Legs crossed, she sat on her favorite red velvet chair intently typing on her laptop. Her hair was thrown up messily with a couple pieces beginning to fall out. She had the same old and wrinkled William & Mary t-shirt of mine on from the night before. I could tell she was stressed. This was one of the moments I thought she looked the most beautiful. She sighed so heavily, as if she could let out all her stress with that one breath. She looked up from her work and gave me her best ‘could you please do something for me’ smile. “What do you want?” I asked jokingly groaning as I stood up.
“I could really use a hot tea-or coffee!”
“Fine I’ll just stop what I’m doing so I can serve you, Queen Kristen.”
She quickly crumpled up a sticky note and threw it at me laughing. I grabbed it and threw it back as I walked out of the room. Our kitchen which was dim, as usual, despite the fact that the sun had been up for a while considering it was a little after 9 am. I made her usual, dark coffee with a splash of half and half, half a spoonful of sugar, and about a teaspoon of pumpkin syrup. As I brought it to her she thanked me and asked if I could read the essay she had been working on. About halfway through she stopped me and asked me how it was so far.
“This is at least twenty times better than mine! I remember mine was absolute crap.”
“Are you being serious? Or are you just saying that?”
“No I’m serious Joe!”
She smiled and sipped her drink. I finished reading what she had written and remembered the one I wrote on the topic about three years ago when I took the class. We’re three years apart. She’s a sophomore and I’m a senior, both in college. Five years together. Thinking about it now it seems absolutely crazy that we met at a Jason Aldean concert. She hated country music at the time, she admitted it. But somehow I apparently changed her and somehow she changed me too. I go back to that night every day.
I passed her friends and her a couple times, glancing only at her. I’ll be honest she intimidated me but thankfully her friend came up to me and told me Kristen thought I was attractive. So, me being the southern gentleman I am, I walked up to her and introduced myself then, asked if she wanted to dance. We danced all night long. I can remember how those bright green eyes stared up into mine and her long blonde hair swayed back and forth to the music. I saw what I now know as love in her eyes as she sang along to the few songs she knew. Kristen was perfect, still is, she got along with my best friends, she handled the annoying girls who kept trying to take and send pictures of us together to my recent ex, she teased me just the right amount, and the way she held on to my shirt as we kissed at the end of the night  left me speechless.
I broke out of my reminiscing when her cat Cat jumped onto my lap. I got up to shower and get ready while Kristen finished her essay. Sundays were our favorite days, we typically woke up around 8:30 and did some work, sometimes we ate brunch others we picked up something from the local farmer’s market. If the weather was nice we would drive up to a secret spot we found to fish, and have a picnic. But today, because Kristen was taking a photography class, we decided to drive out to the “country” so she could do something for a project.
“Do you remember where the little, old, red barn is with the American flag painted on the side? I think I remember but I’m not sure.”
“Yeah I think so.”
We got into her black, sport, and two door ’98 Jeep Wrangler. The sun was shining and the breeze around us was warm, we had the radio turned all the way up. I was playing my favorite Jason Aldean song, 1994. Kristen’s blonde hair was blowing everywhere but I could see her smiling as she sang the lyrics.
1994, Joe Diffie comin' out the radio
I'm just a country boy with a farmer's tan
So help me girl I'll be your Pick-Up Man
How 'bout a night to remember and a fifth of Goose
'Bout to bust out my honky-tonk attitude
A little feel good you ain't never felt before
I'm talkin' 1994
This was another one of those times I thought she was at her most beautiful. The sun reflecting off her hair, her shirt blown up and her belly button piercing sparkling. It was in moments like this that I knew I would spend my life trying to make her this happy every single day I could. It was in moments like this that I knew she was perfect without even trying. It was in moments like this that I knew how much I loved her. She grabbed my hand and looked over at me singing our part as loud as she could:
Hey Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie
Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie
Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie
We must have driven around for hours taking pictures of random things, places, and people. It was around 2 o’clock she asked what I wanted for dinner.
“Do you want to go out or stay in?” I asked.
“I don’t really care but if we go out I’m gonna want Italian. Maybe we can try that new place downtown.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Or we could stay in and I could cook.”
“Why don’t I!” As I spoke I grabbed Kristen’s hand.
“I think that sounds even better,” she smiled at me. “Whatcha got planned?”
“Not sure yet,” I said smirking “you’ll have to see.” I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had it planned since the day I knew I loved her. I was going to propose. I’ve wanted to for so long but put it off because of her being in high school, then her freshman year of college was rough so I put it off again, now seemed like the perfect time.
Once we got home I began to make her favorite meal, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and a flatbread. Once I was done we sat down on the couch just like we had almost every night, she turned on Netflix and started the next episode of American Horror Story. Everything was very casual and pretty much routine for us, she didn’t suspect a thing. After we finished eating and the episode we were watching we got up and cleaned the dishes, we sat back down and were about to start another when I “accidentally” dropped a pillow. I got down on one knee holding the ring I saw her eyeing multiple times. “Kristen, will you marry me?”
Tears formed in her eyes, she leaned in and kissed me, “Of course.”