It was a nice day in New York. Birds were singing and the sun was shining, but Jake didn't care. All he cared about was his date with Rose later. He had five hours to prepare. He didn't know what to wear, what flowers to buy, how much money to bring, or why she had agreed to actually go on a date with him. He had asked time and time again, but was constantly turned down. Yesterday was different. She finally agreed and apologize for not saying yes the past few times. She just felt like there was a lot of change since Jake had defeated the Dark Dragon. Jake snapped back to reality. He didn't have time to dawdle, so he ran to his closet to choose something to wear. He looked through everything. After going through a lot of red jackets and graphic tees, he found what he was looking for. He pulled a black suit and tie off of the hanger and began to change clothes. As he removed his underwear, he heard the doorknob begin to turn.
"Jake, can you help me with my homework?" a voice called from outside.
"Haley, don't open the door! Don't open the door!" Jake shouted, rushing to put on another pair of briefs.
The door cracked open a little, but Haley quickly shut it when she heard him say that. She didn't see anything, and boy was she glad. That would have been awkward.
"So Jake, what's 285x374?" Haley asked from outside.
"Haley, the AmDrag doesn't have time to help people with school! I've got a date with Rose," he replied as he straightened his tie.
"Well then, I guess Rose will just have to see these baby pictures of you," Haley taunted as she slid a picture of Jake under the door.
"Aww maaaan! Fine, Haley, you win! The answer is 106,590!" Jake groaned as he frantically pressed buttons on a calculator app on his phone.
"Thanks!" Haley replied before running back to her room.
Jake sighed and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked good, but Rose deserves better than good. She deserves perfection. Jake spent 30 minutes making sure every last hair on his head was laid down. He then straightened his tie as best as he could. Once all that was done, he left his house with three hours until the date. He ran by a street vendor that was selling flowers and couldn't decide which ones to buy. There were some yellow roses, some daisies, a few daffodils, and a bunch of tulips. The roses smelled amazing and looked beautiful, but they were really expensive. The daisies looked kind of wilted and smelled kind of nasty, but they were only five dollars. The daffodils smelled good and were cheap, but they looked really ugly. The tulips looked great and smelled even better, but they also cost a lot. He could get the roses for fifteen bucks or he could get the tulips for ten. Jake then had an idea.
"Hey, could I get a bouquet of the yellow roses and a bouquet of the tulips?" he asked hopefully.
The vendor nodded and handed the flowers to Jake. Jake gave the man twenty-five dollars and thanked him. He then ran to the restaurant. The woman at the front told him he was two hours early, but Jake insisted he was ready now. He'd reserved the table all day in case something came up and he had to take care of some dragon business. Jake spent the next two hours fixing every imperfection. He adjusted the tablecloth, he fixed the position of the silverware and plates, and did whatever else he could think of. Rose arrived exactly two hours later. She was right on time, but Jake wouldn't care if she was late. Any amount of time Jake spends with Rose is time well-spent. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress that was almost as beautiful as the way her eyes sparkled. She sat down in the second chair at the table.
"Hi Jake. I hope you weren't waiting for too long," Rose said.
"I spent the last five hours making sure everything about this is perfect," he replied.
"So, how are you doing?" she asked before taking a sip of one of the glasses of lemon water on the table.
"Oh, you know. Pretty okay other than my crappy job at my gramps' store, still living with my parents at 23, and all the work I have to do as the American Dragon," Jake laughed.
The waitress approached the table and took their orders.
"What do you want?" Jake asked.
"Just something small and cheap," Rose responded.
"No, Rose. I mean what do you WANT?" he said as he removed what must have been hundreds of dollars from his wallet.
"Well, the lobster would be good. But it's fifty dollars, that's way too expensive!" she told him.
"No such thing," he said.
"Well, fine. If you say so, Jake," she replied.
Their food arrived and Jake quickly handed her the flowers.
"Twenty-five bucks is a small price to pay for your happiness," he said.
"Wow, that was corny on so many levels," Rose laughed.
"Heh, yeah," he replied.
They spent a while eating and talking. When dinner was over, Jake had the waitress bring out a special dessert for Rose. She had no idea what was in it. She took a few bites and bit into something really hard in the middle. Jake told her to look and see what it was. She removed the object from her mouth and wiped it off with a napkin. In her hand was an engagement ring with an enormous diamond on it.
"Rose, there's something I've been wanting to ask you since the day we first met," Jake said.
Rose's eyes filled with tears and she began to smile. Jake put his hand on hers.
"These past ten years or so have been amazing. I wouldn't want it any other way. You're the one thing that makes being the American Dragon bearable. All the days of stress are relieved whenever I see you. Everything about you is absolutely perfect. And that's why I wanted this day to be perfect," he began.
Rose was crying and smiling at the same time. She was crying tears of joy, though. When he asked the question, his words echoed through the restaurant.
"Will you marry me?"
