"I loved Who, What, When, Where, and Why."
He smiles as Rachel snuggles closer to him. "Do you want to tell me about them?"
"Well, Who I loved was this guy that I met from college. He was a junior when I got in NYADA. He was cute, and nice, and his smile brightened up the room, at least for me. He taught me hip-hop dance once." That makes Mike raises his eyebrows, but she just chuckles and continues.
"Oh, correction, he was the guy I met again in college. We went to middle school together but he had to move to California because his father transferred. I was always thrilled to meet him after class, because he would be waiting in the library and we would go to the studio, watch movie, have dinner, go to park, basically everything fun. But things weren't going well because he told me that he loved me as much as he loved his sister. While I was struggling to accept that I was in a sister-zone, I realized that he was totally a nice guy who would treat any other girls equally. So, yeah."
"Uh, What, he was a guy I knew from temple when I was kid. Her mother told us that she had to literally drag him there. He was a bad-ass outside, but the best thing about him was that he loved his mother and his sister more than anything. We are always in a good relationship as friends, I always love him and I know he always loves me. But our loves were never enough to leave anyone who was in our way. We always had bad timing. I became the stable audience who watched his girlfriends come and go, and he was there when I was with my significant others. And of course, we had to leave behind what we had."
He smiles knowingly and pats her back.
"When was my first boyfriend. He was the quarterback back then and I didn't think he would notice me, as I was called a loser. But he was nice and handsome and perfect. A year after I first met him, he said he loved me. And I went crazy because I couldn't believe my luck. He was my first love, he had my first kiss and he was there for my first, you know, intimate moment. We were so young and so in love. We had this stable relationship and didn't look back. Bad thing we didn't see our future too. A few days before graduation I accepted my offer letter from Carmen Tibideux, I got into NYADA. I was so happy that I could follow my dream and went to New York. He was happy for me for a second, but he realized that he wouldn't go to New York because he wasn't accepted in any college there. So we broke up and went on our way. A year after that, we both had moved on and we were thankful because we still remained friends."
She is a little pissed because he shows no signs of jealousy. He always acts like that and she always wonders why.
"Move on to Where, I met him in Vegas. I was there because my director had me learning about a wild flirty night there. I was supposed to be there for a couple of months, but this guy had me stay for another year. Thank God my director didn't protest about that. Because when I was back to New York, I changed. My director said I was more mature, more professional, and of course I understood about this night life more. Thanks to him, he made me believe I could do everything that my director asked me. He even made these hilarious impressions of famous people. Once he did an impression of Fanny and I didn't understand why, but that helped me a lot to understand the character of Fanny. Time was against us, because I had to do my Broadway show back in town and he had his modeling job in LA. Like they said in that song, I love LA."
She stays silent for a minute to make sure he is really listening to her. And he knows that so he asks calmly, "What about Why?"
She pulls her head a little bit so she can see him. "Why, he was the most perfect boyfriend any girl would have. He was sweet, loving, helpful, gorgeous, and I repeat, perfect. He was a movie director who had his movie that he made in his freshman year flew up to an international movie festival. He was a very smart guy, and he always took me home every time I got home late. He was never a selfish guy, he was very patient especially when I talked too much. He was perfect because he did all the sweet things for me while he was in a wheelchair. I loved him very much that time, and so did he. But was it a little bit unfair because he had this massive accident that killed him right away? He lost his ability to walk in a car accident when he was 8, then he had this accident killed him. And it killed me too. I wasn't leaving my room for days after he passed away, but I knew he glared at me from wherever he was if I kept moping around and not moving on. I knew he wanted me to love the right guy that wasn't him, but for years I just couldn't because I thought love was him. I thought when I lost him, I lost my love."
Rachel wets her eyes as she remembers her former boyfriend. She shifts away from Mike and turns so they sit face to face. She crosses her legs and reaches for his hand.
"You. You are everything. I'm still wondering what makes you let me love you this whole time. You are a gentleman who will treat every girl you meet with respect, but on the other hand, you manage to make me so special. And your smile always brightens up my day. You are the guy that loves for your family, something that I always admire. You are my best friend. With you, I can see my future, our future. I know you will come with me if Rupert asks me to move, and I will definitely come with you wherever you go. You are the one who is always there for me when that New York Times writer for Broadway section tells the world that I was suck. You make me laugh. You teach me how to love again, you make me feel like a little girl who has a crush at Johnny Depp and Johnny talks to her. You are the one, I love you, Michael."
He grins widely and takes her lips to his. She wraps her arms around his neck in return.
"You said you can see your future with me, right?" He asks after pulling away. She just rolls her eyes, because from all of those things she said, of course he just notices that. But she just snuggles to his chest and nods.
"So will you say yes if I ask you to marry me?"
Her eyes go wide. He likes to joke around but she thinks that this is too much for a joke, so she smacks his chest.
"Aw! What was that for?"
"No fooling around, Michael."
He pulls her so he can look her in the eyes. "I'm not fooling around. I do want to marry you, badly. If you need to see the ring, I can get it in my closet."
"You have a ring?" Her eyes go wider.
"Of course I do, I planned this, so why wouldn't I have a ring?"
"You planned what?"
"For a Broadway star, you're quite slow, Rachel. I wanted to ask you to marry me, I was planning it big. Maybe if I have to, I will sing in Broadway stage or something like that. But today, this moment, makes me don't want to wait that whole big thing. This is a perfect time, I think, unless if you say no." He takes a deep breath and caresses her cheeks.
"So what do you say?" He smiles weakly at her because she is crying. He isn't going to force her or something, but he needs to know if his girlfriend has the same feeling for him and wants him to be her future husband.
"Well, only if you promise to be my Johnny Depp." She tries to roll her eyes but she can't help smiling. He smiles, "Is that a yes?"
"Why would I say no, Michael?" Before she registers what happen next, he already pulls her to his lap and kisses all over her face. She just laughs making him laugh too.
"I really, really, love you, Michael. You are the one, my only one." She whispers as she hugs him tightly.
He buries his head in her hair and whispers back, "And you are the last, Rachel, the love of my life."