A decrescendo into a crescendo

Over the past seven months, you and Aubrey had reconnected and fell back into sync with each other. More than that, you'd fallen in love. You knew that. She knew that.

And you wanted everyone to know it.

You'd booked a nice private balcony at an upscale restaurant. You stood by the table in your nicest suit as you waited for her.

Finally, the door to the balcony opened and out walked the most beautiful woman you'd ever seen.

"Wow..." You said, trying to not look like the slack-jaw you were at the moment.

Aubrey blushed and spun around in her dress, "do you like it? I bought it just for tonight. To celebrate."

You walked over and took her hand, pulling her in and pressing her against you. "Never in my life have I seen a woman more beautiful than you. You're incredible, Aubrey."

She giggled and gave you a kiss before looking over at the table. "Shall we eat?"

"Of course, my love."

You had a difficult time focusing on the conversation. You were so nervous...

"Honey, what's wrong?" Aubrey reached out to touch your hand. "Is everything okay?"

It was now or never. You stood up and pulled out some things from your bag. You had a manilla folder that you handed over to her. "Have a look at that for me."

She was confused, but nodded. She opened it up and almost dropped the papers when she saw them. "John, a-are you sure? We haven't even talked about this yet!"

Trust had gotten you this far. Love had gotten you this far. You had thought about it a lot. You loved Tegan. That's why you married her, after all. You'd been with each other on-and-off since high school with any breaks and dating stints being short-lived. How would things have been different if you'd waited to get married instead of rushing into it?

At the end of that day, that's what you two had done. Sure, there was inordinate amounts of planning and prep, but you were both still young. You didn't really know each yourselves, much less each other.

There were some days that thought would drag you down. Why did Tegan marry you? You figured she'd settled for you since you were the safe option. As for you, you'd felt lucky just to connect with one woman deep enough for her to marry you. You hadn't had too much luck with women in the breaks, so you always came back to Tegan. She was always there. She was a safe option. The good, conservative girl.

And yet... something was missing. There was a part of you that desired more. Not just sexually, but emotionally. You wanted someone who could speak with you on an equal emotional level, not to mention intellectual. You could list off all of the reasons why you loved Tegan and why you shouldn't do this.

But there was an undeniable, unresistable, magnetic pull towards Aubrey. Her very person lit a fire inside of you; she always had. She challenged your wit, your worldview— everything. Tegan seemed content to sit in her comfort zone, but Aubrey was always striving. She always wanted to be a better version of herself.

You wanted to be a better version of yourself. You felt complacent with Tegan. You'd been married a few years now — short enough to still be newlyweds, but long enough to know the patterns that had set in. They were comfortable and you could see yourself growing happy and fat with her.

But would you really be happy? Would staying with Tegan and that emotional, intellectual, and physical complacency satisfy you?

You knew the answer and it was time Aubrey did too. You knelt down in front of her and reached behind you. She gasped and covered her mouth, tears falling from her eyes.

"Aubrey, will you marry me?"

She practically jumped on you, kissing you as she clung to you. "Yes! Yes! I will! I'll marry you! I can't believe this... When did you do all of this?"

"I had Autumn help me draft up the divorce papers after you left. I wanted to surprise you with all of this."

"You definitely surprised me!" She said through happy tears.

The two of you enjoyed the rest of the night. As much as she wanted to take you home and ravish you, she knew there was one more thing you needed to do.