It All Started With An Apple

Epilogue

“What would you do if you could do anything?”

Dannon smiled, holding up our intertwined hands.  We were sprawled out on the grass in front of our tree.  The park was our favorite place to go now.  To have alone time, to get away from the reality of life.  To just be with each other.  Ever since Dannon’d left the hospital, we’d almost never been apart.  And when we were, we were always on the phone with each other.  The presence of one another was vital.  Call me a romantic, I didn’t really care.  My love for the guy was too strong.

“What would I do?” he murmured, turning to face me.  “I would do exactly what I’m doing now.  Live life to the fullest with the love of my life along with everyone else important to me.  What else do I need?”

I smiled, my gaze flickering toward the sky.  “That was incredibly corny,” I mused despite the fact that I loved his answer.

“Ah, but you loved it didn’t you?”  He snickered as I blushed before I could stop myself.  “Just admit it, Bri.  You’re a chick flick girl at heart.”

I reached over to slap him on his thigh.  It was rather difficult because of the position I was in, but I managed.  I mean, of course I did.  I was Brianne.  I could do anything.  “Shut up!”

“Ouchy!”  Dannon pouted, his lip jutting out cutely.  “Why must you hurt me so?”

I shook my head, looking back up at the sky.  The world seemed so much bigger than it had before.  Graduation had come and gone, replaced with the sweet bliss of summer.  Not that it really mattered.  I was going to go to college in a few months, and so was Dannon.  Despite the fact that we were going to different colleges, I wasn’t worried.  Not about the long distance relationship, anyway.  That’s what cell phones were made for.  And it wasn’t like our colleges were out of state.  Weekend hang outs were going to definitely be possible.

“My apologies.”  The sarcasm dripped from my mouth like acid.  Lovely acid meant to be treated with absolute care.  “I’ll make sure to hit you lighter next time.”

Dannon was about to answer, but suddenly a child calling out, “Mommy, why are they in the grass?” cut off any further conversation.  We both burst into fits of laughter.  We tried to contain it so that the child and the mom wouldn’t know that we were laughing at them, but it wasn’t working out very well.  The fact that a random kid was asking his mother about us amused me greatly.  I wondered why the child thought we were lying in the grass.  Did he think we were sleeping?  Maybe.

“Shh, honey, I  don’t know why they’re in the grass.  Come on, we’re late.”

Dannon shifted, glancing toward the direction of the child and the mother.  He smiled, giving a small wave before turning back to me.  I stared at him, pressing my lips together to keep from smiling.  Keeping a straight face with him was just so difficult.  “What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.  “Is waving to a child who has taken an interest in you a crime?”

I giggled, shaking my head.  “Nah, not at all.”

“Good.”  Dannon chuckled.  “The kid waved back, too.”

“Doesn’t surprise me.”

It was silent for a moment.  I closed my eyes, taking in the summer breeze.  I let my head fall onto Dannon’s shoulder, my eyes remaining shut.  Dannon detached our hands, bringing an arm around me and pulling me closer to him.  He laced our hands together, sighing contently.  “Remember when you hated me?” he mused.  “Those were some good times.”

I laughed, my eyes popping open.  Dannon’s eyes sparked with amusement.  “I was such a jerk to you.”

“Such a loveable jerk.”  He smiled.  “Still are.”

I laughed, shaking my head.  “Can’t argue with that.”

Dannon sighed.  “What do you think life would be like if you hadn’t thrown that apple?”

I thought his question over for a moment.  It was hard to imagine life without Dannon in it—impossible, really.  So quickly he’d become a vital aspect in my life.  “Unthinkable,” I replied finally.  “A huge hole gaping like an abyss.  Um, incomplete, not whole, totally not as amazing.”  I paused.  “I’d probably die alone with a gazillion cats.”

Dannon laughed.  “Only a gazillion?  I’m pretty sure there would be more than that.”

“No, no, you misunderstand.  You’d also die alone with many cats, but with way more than me.”

“Oh, my apologies.”  Dannon smiled.  “My mistake.”

I laughed, pressing my lips to his in a swift kiss.  I was in the middle of pulling away when Dannon pushed me gently back forward, connecting our lips once again.  I smiled as he kissed me, amused by his actions.  In the back of my mind I wondered how many onlookers were staring at us right now.  A while ago that would have been enough to make me pull away.  But now?  Well, now I didn’t care one bit.

“A quick kiss wasn’t good enough?” I breathed once he pulled away.

Dannon smiled.  “Never.”

I smiled back, resting my head on his shoulder once again.  “I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you, too.”

It was silent for a while.  I began daydreaming of what my life was going to be like ten years from now.  Instead of how I used to picture it—alone with many cats—I imagined myself with a family.  Maybe two kids, maybe a dog.  Maybe a fish that the youngest child insisted on feeding despite the fact that they were going to murder it by overfeeding it.  Yep, that was the life.

“Hey, Brianne?”

I turned, meeting Dannon’s gaze.  I smiled.  “Yeah?”

Dannon smiled brightly, pressing his lips swiftly to mine before plopping something into my hand.  I looked down, shocked to see a small, velvet box.  My eyebrows creased with confusion.  A jewelry box?  “Open it,” Dannon murmured, sensing my hesitation.  I hated jewelry and he knew it.

Biting my lip, I opened the box.  Instead of seeing a necklace or a pair of earrings of some sort, I was surprised to see a diamond ring.  It was beautiful.  Clear-cut, silver band.  Shiny.  I gasped, looking from the ring to Dannon in confusion.  Was he . . . ?

Dannon smiled, taking my free hand within his.  “Brianne, you know that I love you, right?”

I nodded, my eyes wide.

“And you love me, right?”

Another nod.

Dannon let out a long breath of air.  “Well, I’ve been trying to think of a way to do this for a while, but. . . .”

I cocked an eyebrow.  My insides were whirling.  Was this—was this actually happening right now?  “Dannon, are you seriously about to give me a corny proposal speech?”

Dannon laughed, shaking my head.  I laughed along with him, not able to keep a ridiculously large smile off my face.  It was like he’d already popped the question even though he hadn’t.  My heart thudded in my chest so fast that I thought I was going to die from a heart attack.

“No, of course not,” Dannon teased, bringing a hand through my hair.  “I know how much you hate those things.”

I smiled largely.  “Are you going to ask me, or is this ring just for decoration?”

Dannon sighed dramatically.  “So impatient!”  He cleared his throat before bringing both hands to cup my cheeks.  “Brianne Nichols . . .” he drew out, probably dragging this on just to tease me.

Both my eyebrows rose, waiting for him to finish.  Excitement flowed within me as I imagined my future.  It seemed so close that I could almost touch it.  The urge to kiss him was so strong that it was hard to resist the temptation.  But, alas, I couldn’t kiss him until after he asked the question.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Dannon finally finished what he was going to say.

“Marry me?”