9. Stella gets engaged to Drake. Her first fiancé.
1379 Words
Stella looked up at Drake as she tied his shoes. He smiled down at her.
" You are ready to leave before me?" He asked.
She nodded. " I'm excited. Let's go...do you know how many years I was stuck in my castle all alone, waiting for an adventure, a prince charming?
No offense, I mean I know it's not a love story, but jeesh, I'm ready to live." She grinned and patted his knee.
His knee felt on fire at her touch. He adjusted his pants as he stood up. This girl....
He walked with her to the stables. She saw the horses lined up. She gravitated straight to Cupcake, his mare.
She put her hand out and Cupcake nuzzled her and snorted.
She took a step back. " Oh, I don't want to get sneezed on.
I was too close to a llama once, it spit on me."
He laughed.
They left the stables and he motioned to a red jeep.
" Let the tour begin," he said.
Stella stopped a moment before she got in the jeep.
She turned around and held very still she was composing herself.
Oh, not now, why now?
" What is it," he asked her.
" Oh, something in my eye." She said tearfully.
" I'll be right back." She walked back towards the tree line, closer to the house.
He got out and walked to her.
" Tell me." He said.
" I think, I am pretty sure I just got my period. I'm sorry. I need to get something in the room, you know." She said sadly.
" Well, why are you crying about that?" He said confused. He was elated that she was not pregnant, he didn't use any protection with her, he realized that was a mistake.
She touched his face tenderly.
" We are not having a baby Drake. I thought that was what a man wanted. A wife, kids.
I feel bad, I'm just feeling guilty because I am relieved. I'm not ready to be a mother." She said.
He saw her tender heart. He was relieved just as she was, but he saw that she thought she had somehow failed him.
First by not being pregnant and then by not wanting to be pregnant at the same time.
He took her back to the house.
She got fixed up and returned. She wasn't looking at him.
" Hey, look at me Stella." He said.
You are just an innocent. He thought.
I am growing to love her.
" We can't have kids yet, we don't even know eachother." He smiled.
She said, "okay let's change that, on the count of three, tell me your favorite color and I will say mine."
She counted to three.
" Red." They both said.
She laughed. "Okay now close your eyes."
"What color are my eyes?"
He shrugged. " I haven't been looking at your eyes."
This was his second lie. He knew that they were a deep green. A luxurious green.
He had been paying attention.
She said, with her eyes still closed," Baby or sky blue."
He opened his eyes. "Nope, yours are brown."
She said," I meant yours, I've always loved your eyes."
She was very disappointed. He didn't know her eye color.
He saw the hurt on her face.
He said let's try another one.
She shook her head. "Nah, I think we should just go now."
He said,"I know that you love to read books and that you could read before you were four years old.
I know that you graduated high school early and that you could have chosen any college of your choice, but decided to stay with your aunt Sophia."
He does see me. She smiled.
She kissed his cheek. " Okay thank you Drake."
He drove her to his and his cousin's spot. A place where they played and built forts in the trees.
She walked around.
" I love this spot, tell me what makes it special to you," she smiled as the sun shown through the trees.
He said, " Right this minute it's because of you."
She punched his arm.
" I know you, I don't make places special, I've always made them avoidable. If Stella is there, run and hide from her." She said smiling.
He shook his head. "Not anymore. You've grown dear. You are very approachable now."
Stella kept her expectations of him very low, she knew he was a known womanizer.
He does say nice things to me.
She understood why women were drawn to him.
He was quite charming.
Drake took her hand. He placed his long fingers between hers, it was very intimate.
" Come with me, there's more." He smiled.
She walked with him to a small creek.
" I love it here." She said as she spun around, looking up at the trees. The green leaves blowing in the breeze.
Drake had never taken a woman here before, ever.
He was definitely getting smitten with this one.
Stella yawned. " I think I need a nap Drake, can we explore more tomorrow?" She asked.
He rubbed his forehead, not knowing how to keep her there, he was falling for this girl, he didn't want to lose her.
" It's Monday, I actually need to get back to work tomorrow. I thought you understood that. I'm quite busy in my family's company." He said.
Stella realized this was what she had been fearing, being all alone, set aside once again.
She nodded.
" Oh, of course. I...well let's go back then." she was solemn on the walk back. Stella turned to go to the jeep. She looked over her shoulder at him. Stella's long hair hung loose around her head. Drake was feeling strange, like butterflies were in his gut.
What is this, how did this girl get to me?
" Coming?" She asked.
He saw her sun kissed shoulder, he reached out to touch her skin. She moved away. He could tell the mood had changed, she was, well...sad.
Set aside, not the one for him then. Her heart sunk.
Drake took her back to the house. She went to bed without dinner.
He saved a plate for her, but she stayed in her room.
He went upstairs to check on her. She was in the bed with the lights out.
The darkness comes.
He shut the door slowly and went to the guest room.
The next day....
Drake got up to leave early for work. He took a deep breath.
He knew that he couldn't leave her like this.
The past few days had been very intense, he needed to tell her what she was doing to him.
He quietly went into her room, she was gone. The curtains were open. The bed was made.
Drake quickly strode to the horses.
Stella was there, she was brushing Cupcake down.
You are all I need friend, just you and me.
" How was your night?" Drake asked startling her.
She jumped. She thought he left to go to work at his company. It was three hours away.
She looked at him. "Better now." She gave him that smile.
Her eyes were red, she had been crying.
He took her into his arms.
"I couldn't leave you like this. Listen, I think you and I should get married.
We should get you set up here with an assistant and you can, maybe manage this place. It needs a woman's touch, your touch Stella." He smiled.
He realized he might not be the man she thought he was. He didn't even know. He couldn't let her slip from his grasp.
He tried to deny the love that he felt for her.
" Stella, will you be my wife. We could get married here, I could work from home sometimes. Make a family, Stella?"
Stella smiled. She wanted this, she wasn't sure she totally trusted he would be there for her as she needed someone around, she had been lonely too long.
Say yes, say yes, say yes she told herself.
" Drake, I can't be alone, set aside. Promise me that you will be honest with me. I will marry you, I love you." She looked down at her hands.
- Writer
