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The girl was staring.
Amy had seen her three times this week already. She knew a stalker when she saw one and well, maybe stalker was too much of a big word. The girl was a potentially desperate person who was interested and would likely not take no for an answer. The thought made Amy’s skin crawl. Brilliant. She had a fucking stalker. She wondered what Karma would say; if the she’d get jealous or if she’d just laugh it off.
The stalker was very pretty though with jet black hair, hazel eyes and a slim body. She was wearing a black shirt and some torn jeans tonight. Amy could faintly remember the girl wearing the same color every time they saw each other. Maybe she’s an emo, thought Amy as she wiped the counter with a towel.
She worked in a notoriously famous bar and even though people most likely thought of Amy as somebody who preferred to work in book stores or pet shops, she did know how to listen to people and how to do make drinks and how to clean up when somebody decided to vomit. What she didn’t know, however, was how to push away somebody, a stalker, if you had to be specific. Should Amy just walk over and say she wasn’t interested? Should she call the police? Should she do some voodoo dance just for that stalker to realize that her bladder was full and Amy could sneak out the back?
Fuck! Amy thought when she spotted the girl standing up from her usual table. She hastily turned to another customer who asked for more beer. When she finished pouring it into his glass, the girl was already right in front of her, smiling shyly. Amy felt something in her stomach twist uncomfortably. Damn it. Why did girls have to look so beautiful? You’ve got a girlfriend, Raudenfeld, Amy told herself harshly as she forced herself to smile at the new girl.
“Hey, are you new here?” she asked pleasantly.
“Yeah,” the girl answered, fluttering her eyelashes, “My name’s Rose.”
“Rose.” Very pretty. Amy shook her head, glancing at her shoes. “My name is Amy.”
“I know,” Rose said, laughing slightly. “I was wondering, if you wanted to get some coffee while you’re out?”
Amy stiffened. Damn it! She thought as she shifted her weight uncomfortably. This was the worst part about this job, having people hit on you, boys and girls alike when you were clearly taken already. She thought of Karma, her laugh, her auburn curls and those soft green eyes and said,
“I can’t. I have a girlfriend.”
“Oh.” Rose looked crestfallen and Amy let out a small sigh of relief. Good, she’d finally back off but before she was about to turn around, Rose’s hazel eyes suddenly flared up with determination, as if Amy was a catch she possibly couldn’t let go right now. She reached out and gripped Amy’s sleeve and Amy jerked back, shock running through her bones. Her mouth twitched. Can’t this girl get a hint?
“Uhm, what are you doing?” she asked, a bit impatiently, if she was being honest.
“I wouldn’t mind,” Rose said, winking, “I don’t care if you have a girlfriend.”
Shit! Amy glanced around, hoping to catch the attention of her coworker, Shane, but he was too busy flirting with his boyfriend, Pablo. How on earth was she ever going to get out of this mess? There was a girl, standing in front of her, a really pretty girl that was coming on to her and she didn’t have any idea what to say or what to do. I should call the police, she thought glumly, clenching her hands into fists. Rose was still looking at her, her hazel eyes bright and steady. She’s not going to give up, Amy realized, not unless she has to.
The next words that came out of her mouth shocked Amy as much as it shocked Rose.
“I’m getting married,” she said, in a desperate attempt to finally get this girl to move on.
“YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED?”
Amy whirled around, finally managing to shake off Rose. Shane was standing next to her, pure glee and ecstasy flaring in those dark eyes of his. He grinned, showing off rows of pearly white teeth and when he opened his mouth once more, Amy already knew what he was going to say.
“Shane, please don’t—”
“Hey, people of Austin!” Shane yelled, clapping his hands together and forcing everybody to turn around in their chairs and look at him. Amy grabbed his arm, trying to get him to listen to her but he was so caught up in his happiness that he didn’t notice. “My girl Amy here is getting married! To Karma Ashcroft! Hester High’s cutest couple back in 2014! Beers for everybody! It’s on the house!”
Amy’s mouth dropped as everybody cheered. Strangers, acquaintances, and longtime friends all moved forward to congratulate her, their happiness all so contagious. She was s so shocked at the amount of support she was getting and she hadn’t even discussed marriage to Karma yet! Oh God, what on earth did she get herself into? This was like a sequel to the whole faking it disaster back in high school. But how on earth was she going to fake a marriage? She was sure Shane would want details soon enough and there was no way in hell she was going to open her mouth. So, instead of being modest and all smiles, she grabbed a bottle of tequila from the shelf and poured it into a shot.
Time to get insanely drunk, she thought, laughing as everybody encouraged her to drink. It was her celebratory night, after all.
.
Rose had managed to disappear. Amy found herself sitting all alone at a table with bottles of champagne and tequila all cluttered around the surface. This was probably her eleventh shot already and she could feel her stomach bubbling with all the drink she had managed to pour down her throat. Her eyesight was blurry and everything seemed too bright and too loud. She had never been this hammered before but she certainly liked the feeling of it, the feeling of being too drunk to remember her problems, the feeling of being weightless. It was as if all her walls and chains had finally dropped to the ground, leaving her free to do whatever she pleased.
But instead, she sat there, staring at the contents of her shot glass, wondering what Karma was doing at that precise moment. The loud murmurs and laughter of the people fell on deaf ears as Amy thought of marriage. Sure, she had considered it but they were only 24, still incredibly young to do such drastic things. She knew Karma wanted kids already but kids terrified Amy. What if they grew up, getting bullied because they had two moms? What if they grew up fucked up? The guilt would follow Amy to her grave. But still, she toyed with the idea, found herself thinking of waking up in bed with Karma and a two year old daughter. She could see the happiness on Karma’s face, could see the pure content of loving Amy and being loved by her.
Amy suddenly lurched forward, the realization hitting her in the stomach. Karma was it for her. She was perfect. She was The One. She couldn’t think of spending her life with anybody else. Karma was her better half, her best friend, her lover, the one person who knew her better than she knew herself. Karma was the person who had loved her and accepted her even before Amy had done all of those things for herself. She traced her girlfriend’s name on the table and finally decided that she was going to do it alright.
She was going to propose to Karma Ashcroft.
.
“KARMA!” Amy yelled, stumbling into the driveway. It was late November and the snow left the ground slippery and wet. She had to struggle to get her bearings together, reaching forward to grab handholds so that she could stand properly. The entire world seemed to be moving at an insanely weird pace, like Karma was in slow motion while everybody was in fast forward.
She looked up at the house they had bought. It was modest and clean and Amy was proud of it. She liked living there with Karma, liked waking up in the mornings with another person’s arm draped around her waist, liked doing normal mundane things with her. As these thoughts passed through her head, the decision to spend the rest of her life with Karma intensified. She was making the rightest choice she had ever had the chance to make. God, that sounded weird to her own ears.
“Karma!” Amy yelled again, lurching on her feet. She heard the door open and light streamed from it. Narrowing her eyes, she saw her soon-to-be fiancé standing on the porch, arms wrapped around her body to fight off the cold. Karma was wearing her oversized donut shirt and it made Amy smile and giggle. She looked so adorable, Amy could squeeze the death out of her. She studied the auburn curls, the dark green eyes and the soft hesitant smile as Karma realized the situation.
“God, are you drunk?” her girlfriend asked.
“Yes!” Amy confessed, knowing that her loud voice was probably waking the neighbors up. Let them hear, she thought happily.
“Are you insane? It’s the middle of the night!” Karma was obviously hiding her laughter and it made Amy’s smile widen. “And your shift is not supposed to be over, you know.”
“I wanted to ask you a question,” Amy said, a bit too loudly.
Karma titled her head to the side, looking adorably confused. “You came to our house, in the middle of the night and during your shift because you wanted to ask me a question?” She was getting rightfully suspicious and Amy was getting rightfully sober as the moment where the lives would change approached.
“Yes,” she said, realizing with a sudden lurch that her fingers were freezing and that she was most likely going to puke at any second now. But she forced down the nausea and looked up at Karma, her beautiful best friend, her wonderfully perfect lover.
“Ask away!” Karma said, letting out a surprised laugh.
“Will you marry me?”
Karma jerked back, shock masking her features. Amy stood her ground, the cold turning her fingers to frost. She wasn’t going to screw this up, she wasn’t going to laugh out of nowhere. No, this was serious. This was her life and this was marriage and this was Karma. The three most important words to come to her head. If the situation hadn’t been absurdly terrifying as she waited for the answer, Amy would’ve laughed at the realization that a girl named Rose had started all of these. That because somebody wanted to have a drink with her, Amy ended up saying that she was getting married.
At least I wasn’t lying, Amy thought, still staring at Karma.
“Amy,” Karma said, sounding tear soaked. “You’re drunk. You won’t remember any of this tomorrow. And marriage is a big thing if you think about it; it could change the course of your life. Are you sure your parents are even going to agree to it because I’m sure mine will but—”
“Karma,” Amy interrupted firmly. She no longer felt tipsy or drunk as hell. The situation had sobered her completely. “Remember what I said during my mom’s wedding back in high school? I practically confessed to everybody that I would kill to spend the rest of my life with you. And since I don’t have a gun or a knife right now to prove it, I’m going to speak from the heart instead. You are the person I want to spend the next years of my life with.You are the person I want to wake up next to everyday. You are the person I would want to love for the years to come. I don’t care about my family. You are my family. And yes, I’m drunk and I want to marry you and by tomorrow morning, I’ll be sober but I’ll still want to marry you.”
Karma was crying now, happy tears rolling down her cheeks. Amy took a deep breath.
“Two minutes and twelve seconds have passed and you still haven’t said—”
“Oh God, yes! Of course I’ll marry you!”
Karma ran down the steps of the porch and wrapped her arms around Amy’s neck. Amy staggered back, surprised by her weight but that was probably the drinks talking. She gripped the back of Karma’s shirt, pulling her close and inhaling her lavender perfume. She wasn’t going to forget this. Not now. Not ever.
And Apparently, Karma was so consumed by her happiness that she hadn’t realized that she was practically shoving Amy to the ground. They fell hard on the pavement but the snow cushioned their fall. Amy laughed, hugging her as they rolled around on the dirt. Karma pulled back to kiss her.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she murmured against her lips.
“I know, I know, Karma,” Amy said, rubbing her back.
“You don’t have a ring.” Karma leaned back to look at her.
“Rings are expensive and cliché,” Amy stated.
Karma laughed. “Maybe we should marry each other.”
Amy smiled, remembering her feelings when she said those words years ago. She wrapped one arm around Karma’s waist and hugged her again, silently thanking her stalker for one hell of a night.