A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews! Loved reading them. I realize now that text messaging really didn't exist back in those days after seeing some of the reviews and doing some research so pardon me for that. Let's just assume texting and certain phone technology did exist back then ;D Have fun reading this chapter! Hope you guys will like it.
You ruined it.
The thought kept running through his head. It haunted him.
You broke her heart.
His mind couldn't focus on anything else. He had to do something to make it up to her. Anything.
He walked back to his apartment, his footsteps heavy, only to find Alice still standing in the doorway.
"I, uhm, got her text. She locked me out. I'm going to go to a friend's place to crash for the night. So, what are we going to do?" Alice said.
"I, I don't know. I'll think of something." He ran his hand through his hair, racking his brains.
"Okay, update me if anything. I just don't want her to be upset. Shoot me a text if you need any help," she turned around and stepped out, "I'm sorry things turned out this way."
"Oh, no, please don't apologize. It's my fault too. I'll work something out, somehow. Goodnight, Alice."
"Goodnight."
He closed the door gently and turned to face his empty apartment. Settling on the couch, he sighed. It's going to be a long night.
She woke up, her eyes red and swollen from a whole night of crying. Her body ached as she sat up, squinting her eyes as they adjusted to the light filtering through the curtains into the room.
"Morning," she greeted, expecting Alice to be there. She turned her head to the side, only to realize Alice wasn't in her bed. Last night's incident came rushing back to her, and she sighed, her heart heavy. Crying isn't going to do me any good, she thought.
Bending down, she grabbed her phone from the ground, where she dumped it after sending a text to Alice.
Click.
"Elizabeth, please hear me out. Give me a call when you hear this."
Click.
"Elizabeth, baby, I love you. I love you so much. Call me."
Click.
"Hey, Elizabeth. I probably shouldn't call you or something; you deserve to be angry at me. But I swear, Henry wasn't cheating on you. Just, hear him out. I'm so sorry this happened."
Click.
"Hi, uhm, you're probably still really mad at me, and I don't know if you're receiving my messages, but I just wanna let you know I love you. Give me a chance, please. Meet me at the park at our spot, tomorrow, at 6pm. I'll be there waiting for you. I love you."
She received multiple calls and texts from both Alice and Henry overnight. She wasn't sure what to do; she was still furious and heartbroken. How could they! She was her best friend and he was everything she had. Her parents were gone, her brother somewhere far away pursuing his medical doctorate. They were the only two people in the entire world she could rely on and trust at the moment, and now they're gone too.
Dropping her phone to the ground, she went to freshen up. Thank god she didn't have classes on Friday and didn't need to face anyone for the entire day – her face was blotchy and her hair resembled a haystack. Slipping into her sweats, she spent the day completing assignments and reading up on materials to distract herself from any thoughts about last night.
Henry McCord was a busy man.
After spending the night thinking about how to salvage the situation, he decided that proposing to her would be the best solution, crazy as it seemed. He was desperate.
He never felt like this with any other girl, but with Elizabeth, he fell, hard. He thought she was the most gorgeous woman in the world since the moment he laid eyes on her. He never seen anyone as beautiful as her – she glowed with radiance, like personified sunshine. It wasn't just her beauty he loved, it was her brilliance and compassion as well. She was the most impressive student in his class, her papers and debates provided such an original perspective into complex subjects. He had seen the way she cared for those around her, and he couldn't help but fall in love with her all over again every single time. But he was a TA and she was his student; a relationship between the two of them would have been taboo. So he waited. He was only TA for one of her classes for one semester. Once the semester ended, he approached her, eager yet anxious to know if she reciprocated his feelings.
And she did. He felt like the luckiest man alive. They dated for over 2 years, and every day spent with her made it clearer that she was the one he wanted to spend his life with. He bought a ring once he knew he wanted her beside him forever. It was a simple ring – a platinum band with a small diamond in between two tinier ones. He came across the ring on display at the jeweller's store and simply had to get it. Its simplicity and beauty matched that of Elizabeth's. Since then, he thought of many ways he could propose to her, but he felt like none of his ideas were good enough for her. He wanted the proposal to take place right after she graduated and he was cutting it close now, with only 4 weeks left. Stressed, he reined in her best friend, and together they came up with a plan.
And now he was going to propose to her, 2 weeks away from graduation instead. To say this was rushed would be an understatement.
He wanted to get a skywriter to help pop the question in the sky, but it would be expensive now, given how last-minute this was going to be. As he walked through town, he prayed and hoped that the skywriting service he wanted to engage would magically give him a discount.
Entering the store, he sat down by one of the tiny desks and had several packages explained to him by a guy named Bob. None of it fell within his budget and he was running short of time.
"Bob, here's the thing. I screwed something up real bad, and I really need this tomorrow to make up for it, but I'm strapped for cash. Is there anything else you have within my budget?" he asked, brows furrowing in worry that his plan was going to fall through.
"Well, we do have this discount going on right now. Plane's reaching the end of its lifespan, gonna be recycled soon."
"Will the pilot be in any risk? I wouldn't want anyone getting hurt." He was skeptical about how well it would go and he didn't want to have it end in an accident.
"Yeah, sure. It's a norm, don't worry. So, deal?" Bob held out his hand expectantly.
Henry hesitated for a moment, then took his hand and shook it.
"Deal."
By the end of the day, Elizabeth was exhausted. She had spent all her energy focusing on finishing up her assignments and studying for finals. Graduation was approaching and she had plans to get her masters, so getting a good GPA was important and she wasn't going to let her emotions get the better of her and affect her studies.
She bent backwards in her chair, stretching, finally letting her mind go back to last night's events. The scene kept replaying in her mind, over and over again, wondering how her relationship turned out like this.
And then a little voice at the back of her mind spoke.
What if you were wrong?
Henry has been extremely loyal to her, and his gestures always showed that. By now, she was already missing his constant presence. He always made sure to meet her at least once a day, even if it was for five minutes. She was all for ignoring his voice messages and texts at first, but now she wasn't sure if she wanted to.
She picked up her phone from the ground the second time that day, and replayed the last voice message he left for her.
Click.
"Hi, um, you're probably still really mad at me, and I don't know if you're receiving my messages, but I just wanna let you know I love you. Give me a chance, please. Meet me at the park at our spot, tomorrow, at 6pm. I'll be there waiting for you. I love you."
Maybe I should let him explain, she thought. She moved to her bed, plopping down on the uncomfortable dorm mattress and stared at the ceiling as she internally debated with herself until she succumbed to sleep once more.
He looked at his watch. 5:58pm.
He felt jittery, to say the least. He kept looking around, hoping that she would appear. He had planned for the skywriter to fly through the sky at 6:20pm, which gave him some time to explain himself before he popped the question, provided she came at 6pm. His hand slipped into his pocket for the dozenth time, his fingers closing around the tiny velvet box to make sure that it was still there.
6:01pm.
She came. Relief bloomed in his chest. At least she was willing to hear him out.
"Talk." She came to a stop about a feet away from him, and crossed her arms.
His heart broke a little inside, seeing her after that night. She had dark circles under her tired eyes, which looked puffy from crying. She looked exhausted, and her hair, which was usually in neat braids, was in a sloppy ponytail. He wondered, sadly, how much tears she shed. He took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I swear I wasn't cheating on you. Let me explain, please," he begged, when he saw that she wanted to interrupt him, "Elizabeth, you're the love of my life. I fell for you the moment I saw you. Your intelligence, your beauty, everything – there is nothing I don't love about you. I can't imagine my life without you. These past two years has been the most amazing time of my life, and I can't even think of spending my time with anyone else. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so I've been asking Alice for her help in planning. I wasn't cheating. We were planning a surprise for you, because you deserve the best, not some proposal based on some half-assed idea. Please, forgive me. Please."
His voice broke at the end. He didn't know if he said the right things. She stood in front of him, unmoving. Taking a step forward, he held his arms open cautiously, unsure if she would accept his embrace.
Suddenly, she lunged into his arms, her hands clutching at his shirt. Tears started to flow.
"I'm sorry, Henry!" she apologized. She felt ashamed that she wronged her boyfriend and best friend without even giving them a chance to tell their side of the story. How could she have let her insecurities get the better of her when Henry had been good to her the whole time? Her breath hitched in her throat as she fought to hold in her sobs.
"Hey, hey, it's okay now." He rubbed circles on her back, trying to soothe her. He had tears in his eyes himself, relieved that they were together again. Leaning down, he kissed her head gently as he held her for several minutes, letting her get it all out.
Once she calmed down, they pulled slightly apart, smiling sheepishly at each other. He looked at his watch. 6:19pm. Shit, he thought. He almost forgot about the most important part of the evening!
"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, look there." He turned her body such that she faced the park's field, and pointed at the open sky. The skywriter flew into sight, just in time.
"Mar…me…Elibet?" she read as the skywriter glided across the setting sun in the sky. She looked to her side to ask Henry what it meant, but he wasn't standing beside her anymore. Moving her gaze downwards, she found him kneeling on one knee on the grass, tiny velvet box in his hand. A gasp escaped her lips.
"Ah, um, it was supposed to spell 'Marry me, Elizabeth'," he laughed nervously, cursing internally as his face turned crimson, "but since that, uh, failed, will you marry me, Elizabeth? I love you more than anything in the world, and it would be an honor to spend forever with you."
"Yes. Hell yes," she whispered as she bent down to hug him. Well, tackled might be a better word for it, as they tumbled onto the grassy field in each other's embrace. He clumsily slid the ring on her left ring finger and brought her hand to his lips as he kissed her knuckles.
"Mrs McCord," he said, loving the sound of it rolling out of his mouth. How did I get so lucky, he thought, giddy with happiness. She leaned in, capturing his lips with hers. His arms wound around her waist tightly as their kisses grew in passion, tongues dueling while they conveyed their love to each other. They didn't care that they were having a full-on make out session lying in the middle of a grass patch in public; all that mattered was each other.
"I like the name okay," she chuckled breathily when they broke apart for air. He kept his arms around her as she rolled onto her back to see the message disappear with the winds. They laid in comfortable silence until the sky turned dark and the stars sparkled in the sky.
"I think you owe someone else an apology," Henry whispered, breaking the quiet as they watched the day change into night.
Retrieving her phone from her pocket, she called Alice and asked her to meet at Henry's apartment in 10 minutes. They got up from the ground, and made their way to his apartment hand in hand. Once she saw Alice waiting outside his door, she ran over and flung her arms around her roommate.
"I'm so sorry, Alice!" Her words came out in a rush as she explained that afternoon's events after settling on his couch. Henry went to take a bath as he wanted to give the girls some privacy to talk things out, and came out of his bathroom to see the two of them smiling.
"What did I miss?" he asked casually, knowing that whatever misunderstanding they had was resolved.
"Someone's gonna make it up to me by letting me be her bridesmaid," Alice said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Elizabeth and Alice giggled like girls playing princess.
"I'm glad you guys worked things out, babe." He peppered Elizabeth's cheek with kisses as he sat down beside her. Her cheeks flushed in response.
"You guys are so cute I'm gonna puke," Alice joked, her face distorting into one of her funny expressions. Elizabeth jumped out of the couch and went to his kitchen to grab mugs and a bottle of cheap liquor.
"Here's to friends and family, forever," Elizabeth toasted, raising her mug.
"To friends and family, forever."