Deleted Scene 1: The Engagement

“Are you ready?”

I smiled over at Dannon.  We were sitting in front of my house inside his car.  We’d been sitting here for ten minutes, thinking of a way to tell my family the news.  I mean, going in there and screaming, “OMG I’m engaged!” wasn’t very creative.  But there wasn’t really many different ways to tell them.  We could have gone with the boring, “Oh yeah, we’re engaged.  Just thought we’d let you know.”  But I didn’t really want to do that.

So, I was doing what I would usually do: see how long it took them to notice.  Yep, I was going to see how long it took them to notice the dazzling ring on my finger.  Then, and only then, would I tell my family that I was engaged to such an amazing guy.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I murmured, my smile growing.  “Are you ready?”

Dannon cracked a bright smile.  “Oh, yeah.”

I laughed, unbuckling my seatbelt.  Yeah, we’d been sitting there and I never undid my seat buckle.  “I wonder how long it’s going to take them to notice.”

Dannon leaned forward pecking me on the lips.  “The way you talk with your hands, I’m guessing not long.”

I whacked him on the shoulder playfully.  “Hey!  That’s not very nice.”

“Ah, but you love me anyway.”  Dannon smiled largely, opening his door and stepping outside.  Ah, I guess we were going inside now.

Suddenly I felt nervous.  What if they got pissed because I was getting married at such a young age?  What if they thought that this was a horrible idea and tried to put an end to it?  I’d be devastated if that happened.  Marrying Dannon was probably the best thing that could ever happen for us.  If I could, I’d marry him now.

Yeah, I was a total girl.

Don’t like it?  Get over it.

I opened the car door and hopped out.  Dannon held my hand as we made our way up the walkway, toward my house.  I was surprised that my family wasn’t looking out the windows at us right now, being the creepers that they were.  But, then again, they’d become used to our affection.  I mean, we didn’t exactly hide it even when we were with them.  They didn’t seem to mind, though.

“What happens if they get mad?” I mumbled as we reached the door.

“They won’t,” Dannon assured, squeezing my hand for further consolation.

How he knew that I didn’t know, but I wasn’t about to ask.

“I’m home!” I called kicking off my shoes, all without letting go of Dannon’s hand.  He copied, the smile never leaving his face.

“Brianne!” Garrett called, scurrying out into the room, a ridiculous smile on his face.  “Oooh and the boyfriend is here.”

Dannon chuckled.  “Hey, Garrett.”

“Hello, Dannon.”  Garrett placed his hands on his hips.  “So, what are the plans for today?  Are you going to go take that ridiculous romantic walk on the beach again?”

Yeah, we’d attempted one of those.  In reality, they’re not that romantic.  Though, that may have been because Dannon ended up throwing me in the water, and subsequently I attempted to drown him in the ocean.  No biggy.  “We could,” I said slowly before laughing.  “Nah, I don’t think so.”

Dannon laughed.  “Aw, you didn’t enjoy the water fight last time?”

I scowled.  “You got salt water up my nose.”

“I bet it smelt delightful.”

“Asshole.”

“Lovely nickname, really.”

I laughed, slapping Dannon on the shoulder before trotting further into the house, dragging him with me.  Garrett walked beside us, seeming absolutely ecstatic.  Oh dear.  What had my family done to him while Dannon and I were in the park?  He must have been excruciatingly bored to be this excited to have us home.

“Where’s Mom?” I asked, bringing a hand through my hair.  I could see the glint of the ring form the corner of my eye.  I was kind of surprised that Garrett didn’t notice.

“She’s upstairs, preparing the baby’s room.”  Garrett rolled his eyes.  “The thing’s not even born yet and it’s getting a bunch of attention.”

“Coming from the guy who hugged her belly saying you were training it to love you more than me.”

“I love how you’re referring to your future brother as an ‘it’,” Dannon teased, chuckling as he lead me over to the living room couch and plopped down.  I almost fell onto his lap in the process.

“Hey!” I shrieked.  “Making me fall on you is not okay.”

Dannon and Garrett laughed.  I scowled at them both.  Tch.  Men.

“Well, while you two men bond, I’m going to go assist my mother in the baby’s room.  She could have fallen to her death and you wouldn’t know.”

Garrett rolled his eyes at my dramatic-ness.  “Quite a girl you got there,” he teased to Dannon.

“Quite a girl indeed.”

I couldn’t help but smile I made my way up the stairs.  It took everything I could not to run up the stairs and yell in excitement about how I was getting married.  I was so happy that I could sing—which, was not a good idea.  It was so odd to think about how just a short while ago I didn’t believe in love at all.

“Mom?” I murmured, stepping into the baby’s room.  You couldn’t even tell that it had once been the guest room where Dannon spent some of his time in the start of our relationship.  Thinking back on that time made me smile.  Those were some good times.

“I’m over here!” my mom called.

My eyes shifted over to my mom, who was painting the far corner.  I laughed as she tried so hard to be artistic, but failed.  While I sucked at every game in history known to man, my mom sucked at cooking and anything artistic.  What flaws.  “Mom, I thought Dad told you to let him do the painting.”

My mom huffed, crossing her arms over her rotund belly.  “Yeah, well, I’m fully capable.”

I laughed.  “Mom, put the paintbrush down.  It’s for the best.  You don’t want to destroy your unborn child’s room.”

My mom scowled, plopping the paint brush into the paint pan.  I bit my lip to keep from laughing.  She had paint all over her face.  And she wondered why no one ever allowed her to do anything where she could get dirty.  She was lucky she didn’t destroy the wall.  At least my dad could fix up her horrible paint job.

“That’s mean,” she muttered.  She glanced down at my hand.  “What’s that?”

I feigned confusion.  “What’s what?”

She pointed at the ring.  “What’s that on your finger?”

I held up my hand, showing off the ring.  “Oh, this?  Nothing, really.  Just an engagement ring.”

My mom stared at me for a long moment before screaming.  Legitimately, girly screaming.  She practically tackled me to the floor in a man-hug, making me feel like a buffalo had just decided to take a nap on my body.  “Ma,” I whispered.  “Can’t breathe.”

“My baby’s getting married!” she shrieked with glee, hugging me tighter, obviously not hearing that I was lacking in oxygen.

When I heard this, I couldn’t help but smile largely.  I was getting married.  I was getting married!  “Yeah, I am,” I said, attempting but failing to keep the girlish squeal seeping into my voice as I spoke.

“You have to tell me how he proposed!” my mom demanded giddily, clapping her hands in excitement.  I was about to open my mouth to answer, but she cut me off.  “Not here!  Let’s go downstairs so you can both tell me.”

I smiled, nodding and turning out of the room.  I was going to have Dannon tell the story, for I was a terrible story teller.  I would probably ruin it, and that would only make Dannon look bad.  Yep, he was designated to tell everyone how he proposed.

“My baby’s getting married!” my mom screeched in glee as we made our way down the stairs.  I shook my head, laughing softly.  It seemed odd that I was afraid of her reaction earlier.

“What’s this about getting hitched?” Garrett asked, appearing at the end of the stairway.  He cocked an eyebrow at me.  “What the heck is she talking about?  Is it pregnant delusions?”

I laughed heartily while my mom tossed him a glare.  “Why are my children being so mean to me today?” she asked.  She sighed.  “I will forgive you both since this is a day of celebration!”

“What’s going on?” Garrett demanded.

I smiled brightly as Dannon appeared at the start of the stairs.  He smiled back, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets.  Garrett shot Dannon a suspicious glance.  Poor guy.  He was so confused.  I held up my hand that wore the engagement ring just to help the poor guy out.

Garrett stared at the ring for a long time before jumping up and down and screaming, “My sister’s getting married!”

The next thing I knew I was being crushed in a bone-crunching hug.  I laughed as Garrett twirled me around in circles, hugging him back.  From the corner of my eye I could see Dannon smiling, leaning back against the wall.  “Garrett, put me down!” I called, giggling.  “I’m getting dizzy.”

Garrett set me down and turned to Dannon.  “You finally popped the question, eh?”

I cocked an eyebrow as Dannon nodded and they pumped their fists together.  “What do you mean by ‘finally’?” I asked.  “Have you two talked about this?”

Garrett grinned, nodding.  “Yeah, like two weeks ago he told me he wanted to propose.”

“And you were confused on Mom screaming about marriage why then?”  My eyebrows flew up.  “Sometimes I really wonder about you.”

Garrett grumbled under his breath before cracking a huge smile.  “We should go out to dinner to celebrate!”  He nudged my mom’s shoulder.  “You think?”

I smiled, trotting over to Dannon and leaning into his side.  Dannon’s arm snaked around my waist, pulling me closer to him.  “I see it didn’t take her long to notice.”

“Nope.  She looked down and saw the ring.”  I smiled.  “It’s okay, though.  I wasn’t going to be able to hold much longer.”

Dannon kissed me on the cheek.  “You never have been patient.”

I slapped his shoulder playfully.  “Asshole.”

“Ah, the creative nickname.  Gotta love it.”

“Apple-denter.”

“Much better.”

I laughed along with Dannon, turning to face my other family members.  They were discussing intently on what restaurant we should go to.  Their heads were bent together as they spoke in not-so-quiet voice.  Only my family.

“I’m going to call Kyla,” I said, detaching myself from Dannon and moving toward the living room.  “She’d be pissed if I didn’t tell her now.”

“Brianne, language!” my mom hollered.

Huh.  So of all things she heard that?  Selective hearing much?

Dannon chuckled at my mom’s reaction before nodding.  “All right.  I should probably tell Oliver.  You know how he is on the whole secret thing.”

Yeah, Oliver had informed Dannon that if he ever hid something important from him again, no matter what the motive was, Oliver would personally see to it that Dannon was tortured brutally.  Knowing Oliver the torture would be something lame like painting him with peanut butter or dumping a pile of goop over his head.  Oliver wasn’t capable of anything violent.  “Yeah, you probably should.”

Dannon nodded.  “Yeah.”

We both left the room.  I trotted toward the front door.  “I’m going outside, you call from the living room,” I informed him, grinning.

Dannon laughed, probably secretly knowing that the reason I was telling Kyla outside was because I would be screaming like the little girl that I was.  It was easy to contain the excitement with my family, but with Kyla?  Yeah, not so much.

I stepped out on the porch, bouncing on my feet as I waited for Kyla to answer the phone.  Why did it feel like she was taking forever?  “Come on, Kyla,” I muttered, pushing stray strands of hair out of my face.

“Hello?” Kyla finally answered, dragging out the vowels when she spoke.  “What can I do for you my dear lady?”

“Guess what!” I shrieked, practically hopping up and down.  I wanted to run across the yard whooping for joy.  But, of course, I was Brianne and did not do those things.  Nope, nope, nope.

“What!” Kyla shrieked back, acting excited though she had no idea what was going on.

“I’m engaged!”

Kyla didn’t answer for a moment.  I waited impatiently, tempted to tell her to give me some sort of reaction.  But, right as I was about to do just that, Kyla shouted out in surprise and glee.  “I’m coming over.  Don’t move!”

And then, she proceeded to hang up on me.

I didn’t know how fast she was driving, but about five minutes later she was pulling into the driveway, hopping out of the car, and barreling up the yard.  “Brianne!” she shrieked, throwing her arms around me.  She pulled away after a moment, giving me an intense stare.  “Show me the ring.”

I held my hand up and Kyla squealed.  “It’s beautiful!”

Kyla grabbed my arms and began hopping up and down.  I laughed, hopping along with her, never feeling more elated in my entire life.  I didn’t even care if my family was looking out the window and saw me jumping up and down like an idiot.  Let them stare.  Let them hold it against me forever.  For now, I was content jumping up and down with my friend.

“Tell me everything,” Kyla demanded, ending our jumping entirely.

I smiled.  “Come inside, I think Mom’s going to make us tell the engagement story.  But I’d just ruin it so I’m planning on making Dannon tell it.”

Kyla laughed.  “Yeah, you do suck at telling stories.”

“Because I’m in such a good mood I’m going to kindly forget you said that.”

“Whatever floats your boat.”

“I don’t have a boat.”

Kyla scoffed, shoving me playfully.  I shoved her back, laughing.  “You don’t seem to comprehend clichés very well,” Kyla drawled.

“Because they’re clichés, the very things I despise,” I said with a grin.

 “You can’t really say that anymore,” Kyla pointed out.  “You’ve become a gooey romantic since you’ve started dating Dannon, you know.”

I rolled my eyes, not answering.  She was right, of course.  I’d become accustomed to watching chick flicks, and even started liking A Walk To Remember.  I mean, I could relate now.  And since everything in my situation worked out okay, it didn’t pain me to watch the movie or anything. 

We stepped inside and headed into the living room.  I walked into the room right as Dannon hung up the phone, a smile on his face.  “I had time to call two people while you called one?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“My person happened to drive herself over here,” I pointed out.  “And what about Oliver and your dad?”

Yeah, I totally guessed that it was his dad he’d called.  Well, I was probably right anyway.

“Oliver’s on his way with the rest of the crew,” Dannon said with a chuckle.  “I tried to stop him, but there’s no stopping the guy when he puts his mind to something.  Right, Kyla?”

“Right.”  Kyla smiled brightly.  She paused, thinking something over within her head before running over to Dannon and throwing her arms around him.  “I’m so happy for you two!” she called out.

Dannon smiled, hugging Kyla back.  He glanced at me and flashed a smile filled with love and adornment.  I smiled back, crossing my arms over my chest.  It seemed I was doing a lot of smiling and laughing today.

“I bet you’re awfully thankful that I made Brianne chuck that apple across the cafeteria now, aren’t you?” Kyla teased, wriggling her eyebrows.

Dannon nodded.  “Yes, thank you for that.”

It seemed so long ago that I chucked an apple across the cafeteria, hitting Dannon in the head.  We’d gone through so much together since then.  We’d had so many adventures, so much fun.  We’d also been through so much pain, so much agony together.  And we’d pulled through.  I thanked God every day for taking the cancer away.  If Dannon had left me I didn’t know what would have happened.

Kyla pulled away, smiling at us both.  “So,” she drawled, plopping onto the couch.  “How about that proposal story, guys?”

~*~

“Can you pass the syrup?”

I grinned, passing Garner the syrup bottle.  He thanked me, digging into his pancakes hungrily.  Jeez, he acted like he’d never eaten before.

Instead of going out to eat, we’d decided to eat at home.  I mean, it was cheaper and it was funner.  And, since it was my dad cooking, the food was a lot better too.  Dannon and I got to choose what we were eating since we were the couple of the century, and we decided breakfast for supper sounded amazing.  So, in the end, the table had a variety of different breakfast foods on it.  Garner pretty much devoured all the pancakes before we could even touch any.

“Garner,” Shelley drawled, slapping his hand as he grabbed for another pancake.  “I love you and all, but you gotta stop hogging the food.”

Garner pouted, bringing his hand back toward his plate.  But the second Shelley looked away he grabbed another pancake, plopping it onto his plate.  I laughed softly, amused.  Garner would do something like that.

 “So, when’s the big day?” my dad inquired, smiling at Dannon and I from across the table.

“Well,” Dannon began, “we’re both going to college next month and we don’t want to rush it so we’re doing it next summer.  June sixth.”

My dad laughed heartily.  We stared at him, confused by his reaction.  He sighed, wiping a tear from his eye.  “Sorry,” he muttered.  “You probably don’t remember, but when you first came to dinner, and I told you that you had my blessing, you said you were thinking June sixth for a wedding date.”

At this, everyone at the table laughed.  What a coincidence!  How he remembered the date Dannon gave him was beyond me.  But, either way, it was hilarious.

“I bet he was secretly planning the wedding back then,” Garner stage whispered.

Dannon laughed.  “Oh yeah.”

We then moved on to talk about what little plans we had about the wedding so far.  Kyla was going to be the maid of honor while Oliver was going to be the best man.  Everyone already knew that this was the way it was going to go, even without asking.  It was mutual agreement.  Shelley, Paula, and Meghan immediately agreed to be the other bridesmaids.  Their enthusiasm was quite entertaining.  They were squealing and planning when to go dress shopping to torture me with trying on wedding dresses.

“See, Dannon, you’ve got it easy,” Garner pointed out, his mouth full of the remaining pancakes that were on the plate.  “All the women are going to insist on doing all the work, so you won’t have to do a thing.”

That earned a slap from Shelley.  “Garner, seriously?” she snapped, shaking her head.

Dannon smiled.  “That may be true, but terrible music might make its way into the ceremony if I don’t help you.”

“Hey!” I shrieked, slapping him lightly on the shoulder.  “I have wonderful taste in music.”

“Yeah, and Mom’s good at cooking,” Garrett teased.

“Hey!” my mom and I shrieked at the same time.

“Just so you know, you listen to the exact same music as me,” I pointed out, flicking my fork in Garrett’s direction.

Garrett scoffed.  “Whatever!”

~*~

I clutched the ring box in my hand as I made my way toward Dannon’s car.  Kyla had brought my out earlier to buy Dannon and engagement ring as well.  I mean, I felt like he deserved one too.  I would feel bad if he bought me an engagement ring and he didn’t get one either.  Besides, this way it was like a true promise.  Not just one-sided.

“Hey, hon!” Dannon called as I opened the passenger door and plopped into my seat.  I wondered vaguely if anyone besides me had ever sat there.  Huh.  I would have to ask him that later.

“Hey,” I said, smiling brightly.  “Where are we going?”

“I was thinking we could go to Friendly’s,” Dannon said with a smile.  “If you’d like to go somewhere else, feel free to pick a place.”

“Friendly’s sounds awesome.”  I grinned.  “Maybe we can color again, like last time.”

“Alas, both of us are officially adults so that would be rather difficult,” Dannon said, pouting.

“Nah.”  I waved my hand dismissively.  “If we ask for some they’ll give us some.”

It was silent for a moment.  I wondered if I should ask to go to the park before we went to Friendly’s.  I mean, I didn’t really want to hold the box and pretend that I wasn’t planning on giving him a ring until after we ate ice cream.  We were capable of taking hours.  I nodded slightly to myself.  Yep, I would ask him to turn around.  So nice of me.  “Hey, Dannon?” I murmured.

“Yeah?”

“Can we actually go to the park first?”

Dannon smiled at me, holding his hand out.  I took it within mine, smiling contently.  “Sure, hon.”

Dannon turned the car around and then we were off toward the park.  I smiled, excited to give him the ring.  I wondered if he’d been this excited to give me the ring.  Maybe he’d been nervous, thinking I’d say no.  Though, I wouldn’t understand why he was afraid of that if that was true.  I mean, I didn’t really mask my love for him.

“Is there a special reason we’re going to the park?” Dannon inquired, shooting me a curious glance.

“Yes, but I’m not telling you.”

“Aw, honey!” Dannon whined.  “Why not?”

“Because it’s a surprise,” I replied, shrugging.

The rest of the drive went on that way.  It was like when we were going to the park while Dannon was sick and I forced him to give me the silent treatment.  The little brat chose that time to pull a surprise on me.  Evil genius.  Well, I could proudly say that it was actually fun making him wait.  Him begging was rather amusing.

We pulled onto the sidewalk and stepped out of the car.  As we began walking down the path around the park, Dannon began his begging again.  “Come on, just tell me!”

“Wait until we get to the tree, you impatient boy,” I teased, ruffling his hair.

“Gah!” Dannon whined, fixing his hair.  He was such a girl.  “Not the hair, woman!”

“How feminine of you.”

“Thank you.”  Dannon nodded.  “Now, tell me what’s going on!”

I laughed, shaking my head.  “You know, I can see why you stayed quiet that time you were pulling the silent treatment.  This is really fun.”

“I stayed quiet because you told me to.”  Dannon huffed.  “I, for one, did not tell you to be quiet.  I mean, your voice is like a melody.”

“Nice try.”  I stuck my tongue out.  “Corny-ness isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

Dannon sighed dramatically, throwing his arms in the air.  Then he grinned.  “Fine, I’ll just run to the tree.”

“Dammit,” I cursed as he pelted away from me, scurrying towards our tree.  He knew I’d reflexively run to follow.

And, obviously, that’s exactly what I did.

“Dannon, really?”  I scowled, struggling to breathe as I leaned against the bark of our tree.  “You know I suck at running.”

Dannon smiled.  “You gonna tell me?”

“I’m sorry, I’m a little oxygen deprived at the moment,” I muttered, clutching my side.  Wow, I was so unfit.

Dannon laughed, pushing my forward slightly and sneaking in behind me.  I couldn’t help but smile as his arms made their way around my stomach, pulling me closer to him.  Oh, he thought he was so clever didn’t he?  “I’ll give you a minute and a half,” he murmured, kissing my cheek softly.

I sighed deeply, squirming around until I was facing him.  “So impatient,” I muttered, not able to keep a ridiculously large smile off my face.  It was always this way when I was with Dannon.  Smiling ridiculously and not feeling sorry about it.  Yep, that was me.

Dannon smiled back, not saying anything.  With a deep, dramatic sigh, I pull the ring box out of my pocket.  I handed it to Dannon, laughing as his eyebrows skyrocketed up his forehead.  “What’s this?” he murmured, taking the box from me and opening it.  He looked from the box to me and then back to the box again.  “Is this a—?”

“Engagement ring?” I finished for him, cocking an eyebrow.  “Why yes, yes it is.”

Dannon pulled the ring from the box.  He looked at it in awe.  I laughed, taking the ring from him and slipping it onto his finger.  Dannon took my hand with my engagement ring on it and held it against his.  He smiled brightly.

“There, now it’s official,” I said, smiling brightly.  The ring complimented him.  I was right to go with Kyla’s choice.

Dannon nodded, his gaze meeting mine.  And then he was kissing me, his lips soft against my own.  I smiled, kissing him back as my arms snaked around his neck, pulling him closer to me.  I couldn’t imagine a moment more perfect than this one.

“I love you,” Dannon said, resting his head against mine.

“I love you, too,” I replied.

We sat there for a long time, just holding each other.  We didn’t say anything both of us content with the comfortable silence.  All that mattered was that we were together and that’s how it would be forever.

Finally, Dannon pulled away, taking my hand in his.  I laughed as he eyed his ring with the same amount of awe in his gaze.  Dannon looked up at me, an amused smile on his lips.  When he opened his mouth I expected some corny little line about how perfect the ring was and all that jazz.  But he didn’t say that.  What he said was this:

“Let’s go to Friendly’s.”