Love at Second Sight

In-Between 2

Sometimes the most shocking surprises are also the most beautiful surprises.

~Lori Wilhite

***

Stella was the first one to notice Zac picking at his breakfast like a child, followed by Clair. She looked at her mother asking her what was up with him silently. Clair simply shook her head.

"Hey, bro, what's wrong?"

Zac had come over for the weekend, because he apparently missed them a lot. But everyone knew who it was that he really missed. His beloved girlfriend, Savannah. It'd been three days since she'd left for India to learn the cuisine in depth. And, being the smitten boyfriend he was, he was longing to see her again. The lovestruck guy he'd become.

"Nothing really."

"You missing Savannah?"

"Yeah, just a little."

"Are you sure you're missing her just a little?"

He gave her a look. "What do you want? Stop going all lawyer on me. I hate it when you cross-question like that, especially when I don't have good arguments to put forth."

Stella thumped her hands on the table. "I knew it! So you are missing her more than you wanna admit to anyone including you, because you are so whipped."

He puffed air out. "I am, so what? Nowadays is it a bad thing to love someone too?"

Stella laughed. "I didn't say that. It's definitely not a bad thing. Actually, seeing the way you two are with each other makes me very envious of what you guys have. I adore that you love her so much. Which is why there is nothing wrong with admitting it."

"Probably," he said, shutting himself off again.

Sensing that he wasn't gonna open up, she signaled her mom to give them a little privacy. Maybe if she used the fact that he'd never been able to say no to her to her advantage, she could know the real reason why he was so dejected.

With her mom safely out of hearing range, she retried, "Look, mom's also not here now. Won't you tell me why you are so blue today?" She added a bit of puppy-dog eyes to the persuasive tone she was using—she knew puppy-dog eyes always worked.

And they did.

He exhaled and started in a low voice, "I—The day after tomorrow is 31st of July."

"Yeah, so?"

"That's the day she'd rejected me last year. I hate that day, till this date. And, I was planning to change it for the better." He looked back down at his plate that looked all too fascinating at the moment and mumbled, "I was gonna propose to her."

"What!"

"Keep it low, kiddo!" he whisper-yelled.

"Really? You were gonna propose to her? OMG, OMG, OMG. I have been waiting for this day to come for so long. I can't tell you how delighted this makes me."

"Yeah, I can relate. I was fucking thrilled too, but then, last Sunday she dropped the bomb that her India plan had gotten advanced and she was leaving on Wednesday. She looked so apologetic anyway, I didn't have the heart to tell her not to go. I mean, I knew how much that trip meant to her. She's been wanting to formally and properly learn the Indian cuisine for a really long while now. I just couldn't not encourage her to go. And now my plans are going south."

"Are you really this dumb?"

"What the hell?"

"I thought you were way more romantic than this after what you'd arranged for her on her birthday."