I pictured us waking up next to each other—your eyes meeting mine, a smile tugging on my lips causing one to form on yours, and we grin. We grin together and we sigh. Relieved. A lazy day together ahead. So we get up. We brush our teeth and we keep our frothy smiles. We admire the fact that we're each other's and that we look so damn good, even if your hair is sticking up in the back like it's Jimmy Neutron, or if my eyes are crusting over on the edges. Through our messy bed-heads, we still manage to see that we're goddamn beautiful together and that we truly belong here, in this place, at this time and with each other.
I pictured us finishing our routine to freshen up, only to get back into bed and collapse into each others arms and look deeply into each other's eyes, laughing at the fact that we're cross-eyed when we do. Then I place my palm on yours, intertwining our fingers like needle and yarn, never planning on letting go, and just like that, our eyes meet again and it's no longer silly that we're cross-eyed or even lying so close that we're stealing oxygen. Then we kiss. And we kiss, and we kiss and we kiss and we kiss, until suddenly it's been minutes and we won't care whether or not it will last hours or the whole day. We kiss like tomorrow doesn't exist and until we're wrapped into each other like vines on a branch.
And then suddenly we stop and we ponder and we pause and we just enjoy the silence of our seemingly innocent love. And then you place your hand on my cheek and allow that great smile of yours to appear on your lips, when suddenly, you whisper the words, "Marry me." And I pause in shock. I back away and I sit up, causing you to do the same.
"What did you say?" I ask, trying to clarify whether I heard everything right and that I wasn't just imagining it.
And I pictured you...turning towards me with that same smile on your face, taking my hands and giving them a squeeze. I pictured you reaching over into the drawer by our bed and pulling out a small velvet box, opening it to reveal a ring.
"Marry me," you said again, watching the tears well up in my eyes. "I don't want to go another day knowing that someone else can have you."
And I pictured me crying, letting out sobs of pure joy, knowing that I was loved by you, that I was valued beyond measure, that I was chosen and that I was yours and that I was finally enough for someone to stay for. And I pictured myself saying yes to you through thousands and thousands of kisses, knowing that no one could tell us no and knowing that you claimed and declared me as yours. Officially yours.
I pictured forever with you. From there on out. But sadly, this is just a picture. It's up to us to take it.
