This was it. "The big day". The day that had the potential to change his life and her life FOREVER. The day that would be thrilling, excellent, fabulous, all those things or the day that his world would crash down. They had both graduated, gotten their diplomas, the whole nine yards. She had just been hired as a news reporter for the local station. He was successfully out into the 'real world'. They had apartments in the same building; he hoped that would change. They were currently known as "boyfriend/girlfriend" and he hoped that would be changed by the end of the day too. He didn't want boyfriend/girlfriend anymore, he wanted "engaged couple", "fiancée", "newlyweds", "lovebirds", "happily married", and one day "parents". Yes, he wanted to be with her forever. And today was the official day that decided whether or not that was a reality or a fantasy. Today was the day that he, Phil Diffy, would propose to Keely Teslow.
Phil was awake at 6:00, even though he knew he could have slept in. Keely was peacefully asleep on the other side of the room. They had flown in last night from Pickford to Raleigh then had to drive almost 4 hours to get to Flat Rock. Keely had told Phil the night before she thought Phil was insane for picking such a remote location in the mountains (of North Carolina of all places…) for them to celebrate their graduation, but she remembered back to when they graduated high school and she chose the trip. And, even though she had complained, Keely secretly thought mountains and waterfalls sounded VERY romantic.
So as Phil lay on his side of the room and broke out into a cold sweat from all the emotions running through him, Keely slept on. It was almost 10 when she finally awoke. By then, Phil had almost worn a hole in the carpet pacing back and forth and taking deep breaths as he reviewed what he planned for the day. "Breakfast at the hotel, hiking, waterfall sighting, scary trail hike, bend onto knee, breathe, ring out of left pocket, breathe, smile, breathe, propose, breathe." He recited methodically under his breath. As Keely slowly 'came to' and saw him pacing she finally barked "PHIL! CUT IT OUT!" He precisely came to a halt and looked at her funny, then let out a deep sigh. "Gosh, you sounded like my mother just then" he wheezed while sort of laughing. Keely just rolled her eyes at him and got up to go shower.
After taking a nice hot shower, Keely changed into 'adventure clothes' as Phil called them. Just a tee-shirt and some jeans and hiking boots to a normal person, but Keely loved the tee-shirt because it was from the Lady X concert they went to on their first date.
"So Philly-Willy, what are we doing today?" Keely teased.
"I thought we agreed that was off the table, babe. And today we will…" Phil trailed off.
"We will…" Keely continued as she made an arm motion for him to finish his sentence"
"Breakfast at the hotel, hiking, waterfall sighting, scary hiking trail, bend onto one knee…" Phil suddenly realized his mistake and tried to cover it up by saying "Bending on one knee is not suggested while hiking because you could get a briar in your knee, or lean into an anthill, or, or" Phil was suddenly cut short when Keely smiled at him, put her index finger to his lips, and said jokingly "Thank you Ranger Diffy."
She then replaced her index finger with a quick kiss and headed out the door.
Phil breathed a sigh of relief when he realized she still didn't know what he was planning. Keely was already out the door and headed down the hall to breakfast before he realized she was gone and waiting at the elevator. He patted his left pocket, made sure the ring box was there, grabbed the room key, and quickly followed Keely out the door.