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Leah had planned a proper proposal, a trip to the Bahamas over the New Year and a beautiful ring. She even went against her own values and did what Alessia wanted and asked her dad for permission in what she could only call one of the most awkward and difficult conversations of her life. But she fucked all of it up when she fell a little too in love with Alessia’s homemade chicken nuggets and chips.
In her defence, the chips were triple-cooked in beef fat and homemade in what was, from her observation, at least a two-hour process. Then the chicken nuggets were some of the best that she ever tasted. It was part of Alessia’s mission to make Leah's favourite meals more healthy and less freezer. She didn’t appreciate any comments on the healthiness of frying chips three times.
“Marry me?” she laughed, almost as a half-joke that she really hoped Alessia didn’t hear the moment that it left her mouth.
“I thought you were going to take me to the Bahamas,” Alessia fired back quickly, smiling smugly as she ate her own chips.
“Can I take it back?” Leah hid her face in her hands.
“What? Do you not want to marry me?” Alessia faked her offence and Leah started to panic, she could feel her face turning bright red. Her heartbeat was in her ears and she started to struggle to breathe. She stared down at her plate, suddenly hating the chips that less than thirty seconds she was thinking could take her to heaven. They were that good.
“No, no, no,” Leah shook her head, repeating the word over and over again while she tried to think of what to say, “I-” she stumbled over her words, looking up at a very smug and happy Alessia in front of her.
“Are you okay?” she asked her, teasingly.
“No,” Leah hid her face in her hands again, “This was not the plan,” she mumbled into her hands.
She could hear Alessia giggling on the other side of the table, “I think this is the most flustered that I’ve ever seen you.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Leah confessed quietly, thinking about the ring that she was hiding at Beth’s. She wasn’t even keeping it in the house so it wasn’t like she could run and get it and propose properly. Or she could. Leah stood up and rounded the table to Alessia. “Wait here, I’ll be back,” she told her, kissing her quickly.
Alessia laughed, “What are you doing?”
“You’ll see,” Leah went to run out of the house to her car but she remembered the food. She turned back and grabbed the plate and a fork. Leah had already made the mistake of putting barbecue sauce on it and it was no longer finger food.
“Is this why I can’t find the ring anywhere I look?” Alessia laughed at her, taking the plate.
“Forget that,” Leah called over her shoulder, she tried to leave the house as quickly as possible without spilling her food, “You know nothing about me proposing to you.”
“Is it at Beth’s?” Alessia called after her.
“No!” Leah lied as she shut the front door and she knew Alessia could tell, she could hear her burst out laughing. She put the plate on the front passenger seat and ate as she drove as fast as she could, within the speed limit and while eating chips and chicken nuggets, to Beth’s.
She knocked on Beth’s door urgently and she could hear Myle barking inside. “Why the fuck are you holding a fork?” Beth asked when she opened the door, staring at the fork in Leah’s hand.
Leah should’ve left it on the passenger seat, “It’s complicated,” she shrugged, “Do you have the ring?”
“Oh my god!” Beth squealed.
“What’s going on?” Viv called out from behind her.
“Leah needs the ring!” Beth told her, almost at a pitch only Myle could hear.
“What’s going on?” Viv stared at her, “Why do you have a fork?”
“It’s complicated,” Leah repeated again.
“Did you walk out on Alessia halfway through dinner?” Viv laughed.
Leah paused, “Technically, it’s complicated.”
“Just explain, Beth will take a second to grab it,” Viv smiled, “You put it in the study,” she called out as a reminder and Beth changed rooms quickly.
She sighed, “I accidentally proposed,” she admitted.
“How the fuck do you accidentally propose?” Beth laughed from the study, reappearing with the ring.
“You haven’t tasted Alessia’s chips,” Leah took the ring from her, putting it straight into her pocket, “Thank you,” she smiled, “I need to get back.”
“How good are the chips?” Beth called after her.
“I have some in the car,” she told her and both Viv and Beth followed her to the car with Myle following them at their feet. Leah held out the plate for them and they both were completely shocked by how good the chips were. “Okay only one each,” Leah had to pull them away, putting them back on the passenger seat. “These have caused one of the biggest fuck ups of my life, I am not sharing them.”
“I would’ve asked her to marry me too for the record,” Beth laughed and Viv glared as Leah pulled away. She didn’t really have time to chat, she’d quite literally abandoned her girlfriend halfway through dinner.
She made it to the door before realising that she’d forgotten the plate and ran back to grab the plate before she realised that in her rush she hadn’t remembered the door keys. Leah knocked on the door awkwardly, eating another nugget while she waited. Alessia opened the door giggling and she only laughed more when she saw Leah, “I can't believe you brought a fork.”
“I put barbecue sauce on the nuggets,” she justified it and Alessia laughed more, shaking her head at her.
“Shut up,” Leah murmured, kissing her quickly. Alessia only smiled more brightly as Leah took off her shoes, going back into the kitchen. She knew Alessia was following behind her, she put her plate down and washed her hands. She could feel that Alessia was waiting.
“Do I have to pretend to be surprised?” Alessia smiled at her softly when she walked back over to her.
It relaxed Leah a little, her heart was beating like she'd just played ninety minutes. She took a deep breath, “Lessi,” she looked her girlfriend in the eye, “I know I've messed this up but I did start to think of what to say so I'm going to try and wing this,” she tried to fill the time while she put together what to say in her head, “I would like to say it was love at first sight but we were so young when we first saw each other in the academy leagues and I hated you a little because you played for Chelsea and scored goals against me.”
Alessia smiled, nodding. Leah took another deep breath, she could hear how her voice was shaking a little, “But I fell in love with you without even noticing and it became the greatest thing in my life. I can't imagine all life without you and I've known that for a long time; when we were living three hours away from each other and I missed you every moment we weren't together and then when we moved in together and I quickly learnt that I never wanted to spend another morning not waking up next to you.”
She could see Alessia starting to get emotional, wiping a tear from her eye, “Are you determined to make sure I'm in floods of tears before you ask me?” she laughed.
“Yep,” Leah shrugged, “You are the kindest, most talented, most beautiful people that I've ever met,” she smiled, “I love you so much,” she pulled the ring box out of her pocket and dropped to one knee carefully. Alessia looked a bit panicked, she still wasn't fully back after her ACL, holding out a hand to Leah if she needed it. She smiled brightly at her, opening the ring box, “Will you marry me?” she asked.
Alessia smiled, nodding with tears falling down her face, “Always yes,” she dropped to her knees in front of Leah, kissing her and ignoring the ring. Leah smiled, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into a hug after the kiss. Alessia laughed, hiding her face in Leah's neck. It was infectious, Leah kissed the side of her head, “I love you so much too,” Alessia whispered.
She leaned back in her arms, looking Leah in the eye for a second. Both of them started laughing, Alessia's forehead falling against hers. “Are you going to stop being terrible at keeping this a secret now?” her
girlfriend
fiance smiled at her, reaching behind her to look at the ring box.
“I’m not that bad at it!” Leah moved off her knee to sit down, showing Alessia the ring, “You didn’t see the ring,” she protested, “You didn’t see the ring, right?”
“I didn’t open the box,” Alessia laughed, “You picked the perfect ring,” she kissed Leah quickly.
“Thank you,” Leah smiled, “I studied your Pinterest boards,” she took the ring out of its box, slipping it onto Alessia’s finger.
Alessia smiled brightly, kissing her cheek, “Thank you, Le,” she whispered, staring at the ring in a little bit of disbelief, “I think I might have to make chips more often,” she laughed.
“Don’t,” Leah covered her face with her hands.
“I love it,” Alessia pulled her hands away from her face, kissing her again, “I love you so much.”
“I love you so much too,” Leah whispered against her lips.
Alessia ended up stealing her Bahamas proposal all while showing off that Leah didn’t catch on at all. Leah was actually so oblivious that she thought that all the flowers were from the proposal that she had orginally planned and started to panic, apologising to Alessia. She didn’t even notice that Alessia was down on one knee.
“Leah,” she said softly and Leah turned to look at her, opening her mouth to say something but it just ended up hanging open while she stared at Alessia.
“What?” she finally managed to get out in complete shock.
Alessia smiled, “Leah,” she said again, “I-” she took a deep breath.
“I can just say ‘yes’ right now if you want me to,” Leah laughed as she watched a few tears fall from Alessia’s eyes.
Alessia shook her head, determinedly wiping a few tears from her cheek, “I can do this,” she told her, “You gave a really good speech, I can manage it, I memorised it,” she started to speed up a little as she spoke. Leah still smiled at her fiance. Leah loved her so much.
She took a deep breath and started again, “Leah, you are the love of my life. I love the way that you always believe in me and make sure that I believe in myself. I love how strong you are with how much the world throws at you. I love how you are always making sure I’m okay and I’ve eaten enough and that you always listen no matter how stupid-”
“It’s never stupid,” Leah cut her off, wiping a tear from her fiance’s cheek, “It’s never stupid, Lessi.”
Alessia laughed, shaking her head, “I love the way you never let me get down on myself and I love the way you call me ‘Lessi’,” she smiled. Leah smiled back at her. She was struggling to hold back her own tears.
“You make my life so much better just by being in it so,” Alessia took a deep breath, opening the ring box, “Leah Williamson, will you marry me?”
Leah nodded, “Yes,” she told her, leaning down and pulling Alessia up to stand so she could kiss her properly, “I thought that was clear when I proposed first,” she murmured against Alessia’s lips.
Alessia laughed, shaking her head, “So competitive,” she murmured before she kissed her again. Leah did get there first.