Page 12 of Where There's Smoke…
“If I know my Sweets, she’ll love the least popular one way more than the most popular one,” I nod. She nods and pulls down the bat/cat/frog one. Ugh… “Nice, I hate it.”
She laughs and leads me to the checkout counter, where she rings up all my purchases. I don’t even hesitate when the total comes to right under $300. I swipe my card and thank her as I take the bags. From that store, I went to the second floor to buy a few candles in her favorite scents. My last stop was at a clothing store that I knew she loved.
I look around the racks and pull everything in her size and favorite style until I have about ten articles of clothing in my hand. I could barely hold on to them and the bags I was holding, so a few of them fell to the floor. I sighed deeply as one of the workers rushed over to me. She helps me pick up everything and takes me to the cash register.
“Was this all, or did you want to go get a few more things?” she asks politely.
“Oh, that’s all,” I reply with a nod. She begins to scan the items.
“Is it someone’s birthday?” She asks.
“Nah, I’m just…okay, this is gonna sound weird, but I’m bouta to ask my girlfriend to be my,” I pause. “Girlfriend.”
“Wait, you’re gonna ask yourgirlfriendto be yourgirlfriend?” she chuckles, and I nod. “How does that even work?”
“We kinda jumped into it without actually establishing what we were,” I explain. “So, I want to make it clear to her that I want to be with her for a long time.”
“Honestly, if it were me, I’d fold,” she chuckles. She nodded to the other bags I held. “Are all those for her?”
“Yeah,” I smile toward the bags before glancing back at her. “I wanted to get her all of her favorite things. She likes cute things, and I like seeing her smile, so it’s a win-win, honestly.”
“Do they sell partners like you in the store or something?” she jokes. “My damn ex didn’t even remember my birthday.” She sighs. “Whoever this woman is sure got lucky. I hope everything goes well.”
“Thank you, love,” I reply as I pay for the clothes. She hands me the bags and my receipts, and I exit the store.
I returned to the car without dropping anything and placed everything in the back. On the drive home, I called Angel to see what she wanted for lunch, and she told me that she was craving some soul food. She squealed with delight when I told her I would stop at her favorite restaurant in town. We talked a bit more before she had to check on her cakes.
When I finally made it back to town, I called to place a pick-up order and ran to the nearest dollar store to get a few more things I needed. After collecting the food, I went toTaste of Heaven Bakery. When I pulled up, I saw that the parking lot was pretty packed, meaning she’d just announced on the bakery’s official page that she had fresh pastries. Every time she did, it was like everyone would stop what they were doing to come and buy some. Everyone loved her desserts, no matter what they were. Even her oatmeal raisin cookies sold out.
“Damn, it’s packed in here,” I say as I squeeze past the waiting customers to get to the counter. I slipped behind the counter and almost ran into Angel. She had a box of pastries in her hand, so I took them from her. I looked at the name and turned towards the line. “Megan?”
“Right here!” A teen called, and I handed over her order with a smile.
When I turned around, I saw Angel about to move on to the next order, but I stopped her. “Whoa, hold on, Sweets,” I say as I pull her to the side so one of the workers can help the next customer. I tip her chin up lightly and kiss her lips softly. “Meet me at your place in fifteen minutes, okay?”
“Phee, there are so many customers still,” she tries to argue, but I shake my head.
“You have five workers here and they know what they’re doing,” I state. “Trust them and come have lunch with me, okay?” She nods. “Fifteen minutes, Sweets.”
“Okay, okay,” she giggles. I kiss her once more before leaving the way I came.
Once I’m out in the parking lot, I quickly get to work moving all of the stuff up to her apartment. A few customers gave me weird looks, but most of them picked up on what I was doing. Once I have everything upstairs, I organize everything on the couch to show everything at once. After that, I took the decorations that I’d gotten from the dollar store and got to work decorating her living room in her favorite colors of yellow and green.
Next, I rearranged the small chocolate candies on the coffee table to spell out “Will You Be My Girlfriend?” I knew it was a little cheesy, but that’s the type of stuff that Angel ate up. I could hear her now, squealing like I’d gotten her a puppy or something. I stood back and looked at all I’d done, and I felt so accomplished that I took a picture to remember this moment later.
I then moved on to our lunch. I entered the kitchen to grab two plates, wine glasses, and cutlery. I fixed both plates of red beans and rice with cornbread, fried chicken, and green beans before placing napkins over them. Usually, you would eat greens with a meal like this, but she hated greens, so I opted for green beans instead. For our drink, I set out one of the many bottles of wine she had lying around, thanks to her cousin always gifting her the best stuff. I guess that was one of the perks of having a family that owned a vineyard and winery.
I check my watch and see that I’ve set everything up within ten minutes, so I have another five to wait. I decided to practice what I was gonna say to her. I’m not sure why, but I was suddenly nervous about what would happen. It was stupid to feel this way when I knew that she liked me as much as I liked her…and I liked hersofucking much.
I leaned against the wall as I thought about all our time together this past month. We’d gotten so close, and the more we learned about each other, the more I was sure she was the one I was meant to be with. If I’m honest, I never thought I’d ever utterthose words, even if it were just to myself in my head. I thought that I was meant to be single forever because I was never into being serious with any of the women I’d been with in the past. Come to think of it, I’d never had a real relationship in my life. Just a bunch of dates and situationships here and there.
Plus, a lot of fucking, but that’s a story for another day.
But with Angel, I wanted it all. I wanted the dates and the kissing under the stars. I wanted to have anniversary celebrations and get the chance to spend the holidays with her. I wanted to dress in cute matching clothes and have matching phone cases and all that shit.
Fuck, I wanted it all.
“I’m so sorry I’m late!” I hear as I snap back to the present. I see Angel rush through the door, but she freezes when she sees all the decorations. “Wha…what is all of this?”
