Someone Else's Fairytale

Thirty-Three: The Setup

“Kyra practically told you the plan last night,” said Jason. “Jen called, I tried to play along, and the kid totally blew it and told me off? What did you think was going on?”

We were walking back to his car and I tried not to stare at the enormous diamond he'd put on my finger. More money than I'd made in my lifetime was mounted on the slim gold band. Though I was no expert, the way it sparkled and seemed to glow from inside seemed more intense than any other diamond I'd ever seen. I hoped this thing was insured.

“I thought she might be pregnant,” I said.

“What?”

“Jen was in tears. She was... o-kay, so you're not the only one with acting talent in the family."

"Oh, really?"

"She scared me to death."

"Really? Yeah, maybe we overdid it."

"She called about a personal family matter and needed Kyra home. You and Kyra gone in the evening, not working, I thought maybe you were at the doctor. Her all emotional, screaming at you about laundry. Her clinging to me like an overly-hormonal crazy person.”

Jason stopped in his tracks and doubled over. “Okay, we definitely overdid it.” He laughed so hard I had to steady him. “She thought the laundry was an obvious clue that you hated my lifestyle so much, there was no way you'd say yes.”

“So, Kyra's fine?”

“Kyra's good. Kyra's great. Kyra just can't believe that you really love me if you haven't slept with me, not that this is any of her business. She was not in favor of this whole plan.”

“She thought I was freezing you out because I didn't want anything long term?”

“Yeah. She's been brow beating me for weeks, telling me that a proposal was way out of line because you didn't even want to live with me. How did you not pick up on this right from the beginning? I've been working overtime to hide clues from you and prevent Kyra from screwing it up, but I knew you were onto something. I thought there was no way I'd be able to outsmart you; you see too much.”

“Jason, when I asked if you were going to do something drastic-”

“Yeah, I didn't know if that was a warning or what.”

“No, I meant end of the relationship kind of drastic.”

“You thought I was going to break up with you?”

“Because things weren't, you know, progressing. Physically.”

“What? You have been living with Kyra too long. You're not sane. Look, you asked me-”

“What you'd change about our relationship.”

“For this to be my fairytale.”

“Right.”

“How did you not get this? It's the happily ever after that makes a fairytale. I mean, come on. Everyone knows that.” We'd reached his car and he held open the door for me. “I gotta call Jen and stuff.”

He dialed as he circled around the front of his car and when he got in his side, I heard Jen answer by screaming, “What did she say?”

“She's thinking about it.”

“Oh no.”

“Just kidding.”

“I hate you. That's not funny. That is not funny!”

“See you soon.”

“She said 'yes'?”

“Yeah.”