A Christmas Wish Come True.

I took a breath of the crisp winter air. The mood seemed right. It was Christmas Eve, and all I wanted to do was get home as fast as possible. I wanted a strong, but sweet coffee, with caramel drizzled over the pepermint pieces, snuggled up on the couch with my best friend Maren. But tonight, another friend of mine wanted to go out on a date.

I was hesitant at first, but breaking people's hearts isn't what i wanted to spend my christmas eve doing. So I said yes.

Thomas met me at the train station with a lovely setup. The lights danced against the fresh fallen snow, and a band was playing in the park, just under a mile away.

I looked out at the tracks, smiling at my friend, he smiled too, and came over. "wow. you look wonderful Ann."

I chuckled. "Thanks."

The entire night, my gut hurt. It felt wrong to be with Thomas. Even though he was one of the most handsom people I knew, it just didn't feel right.

The time was around 10:30 pm, and the park was beautiful. I couldn't help but think back to Maren. She was going to set up the tree without me.

Thomas seemed to sense my deep thoughts and he elbowed my shoulder. "is there something on your mind?"

My thoughts flashed back to reality. "Uh, no." I said quickly. "I was just thinking about setting up my christmas tree tonight. Maren promised to help-" I said before being cut off.

"Ann. There's something I need to tell you." Thomas said digging through his pocket.

"Oh no." I said under my breath. Was he going to do what I thought he was going to do?

"You have been on my mind non-stop recently. I just can't get your smile out of my brain." He began.

"Thomas..." I started, trying to get away from the fact that he was bending down onto his knee.

"Ann, Your the most, amazing girl i've ever met. I know we've only known each other for a short time, but... Will you marry me?"

Thomas pulled out a small velvet case and opened it. Inside, glistened a silver ring, covered in small diamonds.

My heart fastened its pace and my stomach tied up in knots.

"I just can't believe this..." I said under my breath trying to maintain my mental composure. "you really want to marry me? Me. of all people. I'm not even atractive."

"But Ann. Please, I will make you the happiest woman alive."

I sighed trying to avoid his quivering gaze. "Thomas... I'm sorry. I just don't fee the same way about you. But I know that there's a person out there waiting for you to propose to them. For you to make them the happiest person alive."

Thomas stood up from his knee. Snow blanketed the ground and the reflection of all the brightly colored lights covered the dull emotionless stare in his eyes.

He chuckled, then put his hand behind his head. "okay... I guess Jeff won our bet."

"What bet?" I said, my eyes darting around.

A tall man, in a brown trenchcoat trudged through the snow, a cheery smile on his face, until he saw Thomas standing next to me.

a plastered smile grew on Thomas's mouth as he tried to make it seem like Jeff had won his bet and he was happy about it.

I uncovered my face to look at Thomas. "hold on. Jeff is going to propose to me? How many of you people are there?!" I said, throwing my hands up in the air.

Thomas turned back to me, a nervous look completely replacing his fake smile. "um..." he began.

"four... of us..."

I groaned. This was going to be a long night of mercylously rejecting men who couldn't get a hint.

About 2 hours later, all four men, patting each other on the back, had trudged home with broken hearts and disapointed spirits, I stomped through the slush filled streets back to my appartmeent where my best friend awaited me.

As I opened the door, the warm smell of popcorn flooded my senses and bright lights almost entirely clouded my vision. I stumbled through the doorway, grabbing hold of the counter to regain balance.

"Oh, good! your home! how was it?" I heard a voice say from the kitchen, acompanied by thousands of little pops from the microwave.

I shrugged and walked over to the couch, staring at the tree. "It was fine. Men just can't keep their greedy bets out of my life. Did you decorate the tree without me? Maren!!"

A laugh sounded as the tall woman in an ugly StarWars sweater came to sit next to me on the couch with a large bowl of popcorn. "Ann. It's Christmas Eve, you need to chill. Plus, I saved the best part for last. We can still make the popcorn garland."

I smiled. "you always know how to cheer me up." I said grabbing a fist full of popcorn and shoving it in my mouth.

Maren chuckled. "save some for the garland. You weirdo."

I laughed at Maren's comment as she stood up with the bowl. She set it on the coffee table and went back into the kitchen to look for some string.

There was a scramble sound as she looked through the drawers and came back with a needle and thread.

"Will you do the honors M'lady?" She said between small chuckles.

I nodded, and took the needle out of her hands.

After all the garland was strung onto the tree, i sat back to admire the pretty sweet setup we had made.

Maren smiled and pulled a strand of chestnut colored hair out of her face. "Wow. this acutally isn't terrible." she said laughing, and folding her arms.

I popped a hip and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Maren. You doubted my abilities to decorate a tree?"

She laughed. "Thats why I set it up by myself."

We spent a few minutes admiring the tree before Maren cleared her throat. It was always cute when she did so, she couldn't ever keep it in control in school. The teachers would always ask her to leave the classroom until she could 'calm down'. Maren walked over to the kitchen and leaned against the counter. "Uh... Hey... Ann. I've been needing to tell you something for quite some time now."

I looked over at my friend as she started to pour some wine into two glasses.

"sure. What do you need?"

She handed one to me and I took a sip. Something hard slid down from the bottom of the cup and hit my lip. I pulled the cup away and looked inside.

Laying at the bottom of my glass filled with crimson colored wine, lay a shimmering ring.

"Ann. I've liked you since elementary school. You were always so cool. and I really admired that. I know this is going to sound really dorky, and you can totally say no... but... Ann. Will you marry me?"

Tears swelled up in my eyes and my vision became blurry. I could feel my face heat up as I looked up towards my friend. A smile formed on my face and I started to laugh.

"Oh. Maren. Yes!! Yes!! Yes I will!!" I said, setting my cup down on the counter and running into a hug. Tears streaming down my face. "I love you too!!"