Engagement Blues

This is the upcoming post to my 3x weekly fiction blog, www.minneapplegirl.com

Tyler proposed!?  All of a sudden I remembered the champagne and how nervous Tyler was acting realized.  Oblivious much, Maddie?  It just never occurred to me than an engagement would be this close.  It just seemed so....grown up.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!  I was so excited that my fingers couldn't type fast enough.

Jessie's reply came back immediately.  Come home.

Widening my eyes at those 2 words, I got an immediate pit in the bottom of my stomach.  I dumped my dishes into the black bins, and almost ran out the door. 10 minutes later I was in our apartment.

The living room was dark except for a candle flickering on the end table where Jessie piles up all her magazines to read "one day" but never gets around to it.  Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw Jessie on the couch, alone.

I snapped on the light and her tear streaked face told me everything I needed to know.

"What happened?" I asked as gently as I could, coming over and kneeling by her feet on the floor.

With that, Jessie broke out into a fresh wave of sobs.  I hugged her and rubbed her back, letting her get it all out.  We stayed like that for over 5 minutes until, sniffling, Jessie finally got a hold of herself.

She leaned back on the couch and I joined her.  "He brought me out to The Eatery - you know, the fancy new place I told you I wanted to try last week?  Their gnocchi was amazing.  I love gnocchi."  For some reason, that statement made Jessie tear up again.  "Everything was perfect.  Then, we came back here and Tyler was acting funny.  He light the candle - "  Jessie nodded to the candle on the end table "and all of a sudden he was down on one knee with the most gorgeous diamond ring I've ever seen."

I checked her fingers.  There was most definitely not a diamond ring on one of them.  "And you said no."  I surmised, shocked.  I knew Jessie wasn't looking to get married immediately, but she loves Tyler.

Jessie shook her head, her brown curls waving wildly.  "Not exactly.  I said I needed to think about it.  I mean, I know I want to marry him, but not yet.  I still have over 2 years left in my program!  I need to concentrate on that, not a wedding and learning how to be a wife!"  Tears streaked down Jessie's puffy face again.  I felt awful and didn't really know what to say.

"Didn't you two talk about this before he proposed?"   Let's be honest.  Nobody would mistake me for a relationship expert but marriage seemed like a pretty important thing to be on the same page about.

"I thought so!  I told him I couldn't think about marriage until after school, but I knew he wanted it to be sooner.  I think he thought we could be engaged now and get married right after I graduated."  Tyler was a few years older than Jessie, and at 29 I could imagine he was starting to think about marriage and children.  He had all the typical things settled that some men want before they get married - good job, savings account, and had a few years in his younger 20s to be totally free.  It was probably natural that once he found an awesome girl that he'd want to take the next step.

Jessie had stared at the ring and was unable to said a word.  Finally, she utterered "I wasn't expecting this."  Tyler was disappointed it wasn't an immediate YES but still felt hopeful until she asked why he was proposing.  Apparently after that, things had gone downhill quickly.  Jessie and Tyler had one of those deep philosophical talks at a wine bar a few months ago, and marriage came up.  They agreed they to marry each other, but Jessie thought that she made it clear that for her, it was a "one day" scenario, and Tyler thought that it meant they were getting ready for the alter soon.

After Jessie didn't say yes immediately, Tyler had snapped the ring box shut and put it in his pocket.  Instead of celebrating with the champagne, Jessie and Tyler ended up having a long talk-slash-argument.  Tyler hadn't thought too much about marriage prior to their conversation a few months ago, but the ideas started percolating in his head.  When his aunt brought up her thoughts on marriage and a family during their Kwanzaa dinner, he realized he was ready for that life.  "Not that he would ever expect me to give up my career to raise babies and take care of the house.  Unless that's what I wanted to do.  He would be ok with anything I wanted."  Jessie assured me.

To be honest, I couldn't really see what the problem with getting engaged was and said so.

Jessie gave me a look.  I knew she was upset so I brushed it off.  "I just need to finish my PhD first.  Accomplish it for myself.  Figure out how I'm going to pay for everything.  I don't want to be a wife yet."  I nodded.  Jessie is a very methodological person who likes to go by the book.  Before she goes to the grocery store she makes a complete list and won't deviate from it, even if they are having a major ice cream sale.  Trust me, I've seen it.

"So, where is Tyler?"  I ventured.  Honestly, in this situation I felt for him the most.  He just had his dreams crushed by the love of his life.

"He told me that if I can't answer, then he needed some time to himself and left."  Jessie started crying again.  MORE HERE

Just then I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.  Hey sexy!  Getting ready for me?  I'll pick you up in 45.  It was Eric.

Sorry Eric, something came up.  I can't meet up tonight.  I didn't really think what happened to Jessie was any of his business.

Are you serious?  What could have come up?  I even asked the cooks to make us something for me to bring home tonight.

Pissed, I answered.  Emergency, Eric.  I can't talk about it now, but it's not personal.  

Eric's answer came quickly.  Fine.  I'll call you tomorrow.

I threw my phone down on the couch without answering.
MORE HERE - what did they do next?  Drinmk and talk.

---

My quote-unquote coffee date with Theo this week filled me with a mix of trepidation and excitement.  Analyzing the best days to stop by, I finally decided on Wednesday as it had a more casual vibe than early in the week like "Oh hey Theo!  Been waiting for this!"  and if it went well, he could ask me to stop by again later in the week.  I know, I overanalyzed it to death.  I'm not above admitting that.

MORE HERE

I never felt so aware of walking next to someone in my life as I did during the short walk to Starbucks.  Theo ordered first.  "I'll have a grande soy latte, blueberry muffin, and whatever she wants as well."   I ordered and fumbled for my check card but Theo waved it away and paid before I could even get it out of my wallet.

Theo managed to snag us a slightly remote table by the window.  While he went to grab our drinks, I watched the snow fall down onto the street below us.  It was actually pretty, I admit.  In New York, the snow turns to dirty gray slush almost as soon as it hits the ground.

Theo returned with our drinks and we started making small talk about my new job and MORE HERE.

Switching gears, Theo asked suddenly asked me, "So, how was your weekend?  Have a fun Valentine's Day with your.....friend?"  He took a sip of his latte so I was able to read his face.

"Plans with the friend were canceled - Jessie needed me that night."  I was relieved to be able to tell the truth.

Theo face immediately took on a concerned look.  "Everything ok with her?"  I debated what to say, and finally decided I felt comfortable enough to give him the highlights. "She and Tyler didn't have the greatest night.  He wanted to get engaged, she didn't."

"Ouch."  Theo visibly winced.  "Not a great situation.  I really hope they work it out."

"Me too."  I took a sip of my drink, wondering how to approach the question I was dying to know.  Just spit it out, Maddie.   What was it about Theo that made me turn into what resembled a blabbering 13 year old around the guy she has a crush on?  "So, how was your weekend?  What was it that you were going to do?  Meet up with Nikki?"

"Yeah, I saw Nikki, but I didn't have meet up with her.  We live together for now."  Crushed, I sat there for a second in complete shock.  This was 100 times worse than I thought.  Then I started to get pissed off at Theo for leading me on.  And what was this "for now" business and getting together with me?  Was he trying to line up a new girl before dumping the old one?

"Live together?  Wow, that's a great step!   Makes it easy to spend quality time together.  Did you take her anywhere nice to celebrate Valentine's Day?"  If Theo was going to be an a*s and try to get with another girl while he had a girlfriend, I was going to make it perfectly clear it wasn't going to be with me.

Theo eyed me.  I could see a hint of laughter in his brown eyes, behind his glasses.  Suddenly, he burst out laughing.  "Yeah, no.  Do sisters generally want their big brothers to take them out on Valentine's Day?  Isn't that holiday normally reserved for couples?"  I was totally busted on trying to figure out who Nikki was to him, and we both knew it.

Pushing all pretense aside at this point, I said,  "Your sister?  Why were you at the club with her then?"

Theo shrugged.  "You were at the club with your cousin!"  He pointed out.

"Good point."  I grudgingly admitted.

"Besides, we look exactly alike!  Didn't you notice that?"

Honestly, I hadn't noticed. "No.  I only had a 10 second look at her in a darkened room before I bolted to the restroom."  I reminded him.

It was Theo's turn to say "Good point."

Theo lifted his cup up to his lips to take another sip.  I could see a smirk behind the cup.

"What?"

"What what?"

"You're smiling!"

Drumming his hand on the table, we both smile, this time at each other.  Theo was the first to speak.  "So, you're single.  And I'm single.  Despite what we both originally thought."

"Looks to be the case."  I grinned.

Looking down at the table, Theo said mumbled something I didn't quite catch.  "Sorry, Theo.  Didn't hear you."

Speaking a little more clearly this time, he looked up and said in a rush.  "I said, I'm sure you're probably busy, and probably don't like this sort of thing anyway, but on Saturday night there is a comedy show that is supposed to be pretty good.  Maybe we could check it out?"  Theo being shy?

 

 

Author's Note

-I often write MORE HERE when I know I need to add something, but I don't have it quite yet

-I am working on character and scene development

-I really need to work on "hooking" readers.

-Maddie is meant to be a typical 20something figuring out life, career, and love.