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CHAPTER SEVEN
Bella approached Pam the next day at work. She couldn’t help but notice that there was still no ring on her friend’s finger. “So… how was the rest of your night? After the coffee?”
“Amazing,” Pam breathed. “Jim had this entire romantic night planned. Well, not the whole night. He just cooked me dinner. It was so sweet.”
Bella let out a squeal. “That’s adorable!”
“It was,” Pam agreed. “I just… well, I thought he would propose.”
Bella’s smile faded, and was replaced with a look of sympathy. “Pam, you know he’ll propose soon. He loves the crap out of you.”
Pam shrugged, giggling. “Hope so.”
Bella waved slightly and turned around, approaching Jim’s desk. “Master,” she hissed. “Meet me in the kitchen.” She turned to Edward and discreetly motioned for him to come as well. She glanced at Pam to make sure she didn’t notice all of them leaving. When Bella was positive that Pam was unaware, she began to walk faster.
Once the three of them were in the kitchen, Bella turned to Jim, furious. “Do you have any idea how pissed off your girlfriend is?”
Jim’s eyes widened, and a look of worry suffused across his face. “What’s wrong? Is she alright?”
“She’s most certainly not alright!” Bella hissed. “Especially after what you did for her last night!”
Jim rolled his eyes. “I cooked her a romantic dinner. She must be dying.” He quickly added, “And I know she doesn’t have food poisoning, because I ate the steak, too.”
“You’re so dense,” Bella snapped. “You can’t be so romantic and then not propose! You’re totally leading her on!”
Jim’s eyes widened again. “She thought I was going to propose?”
“Jim,” Edward interjected. “Bella told me about her conversation with Pam at the coffee shop last night. Pam couldn’t stop talking about you, and-”
“How she wants to spend forever with you,” Bella finished, more gently this time. “And I think she’s starting to doubt that you want to spend forever with her.”
“I do,” Jim said immediately. “I’ve had the ring, and I want the proposal to be great, and she’s just so perfect, and-”
Jim was so caught up in what he was saying that he didn’t realize that Bella and Edward were laughing. Jim frowned. “Hey! What’s so funny?”
“Jim, we know you love her,” Bella said. “How about I take Pam out for coffee again tonight, and you can go to a bar with Edward and… plot and plan?”
Jim laughed. “I think that’d be great.”
--
Most people in the office left, so Jim and Edward headed to Edward’s Volvo. They had to take it because Pam had the car. When they got to the bar they were able to find two seats pretty easily; it wasn’t that crowded.
When they sat down, both Jim and Edward ordered a drink. Edward just got the same thing that Jim did, due to his lack of knowledge of alcoholic beverages.
Then Jim said, “So how long have you and Bella been married?”
“Five years.” They had actually been married for ten. Bella got changed ten years ago, but it wouldn’t make much sense if they got married at 13.
“Wow, right out of high school, huh?”
Edward nodded his head. “We had been dating for about two years. We had an August wedding.”
“Oh that must have been nice.”
“Yeah, it was great.”
“So how did you pop the question?”
Edward stared blankly. “I didn’t pop a question.”
Jim laughed. “I meant how did you propose?”
Edward stiffened for a moment. He remembered the first time he asked Bella to marry him; she said no.
“Well, at first I didn’t really do anything special. We were just hanging around, and I said that we should get married.”
“What do you mean, at first?”
Edward looked down, “She said no the first time.”
Jim looked a little shocked. (He hoped that it was unnoticeable, despite his jaw dropping to the floor.) Bella and Edward looked so in love. What if Pam said no? Jim didn’t think that he could handle that.
Edward continued, “Bella didn’t want to get married so young. She was concerned about what everyone else would think.”
“So how’d you get her to say yes?”
“Nothing special, just compromises,” Edward explained. “A lot of compromises. We were home alone one night, and we talked a lot, and after we talked about the compromises, she agreed to marry me.”
“And you already had the ring?”
Edward nodded. “Yeah, it was my mother’s. I was adopted, my mother died when I was young.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a while ago. Don’t worry about it.” Edward paused for a minute. “What about you? You have a ring right?”
Jim took the velvet box out of his pocket and put it on the bar. Edward took it and opened it. The ring was small and simple, yet beautiful and elegant.
Jim took a melancholy sip of beer. “I got it a week after we started dating.”
“Wow, just a week.”
“I’ve been in love with her for years. We’ve only been dating for a few months, though… she was engaged before we got together.” Jim paused, looking at Edward. “It’s a long, complicated story.”
“Don’t worry, I understand.” Jim nodded, not realizing that Edward understood more than he should have.
“I knew that she was the one from the minute I laid eyes on her,” Jim continued. “But with her being engaged, it made it impossible to be with her. When we started dating, I wanted to put that ring on her finger as soon as possible. I just didn’t think the first date was too appropriate to ask her.” Jim paused. “Or the second or third or fourth, or even fifth, for that matter. I’ve just been waiting for a long time, and I want to do it soon.”
“What made you decide to ask her now?”
Jim laughed a bit. “She said she wouldn’t move in with anyone unless she was engaged to them.”
“So why don’t you just take her out to a nice dinner one night and, er, pop your question then?”
“That’s not good enough,” Jim said, chuckling slightly at what he was about to say. “I promised that the proposal would kick her ass.”
Edward laughed. “So what are you planning to do?”
Jim bowed his head. “I have no idea. But I can’t stand that ring not being on her finger any longer. It’s killing me.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Not really. Maybe a little, but I’m just scared that it won’t impress her, you know? I mean, I have no clue what to do.”
“I don’t think she’ll care if it’s amazing or not.”
“But I want it to be. I want her to be…” Jim paused, looking for the right word. “I want her to be dazzled by it.”
Edward couldn’t help but laugh. Bella had always told him that he dazzled her.
Then Edward said, “You really love her don’t you?”
“I would give my life for her. I don’t want to live without her, I already spent so many years knowing her, but not being able to be with her, and it was hell.”
“Well then we’re really going to have to think of something to dazzle her, now aren’t we?”
Jim looked at Edward, “You’re going to help me?”
“Of course. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?”
Jim smiled. “Thanks.”
After a few minutes they decided to call it a night. Jim headed home to Pam, and Edward to Bella. All four of them were thinking about Jim’s future proposal.
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© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali
© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali