5 Rings

“This isn’t working out, Millie,” I told my sister as I walked to the door of the restaurant. Millie was hiding nearby, making sure that my date went well.

“Give it time. You can’t give up.” Millie told me and patted my head. I rolled my eyes at her. How could she be so foolish to think that I was going to find a boyfriend by the end of this month?

“Millie, I can’t. I don’t like him.” I told her and winced at the thought of how he told me he doesn’t wear underwear.

“Sis, you gotta give him a chance. He might be a really good guy. You never know. Now go talk to him.” Millie told me and pushed me away. I walked back to the table where my date, Ethan was sitting.

“Everything alright, Lillie?” He asked me and pulled the chair out for me.

“Yes, sorry about taking such a long time. I saw someone I knew and we had a small conversation.” I kind of lied.

“Oh, who did you see.” He asked me with an interesting expression.

“Um. Just a friend. A friend from work.” I said worriedly. If he knew I was talking to my sister, it would be bad. After all, Millie did set up our date.

“A girl from your flower shop? Here?” He seemed suspicious.

“Well, yeah. Why?” I asked.

“Lillie, I know the truth. You don’t have to hide it from me. I can tell from the way how uninterested you are in me. You were talking to Millie. I saw her. It’s okay, but I do want to make you an offer.”

“What’s the offer?” I furrowed my brows.

“I really like you. You are very nice and pretty. I would love to keep knowing you. I know I can probably seem a bit odd sometimes, but that’s just me sometimes. I really want this to become special. Let’s just keep going with this and if you still don’t like me, we don’t have to continue seeing each other.”

“That’s a good idea, Ethan. I’m open to it. After all, you can’t know a person after just an hour of meeting each other.”

“Exactly,” Ethan said, “Well I better get going.” He smiled and took the bill to the cash register. I got my things and met Millie outside.

“So! How’d it go?” She squealed with excitement.

“It went well. He knows that you were there,” I started telling her “but he made me a deal. If we kept going to see how my feelings could develop and I still didn’t like him, we don’t have to see each other again. He apparently really likes me.” I said as my cheeks started to feel warm.

“See. Just give it a try. Now, we need to find you some other men to get to know.” Millie said as she pulled out her phone.

“Wait, what?” I was so confused about what she was talking about.

“You have to have options. You’re not committed to Ethan, you’re not married. We have to see if there are other fish in the sea that is meant for you.” Millie said clicking a few times on her phone.

“Millie, isn’t that sort of like cheating?” I asked her and raised my eyebrows.

“No. You guys are only dating. I don’t think he ever mentioned to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Just let me handle this, Lillie. It’s all under control. Just follow what I say and you’ll have the one by the end of the month.” Millie smirked and patted my shoulder.

“You sound so confident.” I rolled my eyes at her.

The next day at our flower shop, Millie and I went into the office to discuss her plan.

“Lillie, I have another guy you need to meet up with,” Millie said excitedly and munched on her donut.

“Do I even want to know?” I chuckled at her.

“His name is Matt. I found him on Tinder. You guys matched.” Millie said showing me her phone.

“Millie! Did you make a Tinder account of me? Without permission?” I said kind of surprised at her. Why does she want me to have a boyfriend so badly?

“Relax. I didn’t talk to him very much. The only thing I told him was to meet you at the park tonight at six o’clock for a picnic.” Millie said confidently.

“Seriously! It’s December. How am I supposed to have a picnic in cold weather?” I started to get upset.

“I have all the stuff you’re taking. You will take a tent with you and sit in there with him. He agreed to it with no hesitations so I’m positive you can make it work.” She winked and left the office.

The date with Matt went well. I kind of like him, but not enough to get serious yet. It was freezing cold and he offered me his jacket. That’s what stood out most. After our date was over, Matt insisted on driving me home since it was windy. I told him that I lived nearby so it would be no problem to walk, but he wouldn’t budge. His car was nice and he had a good musical taste. I think it went well. He asked when we would see each other again, but I wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t want to make plans for another date if Millie would probably set me up on another date.

When I got to my apartment, Millie was on the couch scrolling through her phone.

“Hey! How’d it go?” She asked.

“Went alright. It was cold though.” I said and sat my stuff on the counter.

“So, I already have you set up with Ryan,” Millie said showing me the messages between her and whoever Ryan was.

“I just got back from this date. I need a few days.” I said dreading this whole thing.

“Too bad, you have a date with him at the movies tomorrow night at eight o’clock. You’ll be seeing the new film ‘Undying Love’. It’ll be great.” Millie said hopping up from the couch and dancing around.

“Millie. Why do you have to be so involved in my love life?” I asked, plopping down on the recliner with my laptop.

“Because. You just need to let me handle this.” She said to me with a grin.

“Ugh. Whatever.” I replied.

After my date with Ryan, I was exhausted. I don’t know how to feel about dating a guy who won’t be quiet during a movie. He was nice, but I don’t think he was my type. Anyway, Millie had two new dates planned after my date with Ryan. I was so sick of going on dates.

The next date I had was okay. The guy was really nice and a gentleman, but he wasn’t so cute. Who am I to judge looks? His name was Ritchie. I didn’t mind him. The date after that was my final date, according to Millie. This guy she found on Facebook was pretty cool but had odd humor. His name was Benjamin or Ben. He preferred Ben. Ben was okay. Millie had me keep going out with all of them. Then, a week later, something odd happened.

It was Christmas Eve and Millie and I decided to work. We knew there might be some last-minute purchases for Christmas the next day. I started sweeping the floor from all the dry petals of flowers that had fallen when the bell of the door rang; a customer entered. I was about to turn around to walk to the door when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Lillie. I need to talk to you.” Ethan’s voice came from behind me.

“Oh hi, Ethan. What do you need? Need some flowers? We have a special type of flower that’s limited edition this month.” I excitedly said looking around the room.

“Lillie, I want you to look me in the eyes. What do you see?” He said staring into my soul.

“Um. What am I supposed to see?” I asked him confused.

“Lillie, I think we’ve been going well. This might be a little too early to even say this, but I’m going to take a chance. When I look into your eyes, I see a future. I see my children, I see a family, a home. I love you, Lillie. Will you marry me?” He asked on one knee and held out a beautiful diamond ring. My mind went crazy.

“Yes! Yes, Ethan.” I said without thinking.

“I’ll always make you happy, Lillie. Now I have to run some errands, I’ll talk to you later.” Ethan said and left the shop. There I stood shocked with a ring from a man I only knew for a month. Why did I not think before I spoke?

Later, as I was walking to my car, Matt came running to me.

“Lillie, I have a question,” Matt said getting down on one knee and holding out a ring, “will you marry me? I promise I will be the man you want me to be. I realized that I have loved you for a while now.”

“Oh my god! Yes, I love you too, Matt!” I suddenly said without thinking once again. What was wrong with me? Why didn’t I remember I already had a fiance. Now I have two!

I stopped by my favorite coffee shop to get a latte. I looked around as I was waiting and I spotted Ben sitting down at one of the tables with his friend. I tried to look away. Maybe he wouldn’t notice me. Sure enough, he did though.

“Lillie!” He called out to me.

“Hey, Ben.” I waved.

“Lillie, come here,” Ben said as he got down on one knee, “marry me.”

“Oh, Ben. I will.” What was I supposed to say? I couldn’t let him down in front of everyone in the coffee shop. I had to find a way to tell him the truth, I could not marry him. This was becoming horrible. Why was everyone proposing to me today? This was not good.

I was taking a walk in the park to clear my mind when suddenly, I saw Ritchie running towards me. I was terrified. Not another one. I looked around the park and saw Ryan running towards me from the opposite direction. I was so confused. Ritchie got there first.

“Oh, my dear Lillie!” Ritchie said and pulled me into a hug.

“Um. Hi.” I replied nervously.

“Lillie, I wanted to ask for your hand in marriage. I don’t have a ring yet, but I promise once I work up to it, I’ll get the best one for you.” Ritchie said with an adorable look in his eyes.

“Hey! Why are you touching my girl?” Ryan yelled at Ritchie.

“She’s my girl!” Ritchie called back furiously.

“I’m warning you, dude.” Ryan said angrily.

“Lillie, do you know this guy?” Ritchie asked me.

“Sort of.” I said and looked at the ground.

“Sort of? We had so much fun at our last date!” Ryan cried out.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” I said.

“Lillie, I love you. I want you to marry me.” Ryan said looking at me in the eyes.

“Listen here, buddy. Get away from her. I was asking her to marry me.” Ritchie snapped at Ryan.

“Lillie. You have to choose right now. Who will you marry?” Ryan asked firmly.