True Love's Proposal

"God, I've had a crazy week," Madeline sighed, taking another sip of her hot chocolate and curling up in the corner of the couch under a furry blanket. 

"Oh, come on," Carol flopped onto the couch next to her best friend. "I nearly got fired. Remember my evil coworker, Danielle? She totally threw me under the bus at our work’s Christmas party. She spilled wine all over our boss’s white dress, then blamed it all on me.”

“I just came back from my parents’. I spent last night there, but something really weird happened this morning. They’ve always been trying to get me to date Steve, our family friends’ son. Well, I haven’t talked to him in years, but he came over, knocked on the door, and proposed.” Madeline sighed again. 

Carol quickly sat up, eyes wide. “No way. Like get down on one knee with a ring propose?”

“Yeah.” Madeline cringed and buried herself deeper into the blankets. 

“Oh my god. Well, what did you do?” Carol shouted. 

“Of course I said no!” Madeline said quickly. “We barely know each other! Also, he looked pretty relieved when I declined. In fact, our parents looked more disappointed than he did. Don’t they know this isn’t the 15th century? We can’t have an arranged marriage! That’s also why I came back ” 

“Okay. I guess you win. That is way crazier than my story. Your’s always are. In fact, I’ll bet that something even crazier will happen today.” 

“No way. It’s Christmas Eve! Everyone will be with their families today.”

“Well, we aren’t! It’s just us two, and I guess Dan will come by later? Speaking of proposals, when will he pop the question? You guys have been dating for years!”

Madeline blushed. “To be honest, I really hope so. And today or tomorrow would be perfect! So romantic.”

“Yeah! And it isn’t even 10:00 am. We have the whole day ahead of us!”

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Madeline put down her mug on the coffee table, untangled herself from the blankets, and got up. She opened the door. There were three teenage boys standing outside, laughing and whispering to each other. They were all in heavy winter coats, covered in snow and rain drops.  “Hi, can I help you?”Madeline asked. 

The boy in the middle looked down and started shuffling behind the other two. The boy on the left lightly punched his arm and laughing, saying, “Come on, you gotta do it!” 

The guy in the middle mumbled a response, then got down on one knee and said something while laughing. 

“Sorry, what?” Madeline asked, confused. 

“Will you marry me?” He repeated, louder. Then the boys ran off down the street, still laughing. 

“Okay, that was weird,” Madeline said as she closed the door. 

“Who was it?” Carol asked, sipping Madeline’s hot chocolate. 

“Some teenager proposed to me with his friends then ran off. Probably a dare.”

Carol laughed. “Wow, proposed to twice in a day! Meanwhile, I can’t keep a boyfriend for more than a month.” She got up, walked into Madeline’s kitchen, and brought back a pitcher of peppermint tea and a gift box of cookies that her sister gave her. She handed everything to Madeline and turned on the TV. 

Carol’s turned off the cheesy holiday movie they were watching. “This movie is so stupid! Blah blah blah, she catches feelings for a guy, blah blah blah, he after forever he finds out and likes her back, blah blah blah, they live happily ever after. Lets do something else! Ooh, like ice skating! They opened a rink downtown. Lets go!”

Madeline laughed. “Okay! But that means we have to change out of PJs.”

“Why?” Carol jumped up and started walking around like a supermodel in her red and white fleece polar bear pajamas. 

“No wonder you’re single!” Madeline joked. 

“Oh please, I can make anyone fall in love with me!” Carol scoffed. “But fine, I’ll change.” 

30 minutes later, they finally made it out the front door and into the car. An hour and a lot of wrong turns after that, they made it to the ice skating rink and got their skates. “Wow, I haven’t skated in forever!” Madeline said, waddling behind Carol into the rink. 

“It’s fine, I’ll help you!” Carol exclaimed, reaching behind to Madeline. Just before Madeline was about to grab her hand, Carol slipped and fell down on her butt. 

“Yikes! Are you okay?” Madeline grasped the edge of the rink with one gloved hand and reached out the other to help Carol up. 

“Haha, yeah,” Carol said, grabbing Madeline’s hand and slowly getting up. “You know me. Expect a lot more of that to come.”

As Madeline laughed, someone tapped her shoulder from behind. “Abigail, my love, will you marry me?” 

Confused, Madeline spun around to find a stranger in the now dreaded position, kneeling on one knee holding up a ring. He looked weirdly up at her and got up. “Oh, shoot. Sorry! You look a lot like my girlfriend from behind.”

Madeline laughed. “It’s fine! Good luck with your proposal!” He blushed, embarrassed, and skated away to find his hopefully soon to be fiance. She turned around to find Carol, mouth gaping. 

“What the heck is going on today?! Three proposals? And none of them Dan! Jeez. What a weird day you’re having,” Carol exclaimed. She checked her watch and gasped. “We gotta go. Come on! Get off your skates now; we’re going to Corner Cafe.” Madeline looked at her, confused. “Now!” Carol repeated.  

“Welcome to Corner Cafe! Can I get you a table?” A voice chirped. Madeline looked at Carol questioningly. 

“No thanks; we have the reservation, for Madeline. M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E.”

The waitress gasped and grinned. “Right this way!” she said excitedly.

Strangely, all of the tables were cleared away except one, right in the middle of the room. Carol pulled out the chair, and Madeline sat down, confused. Suddenly, her favorite song started and dancers burst out of the Employee Only door, one at a time, with Dan last. They all preformed a well choreographed routine while Carol and Madeline cheered. When the song ended, all of the dancers hurried to the back of the cafe and Dan walked up to her.

Suddenly Dan knelt down on one knee. Madeline gasped, and everyone else in the shop turned to watch. Dan reached into the inside pocket of his black rain jacket and pulled out a small box. He opened it to reveal a beautiful silver ring, in a twisted braid design, dotted with small, glittering diamonds. Madeline covered her mouth with her hands and butterflies flew around in her stomach. “Madeline Grace Brown, will you marry me?” 

“Oh my god, is this really happening?” Madeline asked.

Dan nodded. 

“Come on! Say yes!” The waitress shouted.

Madeline looked around at all of the wide eyed, hopeful people; the waitress, the dancers, Carol, and Dan all staring at her. “Yes,” she said.  The cafe erupted in cheers, and Dan leaped up and hugged her.

A few hours later, Madeline and Dan were alone at her house. Ever since he had proposed, things were awkward between them. She didn’t know what. Maybe it was because she had already been proposed to three other times that day, this one didn’t seem as special. Madeline felt so bad, and she could tell that Dan was also hurt by her reaction. They picked up some Italian takeout from a restaurant down the street. They set up the dining table and sat down across from each other. Before they ate, Dan spoke up. 

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Things are so weird all of a sudden. Did I do something wrong? Do you want to marry me, or did you just say so because you felt pressured to?”

“No! It isn’t you! I’ve just had a weird day, with the three other proposals. I guess that because none of them were genuine, I was worried that this one also wasn’t, the only one that I really wanted to be true.” 

Dan’s face softened. “I get it. But this is genuine. When I first saw you here three years ago, I fell in love. I always felt that something was missing in my heart, until you came and filled it like the final piece of a puzzle. I have always loved you, and I always will. We are alone, with nobody else here to pressure you. We can do whatever you want, it’s okay to say no if you don’t want to. So Madeline, will you marry me?”

Madeline finally knew what was the right choice. “Yes!” She exclaimed. They both jumped up and hugged each other. “You know, this is technically my fifth proposal today,” whispered. They both laughed.