Let Your Heart, Control Your Mind.

Before I knew it, it was the end of July, and I was on a flight from Texas by myself. I was spending eight days at A&M practicing and getting acquainted to my new team. It was strange being away from Nick after a month and a half spending nearly every moment together. I found myself sleepless the first night, but slowly got used to the empty space beside me. I was excited to get back to him. The eight days felt like a year.
“We will be landing in Raleigh–Durham International Airport in approximately 10 minutes. The pilot would like to thank you for flying with us. Please secure your seatbelts to prepare for decent.”
It was twenty or more minutes until I was released into the airport terminal where I scanned the crowd for a familiar face. The crowd parted momentarily before I saw him standing there with sunglasses over his eyes and a sign reading, My beautiful girlfriend. I grinned and shook my head. His smile grew and he waved slightly. I took the several steps toward him and found myself in his arms. I missed this. But, I wasn’t going to lie to myself. I only had a few short weeks with him before I had to leave for school. I will be dropped off after their show in Houston. I don’t even know when we will see each other after that.

“Where are we staying?” I asked as we flew by buildings.
“Somewhere not very far from the hotel.” Nick responded squeezing my hand and smiling widely.
“We’ve been in the car for forty-five minutes.”
“Oh, we are not going to the hotel right away.” We pulled off the main road into an almost empty parking lot.
“Where are we going?”
“Don’t ask questions.” He reached behind the seat of the SUV and pulled out a box and handed it to me. “I bought this for your super special birthday dinner, since I couldn’t be with you on the actual day. Sorry, I couldn’t get a better place for you to change.” His hand appeared a little shaky as he opened the door to the SUV and stepped out climbing into another one that had apparently followed us here to the… I could see the ocean from the tinted car windows. I opened the box and pulled out several items. The first was a pair of black strappy sandals, then a set of small boxes containing a gold and pearl necklace and earrings, and last was a little black fitting dress with thin straps. I changed into this despite having a weird feeling about the situation. I climbed out of the SUV after making sure I looked alright.
“Miss?” One of the drivers spoke alerting me to his presence. “Mr. Jonas asked me to tell you that he would like you to join him down on the pier.” He motioned out toward the ocean where I could see some sort of gazebo/canopy thing set up. “Just follow the candles.”
“Thank you.” I told the man as I started my journey. I couldn’t help, but thinking heavily on my trek to and down the candle lit pier. What was going on here? Why all the no questions asked secret? This wasn’t exactly what I expected for my birthday. Maybe a quiet night in, cuddled in bed? A small present. Not a romantic candle lit dinner on the ocean in fancy clothes. Maybe he felt truly bad for missing my birthday, but he has missed several before this one. It’s no big deal, it was four days ago. I’ll just go with it. If he wants to make a big event out of it then he can. That’s fine. I finally made it to the canopy and peeked inside slightly. He was standing there waiting for me in a dark suit smiling as he saw me. He placed his hand over this heart.
“You are magnificent.” I smiled softly taking his hand as he reached out to take my hand. “Happy Birthday, Lex.” He led me over to a red clothed table with candles where he pulled out a chair for me to sit.
“Thank you, Nick. You didn’t have to go to all this trouble, really.” He joined me across the table and touched my hand.
“I wanted this to be a special night.” I looked out over the ocean to see the sun setting. “You mean the world to me and I wanted to show you just how much I love you.” I smiled and nodded. We ate our meal talking about how my week had been in Texas and his traveling to shows. Once we finished our plates where taken away by the suited man who had brought them. Within minutes he was back with one large covered plate which he placed in the middle of the table. He pulled up the cover to reveal a white ornately frosted cake with 19 white candles on it. He quickly lit all 19 of the candles and then stepped out of the tent. “Close your eyes and make a wish.” I closed my eyes and thought. I smiled slightly as I picked which wish was the best before quickly blowing out the candles. As I opened my eyes I realized he was no longer across from me. I turned my head where I saw him in front of me. My heart pounded as I realized what this all was just as he spoke the words, “Alexis, will you marry me?”