Perfect

Josh pats his pocket for the eight hundred and seventy-ninth time since leaving his car in the parking garage, making sure that the velvety ring box is still safe inside. His heart hammers in his chest and sweat trickles down the back of his neck under his button-down shirt as he approaches the Cheesecake Factory from one of Easton’s fountain plazas. He can’t think of a more romantic place to propose to Hannah than in the restaurant where their relationship began sixteen months ago. Of course, they’ve had many better dates since that fateful day, but those dates are less easy to recreate than dinner at Cheesecake Factory and a walk around the Easton shopping center. And besides, Josh has an in at Cheesecake Factory to make their night completely unforgettable–his best friend Eric works there, and Eric has promised that he will be the waiter for their reservation.

The two of them have worked together for hours on the plans for this proposal. Eric went with Josh to shop for the ring last month. They wandered the restaurant during the opening shift a few weeks ago to pick out the most romantic table in the establishment, which Eric promised Josh would be his for the big night. And of course, they’ve practiced at least a thousand times how Josh will covertly hand Eric the ring, to be stashed in Hannah’s dessert for a big dramatic reveal. All that’s left now is for Hannah to meet him in front of the restaurant and–

Oh my God. Josh’s thoughts stop as he spots Hannah walking down the sidewalk towards him. Her voluminous blonde hair flows behind her, showing off how perfectly her hot pink dress fits her. Her sparkly silver shoes catch and reflect the twinkly lights strung from the trees and restaurant awnings around them. She smiles as her eyes meet Josh’s. His knees turn to jelly and his mouth goes dry. He barely manages a pathetic wave and a partial smile as he touches his pocket again with the other hand, making sure that the ring box is still there.

“Hi, Josh,” Hannah greets her boyfriend before giving him a quick kiss.

“Hi. You look…um…wow. You look great,” Josh answers her. He rubs the back of his neck with one hand, nerves getting the best of him, and stifles a wince at the sweat he finds there.

“Thanks.” A flicker of discomfort crosses her face.

“Are you all right?” he asks, panic rising in his chest. Have I misjudged everything?  Did she not actually want to see me tonight? I mean, we’ve talked about marriage, but–

“Just…riding the Red Tide. It’d be great if we could sit down.” She forces a smile and takes his hand.

“I’m sorry. If you’d told me we could have rescheduled–”

“Absolutely not. I’ve been looking forward to this all week. We’ve both been so busy with work, it feels like I’ve barely seen you.”

Josh kisses her again. “I know. I’ve felt the same way. But we have all weekend together, starting tonight. Come on.” He leads the way into the restaurant, equal parts disappointed that she’s not feeling well and anxious about what’s to come. I guess I can’t make sure everything is perfect. Some things are just out of my control, he tells himself as he resolves to just try even harder to make sure everything he can control does go perfectly.

“Welcome to Cheesecake Factory,” the hostess greets them with a bright smile, almost shouting to be heard over the din of other diners in the crowded restaurant. “I’m afraid it will be at least a 90 minute wait. We’re full–”

“But I have a reservation,” Josh interrupts, doing his best to stay calm and give the hostess his most charming smile. “For two, at 6pm, under Moore?”

“Oh…” The hostess looks over her notes, then exchanges glances with the waiter next to her. They exchange a few words that Josh can’t catch over the noise around them, pointing at things in the podium. “I’m not finding a reservation for you… Give me just a second, I just got here a few minutes ago. If you would just have a seat in the waiting area, someone will be with you shortly.” She gestures to the worn cushioned benches near the door, most of which are already occupied, and darts away towards the back of the restaurant before Josh can protest.

“I can’t believe this,” he huffs as he follows Hannah to the only unoccupied spot on a bench. “I made this reservation a month ago!”

“It’s all right, babe. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” Hannah smiles as she sits down.

“Misunderstanding, my ass,” Josh mutters so that Hannah can’t hear him. Where the hell is Eric?! he wonders, hoping that Eric is actually working tonight as promised.

“Yoooooooo, my man!” Eric greets Josh far too loudly as he slaps his friend on the back. His presence comes with the dank odor of the devil’s lettuce. “Been waiting for you, man. Wasn’t your reservation, like, two hours ago?”

Josh whirls around to face his friend and checks his watch. “No, Eric. The reservation was for 6pm. I triple-checked it, and I thought you did, too. It’s just now six. What happened?”

“Ohhhhhh shit, man.” Eric’s eyes grow wide. Josh notes that they’re bloodshot and wants to scream. “I dunno what happened, bro, but I’ll fix it. I’ve got you.”

“Are you high?!” Josh demands, but Eric doesn’t hear him; he’s already gone to the hostess’s podium. Josh clenches his fists, trying to control his frustration and put on a happy face for Hannah. Of all the nights–

“Josh? What’s going on?” Hannah asks.

“Eric’s working tonight. He’s looking into the reservation issue for us,” Josh tells her as he turns to face her again.

“Then it’s as good as solved.” Josh can’t tell whether Hannah is being serious or not; one corner of her mouth is turned up in a hint of a smirk. She grew up across the street from Eric and they have a sibling-like relationship. Eric’s actually the one who introduced Hannah and Josh to one another–all the more reason he should be taking his role in this proposal seriously rather than showing up to work high as a kite, in Josh’s opinion.

“Moore, party of two?” the hostess calls. Josh helps Hannah up and they return to the podium. The hostess is giving Eric the stink-eye. “I’m sorry for the trouble. There was a bit of a mix-up regarding your reservation. Eric will take you to your table.” 

Eric grabs a handful of menus from the hostess station. “Right this way,” he grins before leading them through the restaurant with a meandering gait. Hannah’s nose wrinkles at Eric’s back.

“You smell that?” she whispers to Josh.

“Yeah,” he mutters, wishing that she didn’t. But she’s always been sensitive to weed and cigarette smoke, so of course she’d notice that Eric is stoned.

“We might have to have an intervention.”

Josh snickers at his friend’s expense and smiles at Hannah. She always knows just what to say to lighten the mood. He finds himself wondering for at least the millionth time since they started dating what Hannah sees in him; it’s clear to Josh that she’s out of his league.

“And here we are,” Eric announces, dropping the stack of menus on a table right next to the kitchen doors. Josh looks at Eric in alarm.

“This isn’t the table we–” he hisses through his teeth.

“It’s the only one available for some reason,” Eric replies, trying and failing to be quiet.

“It’s fine,” Hannah intercedes. “I’m hungry. Any table will work. But um, Eric? We only need two of these menus.” Josh pulls out her chair for her and gets her settled before taking his own seat; meanwhile, Eric apologizes and takes all but one of the menus away as he heads back to the hostess station.

“He is blazed,” Hannah remarks.

“We can work on planning his intervention after we order,” Josh replies, only half-joking. They pass the menu back and forth as they debate what to order, struggling to hear each other over the kitchen noise in addition to all the other diners talking. Josh prays to whatever deity might be listening that this terrible table is the end of the problems with the perfect evening he planned.

“And heeere’s some champagne for the happy couple!” Eric announces as he returns to their table.

POP!

A cork flies between them, narrowly missing Josh’s nose and smashing through the small vase of plastic flowers at one end of the table. Shards of glass scatter everywhere. Hannah yelps in surprise. Champagne fizzes and splashes on Josh’s white shirt.

“Eric!” he exclaims.

“Oh shit. Sorry man. I was trying to… I’ll go get stuff to clean this up.” Eric sets the champagne bottle on the table and darts away. Champagne bubbles out of the nozzle and foams around it. Hannah gingerly scoots away from the table, stands up, and shakes off her dress. Bits of broken glass fall to the floor.

“I’m so sorry,” Josh tells her, jumping up and using a cloth napkin to try to dust both of them off.

“It’s not your fault,” Hannah assures him. “But… Do you think we can request a new waiter?”

Josh hesitates. He sees the sense in Hannah’s request, but at the same time, he still needs Eric to carry out his proposal plans. And now more than ever, he feels he has to propose tonight to salvage the evening.

Eric returns with cleaning supplies and champagne flutes. After messily pouring two glasses of champagne, he shoos Josh and Hannah into a corner to drink them while he cleans the table.

“We didn’t even order champagne,” Hannah mumbles to Josh as she takes a sip, then scrunches up her face in distaste; she’s always preferred drier drinks to sweet ones.

“He probably means it as an apology for the issue with the reservation,” Josh excuses his friend.

“Maybe, but he knows us better than to do all this.”

Josh doesn’t have anything to say to that. Eric should know them better than to do all this. He can’t begin to imagine what his friend is thinking.

“I can’t believe him,” Josh mutters after a few moments of awkward silence. “This is ridiculous.”

“So about that intervention…” Hannah says, and they both laugh. Planning a hard conversation with Eric gives way to discussion of lighter things, and for a few minutes the evening feels like it’s going well. Despite his nerves about what’s to come with dessert, Josh even begins to enjoy himself.

But the champagne snafu is just the first of Eric’s mistakes of the evening. The wine they actually ordered never appears, and neither does the bread that’s supposed to come out before every meal. They don’t even see Eric for a full thirty minutes after they order.

“Here’s the pasta carbonara,” Eric interrupts Josh and Hannah’s conversation about the Two Door Cinema Club concert they’re planning to attend next month.

“But I ordered that chicken pasta…” Hannah protests, pointing to an item on the menu Eric never took away.

“Oops! Sorry about that. I’ll just leave Josh’s shrimp and chicken gumbo and–”

“Eric. My dude. I’m allergic to shellfish,” Josh interrupts, scooting away from the dangerous plate in his friend’s hand. What the FUCK is he doing?! We’ve known each other since preschool, Josh fumes. He knows so much better than to fuck up like this, ESPECIALLY tonight!  “And I ordered Jamaican black pepper chicken.”

“This must be…someone else’s order. I’ll be right back. I’m so sorry.” Eric scuttles away with the offending dishes. Hannah stares forlornly after him.

“He never even brought us our bread,” she remarks, almost whimpering.

“I’m so sorry. We’ll go out to dinner again tomorrow night, someplace better,” Josh assures her. And I’ll find a way to make Eric foot the bill for it, after all this mess. “I just thought it would be fun to recreate our first date–”

“I did, too. I don’t think Eric got the memo, though.”

Fortunately, Eric returns moments later with the correct food. He had indeed brought another couple’s dishes to their table.

“I’m so sorry, again,” Eric apologizes once he’s set their plates in front of them. “Your desserts will be on the house. Do you know what you’d like to order for dessert?”

“Can we split a slice of Godiva chocolate cheesecake, please?” Hannah asks.

“If that’s what you want to do,” Josh agrees. He slips the ring box into Eric’s hand, just as they’d rehearsed it, smooth as silk. That, at least, went perfectly right. Josh’s heart pounds erratically in his chest and his palms sweat as he tries to act natural and keep chatting with Hannah. Just a few more minutes. God, I hope she says yes. I hope the rest of the night goes well.

A few minutes later, Eric returns with the cheesecake, but just as he reaches their table, he slips on some of the champagne and soup that were spilled earlier in the night.

“Whoa!” he yells as he struggles to stay upright. The plate of cheesecake slips out of his hand.

“Look out!” Josh jumps up and snatches the cheesecake plate, but he can’t get a good grip on it and brings it crashing onto the table upside-down, smashing the dessert. A string of curses leaves Josh’s mouth, and he pushes Eric into the kitchen, face red with anger. Meanwhile, Hannah picks up the plate and looks at the ruined cheesecake, her eyes shiny with gathering tears. A glint of metal peeks out of the smushed chocolate remains.

“What the…” She digs around in the cheesecake with a fork and pulls out a messy gold and diamond ring. “You’ve got to be–” Her own mix of tears and laughter cuts her off. With all the ridiculous things that have happened tonight, she didn’t see this coming as the finale.

“Hannah…Oh shit, you found it. Okay, um…” Josh says as he approaches from the kitchen. He gets down on one knee next to Hannah’s chair, landing directly the patch of mess that made Eric ruin their cheesecake. A shard of broken glass digs into his knee through his pants. Fuck, that hurts. Focus. No going back now. “Hannah Sophia Williams…I wanted tonight to be perfect for you, because you deserve so much better than all of this chaos. But, in spite of all this–” he waves a hand at their table “–Will you marry me?”

“Yes, Josh,” Hannah chokes out, sliding out of her chair to pull him to his feet and kiss him. Other people in the restaurant take notice and cheer. “In spite of all this, I would love to marry you.”