How Are You True?

Chapter 21: Get In, Loser

"I'm sorry, but I'm not proposing to my girlfriend in New York City," María rejected Lauren's suggestion as they sat on the hotel bed together, eating the baked goods Lauren bought from the best bakery in all of Miami-Dade.

The CEO was offended to hear that. Also a little disappointed, as helping María propose to Madison would be a whole lot easier if she agreed for it to take place in New York. Lauren let out a loud groan and tossed her head back in frustration, "Why not? We can do it together. I'll propose to mine, you'll propose to yours. Do you know the many places we can go to in the city that are perfect for that? It's the most romantic you can get. It's like Paris but in the U.S."

"Paris is prettier and far more romantic and cleaner than New York City."

"Unless you weren't paying attention to the parade of rats and garbage everywhere during my wedding trip-"

"We're not doing New York. But I wanna do it here, in Miami," she said softly. "I wanna do it in a place with so much meaning and sentimental value. You get what I mean?"

Lauren briefly stared and narrowed her eyes before nodding in agreement, "That's true. So..." she picked up her fork and took a quick bite of her chocolate covered strawberry, chewed it, then continued, "why don't we just do a scavenger hunt? And if Camila and Madison cross paths during, let it happen. Although Camz would probably get mad she isn't the only one this is happening to and would let me have it for not letting her have the spotlight..."

María gasped, loving the idea, but then her face fell upon realising the downside to that. "I'm not good with riddles. It'd be a very quick and basic, boring scavenger hunt."

"Nonsense, I'll help you. And it doesn't always have to come with riddles, you know? We can get much more creative than that," Lauren asserted, placing a hand on María's shoulder with a faint smile. "So is this a yes or a no?"

"It's a yes. But I want it to be perfect. In the meantime, I'll just have to stall some more and keep arguing with Mads so her reaction is huge. It's giving me panic attacks because her words can hurt sometimes, but I guess it's worth it," María shrugged, causing Lauren's hand to fall off. "If it wasn't for you, I really think we'd be over for sure right now. And if it wasn't for that night we had in New York, I wouldn't even consider changing my mind about getting married."

"I can't be the only reason you're deciding to marry her," Lauren said with a hushed voice.

"You aren't. I'm so in love with Madison, I don't have the mental and emotional capacity it'll take to get over losing her. And at the end of the day, I just want her-us to be happy. And I want to stay with her forever, I don't care if that means getting married or not. As long as she's still mine, it doesn't matter what we do."

"Understandable."

"But she said something that I can't get out of my head. And maybe it isn't that bad, she doesn't even know what I'm doing with you, but it really hurt me anyway..." María's face hardened as she replayed Madison's words over in her head. Lauren sensed her growing discomfort and stopped eating so María had her full attention. "She said that she doesn't know if I'm worth not having her dreams or not, and that she'll be settling for less if she stays with me. I don't blame her but still. All of this on top of her wanting us to take a break just so she has the excuse of looking for someone who might be better... It hurts."

"Wow...yikes," Lauren frowned sympathetically. "I'm sorry. Did that give you doubts about proposing now?"

"No...but I kept pushing her to break up with me for even wanting and saying those things out of defense. Again, she wouldn't be saying that if she knew what I had in store for her, but I just got so mad and exploded on her without thinking. And you know what else I told her?" María locked eyes with Lauren and felt a swelling in the pits of her stomach. Lauren nodded for her to continue, patiently waiting for an answer that María was reluctant to give. "I told her I wish she was like you."