I said no.

I said no. Of course I said no. Who would say yes? A nut case that's who! Well I’m no nut case. He is.

I bet you are wondering what the hell I'm going on about. Well, that was my inner monologue as this guy got down on one knee and proposed in the middle of the restaurant while I was on a date... with my girlfriend. My name is Kathryn or Kat if I like you enough. I definitely didn't like Brody enough for him to call me Kat, nevermind propose! So how did this come about you ask? Well take a pew because it's a bizarre one!

It all started one cold spring morning… bahahah, I jest it wasnt that picturesque, it actually started in the hallway of my building, I was running a little late in the morning, still wiping the sleep from my eyes when I bumped into this guy standing right behind me as I locked my front door. “I have a package you need to sign for” he said slowly as he looked me up and down. Made me shiver really, it’s the kind of unwelcome look that makes you want to shower to get it off. Urgh. I grumbled about being late but signed for this package. I took it and slipped it into the apartment before locking the door again. He was still there. Pretty creepy but I couldn't really wait there for him to leave. I was going to miss my train and the apartment was all locked up and my girlfriend Becky - Becks to me - was in bed snoring away after a night shift. I sent her a quick message about the guy as I was on my way down the stairs and thought that would be the end of it. It wasn’t. After rushing to the train station and JUST missing the train I sat outside on a wall waiting for a taxi I really had not wanted to get and I caught a glimpse of the guy across the street. Just watching me. At this point I kind of wished I’d seen the company he worked for or an employee number or something. 

Stupid mornings.

And here we are. The proposal. 

Oh you wanted to hear a bit more of the in between? *sigh* fine. Let's skip forward about a week after our first encounter then. 

I thought I’d seen him a few times over that first week out of the corner of my eye, but convinced myself my brain was playing tricks because the whole thing had just freaked me out and I was on edge. Turns out I HAD seen him and how often only increased over the next few weeks until he showed up where I work asking for me by name. Obviously I didn’t know his name yet so when a colleague told me a guy named Brody was waiting for me at the front desk I’d not realised it was him and merrily went on my way thinking it was a client I had forgotten the name of - because come on, who remembers everyone's name. when I turned the corner towards the front desk I felt sick, it was him. How did he know my name? How did he know what level I worked on? I stood there stunned for a good few minutes. By this time he had spotted me and began walking my way with a creepy ass grin. I gathered myself and put my big girl panties on, telling myself I’d give him a piece of my mind.

Next thing I know he is pulling flowers out of a backpack and asking me on a date. I was a little shell shocked and he just stood there giving me the creeper eyes again. I think I kind of just mumbled a no thanks in disbelief and left. I’d wanted to rage about how he couldn’t stalk me but all thought of doing so blanked when he was right there. I really should have told him to stop following me or told him I was unavailable, or gay, or creeped out. ANYTHING. But ‘No thanks’ is what left my mouth, urgh, that's annoying. I think I spent the next few days running over it in my head and chastising myself. 

Anyway, I tried to file a complaint with the police but they couldn’t really issue a restraining order with just a first name. He seemed to know everything about me but I knew nothing about this weirdo. After this there was one more incident before the proposal. Brody - urgh, even saying that name grosses me out now- ended up on the same train as me on my way home from work one day, most likely by design. Who even has this much free time to follow someone around... Effort much. But this day Becks had come to pick me up from work to surprise me, naturally we were just chatting away hand in hand before I noticed him to my left, right behind me. I’d turned because Becks had started looking in that direction with a confused look. He made me jump and naturally I cursed after realising who it was. I made my face blank and just looked at him before turning to Becks and saying, lets move to another train car. Before we could move he grabbed my shoulder and said “it’s ok, I know you love me not her”. Like... whaaaaaaaat. Becks is the love of my life, she knows this of course and puts things together as to who this is and pulls me back a bit closer to her. We jog off to a different train car through the thickest throng of people we can find to try and lose this guy. This incident was perhaps 3 or 4 days before the restaurant debacle.

I suppose you want to hear the whole evening's proceedings too? Well. may as well, since you are still listening after all this you must be interested… ok. Here we go. 

It’s a Saturday night, me and Becks had a great day together watching movies and generally lounging about then decided to get dressed up and go to a fancy ass restaurant. Because why not. We looked fabulous if I do say so myself. We’d arrived at the restaurant, took a seat and had some cocktails to start off with then leisurely ordered an entree - a lovely kingfish ceviche - after finishing the entree and ordering another round of delicious alcohol we heard a bit of a commotion towards the entrance. After a couple minutes we just assume it's a couple arguing or something so we order our mains and carry on talking.

SUDDENLY

Sorry I don’t know why I shouted that…..suspense maybe?

Quite suddenly, there is Brody. Striding towards us with protesting staff on his heels. He basically throws himself down on one knee in front of our table and shouts a goddamn proposal at me. It took me a fair few minutes to realise what was going on. I was a tad gobsmacked… Becks has gotten up, phone in hand calling the police and the staff are just standing there as surprised, shocked, stunned - take your pick - as I am. So, I manage to gather the courage - maybe it was the cocktails - and stand up to face him. Then proceeded to go off on a rant right in his face. He was a little taken aback considering I had barely uttered words to him before. Safe to say I was not nice in this rant and I will save the innocence of your ears by not repeating the specific vocabulary used. Just to be clear though. I said no.