Chapter 15
Sportacus knocked on the door and Stephanie answered it. She was surprised by the look on his face.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
"Yes and no." He answered.
"Care to expand on that?" Stephanie inquired.
"Well the good news is that there were no broken bones. The bad news is Amanda probably has a concussion and some temporary memory loss." Sportacus explained.
"What happened?" She asked now very concerned. Sportacus explained everything. Stephanie was trying to absorb it all when she noticed blood dripping off of Sportacus' elbow. Quickly she grabbed a paper towel and told him to hold it to his elbow.
"How did you not notice blood dripping down your arm?" She asked as she returned with the first aid kit.
"I don't know. I guess I had other things on my mind." He answered.
"Like what?" Stephanie asked as she wiped up the blood and put some alcohol on a clean cotton ball.
"This might sting." She warned him. But he didn't even flinch as Stephanie cleaned the wound. Realizing that she didn't have the right size band-aids, she pulled out a clean gauze patch and some medical tape.
"Sorry, I don't have the right size band-aids. Well at least you're all cleaned up." She said. Then she noticed the blood on his forearm band. Stephanie got a wet paper towel and cleaned that up.
"Thank you, Stephanie. What would I do without you?" he smiled slightly.
"You're welcome. As far as doing without me well…" she smiled. "What have you got on your mind?"
"You, actually. You know that important thing I wanted to discuss with you?" Sportacus asked. Stephanie only nodded.
"Can you come to the airship tonight? Say around eight o'clock?" He asked, suddenly getting nervous.
"Sure. Are you sure you're all right?" Stephanie asked.
"Oh yeah. I just have some things to take care of, is all." He once again seemed to be getting very nervous.
"All righty then. I'll see you later. I think I'd better go see Amanda and find out how bad things really are." Stephanie said. Then she got close to Sportacus and kissed his cheek. Mouthing a goodbye, Stephanie and Sportacus went their separate ways.
Eight o'clock was approaching faster than Sportacus realized. He had been berating himself for not just spitting out what he wanted to say. What is wrong with me? He asked himself. Why couldn't I just do it?
Stephanie started to climb the ladder up to the airship. She couldn't help thinking about Sportacus' behavior earlier. He had never acted that way before. What was so important that he couldn't just tell her?
Sportacus Helped Stephanie up into the airship. He seemed to be better than before and even wore a big smile on his face.
"So what do you want to talk about?" She asked cautiously.
"This entire summer has been filled with its problems. We've put those problems to rest except for one. That one is you going to college. I know that you have great dreams and that you want them to come true. I want you to be able to fulfill your dreams. I don't want to hold you back." Sportacus told her.
"But you're not holding me back. You…" he interrupted her.
"Please let me finish." Sportacus insisted. Stephanie nodded.
"I've been thinking and I've been a fool. Everything I could ever want I have except for one thing. And that is you." He stopped. Stephanie didn't say anything as he continued.
"I want to be there for you and I want to love you forever. So there is only one thing left to do." Sportacus got down on one knee and pulled a small box from his pocket. He opened it up and asked,
"Stephanie, will you marry me?"
To Be Continued…