The once bland canvas was now covered in paint. It wasn’t as good as my other works of art, but it would do. It was probably worth a solid $25 at the art show. Exhausted, I put the paint brush down and ran my fingers through my hair.

I looked around the apartment, cluttered with my paintings and anime sketches. Brad forgot his college books last night when he came over and his laptop blared Linkin Park. Putting my paints away, I wondered if I should clean up before Brad came over. I glanced back at the finished painting, thinking of a name for it. The painting was of a girl at the beach making a sand castle, like I said, not my best work of art.

The phone rang, I ran over to answer it. Hopefully, it was Brad calling to tell me he was coming over. To my liking, it was.

“Emilee, it’s me,” Brad said on the other side of the phone.

“Hey, you finally coming over to get the stuff you forgot yesterday,” I replied washing my hands in the bathroom.

“Ya, I forgot my books and laptop again. Luckily, I didn’t need any of it. Do you want me to pick up something to eat?”

I glanced at the clock, seven thirty, I was not going to cook tonight. “Wanna pick up Chinese? American Idol will be on soon, I’ll pop the popcorn.”

Brad laughed, “You and your American Idol obsession and your craving for popcorn... I’ll be there in about twenty minutes. Cya soon.”

“Okay,” I said before hanging up.

Looking around the apartment again, I decided that I should quickly organize things before Brad arrived. I put all of his books in a pile next to his laptop and put all of my sketches in a bulging folder and my paintings in a messy pile next to my easel. After vacuuming and dusting the living room, I went into the bedroom and changed out of my sweats and into a yellow tank and blue sleep shorts. I put my hair in a loose bun and stuck two of my favorite pencils that Brad gave me in it. Just as I grabbed two cans of Coke out of the fridge, Brad walked in the door with the Chinese food. Talk about perfect timing.

“Honey, I’m home,” Brad joked, shutting the door behind him.

“Hey, how was school?” I asked, taking the Chinese bags from him.

He snorted, “As fun as school can get. Got a massive English paper due next week.”

“Well, do you have time to hang out with me tonight?”

“Duh, I bought the food...Where are we eating?”

I smiled, “In the living room, I want to see American Idol.”

Brad followed me into the living room and sat on the couch. I set the bag on the coffee table and dug in. White rice, sweet ‘n’ sour chicken, egg rolls, and cinnamon buns, the usual. Where was the popcorn?

“Crap, I forgot the popcorn!” I yelled running into the kitchen. I grabbed a bag of popcorn and put it in the microwave. “Tell me when it starts!”

“Relax Emilee, you have five minutes.” Brad said from the other room.

The popcorn took forever to pop, but I made it back into the living room right when American Idol started. I ate my sweet ‘n’ sour chicken with rice, while Brad ate the egg rolls with rice. In silence, we ate while watching TV.

When American Idol finished and I ran out of food, I sat right next to Brad on the couch. If only every evening was like this, here with my favorite person in the world, besides my best friend, Brittany, of course. I looked at the clock, ten o’clock.

“It’s late Brad, you should head home,” I whispered leaning on his shoulder.

“Kicking me out are you?” Brad joked, twisting a strand of my hair.

“No...but I know how you hate driving late at night with those idiots on the road.”

Brad smiled, “You got that right.”

“Yea...” I let my fingers run down his sweatshirt. I noticed the chinese bag and put my hand in. “They didn’t give us any fortune cookies! That’s my favorite part about getting Chinese.” I tossed the bag aside.

“No, I put them in my pocket,” Brad said, digging through his sweatshirt pocket. “Here they are!” He handed me the non-broken cookie, a smile flickered across his face.

I looked at him, “What?”

“I wanna see your face when you read the fortune; you always freak out, it’s hysterical!”

“Fine,” I said, popping the wrapper open. Holding the fortune cookie in my hand, I smelled it’s aroma, delicious. Brad was still looking at me, but more intensely than before.

“I don’t have all night to watch your reaction,” Brad commented.

Giggling, I cracked the cookie in half and something fell out, but it wasn’t a fortune. I glanced at Brad who showed no emotion, his face flushed. I bent down to look for the thing that fell out. Something glittered, my heart stopped. It was a ring. This wasn’t happening, was it? I snatched the ring and got up, Brad was on one knee. I stopped breathing.

“Emilee, I love you. I love you more than you can imagine. Will you marry me?” Brad proposed, looking at me with his hazel eyes.

My heart was pounding, head spinning. I loved him! Nodding my head uncontrollably, I managed to say, “Yes! Oh, yes!” I wrapped my arms around him and held him close, he was going to be mine and I was going to be his. “I love you...”

Brad’s face broke into one big smile and he kissed me. A chill went up my spine, my heart started racing. “I love you so much,” he whispered, hugging me. “I always have and I always will.”