FRIDAY: She Could Be My Wife

Everything was perfect. He'd found candles that didn't set off the smoke alarm, the lasagna was in the oven, and he'd kicked out all three roommates for the whole night. Everything was set up just right.

Connie was gonna propose tonight, and nothing would go wrong.

Sasha texted him that she was at the door of his building and to let her in, dumbass. He made sure that the oven timer wouldn't go off while he was gone, fixed the placement of a fork on the table, and ran down to let her in.

She grinned at him when he threw open the door, then gave him a good up-down. "Did I forget our anniversary again?"

"No!" His voice squeaked, and he coughed. "No, can't I look good for my girlfriend without a reason?"

She hummed, then stepped through the door and kissed him. "I'm not gonna argue." She slid a hand over his button-down and breezed past him, taking the stairs two at a time to the third floor. He shook his smile away and followed.

She was waiting for him at his door, heels bouncing. He circled an arm around her waist as he unlocked his door, trying to kiss her ear but missing when she jumped on past him in, bloodhound nose in the air.

"Oh my God, are you making lasagna?" She knelt in front of the oven door and shoved aside the dish towel draped over the handle. "Oh my God, you are."

He laughed, nerves making his hands twitch. "Only the best."

She stared at him over her shoulder, eyes narrowed and mouth puckered. "How much cheese is in this?"

"Uh…" He thought back, eyes tracing over the wreckage on the counter. "Like, at least three bags of shredded stuff, and a block of-"

"Oh my God!" She jumped up and draped over his neck. "You're perfect. Marry me."

His mouth flopped open, closed, open. "That's my line! You took my line!"

She jerked. "What?"

"Ugh." He grabbed her face and kissed her, hard, then fell to both knees at her feet. "I was gonna do this after cheesecake-"

"You made cheesecake?!"

"Sasha. Focus." She giggled and scratched his head, upsetting his buzz's perfect spiral. "Hey! Stop that!" He groaned and wrapped his arms around her knees, burying his face in her skirt. "Hopeless."

"Con?"

"Yes!" He jerked away from her skirt and dug around in his pocket for the scrape of cheap velvet. "Uh, Sash?" He looked up at her, crazy hair and chipped tooth where she'd fallen off a library roof and all, and forgot his speech. "I love you." His hand shook too much to open the box, so he just pressed it into her hand. "You… you know what I mean."

He held his breath as she opened the box, smile gone. He'd gone silver and sapphire instead of diamond - she liked blue, and diamonds were dumb anyway. "You like it?"

Her shoulders jerked, her mouth biting and smiling and uncontrollable. She nodded, just once at first, growing into frantic. He let out his breath, nuzzling into her skirt again, just as the oven timer started beeping. They both jumped, and he scrambled to his feet. He almost forgot to grab the potholders, nearly burning his hands. Sasha was still standing in the middle of the floor, staring at the ring, when he had the lasagna cooling on the stovetop and the oven off. He watched her back, not wanting to move too suddenly, in case - oh wait.

"Was that a yes?"

She spun and pounced, arms around his neck and squeezing the life out of him. "Yes!"

He laughed, held her close, smelled her hair. "Good. I don't think I could've returned the ring, anyway, the dude at the store gave me the stinkiest eye." She laughed, head thrown back, and he got her to let go enough to take the ring box from her. "May I?"

She was back to nodding, so he pulled the ring from its slot and found her left hand - her left - and bit on his tongue as he slid it on. Good, it fit.

She wrinkled her nose, flexed her fingers. "It feels funny." She frowned at her hand, then glanced up at Connie's face - double took. "Not like that! God!" She laughed - she couldn't stop laughing. "I'm just not used to it." She pecked him on the cheek. "I've got time for that."

"Yeah, you better." He kissed her, longer this time, and was a little breathless when they broke. "Food time?"

She shrugged. "Put some tin foil over it, we'll eat later." His eyebrows shot up.

"Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?"

"Fiancée." She wagged her new ring in his face.

He hummed, pulled her close by the waist. "Okay, fiancée, what would you do instead of eating?"

She glanced over at the couch, at him, back again. "The boys are gone, right?"

Connie laughed, rubbed their noses together. "Fucking hell, do I love you." They laughed, and Sasha and her wild eyes led him across the room.