Jeremy rolled over to face Candace, who cuddled beneath a blanket innocently on the wooden floor. A thin, prickly branch from the Christmas tree looming overhead, drooping down just above her head, and Jeremy noted that it cast a faint shadow over her eyes.
Candace and Jeremy had wrapped gifts the entire day, and on a whim, they decided to stay up and 'wait for Santa', which was their excuse to not sleep that night in order to celebrate their new apartment, their beautiful tree, and each other.
"You know what?" Jeremy shifted onto his stomach and held his head up with one bent arm, hand on his cheek, looking down at his girlfriend of six years. He twirled an absent finger in circles on the floor, playing with a lock of Candace's striking, red hair.
Candace turned her head away from the tree to look at Jeremy. He instantly forgot what he had been planning to say. She was so beautiful, calm for the first time in awhile; her eyes were dark blue and curious, like an ocean lit by the moon, and it seemed like if he looked at them for too long, he would drown. Her hair had a faint, angelic glow from the Christmas tree lights; the soft off-white fell down between the branches of the tree like drifting snow, and settled on her fiery hair, giving her the appearance of a true angel- not that she wasn't one in his eyes already.
"What?" Even her voice was pretty. She was the kind of person you would expect people to want to be, or paint, or write music about, as he already did so often. Jeremy felt at that moment like he could draft an entire book about how beautiful Candace was, inside and out.
"Jeremy?"
The blonde, lovestricken boy snapped from his daydreams. "Umm..."
Candace laughed. "Are you okay?"
"I love you." Jeremy laid his head back down onto his hands, Candace's eyes following. He glanced over at his watch, numbers fluorescent green glowing in the dimly-lit room. 11:58... two minutes until he would do it. Jeremy's heart fluttered in his chest so violently that he could have sworn it was just going to lift up out of him and fly away.
"That doesn't answer my question," Candace joked. She giggled for a second time, her laugh lilting against the crackling coming from the fireplace.
He waited several moments before answering, trying to stall so that he wouldn't feel so pressured when the big moment came. "I'm alright," he finally said. "Just nervous."
"Nervous? Why?" Candace was almost concerned, but on Christmas eve, when entire world seemed like it would slow to a stop, it must have been hard to be so. She instantly returned to teasing. "Excited for Santa?"
Jeremy looked back at his watch. 11:59...and twenty seconds. He should probably get on with it.
"That's not all," he chuckled. "I was also excited about the Christmas ornament I got you."
"Is there a Ducky Momo bracelet hanging on the tree?" Candace giggled, but he knew she secretly wanted that bracelet still. That was okay, because that same bracelet was waiting under thre tree; there was still a long time before she opened it. He had a job.
"No...this one." He pointed to an expensive-looking red ornament on the tree, adorned with gold swirls and a circle of engraved metal around its equator. There was a teeny clasp on the belt of metal, and she looked over at it.
"Oh, it's pretty," she said. She sat up to grab it, as it was near the middle of the tree, surrounded by sparkling Christmas lights. She took it, sliding it off of the branch, and inspected it, turning it in her palms. Jeremy's heart thumped.
On instinct, Candace attempted to open it, since it looked like a container anyway. She fingered the clasp open, and lifted the lid. Jeremy winced, expecting a huge reaction.
But there was no sound, no movement. Nothing.
He opened his eyes a little bit more, and looked at her. A tiny spatter fell on the blanket, and Jeremy placed a hand on the other side of Candace's chin and turned her head toward his. She was crying, and her lips were curled into a smile.
"I want to be with you for the rest of my life, Candace," Jeremy said, trying to look her in the eyes as he fiddled with his shirt collar. "You're amazing. And I wish I could be half as amazing at making you happy. And, uh..."
Candace just looked at him, tears bubbling up at the corners of her eyes. "Jeremy..."
A beeping interrupted them, and Jeremy looked down. 12:00.
"Merry Christmas, Candace Flynn."
Candace seemed to melt at the sentence, and she threw her arms around Jeremy's neck. She pulled back just as fast to look at him, worry in her eyes.
"I didn't just start crying over a Christmas present, right? This is an engagement ring, right? Or a wedding ring, or.."
Jeremy stopped her there. "Yes, that's what it is." He carefully pried her fingers away from the ornament, and pulled the cool, smooth ring out of its slot in the velvet, and held it up to the light so that both he and his hopefully-future-wife could see it.
"This is where I hold out my hand, right?..." Candace shakily offered her hand, and Jeremy took it. "Will you marry me?"
The redhead placed her other hand over her mouth, nodding and holding back tears as Jeremy slipped it onto her finger.
"Merry Christmas, Jeremy." Candace reached over and hugged him, and refused to let go.
They stayed like that for a long time, until Jeremy finally revealed that the box with the Ducky Momo wrapping paper probably contained something she would want.