"Ohmygoodness! This place is amazing…" Alana brushed her hair over her bare shoulder as the maître d' seated Stephanie and her.
The same waiter filled the two wine glasses directly in front of the ladies before handing them menus. "Good evening, the rest of your party will be here shortly, in the meanwhile, will you be ordering?"
As Stephanie ordered, the men walked in. For the first time all day Dave saw Lana, his Lana. She sat over the candle lit table with her shadow hair willowing just above her shoulders. Her greens eyes seemed to radiate as he sat across from her.
Though the whole hour-long meal was filled with conversation, neither Dave nor Lana was really involved. The meal ended, but unlike they had planned, both women boarded the limo headed for the hotel.
Stephanie and Paul quickly made their way to their room and insisted in keeping both kids for the night. Hand in hand, Dave and Lana made their way to their empty suite, but in the second let down of the night, Lana dressed for an eventless night's sleep, leaving Dave confused to say the least. Soon after hitting the mattress, Alana was out cold, leaving Dave time to get up and wander to the balcony to think.
"What happened," he though as he rubbed his temples, "I mean, today was romantic right?" He agreed with himself as he recalled the conversation from dinner.
Flashback"Are you all ready to order dessert?" The server handed out dessert menus and waited while the two couples browsed.
Lana chuckled to herself as she inwardly read a title. Dave smiled over at her, "What's so funny?"
"It's not funny, it's cute! They have a dish called 'Starlight Love'." She bit at her lip as she read it's description, "A decadent dark chocolate soufflé bathed with a rich cherry sauce and showered in white chocolate shavings." She met eyes with Dave as she finished out the insert, "For two…"
He looked over to the waiter and nodded, "I think that's what we'll have tonight…."
End Flashback
"Oh… That could work…" Dave quickly looked over the balcony and decided there wasn't enough space or stars. He grabbed an empty duffle bag and threw a comforter from the spare bed in it, along with a hand full of emergency candles, and a couple of things from his jacket from that evenings dinner. He made sure Lana was sleep as he ran down to the receptionist's center and rang the bell zealously.
"Yes, Sir?" The little man behind the desk removed the bell from Dave's reach.
"Okay, I need so help…" After informing the receptionist of his intentions, the little man was dedicated to helping.
Alana sat up slowly in bed and patted for the phone she heard ringing.
"Hello…"
"Look, it's Steph, do me a favor and change out of those gross ass pajamas you're wearing and come out in the hallway. Can you do that?"
Lana was slightly butt hurt, "I like these PJ's; they aren't gross…Besides, all I have is that little night and robe we bought today…"
"Stop whining and throw it on…be in the hallway in like two minutes okay?" Stephanie was glad to be part of the elaborate scheme and couldn't help but tear up as she hung up the phone.
Paul, who sat on the couch watching, laughed at his wife, "You are such a… drama queen."
Meanwhile, Lana did as her friend demanded and exited into the hallway. Instead of finding Steph, she discovered a single white rose sitting on a bed of red rose petals. The bed thinned into a path of pads that led around the corner and to a candle filled and petal littered elevator in the back of the hotel. Once in the elevator, it's attendant approached her.
"Ma'am, I was instructed to give you this." He handed her a card, which read, 'Trust him…'. She skeptically looked at him, but knew Dave wouldn't let anything happen to her. She reluctantly let the man blindfold. Slowly the elevator came to a stop and the door opened. Immediately, she felt a familiar hand rub across the small of her back and lead her out of the shaft.
The feel of silk petals beneath her feet changed to the texture of a down comforter before Dave lifted her and sat her on a stool. He made his way behind her and after a quick kiss on the neck her untied her blindfold.
While Alana gawked at her surroundings or thousands of candles, roses and the stars, Dave made his way directly in front of her and knelt to one knee. Tears welled up in Lana's eyes as Dave began to speak.
"Lana, when I first thought about proposing to you, I figured I'd write you a love letter. Right of the back, I wanted the perfect paper and the smoothest pen, the most accurate thesaurus," Dave and Lana both sort of chuckled, but the speech continued, "but when I went to write, I couldn't think of a single word. How would I put into words the feeling I feel when kiss you? There isn't a word that begins to describe the emotion that consumes me I wake up next to you every morning. The only imaginable joy that could match telling you I love you and hearing you say it back would be making you my wife. Alana, "Dave reached in his pocket and pulled out at a 87 karat, canary, star-shaped diamond ring and asked traditionally, "Babe, will you marry me?"
From the Author:
Well, we've done it! That was my first fan fiction and it wasn't a flop! I want to thank all of you so much for reading and reviewing (sorry I held chapters hostage, but it was my first adventure into e-published pieces, I had force fight for feedback!) And I sincerely hope you guys…at least a few of you, read my second piece, Pinned. (Yeah, the title isn't too creative, but it's a great story, I promise!) Again thanks and I love y'all lots! OH… if you wanna know what happened after the proposal, let me know and I'll post and epilogue.