It's been about a month since I've arrived in Seattle. Classes are going okay, and I'm starting to make friends. With as much as there is going on in my life, I haven't really had that much time to think about him, except at night when I'm all alone. I lay awake, staring at the still unfamiliar ceiling with his face in my mind. His eyes, his smile, his laugh - how could I ever forget those? It's so lonely without him. But as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to do about it. He's so far away, there's no way I could place my hand upon his cheek like I always do. I'll just have to deal.
I woke up on a Saturday morning feeling a bit exhausted. The day before I had tests in all my classes. I had studied so much over the week that the energy I exerted into it was finally catching up to me. I'll just lay here for a while, I thought to myself. My dorm room was cold, and my bed was rather cozy. A bit of a draft was making my nose especially chilled, so I pulled my sheets up to cover my face. As I did so, something fell to the floor. At first I thought nothing of it, thinking that it was probably some papers I had used to study from. But as I opened my eyes, I saw that these said papers were stacked on my desk beside my bed, and on top of them - a single rose that was placed in a decorative vase. I blinked a few times in attempt to remove the blurriness of sleep from my eyes. A rose? Perhaps it wasn't meant for me.
I sat up in my bed stifling a yawn that involuntarily came forth. My eyes fell upon a mystery envelope that lay on the floor beside my bed; Obviously it was the "something" that fell off when I was trying to warm my icicle nose. As quickly as a sleepy person could, I pulled myself out of my sheets for a few brief moments to sweep up the envelop off the floor. As I cuddled back into the warm blankets, I flipped the envelope over to reveal the name of the person the rose was intended for. An eyebrow lifted in wonder when I saw my name printed on there. Was this some sort of joke for the new girl who came half way through the school year? I was skeptical, but intrigued.
I continued forth, carefully opening the envelope without completely destroying it. Inside it contained not a card, but a single piece of paper that looked like it came from a yellow notepad. The words were not hand written, but typed by what seemed to be an old-fashioned typewriter.
"Come downstairs at 10:30 am to the lounge. Dress nice, and bring a jacket. Also bring this envelope with you."
The skepticism was still in play, but a certain excitement came over me. Perhaps it was some sort of belated welcoming party. Maybe it was some idiot trying to make a fool of me by making me wander outside (I'm guessing, with the "jacket" clue) in the beginning of February. Well, I'd never found out if I sat there pondering about it. A bit reluctantly I pulled myself from the comforts of my bed to find some clothes that would suit the request. After a few moments of primping myself up, I left my room in a rush with the envelope in hand.
It took only minutes to arrive at the lounge, which had quite a few people in it for this time of the morning. But there were no big banners, no crowds waiting, nothing out of the ordinary except a girl who was standing alone wearing a heavy winter jacket and holding a blindfold in her hand. Immediately her eyes fell upon the envelope in my grasp, then rushed over to me with a shy smile on her face.
"I was instructed to lead you somewhere," she said in a mousy voice. I looked at her with a smile, as that was really all I could do at that time. I didn't know what was going on, and as I was opening my mouth to ask, she quickly interrupted me. "I can't tell you what it is, but I can assure you, you will like it." I merely nodded my response to her words. "You'll need to put this blindfold on."
She stepped around behind me and placed the blindfold over my eyes. The girl, who was taller than me, took a brief second to adjust it to make sure I couldn't see before taking hold of my hand and leading me slowly towards the door.
The cold winter air stung my face as we went out the door. I could tell it was snowing because of the scattered snowflakes that fell upon bare skin. We walked along in silence, but from the soft, gossipy sounding whispers that followed close by, I could tell we weren't alone. So people did know about this somehow, whatever "this" is. A certain nervousness was beginning to twist in my stomach. I didn't know whether it was the cold or the anxiety that was making my entire body shiver. I felt the soft crunch of snow come under my feet - we were going off the path. It was only a few seconds of walking before we stopped and the girl let go of my hand. I heard her quickly walk away. I was left alone.
I stood there quietly, leaving the blindfold sit where it was for the time being. I expected someone to talk, or to take the blindfold off, or something. But nothing happened. Time passed, whether quickly or slowly I couldn't tell. My heart was beating in my brain, and all I could think was that I allowed myself to be put on display as a fool. I was becoming angry - angry at the people who pulled this stunt, and angry at myself for allowing it to happen. Just as I was about to rip the blindfold off...
A hand grasped mine gently to prevent me from unmasking my eyes. This unexpected touch made me start. Before I could say anything, or even think anything, a pair of lips barred down upon mine as this mystery person pulled me into a tight embrace. The mystery, however, did not last very long. I knew these lips, this touch, this embrace, this smell, this kiss. But, how? And why?
I didn't care about either of those questions, though. Tears began to fill my eyes as my hands reached up to feel his familiar face. I tried to pull away from the kiss just for a moment to pull off the mask, but he pushed me into to him to deepen this long awaited kiss. The passion was overwhelming, filling every inch of my body. I let go of my desire to see his face to enjoy and memorize this moment.
He finally pulls out of the kiss, but he continues to hold me close. I wrap my arms around him, the tears rolling down my cheeks at this unexpected surprise. I wanted to speak, but my voice was lost within my throat. His lips came next to my ear and began to whisper, sending chills down my spine in the process.
"You're all I need
You're all I dream
You're all I'm always
wanting
You're all I need
You're all I dream
You're all I'm always
wanting...
I'm always wanting you."*
With a kiss on the cheek, he slowly pulled out from the embrace and stepped away.
"Take off the blindfold."
A shaky hand reached to grab the blindfold from my eyes. In front of me stood hundreds of students who all had their eyes on me. My eyes quickly averted from their gaze and that's when I saw it...
On one knee in the snow, he held out a small box. Behind him, written in rose petals in the snow...
Will you marry me?