You Shook Me All Night Long: A Love Story - 12

Chapter 12: Let Me Sleep On It


Every year Mr. Perfect's dad makes a work trip to D.C. for about a week in the Spring. It's always a fun week filled with lots of good food, drinks and laughs. This year, I proposed we spend Valentine's evening at Nelly's (my favorite sports bar in D.C. that happens to be a gay bar) or another bar where we could eat some grub and watch the KU-KSU game. After all, Mr. Perfect and his Dad are huge KU fans and I'm mostly a KSU fan when I have someone reminding me they are playing KU.

Mr. Perfect asked if that was what I really wanted to do. Well, sure, sounds like fun.
But, it turns out, he said he had already made reservations for dinner. He would cancel if I wanted him too...
I thought about it for a moment, but appreciated his thoughtfulness at making the reservations and thought we should stick with it.

Monday morning came, and I woke up excited to give Mr. Perfect a card explaining my Valentine's day gift for him - a flying trapeze class!

He surprised me with a sweet card, I packed him lunch, and we were off to the salt mines.

I had a great day at work. Flowers were everywhere, people were happy, and, after telling my coworker that I had begged Mr. Perfect for a heart shaped pizza but he insisted on taking me to a nice restaurant for dinner, she bought me a heart shaped pizza.

As if it could get better, we had a celebration at work featuring champagne and sweet treats.

It was a good day.

I headed back to my desk from the celebration around 6:30 and got a call from Mr. Perfect. He was already home.
I asked if he was driving to dinner and just wanted to pick me up on the way to the restaurant.
He told me it was Valentine's day and I should come home and make out hang out with him.

I laughed.
It was true.

I shut it down and quite literally bounded home.

As I walked up to our apartment door, I turned off my iPod, fumbling with the package I got in the mail and my headphones. Grabbing the door handle to find it was locked, I dug in my purse and finally found my keys.

Only as I was pushing the door open did I realize there was a massive sign - at eye level - with RED lettering - on the door.

This is one of those moments that really confirms every fear Mr. Perfect has about my lack of awareness about my surroundings.

I let out a big "awwwww" and walked the rest of the way into the apartment. From the door way I could see there were flowers on our coffee table in the living room.

Flowers as in multiple bouquets.

I walked in to the room to see my handsome Mr. Perfect sitting, waiting for me, and a really beautiful table with a dozen red roses, sunflowers, a dozen white roses, tulips, another small bunch of flowers, conversation hearts and purple flowers scattered all over and a big sign in the middle that said "I LOVE YOU!"

I kicked off my shoes and dropped my purse and peeling off my coat, telling him how awesome he was and how beautiful everything looked.

He stood up and gave me a sweet hug and a kiss.

He told me some of the conversation hearts said LOL.

As I peered at them, I found one that said NO WAY and laughed at the great timing for finding a heart that said what I was thinking.

We stood there for a moment, then he told me that the sign was actually a card, and I should really read it.

I picked it up and unfolded it.

Nothing.

I looked up at him in confusion.
I looked back at the faux card.
I looked at him.
He said, "Well, it's a card, you should shake it to see if anything comes out."

(Now would be a good time to explain that every single time Mr. Perfect gets a card - from me or otherwise - he immediately pulls it out of the envelope and shakes it, then looks at me with disappointment that "there's no check!")

Yeah.

So I shook it.

And, shockingly, nothing came out of the "card" that I had just opened.

I looked up at him again, with confusion.

He was staring at the table.

"Are you sure nothing fell out??" He asked, still staring at the table.

So I looked down.

I should say, I finally looked down.

And sitting there, as it had been for the past two minutes as I fruitlessly shook an empty card, was a small black box with a gorgeous ring.

I looked back at Mr. Perfect.

Holy Shit.
This is happening. 

He looked at me and told me everything I already knew.

Then he said, (just as we had been laughing and saying to each other for weeks - ever since he sang it to me on a night someone asked when we were going to get engaged and I replied, "Well, he told me 'forever's gonna start tonight,' soo....."), "Forever's gonna start tonight."

And he dropped to a knee and asked me a question I only knew only had one possible answer.
"Yes."

Followed by a whispered, "this is weird!"

Because look folks, if there's one thing we've learned it's that you can stop the awkward.
Can.
Not.
Stop.
It.

We laughed and hugged, Mr. Perfect went to the fridge and pulled out the cava we bought the night before - a fortuitous tasting at our local wine shop.

We toasted to Us, Mr. Perfect queued up the music and we danced and we sang. 

What does a newly engaged couple dance and sing to?

Meatloaf. Naturally.



And yes, he loves me, he's gonna love me forever, he needs me, he's never gonna leave me, he's gonna make me so happy for the rest of my life, he's gonna take me away and make me his wife.

We cranked that shit. And laughed and jumped and toasted and laughed and kissed and sang all the best parts and danced.

Then my Mr. Perfect DJ'd us on over to the main show. The big event.



And we did what we do at weddings, at bars, at home. We slowed danced the hell out it. And those elusive tears that were too overwhelmed to make an appearance 5 minutes ago?
They showed up, right on cue.

A montage of the moments that have made us US played through my head.

"Did you ever think, when you sang this to me that you'd be here today?" he asked.

"No." I laughed.
"Did you ever think I wouldn't cry until you played AC/DC?" I asked.
"No." he laughed.