Life in Chaos
Page 7
*****
One Year Later
I was tempted to do a twirling leap as I walked out of the hospital. One year later and still cancer free. I would still need to get regular CAT scans for another 4 or 5 years to be completely out of the woods but this was the first major milestone.
Andrew was waiting for me at home. He had moved into my apartment about ten months ago, when it became glaringly apparent that he was spending all his time there, and I had celebration plans for him this evening.
When I got home, I told him the good news and then made him put on a blindfold so my surprise evening out would stay a surprise until we got there.
He was terrible at surprises, so the whole ride there he tried to guess where we were going, his guesses getting ever more ridiculous as the ride progressed. I finally threatened to pull the car over and enjoy our special evening by myself when he asked if we were going to a roller skating clown orgy.
When we got there, he grinned as I pulled off his blindfold and he saw that we were back at The Highball. Before we had been to see a Firefly re-enactment, which was totally my geek kink. Tonight I had made sure it was something he would enjoy: A show featuring The Avengers followed by a superhero trivia night. Men dressed in tights saving the world were his geek kink. His grin doubled in size when he saw the marquee declaring the theme for the evening.
“Aww, Shawn. If I had known, I could have worn a costume.” Yes, he does have at least two costumes that I know of, and yes, we’d had some fun with those costumes in a “no kids allowed” kind of way.
Just to ruffle him a bit, I replied, “That’s why I didn’t tell you.” But I smiled so he knew I was kidding.
About halfway through the show, I whispered that I had to go to the bathroom and left him alone at the end of our row.
I went to the bathroom and then snuck around to the area beside the stage. I was no longer dressed in my jeans and t-shirt. Instead, I had on a Captain America costume. Not full on spandex, but it would not be mistaken for street clothes if I walked out of the theater in it. I was a little nervous about how the crowd would react to what I was about to do, but this place catered more to the “keep Austin weird” set than the conservative Texas set so I figured I would be okay.
I heard the MC for the evening start to introduce the next part of the show before he said, “And now we have a special guest this evening. I’d like to introduce Caaaaptaaaaiiiin Ameeeericaaaaaa.”
My palm was sweating buckets around the little piece of metal I gripped in my hand as I walked out on to the stage area. I had a nervous grin on my face, and I could tell the minute Andrew realized who I was.
He was still smiling but I could tell he was confused.
The MC continued, “He has a special mission he needs our help to complete tonight, so let’s give him our support!” The crowd cheered raucously.
I walked towards the aisle that Andrew sitting in, and just before I reached his seat, I knelt on the ground in front of him. His eyes went wide.
I opened my hand and held it up to him. The golden ring sat in my palm, the stage lights shining off it, making it seeming like a beacon in the semi-darkness of the theatre.
“Andrew Walker, you have stood by through the toughest time in my life and I can’t imagine any time in my future where I won’t want you by my side. Will you marry me?”
He was nodding before I even finished asking. He took the ring from my hand and put it on. We could barely manage a proper kiss around our grins.
The crowd cheered around us and as I kissed the man who would be mine for the rest of my days, my heart was so full of joy I thought it would burst.
As we walked out of the theatre later that night and into the light spring rain, it felt fitting that our journey back together had started in the rain and was sealed by the rain. The drops of water fell almost silently from the sky as they dampened our clothes. We took momentary cover under an awning as Andrew kissed me. Before we stepped out of our brief shelter, I glanced down at our linked hands. In bright light of the street lamp the droplets of water on his ring cast a tiny rainbow over the gold.
I smiled and allowed myself to revel in our happiness as I dragged him out into the rain.
THE END.
*****
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About the Author:
Kathleen is a relative newby to writing but has jumped in feet first (there might have been a dare involved). She is a bit of an all around geek. Kathleen loves sci-fi television (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and could argue to pro and cons of Serenity vs Stargate until the end of time. She has mastered the art of procrastination, is owned by two crazy cats, and loves being a Christian (but not the scary kind). Her favorite thing to read about are first kisses and is way more likely to write a first kiss than a sex scene. Kathleen loves to hear from readers, writers, reviewers and pretty much anyone so feel free to email her at kchayes54@gmail.com or comment on her blog. She has two self published stories available, Broken and Christmas Tradition, as well as a plethora of ficbits, available on her blog. She is also in the middle of a serial story, True Love’s Kiss, which updates every two weeks or so.
You can find her online at Romancing the Word (her blog).