The proposal

Barbara lives in the state of Wisconsin. She lives in a small city of about 4,000 people. Barbara has been in a 5 year relationship with John and had hoped he would have proposed by now. When they first met they were in their sophomore year of college and both were majoring in biology. It’s weird they met because if you knew them before they got together they were not two people who would seemingly meet. John hung around guys who were party goers and Barbara was the life of the party. Many thought Barbara was promiscuous because she partied hard but not as hard as a rock band. She just like having as much fun as she could because she 

was in college and life was too short not to have a little fun. Tim didn’t party much and the parties he went to he would stand by the wall most of the time. Barbara had a roommate named Shelly and John’s roommate’s name was Tim. John and Tim met when they both were playing football. “Who are you” John asked Tim, whenever they were waiting to try out for the same position. “I’m Timothy”, he replied. “What position are you trying out for”, Tim asked. “Safety”, replied John. Timothy replied, “So am I and I’m going to get the starting spot”. John exclaimed, “that spot is mine for the taking, I’ve been waiting all last year for it to open up, good luck trying to outshine me”. They admired each other’s competitive spirit and shook 

hands. During practice they both gave it their all but John came out on top but during the first game he got hurt. When he went to the doctor he learned that his injury was go have him out the whole year so he decided that he wouldn’t play football anymore and he would focus on his diploma. Barbara met her roommate Shelly on move in day and they found out they both were on the dance team. Since they were roommates they had already become quite close before 

they had their first dance practice and while at practice they found out that the team captain position was open. Shelly asked “do u want the position”. Barbara replied “no, I’m not the captain type plus I would like to enjoy college while I’m here.” When practice started and the tryouts were over it was clear that Barbara was the best dancer their and everyone voted her for captain. Shelly looked sad as she was the second best dancer and couldn’t believe how good Barbara was. Barbara was ecstatic that everyone revered her talents as great but she declined the role and nominated Shelly. After that Shelly claimed that they would be friends forever. The year passed a big dance party was thrown on campus. Barbara was studying and shelly ran 

through the door; “Barbara are you going to the kappa party?”, “No” I’m studying and need to bring my grades up”. “But you go to all the parties and you already have A’s in all your classes”. Shelly wanted Barbara to go to the party because she wanted to meet a guy and wanted Barbara to introduce her. Barbara was stern about her decision and said that she would be studying all weekend. John bust into his room and saw Tim, “Are you going to the party tonight”, John asked Tim. “Yes”, Tim replied and noted that he was waiting for John to get back so they could go together. Even though John studied every chance he got occasionally he would go to a party so he wouldn’t think about football while he wasn’t busy. John and Tim went to the party and on the way they ran into Shelly. “Hey who are you, that dress is nice “asked John. 

“Thanks for the compliment, my name is shelly”. “I’m John and this is my friend Tim.” After they greeted each other they continued to walk and talk and Shelly told them about her roommate who decided to skip the party tonight. Oddly enough they had heard about a girl who goes to the parties and be the life of the party and encountered her a few times. Tim was hitting on Shelly all night even at the party he would find the time to compliment her. The party was epic but John could not have as much fun as he wanted even though many girls were dancing with him and he decided to leave the party early. Barbara decided to give studying a break and 

meetup with this upperclassman who she had been texting. They met at the rec center which was close by the annex building where the party was being held. She met up with the guy but the conversation was short as she was not the girl he had hoped she was as he made sexual advances at her. As he got mad and went to the party, John was leaving out the door and ran into the upperclassman and said the party was nice and the senior told him that the girl who was sitting on the bench was a buzzkill. John disregarded the comment and kept walking and when he was passing the bench he stopped and asked the girl sitting on the bench why she didn’t attend the party. She said, “I was studying in my room and this guy wanted to meet up 

but then he got handsy plus I didn’t feel like partying tonight.” John was shocked and said, “I usually see you at parties and you be hype but I like to study most of the time as well.” They were quite for several seconds until John asked her what her name was. She said “my name is Barbara.” John said “wait you are the infamous Barbara, me and my roommate met your friend earlier tonight and she was basically praising you.” They begin to talk more and before they knew it hours had passed and the night ended with them exchanging numbers. The next day they found out that their roommates hooked up with each other that night. In the couple weeks after John and Barbara had begun a romance and eventually graduated together as their friends relationship ended after a few months. 5 years had passed since that night and their 

relationship had become something magical as they were on and off and went through hardships and assuming the worst out of each other. It was the day before Christmas eve and John asked Tim if he should propose to Barbara and of course he advised against it. The morning of Christmas eve Barbara awoke and looked next to her but John was not there. She washed and got dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen and soon as she walked in the kitchen door John was on his knee holding a diamond ring, it wasn’t as big as most but it wasn’t as small either. John asked’ “will you marry me?” Barbara was in awe but then said, “No I feel like I’m not ready and this doesn’t feel like the time.” John was disappointed but he accepted it and from his years of competing in sports taught him how not to give up. So Barb went to work not knowing John had something up his sleeve. Barbara was working at one of the few biology buildings around Wisconsin and had an office. John had planned wat he would do the day before and he also told Tim but he didn’t approve. Shelly also worked at the building with Barb and was one of the head scientist but Barb was another lead scientist but up for promotion. John called Shelly and said “it’s time”. Shelly went to Barbara’s office and told her she needed some help with something on the first floor in the meeting room as the building was 10 stories high. They went in the meeting room and when the lights turned on Barbara was in shock. John had orchestrated a decoration setting in which balloons and banners were hung and a cake was 

there that asked her to marry him and she was overwhelmed but still answered no with no explanation and walked out. John, Tim, and Shelly were speechless and John said “I will not give up”. Tim replied, “I told u not to do it”. Shelly pitched in and said “If that was me I would have said yes plus that is a 12carot white gold ring.” John gave the cake to the people who were there and moved to his next plan. After Barbara got off and went home John asked her how come she told him no twice. She replied, “I think it’s a big step and idk if you doing this because you won’t to or because it’s close to Christmas.” He said, “I’m doing this because I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Again she walked away and changed her clothes. While she was in the shower John called in a favor to his friend who owned a gift shop and asked if he could set something up for him. They were headed to her family’s house when John said, “I have to stop at the gift shop and could use your help.” They got to the shop and got out the car. As they entered the shop there were lights dimmed until they got to a spot where it was illuminated and there was a table and on the table was a card. Barbara went to the table to read the card as John had suddenly disappeared. She picked up the card and it read… “even in our darkest hour we will always find each other and even if we are disintegrated our atoms and molecules would stick together.” It was nice that he tried to use biology term in the letter but it 

wasn’t as sweet as he thought but she did find it amusing. A song started playing which was the song that was playing their first night together and John appeared from the darkness and got on one knee again but this time everything was interrupted by a customer and she accidently said no as the customer was yelling is anyone here and she meant it as to not ruin her moment but also in that moment she didn’t like the decorum. So they left and John thanked his friend. On the drive to her parents’ home the car was silent. John was running out of patience and was close to giving up but he stayed determined. Barbara got a call from her dad and he told her that John’s parents and his sister had arrived and this was news to her as she didn’t know that he had invited his family and was suddenly concerned that he told them they were engaged. She got off the phone and asked, “John did you know your parents were coming,” he says, “No, I mean she told me she might come but I didn’t think it was possible because my mother doesn’t like planes.” As they continued to drive as to what felt like hours they finally arrived to their destination they were welcomed by an abundance of family members. As they got done with the greetings they all went inside and the men and woman separated as the men watched sports in the living room and the woman were in the kitchen finishing cooking. As the men engaged in conversation John told them that he would propose to Barbara later that night and in the kitchen Barbara told them how John had proposed to her three different times and she said no. All you heard coming from the kitchen was loud laughter but also conversations about how hard it was to find a man as loving and caring as John and that no one would go through the lengths he is going through to propose. Later that night at the dinner table after the main meal was over and they were finishing the dessert, Barbara was taking a bite out of her gelatin and she discovered the ring engulfed in the sticky, slippery substance. Next thing she knows 

John is bending down beside her serenading her and with the whole family looking on she still denied him and ran outside. John was shocked and had given up so he went outside because he felt embarrassed. He had been denied four times and had lost hope. As he walked outside in the snow he could not find Barbara at first so he decided to walk around back. He saw her sitting on the swing and decided to sit beside her and talk about what was going on. “How come you don’t want to marry me after all we ben through you should know how much I love you” said John. “After that first night we met I never thought we would be together for this long and I didn’t think we would still be friends after college especially seeing how Tim and Shelly 

didn’t stay together” exclaimed Barbara. “We have denied everything the universe has thrown at us, the fact that we are still together is saying that we will make it through anything” said John. Barb replied, “ it’s a big leap and I’m scared plus you’ve been doing too much to propose to me and you don’t need to throw gifts at me to propose, I just needed to talk about the fact that I’m scared.” John knew from that moment that nothing else in the world mattered because even though she humiliated him four times he still wanted to marry her. He got down on one knee and snow flurries started falling and he grabbed her hand and his diamond and slid it on her finger and asked for her hand in marriage. They didn't realize that the family was watching them from afar as they were watching from the window and a few of them were listening from the side of the house. Down on one knee in the freezing cold John forgot about the proposals he made earlier that day and was caught in the moment of true passion where he and Barbara's emotions were intertwined. Barbara became true with herself and she was finally able to give John the answer he longed for. She finally said yes to his proposal.