One day in early April, Danny surprises Phillip and me by asking us to help him pick out an engagement ring for Lori. We go to the jewelry store where he shows us the stone he’s already picked out. It’s a lovely two-carat marquise cut diamond. Danny is stumped on what to do for the setting. He’s bound and determined to present her with a ring, not just a diamond, so we shop around and talk to the salesman.
None of the settings seem right to me, so I get frustrated and draw what I think the setting should look like on a piece of paper.
It’s a platinum band, not too wide, with three baguettes coming out from each side of the solitaire, like a shooting star.
“I love that,” Danny says. “Do you have something like this?” He shows my drawing to the sales guy.
“No,” says the eager-to-please salesman, “but we can make it.”
While we are waiting for what seems like forever for him to write it up, Danny turns to me and says, “So, what’s your idea of a perfect ring, Jay?”
I nearly say I’ve never really given it any thought, but I’m bored, and, well, what girl hasn’t given it at least the teensiest of thought? So, I draw up my perfection. A two-carat emerald cut diamond in a platinum setting. From each corner of the solitaire are baguette diamonds that form an X on each side before intertwining and becoming one at the back.
Incredible, if I do say so myself!
“Wow. That’s cool, too.” Danny intently studies it. “You know, it looks like you.”
I smile.
This from a guy who never gave a diamond a second thought unless it had something to do with baseball. Now, he thinks he’s an expert.
Afterward, we head to the bar to discuss Danny’s plans for popping the big question. Danny and the team did bring the national championship home, just like he always planned.
GO, TEAM!
We all went to the bowl game and had an incredible time. Danny graduated in December and will be going through the professional draft later this month. He’s hoping the draft goes well, and he is excited to know which team he’ll be playing for when he asks Lori to marry him.
He’s planning to propose on the anniversary of their first date, May 23. His plan is to take her on what seems to be an impromptu picnic—one that will be quite elaborate, thanks to our help—and propose.
It sounded like the perfect plan until Lori came crying to me because she’d just gotten another candle.
Lori and I are sorority sisters, and I’m proud to say that, with her, Danny finally broke out of his SSE—simple, smooth, and easy—rut.
You didn’t think I’d ever let him forget that, did you?
He begged me to set them up after meeting her at a party last year.
Lori’s a great girl.
Smart. Premed. Sky-high GPA.
She has a wicked sense of humor, which I love and which is a surprise from someone who looks so straightlaced.
Really, I was sorta joking when I told Danny he should marry Phillip, but, personality-wise, Lori is just that. A girl version of Phillip.
Probably why we get along so well. We’re complete opposites. She’s the responsible to my reckless, the organized to my chaos, the calm to my manic, and the serious to my flippant. Plus, the girl can seriously party, so we have had a lot of fun over the years.
She’s a natural beauty, just gorgeous, both inside and out. She has long strawberry-blonde hair, a sweep of cute little freckles across her nose, and beautiful brown eyes. She’s five-seven and weighs one hundred twenty pounds on a fat day.
And, although she does have Danny’s prerequisite C-cups, she is nothing like the girls he used to date.
One, she has a brain.
Two, she’s never been a cheerleader.
Three, she knows zero about football.
Four, there is nothing simple or easy about her.
Five, she didn’t fall all over him when they met. In fact, she ignored him! She knew who he was, sure. I mean, you can’t live on campus and not know who the quarterback is. But she had heard me talk about him enough to know that a guy like him, who dated so many different girls, really wasn’t the kind of guy she was looking for. She pictured herself with someone serious. She figured she would meet a guy in med school, and they would become brilliant doctors together. She seriously had no desire to date him.
Really!
That is what I think really intrigued him.
She was his first real challenge.
And, really, once I begged—and quite possibly bribed—her to go on a date with him, she could see what the fuss was all about. So, she decided, What the hell? I know he never takes a girl seriously, so I’ll have a little fling with him.
But, for the first time in his life, Danny made a girl wait. He told her she was different, special, and after a month of him dating no girls, except for her, she finally dragged Danny in his room by his ears and said, “If I’m so special, let’s get to it.”
And I guess they did.
And they have been pretty much inseparable ever since.
They make an adorable pair and get along quite well in spite of their differences. He tries to teach her about football, and she tries to teach him Latin.
The thing about her that amazes me is how she always looks dressed up. Even in a T-shirt and sweats, she looks dressy. She just has this class about her, and, fittingly, she is president of our sorority.
In our sorority, whenever someone gets promised or lavaliered, pinned or engaged, they pass their candle.
It sounds sort of weird, but it goes like this.
Basically, the whole sorority stands in a big circle with the lights dimmed. We sing songs, and when the candle has gone around the circle the right number of times, the girl who is one of those things blows out the candle as a way of making her big announcement. When you are the girl who needs to pass your candle, you try to keep it a secret until the ceremony. The tricky part is, you have to get your candle to the president. Sometimes, if it’s a younger girl, she just tells the president. But most of the upperclassmen are more secretive because they want to surprise her, too.
Today, Lori got a candle in her house mailbox, and she doesn’t know who it came from.
She plops down on my couch and says, “It’s just not fair. Ever since I saw my first candlelight ceremony, I’ve dreamed that, one day, I would get to do it. And, since I met Danny, well, I just assumed it would happen. I was so sure that, once he got drafted, he would pop the question.”
Danny was the second pick in the first round of the draft. To my delight, he drafted higher than the cocky running back who won the Heisman Trophy.
Sorry, but Danny totally should have won that.
He’s going to be playing for Kansas City, and Phillip and I are so excited since we’ll be able to go to lots of his games.
“But, instead, he’s gotten so that he won’t even talk about our future together. We used to talk all the time about where we hoped he’d go, how we’d want to live, how many kids we’d have.” She starts gesturing big with her hands. “And, Jade, I bought it all. Now, I don’t think he wants to marry me anymore.” She sighs. “I think he just wants to be some rich, single pro player. KC’s most eligible bachelor. Whatever. I’ll probably end up married to a boring doctor, and I’ll see Danny on an episode of MTV Cribs. He’ll be in a huge house. A house with no furniture, except for a pool table, a big TV, and a stripper’s pole. There will be nothing in his fridge but beer and Gatorade. How pathetic will that be?”
She’s starting to babble.
I smile at her. It’s reassuring for me to know that someone so smart can also not have a clue when it comes to boys. Does she really not know how totally crazy Danny is about her? Is she really that blind?
“I know I shouldn’t ask, Jade, but do you know anything? Has he said anything to you? I can’t sleep, I’m eating too much, and I can’t concentrate on studying for finals. I’m going to be a moose with a bad GPA.” She sighs again. “So, should I just give him an ultimatum or what?”
Wow, what do I say?
Lori is one of my best friends, and I really want to make her feel better, but I can’t give the big secret away. I’m sure the reason Danny’s stopped talking about their future is because of the whole surprise factor.
“Lori, you know Danny is pretty strong-willed, and he really doesn’t like to be told what to do. I think you should definitely not issue him an ultimatum because, even if he wants to marry you, well, that would just piss him off and make him not want to ask you. Why don’t you focus on school and, well, just let Danny quarterback the relationship for a while? Let him run the game. It’s what he likes to do.”
Her face tells me that this is not very reassuring.
So, I pat her hand and add, “You know, someday, he’s going to throw you that perfect long bomb into the end zone, and it will have been worth the wait.” I look seriously at her because this I know for sure. “He’s worth it, Lori. He is so worth the wait.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just sick of sophomores getting engaged.”
When Danny gets home from Lori’s that night, he bounds into my room and plops down on my bed, jolting me awake.
I squint to look at the clock. “Danny, it’s, like, two a.m. What do you want?”
“Tell me about this candle-passing stuff. Lori was talking about it. She didn’t come out and say it, but I got the impression it’s something she wants to do.”
Duh!
“Of course she wants to, but our last meeting is next week, so unless you move up the proposal date, she won’t ever get to.”
“Why is this such a big deal, Jay? And what exactly do you do anyway?”
What I want to say is, Can’t we discuss this at a time when my mind is functioning?
But my eyes adjust to the light, and I get a good look at Danny. I can’t help but smile. He reminds me of a little kid sitting on the edge of my bed, waiting to get told a great bedtime story.
He’s also looking at me sweetly with those eyes.
I swear, I’d do just about anything for that boy when he looks at me like that.
Fine. Now, it is.
“Don’t you remember the candlelight ceremony at spring formal when Bobby Allen and Linsey Newman got engaged? You were there. Didn’t you watch?”
Of course, I know he didn’t watch.
He and Phillip, who I had begged to go with me for lack of a decent date and who looked so hot that I wished it were a real date, were up at the bar, doing shots with all the other guys. I know they never even looked over.
“Well, uh, I remember you all got in a circle and sang, and then I think we hit the bar. I just don’t get the big deal,” he says with frustration creeping into his voice.
This is going to take a while, so I sigh, sit up, and put my pillow behind my back.
“It is a big deal to us girls, Danny. We have watched with wonder as upperclassmen announced being lavaliered, pinned, and engaged, and each time you see it, you wish it were you. They always look so happy and in love, and let’s face it; love is what every girl dreams of.”
Well, that … and the rock and the dress and the presents and the honeymoon …
“Okay,” Danny says, struggling to create a new game plan in his mind. “So, could she pass her own candle without knowing that it’s her candle? You know, could it be a surprise?”
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m sleep-deprived, but the boy is making no sense.
“Danny, she really can’t be surprised because she wouldn’t know it was her candle to blow out. So, it would just go around and around, like some bizarre nightmare. You know, like the one where you take the same final over and over and over again, but you never get it finished.”
“Stick to the point, Jay.”
“Oh, yeah.” Then, my mind comes up with a brilliant idea. “Unless you want to ask her to marry you in front of the sorority during the candlelight ceremony.”
He gives that some thought.
“I could do that,” he says bravely. “Do you think she’d like that, or would she prefer I ask her in private?”
“Well, the question isn’t really if she’d like it, Danny. Of course she would. The question is, are you sure she’ll say yes? You know, you ask in front of all those people and she says no, it could be a bit embarrassing for you.” I can’t help but tease him a little.
“Uh, I think she’ll say yes,” he says, but I can tell he’s slightly worried.
“But, honestly, even if she said no, half of the sorority would be in love with you themselves and be glad to take you up on your offer. I’m not sure if it can be done though,” I ramble on. “At least, I’ve never heard of it being done, but I guess it could be because the candlelight ceremony doesn’t have to be done in private. We have done it at formals and stuff, so my final answer is yes, I think you could and should do it.”
“What about the serenading part that Phillip’s frat does? Is that important?”
“Well, if you were in a fraternity, yeah, it would be important. But what are you gonna do? Have the football team serenade her?” I laugh at the thought.
“Well, maybe. Come on, Jay. Help me pull it off.”
He gives me that look, the one I have seen so many times, usually before we do something that we probably shouldn’t be doing. But, for once, this is a case where we definitely should. He and Lori are amazing together, and I am so happy that he’s finally found a girl who’s perfect for him. And, if I can help her wish come true, too, of course I am in.
But I have to give him a hard time first. “Do I have a choice?”
“Not really,” he says as he jumps off my bed.
He leans down and kisses my forehead. He looks so happy as he bounds out of my room. “You can go back to sleep now.”
Yeah, like that’s possible. Now, I have a million ideas racing through my mind.
I yell after him, “Hey, Danny, is the ring ready?”
“Yeah,” he replies from the hall.
“Do you have it?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I see it?” I ask, trying not to sound as frustrated as I am with his one-worded responses.
“Nope.”
“You’re such a loser!”
“Ah, come on, you know you love me,” he says with his sweet voice.
“Yeah, I do.” I’m such a pushover.
“Night, Jay.”
