Chapter Four: Aftermath

The next day, the girls all met up at Santa Monica Place to eat and do some shopping. They nearly choked on their lemonade when Layla told them about Mike proposing.

Melina lowered her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose. "Where's the rock, Lay?"

Layla winced and laced her fingers. "There isn't one."

Mickie raised an eyebrow. "Let me get this straight: you and Mike are engaged, but there's no ring?"

"I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous," Layla said defensively, "but you guys weren't there. You didn't hear what Mike said and how he said it. We'll get our ring soon enough."

Maria smiled. "Well, I'm happy for you two just the same, Lay. Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Ria," Layla replied.

"So, it looks like we're just waiting on you, Ria," said Eve, leaning back in her chair.

"Waiting on me to what?" Maria asked.

"To get engaged, duh," Mickie replied.

"Oh," Maria said, looking down and sipping her drink intently.

"Haven't you ever thought about you and Dolph getting engaged?" Melina asked.

Maria shrugged. "Sure, I guess, but I don't want to pressure him. He'll propose when he's ready."

Mickie sighed. "It's not that I don't have faith in Dolph, Ria," she said, "but I think he's the type of guy that needs pressuring."

"I'm with Micks," Eve seconded, "Dolph has this plan in place where a proposal is down the road. The only thing that could possibly speed up the process was if Ria got knocked up."

Maria banged on the vacant table next to them with her fist. "Knock on wood."

Meanwhile, in West Hollywood, the guys were taking full advantage of their courtesy-of-Dolph free memberships and working out at 24 Hour Fitness.

John stumbled and nearly fell off of the treadmill. "You did what?"

Mike was on the treadmill beside them. "You heard me."

Randy was at the weight bench right behind them. He hung the bar back on the rack, sat up, and shook his head. "I can't believe you, man."

Mike turned the treadmill off and turned around to face Randy. "You can't believe what? What, you don't think Lay and I are right for each other?"

"It's got nothing to do with that," Randy replied, using his forearm to wipe the sweat from his brow, "but, dude, try to look at the situation from our stand point: you proposed to Layla at one o'clock in the morning sporadically after you two had just had sex. I'm sure you were feeling pretty romantic, and…"

"And I see where you're going, and you're wrong," Mike said.

Beside them, Adam was laying into a punching bag. "It doesn't matter how Mike proposed, as long as he meant it," he said, "you did mean it, didn't you?"

"Of course I did!" said Mike.

"Well, it's settled then," Adam said, "yeah, there's no ring, but that's temporary. You love her, she loves you, and you two wanna get married. So you two are engaged and nobody, not even our buddy Randy over here, can tell you different."

"What do you guys think about a four-couple wedding?" John asked.

"Why four? Aren't there ten of us?" Dolph asked.

"Number one, I was kidding," John began, "and number two, if I had been serious, yeah, I meant four and not five because you, my friend, haven't proposed to Maria yet."

"What's your point?" asked Dolph.

John grinned. "I mean exactly what I said, you haven't proposed to Maria yet. She's still your girlfriend and not your fiancee."

"We've been together less than nine months!" said Dolph, "Who proposes that early?"

The other guys shot him a look.

Dolph laughed. "Oh yeah, I forgot—you guys."

A/N: Sorry this chapter was a bit short, but I just wanted to give you the characters' takes on being engaged (or not being engaged in Dolph and Maria's case), marriage, etc. Their thoughts on these things really begin to come into play in the next chapter. Thank you to TakerQueenUnleashed and xMyHeartShine for reviewing the previous chapter. Keep them coming!