Birthday Flowers | The Kissing Booth

52. Details to be Determined

(Noah)

I've been awake and watching Elle sleep for at least an hour now. Not continuously; I've also gotten up, showered, dressed, unpacked the suitcase I'd taken to New York, and made coffee. But in between those accomplishments, I keep coming back to our room and pausing to watch her sleep. She's still wearing the ring and I'm glad for the reminder that yesterday actually happened, because the memory of it feels like one long, weird dream. But no, it was all real. I spent the week convincing myself to be patient and then Elle informed me that we were getting married. Now. Which thrills me every time I remember, even if I don't yet have any idea how we're going to manage that.

Elle still doesn't look interested in waking up, and I wander back to the living room to find more to distract myself with. I guess the plan for today is going to be telling our parents, although that may need to wait for this evening, when Mike gets back from work. Maybe we'll go tell my mom first. I think Elle would like that. Mom's going to go into full emergency planning mode the second she finds out, though, so Elle and I should talk about when and how we want this wedding to happen before we head over there.

An alarm on my phone goes off, and I can't figure out why at first. The description just says "Rams - Adam," and eventually I remember that today is the day 'Niners tickets go on sale and that Adam and I were hoping to see them play the Rams in September. Yeah, so that's not happening, and it's weird to think how radically life has changed since I set that alarm. Back then I expected that in September I'd be settling into my third year teaching, maybe starting to plot my next move. I don't really know where I expected things to stand with Elle by then, but I'd probably have told you that we were over, ignoring that quiet voice that still believed we'd work things out. But I definitely didn't expect that within months of creating that calendar alert I'd have left San Francisco, gotten a new job, and oh yeah, be living with Elle and planning to marry her. Not to mention hoping to do so soon, before we become parents.

I send Adam a picture of the calendar alert with the caption sorry - find yourself a new date, and I'm surprised to see him start typing back almost immediately. And suddenly I feel like sharing the news. Elle surely won't mind if I tell Adam, and we just won't tell our parents they weren't first to find out. I hit call before Adam's done typing.

"Man, you really miss me, don't you? I get it, I'm awesome." Adam laughs in lieu of saying hello.

"Yeah, definitely why I'm calling."

"No? Ah, so it's more of my excellent advice you seek. Still trying to convince Elle?"

"Nope. Just calling to let you know you've been promoted."

"Promoted?"

"I said you'd be seventh to know, but you're up before anyone else so you get to be first."

"First what? ... oh. Shit, really?"

"Really." Even if I can't quite believe it either.

"Damn. That's awesome. Seriously? You managed to convince her?"

"You've met Elle. There's no such thing as convincing her."

"Right. You managed to subtly suggest reasons why she might want to independently change her mind?"

"I said absolutely nothing about marriage all week, I left for the weekend, I came back and told her that she was right about waiting, she proposed."

There's a long pause, and then Adam laughs. "You have no idea how much Elle's Elle-ness and your utter weakness to it delight me."

"Then you're going to enjoy this part. How's your schedule looking for the next couple weeks? Think you could come down here?"

"Trying to squeeze an engagement party in before the baby ruins your social lives?"