Layla
Dear Lisa,
I had just finished my shift in the bakery when Ben texted me.
He’d been traveling back and forth to New Orleans for the last couple of weeks.
I don’t think I’ve told you yet, but he got drafted to the Guardians.
I’m really happy for him, even though it means we have to spend a lot more time apart, especially when I start classes again next month.
His text confused me because he wasn’t due to come back until next week.
He sent me an address asking me to meet him there.
I typed it into the Maps on my phone, put my headphones in, and started walking.
After about fifteen minutes, I stopped at an apartment block with a park across the road filled with kids playing and people walking their dogs.
I reached the front door, the black glass made it hard for me to see in. There was a row of buzzers on the wall beside the door with apartment numbers beside them.
I didn’t know which one it was his, so I sent him a text. The front door buzzed open, I pushed against the bar.
Inside, there was a small foyer with a sad looking plant that clearly needed watering, and a wooden staircase that twisted upward, breaking off at each floor.
I started taking the steps. I could hear footsteps coming from above, and then Ben was in front of me. He grinned, and I ran the rest of the way. He picked me up in his arms and kissed me.
When he set me down, he laced his fingers with mine. We walked up another floor together and stopped at door fifteen. He pulled out a key and told me to close my eyes.
I arched a brow. “Why?”
“It’s a surprise,” he said.
I closed my eyes, and he guided me through the doorway. I heard him set the key down on what I assumed was a table, then he led me further inside.
“Open your eyes.”
We were standing in a kitchen. There was a green stand mixer on the counter top with a red ribbon tied around it. I haven’t had one of those for years, and even then, the one I used at Dads was old and temperamental.
My smile stretched across my face. “You got me a mixer?”
He smiled. “You’ll need it for when you start your business.” He kissed the side of my head. “And in the meantime, I’m willing to be your tester.”
“Of course you are,” I laughed.
He put his hands on my hips and lowered his lips to mine.
“Layla.”
He stopped kissing me. His hands held my face, and he looked at me the way he always does, like I’m the only thing that matters in the world.
“I know we said we’d wait until you finished college, but I don’t want to. I hated these last couple weeks. I want to come home to you every night and wake up with you every morning.”
“I know. It’s only for a year, though, and then we can–”
“Marry me,” he whispered.
“What?”
He trailed his lips down my jaw, to my neck. “I’m serious, Layla. I’ve run out of reasons why we should wait until you graduate.”
“Because we need an apartment, you have football, I have college…”
He took my hand and walked me to the apartment door, picked up the keys, and placed them in my hand.
“It’s ours.”
I looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“I signed the lease today. It’s ours.”
I looked around the apartment again, really looked at it. There wasn’t much in it. The walls were bare, and a small, sad blue couch was pushed against the far wall.
“Sorry,” he said. “I know I should have done it properly. I should have lit candles, taken you out for dinner, filled the apartment with flowers. Anything, really, other than just blurting it out. I signed the lease today, and I bought that stand mixer, and when I set it down in the kitchen, I knew I didn’t want to wait a year before it was your kitchen too.
And then I saw your face light up when you saw it, and I couldn’t wait to ask you.
I haven’t even got you a ring yet.” He cursed.
“I’m sorry, Layla. I’ll do all of that, I’ll do it the way I should have. ”
I shook my head. “No.”
My eyes widen when I see the look on his face. “No. I don’t mean no. I mean no to all those things you just said. I don’t need flowers or candles or a ring. I don’t want those things. I just want you.”
“Is that a yes?”
I smiled. “Yes.”
He took me in his arms and he kissed me, and it was then, right then, in that moment that I realized I had everything I’ll ever need.