Clove and I are alone at my place.
I'm going to propose.
"Clove," I say
"Yes?"
"Get on the floor, I'm going to do push ups"
"Okay"
She gets up from the couch, slides under me and I begin, but this time, I kiss her each time I go down.
"What are you doing? You're supposed to be training, remember?" She asks mockingly
"Well-" Kiss "I-" Kiss "don't-" Kiss "remember-" Kiss "that." I give her a long, lingering kiss. I stand up.
"The truth is, I have something to ask you. I pull her up. I get down on one knee and pull the box out of my pocket.
"Clove, will you -" As soon as I open the box, the ring goes flying backwards, out the sliding door and into the plants.
"Shit,"I curse "Stay here." I mumble.
She bursts into laughter, but she stands there politely, trying not to. I go out and trample in the bushes for a about 15 minutes, I have it.
"Okay. Let's try this again"
"Yes, let's" She agrees, laughing.
"Clove, will you marry me?"
She pauses for a moment, tilting her head to consider. What? Is she actually -
"I'm just kidding. OF COURSE I'll marry you, Cato!" She wider and her face will crack. Mine will too. I scoop her up, she wraps her legs around my waist and arms around my neck. I cup her face in my hands and we kiss and laugh. I kiss her temple and set her down gently
"We're getting married..." She says slowly, as if tasting the words. "We're getting married." She repeats. Her eyes dart around the room. "Oh my god... I'm getting married. I'm...I'm engaged." Her eyes widen, her mouth gapes open. I stand still for a moment, unsure of what to do.
"This is perfect!" She runs to the bedroom before I have time to say anything. She emerges with a collaged box. Oh dear. She starts pulling out everything, books, pieces of paper with names written on them, magazines, fabrics, drawings. I recognise this, my cousin Cashmere had one.
This is her wedding plan.
"You've had all this planned out? For how long?"
"Cato, I've been planning my wedding since the day I was born. You're the last piece of the puzzle" she tells me, not even bothering to look up
This is going to be one hell of a wedding.
