Chapter Two

Her brown eyes starred down at me. Half of the people that worked with her now stood behind her trying to see what was going on. "Are you serious? You don't know anything about me and I don't know anything about you. This isn't some publicity stunt is it?"

"No, no joke, no publicity stunt, just me making a complete ass of myself," I laughed.

A smiled slipped on her lips and she tried hard to stifle a giggle, but it slipped out. "If you're being completely honest…than, yes, I'll marry you."

I took out the ring and slipped it onto Natalie's left ring finger. It sparkled nicely on her finger, but it didn't look like it belonged there. We looked at each other trying to figure out what should happen next. We both tentatively leaned into each other and shared an awkward embrace.

"Well, I have to, um, get back to work," she said brushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, me too. How about you meet me at the studio we're recording in say about one and we can talk?"

"Sure, I'll see you then," she smiled again before turning to go back to work.

I returned to our studio to find Tom, Dougie and Danny waiting for me annoyed. "Where'd you go? Beg Noelle to take you back?"

I ignored Danny's quip and headed to the empty drum kit waiting for me. I sat down and picked up two drum sticks. I looked up to see Tom and Dougie waiting to see if I was going to jump Danny again. "No, actually I'm getting married. Let's get to work, shall we?" I started a beat before any of them could say anything.

Soon enough, they stopped trying to get more information out of me. I tried my best to get a decent amount of work done before Natalie showed up for lunch. And when she did, I rushed everyone out of the booth. Danny put up a fight only to be carried off by Tom who was trying to talk to Sydney.

Natalie and I sat alone in the booth, both of us not knowing what to say to the other. There was so much that could have been said, should have been said. I watched her quietly as she picked at her club sandwich. I could tell she didn't feel comfortable eating in front of me. I tried to make her relaxed and kept eating my pasta.

The silence was so loud it was deafening and finally I found something to say. "You don't have a huge boyfriend that's going to kill me, do you?"

She looked up at me surprised that I actually said something. She shook her head no. "No, but don't you have like some supermodel girlfriend?"

"Had, she dumped me this morning, actually. Good timing, eh?"

"I suppose," she laughed. I watched her as glanced down at the engagement ring on her finger.

I tried to quickly change the topic. "So, um, maybe we should talk about the, um, wedding." She nodded as she continued to pick at her sandwich. "Okay, well, what do you think about two weeks? Do you think that gives you enough time?"

"That should be plenty of time. Any specific reason why you want to get married so soon?" She looked up timidly at me as she asked.

"I just have a good feeling about this," I smiled and she returned a smile to me. I shoveled another fork of pasta in my mouth before talking about a few more ideas I had about the wedding. "I was thinking for the weeks leading up to the wedding and even after, that you should move into my flat with me. How does that sound?"

She wiped at her mouth with a napkin. "If you think it best, than I don't see why not. I should tell you that I'm still in school, I'm actually taking a few online courses and working here as an intern. So I'll be up most nights working on assignments."

"I didn't realize you were still in school. I mean you're here everyday, you're here before we arrive and you're still here by the time we're done mucking about. I figured you lived here," I tried to joke but she looked away uncomfortably.

"I just want to do a good job and music has always been my life so I want to make sure I do something I can be proud of."

I scratched my chin, feeling bad about joking that she lived at the recording studio. "Well, I can admire that and I like an ambitious girl. Maybe that way I won't be worried you'll try to get half my fortune in a divorce settlement."

But yet again she didn't laugh. "Well, I can't imagine you've met many decent women than, and do I seem like someone who would go into a marriage planning on what I'm getting in the divorce settlement, which would be a lot in this case?"

"No, no…" I stuttered.

"I'm joking and I don't think you'd marry a blood sucking leech, considering you're the drummer in a huge band."

"No, at least I hope I don't," I smiled wide and for the first time since I had met her a true smile crossed her lips.

We sat there glancing at each other and catching each other's eyes every so often. She stayed quiet but giggled when our eyes would meet. She seemed to relax a bit more and started to eat like a normal person.

There was one last thing I felt we needed to talk about. "One other thing: announcing our engagement."

She wiped her mouth with her napkin again. "Well being a music business major, I was starting to think about the announcement of our engagement. Obviously we want to keep it quiet, no news, and no media whatsoever. But the fact that you've been in a very public relationship with a supermodel that no one knows is over beside for the people in this building, the media is going to be all over this."

"Yeah, I know that, but we'll deal with the media later. I meant to our family and officially to our friends. I say we drive to my parent's house and your parent's house to break the news to them instead of them finding out through the news."

"Okay, sounds like a plan to me," she smiled wide again. She stuck out her right hand and I took it in mine. Her hands were soft, almost like silk. And as I held her hand in mine, it felt real.