year from now, ten years from now. If it makes you feel better, you can pick a date and change it fifteen times. I don't care, Atticus. I just want to know that it's going to happen sometime. And when you finally do decide, we'll do it the right way."

I was slightly stunned by his soliloquy. He'd been speaking like this all night, but the playful undertone had somehow detracted from the seriousness. But now I felt cold under my skin and I just wanted to crawl up next to him and let him warm me from the inside out. I couldn't see myself with anyone else, ever, and somehow I'd been wrong.

I wanted his name and my name all in one. I wanted his ring and to see his reaction. I wanted to marry him someday, and while I'd always known that, he'd managed to change my mind about tonight. "Ask me again," I said, not taking my eyes off him. He was surprised and his lips parted.

He tilted his head to the side, silently asking for me to repeat myself. A strand of his dark hair fell from behind his ear and covered one of his dark eyes from my view.

"Ask me again," I prodded, "Go on, ask me the right way."

Ronnie smiled. He got out of his chair and walked to stand in front of me. My heart started beating even faster as I realized that I was going to say yes. I wanted him to ask perfectly because I wanted it to all be perfect, but when he started talking, I wondered how I thought anything less than perfect would come out of his amazing man's mouth.

The people around us and a few of the waitresses stopped to look at us as Ronnie leaned down and pressed his mouth against mine. "Atti," he started, getting down on one knee for the first time ever, "I love you. I don't know what I'd do without you." I looked past him and saw the reactions of the people near us. My blood was pounding in my ears and I could barely hear him. I forced myself to breath when he continued.

"You're so beautiful," he said, eyes looking at me the way I looked at him. Like I couldn't understand how he even existed and I'd ended up so lucky. "I never expected to meet someone that makes me feel like you make me feel. In fact, after all of the shitty things I've done in my life, I never thought I'd get this at all. But I can't imagine how I ended up with you, Atticus. The first time I met you I had to convince you to go out with me and look at us now, me one rejection away from begging you to marry me."

I laughed through the tears that'd landed on my cheeks, and so did some of the restaurant goers around us. "I'm sorry I made you beg," I apologized, looking down at my grinning boyfriend, "I'm so stupid for making you work for it."

Ronnie chuckled as well and shook his head. He shuffled slightly so he could reach into his pocket and pull out of the little ring. His eyes moved to the floor, one of his few nervous habits, and when he looked back up at me, he was gorgeous and genuine, and I wanted him to hurry up so I could throw my arms around him.

"Atticus," he said breathlessly, "We don't have to get married tomorrow or a year from tomorrow, but I'm asking you now, again, because I'm in love with the idea of marrying you almost as much as I'm in love with you. And if you'd finally say yes, I can stop looking for things to make my life better, because there's nothing out there in the world that I want more than I want you. So please, please say you'll marry me."

I didn't bother to wipe my eyes to keep the tears from making my mascara run, I just threw myself around the man in front of me. He caught me quickly, wrapping his arms around my waist as I wrapped mine around his neck. He stood up, holding me to him, and pressed his mouth to mine as the crowd cheered and clapped from one side of the building to the other.

His lips were salty from my tears and I couldn't stop smiling. He took my breath away and I hadn't been expecting anything like that to come from him. I knew he was capable of it, but I'd never seen it on such a grand scale.

"I love you so much," I whispered, holding on to him.

"Is that a yes?" he asked. Everyone chuckled with us.

I laughed and nodded quickly "Yes, of course," I said, leaning in to kiss him again.

"I love you, Atticus." He leaned away from the desperate kisses just long enough to grab my hand and slide the ring onto my finger, taking the other off as he did so. It was the promise ring he gave me one night in bed and when he realized I was wearing it, he grinned and kissed me again. He slipped his ring onto his own finger, and left me with the engagement one instead.

I pushed my nose against his neck, holding him to me. "I can't believe I just agreed to marry you," I cried, shaking my head as Ronnie pushed my hair back to look at my face. I was sure I was a mess, but he called me beautiful anyway.

"I love you so much," he spoke, "I love you."