Zayden shrugged, non-committal. “Stuff. Work mostly.”
“You do work for fun?” Nick was trying hard not to laugh.
“No, I mean…I work a lot. Sometimes I go golfing, but it’s mostly for networking purposes. Can’t say I particularly enjoy the sport. I did play basketball in college, but no time for that sort of a thing these days.”
“You watch T.V.!” I interjected. “Why else would you have a 80-inch television in your room?”
“News mostly. Bloomberg is usually always playing in the background wherever I go.”
Stacey, who had been quiet so far in a respectful attempt not to laugh, spoke, “Bloomberg is not watching T.V. and you sure don’t need eighty inches of television screen to analyze the stock market. Wanna switch?” She pointed her head towards our regular thirty-two inch T.V.
“Sure, you can just have mine. I hope you don’t feel offended if I pass on yours though,” Zayden said nonchalantly to everyone’s surprise. We all sat quietly for a few minutes before we bursted out laughing.
“We don’t actually want your T.V., Zayden. Stacey was joking.”
He probably knew that, but with his kind of money probably didn’t care.
“But why not?” He raised his eyebrows. “You guys seem to have a real interest in it and sure look like you could use a better set. A wedding present perhaps—”
Everything escalated after I gasped and gave Zayden a look that meant to say I was ready to commit murder. Nick looked like he would throw up and Stacey just sat there motionless in complete shock.
“He doesn’t mean you guys,” I said lamely, trying to rectify the situation, while still glaring angrily at Zayden. “My other friends are getting married. From my Stats class. You don’t know them.”
I was rambling nonsensically, making the situation worse and worse. After a few minutes, things got increasingly uncomfortable so I looked at Zayden and said, “Can you come with me to my room real quick? We need to talk.”
He seemed to have gathered he had said more than he was allowed to and looked guilty and nervous. If the situation hadn’t been so bizarre and ridiculous, I would kiss him for how adorable he looked.
Quietly, he followed me into my room, leaving Nick and Stacey to themselves.
As soon as he shut the door behind him, I snapped. “What the hell, Zayden? I told you it was supposed to be a secret! He is not proposing to her until next week.”
Covering my face with my hands completely horrified about having ruined Nick’s surprise, I threw myself on to my bed. “You can sit, you know,” I said when he continued to stand awkwardly by the door.
Carefully, he walked closer and closer to me until he was right next to me. He ran his palms through my face and sighed deeply. “I am sorry. I had completely forgotten you mentioned it was a surprise. I didn’t mean to ruin it for your friends. You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“I know,” I said, pulling him towards me to cuddle. “But what are we going to do now?”
“We are going to sit here for a few more minutes and let your friends figure things out. Then we are going to go out, I’m going to apologize for my blunder and we are all going to have a nice evening. How does that sound?” He stroked my hair, pulling me towards his chest.
“It sounds like all we can do for now.”
“It will be okay. Don’t think about what’s happening outside. Let’s talk about something else. Did you get your paper back?”
I removed myself from his embrace and lying by my elbow looked at him and said, “Yes, I got an A and the teacher said it was one of the best papers he had encountered on the subject.”
“If only he knew how we got to the idea.” Zayden snickered.
“I want to write all my papers with you exactly like that from now on,” I said, getting slightly cheerful again.
“I don’t know how much writing will actually get done, but I am not going to protest, baby.”
His use of endearment made me feel the ground beneath me disappear.
“I love you,” I said, looking him straight in the eyes this time. He didn’t say anything but I was sure I saw a twinkle in his eyes. He leaned in and kissed me softly and passionately. Then I understood. He was not able to say it just yet but he loved me too.
We just lay there holding each other for a long time before going back out. When we finally made it back to the living room, Nick and Stacey seemed engaged. They were beaming with joy. It wasn’t so bad after all.
Chapter 9