Not only was the trip to Australia going to be special for Arsenal fans down under but it was going to be a trip that neither Katie nor Caitlin forgot. They were going on about a year of dating at this point and both knew that they wanted to marry one another. It was early, but when you knew you knew right? They had a brief discussion on marriage earlier in the year and both agreed that they were meant to be forever. The problem neither girl had made any clear on indications on who was proposing to who.
If either girl had paid closer attention that might have noticed that they both were being oddly protective of their carry on bag. Or Caitlin might have noticed that Katie was texting someone a lot and that someone happened to be Caitlin's mother, but Caitlin was too busy texting her sister. Little did they know similar plans were being made.
Katie's POV - (imagine it as Katie speaking her plans out loud)
Over Christmas, I was talking to Caitlin's mom when Cait was getting some personal time with her sister. We went through old albums and childhood memories, mostly which I'd taken a mental note to make fun of Caitlin for later, but one thing caught my eye. It was a page torn out from what must have been her journal when she was young. There was a list of things she wanted to accomplish when growing up. I read through it and smiled as i realized Caitlin had in fact done most of the things on the list, but there was one in particular that caught her eye.
"I want to get married here" written in her little kid hand writing and attached was a picture of a beach.
"Where is this place?" I asked Caitlin's mom without taking her eyes off the picture.
"Oh that's a beach not too far from her. Caitlin's favorite. She used to spend all day there and would be an absolute pain in the arse to try and get home in time for dinner." Her mom laughed at the memories.
I took a moment to keep looking at the picture before I took a deep breath and turned toward her mom.
"I know it's early for us, but I really love your daughter. I promise to love her the rest of my life and would be so honored if you give me your permission to marry her."
"Oh Katie you are exactly who my daughter belongs with. Of course have my approval."
"Would you mind if I took this page? I think it'll be great as a part of my proposal"
"Only if you tell me when you plan on doing it"
"Of course. I'll need your help in fact."
And that was the beginning of scheming with Caitlin's mom for the last few months about when to propose. It helped we had a free day scheduled in our Australia trip in May that Caitlin and I would use to go visit her family. It would be then that I propose to her and her dream location.
Caitlin's POV
Ever since Katie and I had that conversation about marriage a little while ago it's been literally the only thing on my mind. I almost planned to propose in Rome when we had decided we head there sometime in the spring but I just felt like too forced? Cliche? I'm not sure but when I thought about going back to Australia I knew It would be the perfect place. I immediately called my sister because she had already proposed to her fiancé and I needed all the advice I could get. She was more help than I could have imagined, because as soon as I told her my plan she just responded with one word. The name of my favorite beach from when I was a kid. My mom, sister, and I were so close because we only had each other growing up. Jamie knew how special that place was to me and it would be the perfect place to propose to Katie. I also couldn't have thanked her enough because she came up with the idea right before we went to Ireland for st Patrick's day meaning I had a chance to talk to Katie's family beforehand. Katie had to do an ad promotion for a few hours during our trip which gave me a chance to talk to her parents. Katie obviously has 100 siblings, but I know she really has always looked up to her older sister Vanessa a lot and luckily for me Vanessa happened to be in the house the same day I was going to ask their permission. I think they knew I was nervous because her dad started laughing at me.
"Something on your mind there Aussie?"
"Uh yeah actually was wondering if I could talk to you guys about something?" They gave me a look to continue so I did. " I know we haven't been dating all that long but Katie's been my best friend for four years now. She makes unbelievably happy. And I would really like to ask if you would permit me to marry your daughter. And sister!" I said quickly turning to Vanessa. Her mom started tearing up and smiling immediately giving me her permission and a quick hug.
"Look Caitlin, Katie has told me everything in her life, has called me happy, sad, crying, angry, every emotion you name it. But through every relationship she's had she's never called so much to share all her happy stories and tell me how well cared for she feels. You keep that up and you have my permission for life."
"I promise I will."
"You love my baby girl?" Her dad said
"With All my heart"
"You are going to protect her?"
"With my life"
"Then you have my permission too. Welcome to the fam Aussie."
Present day - off day and the girls are at Caitlin's house.
Jamie had promised to help her sister set up the beach before Caitlin got there. Unknown to her, Caitlin's mom had promised Katie the same thing.
Her mom had just finished serving the couple lunch and said she had some errands to run. Really the plan was to sneak away early before the girls went on their walk. To her surprise, the last thing she expected was to see her other daughter at the beach with bouquets of flowers in her hand.
"Jamie?"
"Mom?!"
"What are you-" "no what are you doing!"
"I'm helping Katie set up something"
"Well I happen to be doing the same thing for Cait."
"Omg are they both proposing today? Well guess we know there's no chance either one says no."
"How are we going to do this Jamie?"
They both stared at the scene and all of the flowers the two girls wanted set up and various other props and with some quick thinking managed to combine both girls ideas into one. And in their opinion. It looked pretty damn good.
Back at Caitlin's house Katie pretended to find that torn out page from the journal laying around the house as she was looking around at old family photos.
"Hey what's this Cait? Where's this beach?"
"Oh uh I wrote that when I was little. That's my favorite beach. Not too far from here actually." Caitlin said nervously
"Take me there?" Katie said thinking her plan was working perfectly.
"Of course. Shall we go now for our walk?" Caitlin said suddenly realizing her plan was unfolding perfectly.
The girls walked hand in hand towards the beach. Again if they weren't both so nervous the other one might have noticed that they both had their opposite hands in their pockets making sure their precious rings weren't going to fall out.
Caitlin and Katie both looked around to make sure their partners in crime weren't still hanging around. But when they turned the corner to the beach they both stood speechless as they saw their proposal setup, or half of what they were expecting to see. The other half was a shock to them.
"Katie um?"
"Were you going to?"
They both turned toward one another and smiled huge grins that would be impossible to erase off each others face. They took each others hands again and walked towards the setup. Both getting on one knee and pulling out their rings.
"Katie,"
"Caitlin,"
"Will you marry me?" They said in unison. Both laughing as they leaned in to kiss one another and slide rings on their fingers.
"I had a whole speech prepared!" Caitlin laughed
"So did I! I stayed until for hours last night going over it in my head!" Katie said.
"How did we manage this? What are the odds? God I can't wait to hear this story. But first I need to kiss you again" Caitlin said leaning back into capture Katie's lips. Katie was REALLY hoping Caitlin's mom was long gone as she reciprocated the kiss and dragged Caitlin on top of her as they laid in the sand for a while longer enjoying the joint proposal setup.
