Prompt: Next Step
"Lindsay, will you marry me? No, that's not right. Lindsay will iyou/i marry me? No, no, no. Lindsay will byou/b marry me? Damn it. I'm a moron."
"No argument here," Flack said from behind him.
Danny whirled around, trying to hide the velvet box behind his back, "What? I wasn't doing anything. I wasn't doing anything."
"You were fake proposing to Lindsay," Flack said, "And sucking at it."
"Fuck you Mr. Too Scared to ask out Stella."
Flack shrugged, "At least I'm not practicing asking a woman to marry me in front of a mirror. Who are you…the marriage DeNiro?" Flack stood in front of the mirror and pointed, "Are you gonna marry me? Hey, I'm talking to you. Are you going to marry me?"
"Shut the fuck up," Danny said as he hid the box in his locker again.
"Is that the safest place for that?"
Danny couldn't help but blush, "Uh, there's no ring in there. I haven't gotten one yet."
Flack tried to control his glee, but he could not, "Are you telling me you bought a practice ring box?"
"No," Danny said, quickly and loudly, and then in a much quieter tone, "I borrowed one from my mother."
Flack laughed hysterically, "Can I go get a camera and take a picture of this? It might be the funniest thing I've ever seen."
"Would you shut up and help me already? I need to get a ring and figure out how to propose all before Lindsay and I have dinner on Friday. That's two days, forty eight little hours in which to give her the perfect moment so that she'll say yes."
"She's going to say yes."
"She might not. I'm no prize package, Don. I've got mommy issues, brother issues, and trust issues. I could give a shrink a damn field day."
Flack couldn't help but smile at Danny and his "mother issues" but he tried to keep his face straight for his friend, "Okay, okay, so we'll make it perfect. You taking her to a nice place for dinner?"
"The most expensive one that would give me a reservation."
"Got a suit?"
"Rented it a week ago. Picking it up tomorrow."
"Okay then. All we have to do is get the ring and figure out what you're going to say. So tonight we get the ring, tomorrow we work on the proposal and you're all good."
"Right. I'm good. Yes," Danny said, smiling, "I'm good. Thanks, Don."
"No problem. As long as I'm the best man and I get to dance with the maid of honor."
"That would probably be Stella."
"I know."
&
"Danny," Don said quietly, "We've been to thirteen different jewelry stores."
"I know."
"Thirteen, Dan. There are no more rings. You've seen all the rings. I've seen all the rings. If I see another ring I'm going to have to cut my eyes out."
"I don't think that's a good idea. Stella probably wouldn't want to date you like that."
"Danny, I'm seriously going to hurt something or someone if I have to go to one more store."
"That's it," Danny said, pointing frantically at the ring, "Right there, I have to have that one."
Flack shook his head as he looked around the antique jewelry store, "Uh, Dan, you might want to act like you know how to buy something. So we can haggle instead of giving them a load of money."
Danny turned and glared at him, "Screw haggling. My Montana is getting that ring. She will love that ring. She will say yes and stay with me forever if I give her that ring."
Don stood back, "Fine, fine, but maybe we should just try not to get you fleeced while buying her the perfect ring."
"Fine," Danny said as the salesman came over, "I'll be cool."
&
iTwenty-five minutes later/i
"Good thing I managed to get there before that other buyer," Danny said as he stared at the ring. They were sharing a cab back home.
"There was no other buyer. Being crazy in love has apparently also made you a moron."
Danny smiled, "Its 100 years old, Don. Lindsay's going to love that. It probably belonged to women who were madly in love with their husbands."
"Or to crazy widows that sold it after they chopped their husband's head's off."
Danny continued to smile like a moron, "She's going to say yes."
&
iThe next night/i
"She's going to say no. She's definitely going to say no."
"She's not going to say no," Don told him, "She's going to say yes. How could she not? You spent a down payment on a house on her freaking ring."
"Shhh!" Danny says, "We can't let her know that. She'll kill me."
"Well then it'll be a short marriage."
"Can you stop playing around and actually help me?" Danny said as he paced his entire apartment's length twice.
"Okay, okay," Flack said, "I'm sorry. How can I help?"
"Can, uh, can I propose to you?"
Flack sighed, "Fine, but I was the garter, and you tell Lindsay that Stella has to catch the bouquet."
"That's not really something I can control."
"Well, make it something you control. You want to propose to me. I want to put a garter on Stella."
"Fine," Danny said, "As long as you don't complain when Lindsay starts playing matchmaker with you too."
"Fine…now propose."
Danny took a deep breath and got down on one knee.
"Oh, god," Flack said, "You're really seriously going to do the whole thing, aren't you?"
"Lindsay would not say that," Danny said, "Get in character."
"Fine," Flack coughed, then spoke in a high-pitched voice, "Danny, whatever are you doing?" /"
"She's from Montana, you moron, she's not from iGone with the Wind/i."
"Fine, fine, whatever, here's me being Lindsay all shocked that you're on bended knee," Flack said as he covered his mouth and let out a gasp.
"Better," Danny said, and then he took Flack's hand.
"I'm going need therapy," Flack told him.
"Just shut and be Lindsay like."
Flack stood still and tried not to laugh.
"Lindsay," Danny started, "From the moment I met you I knew there was something different about you. Something different about me when I was with you. It's almost as if I was sleeping and you woke me up and I never, ever want to go to sleep again. I just want to be with you forever so I can always feel this way. I love you, and I know that I'm not perfect and I never will be, but if you give me a chance I promise to do everything I can to make you happy for the rest of our lives."
Danny stopped and held out the ring, "So will you marry me?"
Flack looked down at the ring, and opened his mouth to say yes, only to find that he was unable to speak due to the tears choking him.
"Are you crying?" Danny asked.
"No," Flack said desperately, his eyes screwed shut, "I am not."
"You are," Danny said, standing and pointing at him, "You are crying. Oh, she is definitely going to say yes. Also, I'm going to tell Stella that you cry like a girl."
Flack growled and launched himself a t Danny. The two quickly started wrestling, rolling around on the ground.
Later that night Lindsay said yes to Danny, even though he had a black tie.
At the wedding, Don caught the garter…unfortunately; Lindsay's five-year-old niece caught the bouquet.
Fortunately, Stella let him put the garter on her later that night.
And a year later Danny pretended not to cry as he watched Don propose to Stella.