Time: evening - late July - 1999
"C'mon, Liz. You can't live out the rest of your days in jeans and t-shirts. For God's sake, you don't even own a dress!"
Lizzie MacCanaugh, a given name as Scottish in descent as she, glanced at her friend, Taylor Hanson, with a stubborn sneer. "I'll only go to this party in a dress if you do."
Taylor, as stubborn as she, but of Danish descent, haughtily raised an shoulder to her as he turned to watch some interesting unseen play. "And if I do?"
Of course Lizzie had to laugh. "Well then... I should have to not be seen with you and if I'm not with you, I'm nobody, so then there's no point of going, right? Right. I'm always right."
An ambitious hand, belonging to Taylor, shot out and grabbed her shoulder forcefully. "Never do I want to hear you say that without me, you're nobody. If that's how it works then without you, I'm nobody and I refuse to believe that so, therefore, I refuse to believe the rubbish that just fell out of your mouth."
Without a hint of expression, Lizzie spoke. "You were in England too long."
Taking his hand off of her shoulder, Taylor replied with a tiny smile. "I reckon you're right, but you bloody were as well."
Taylor shook in her arms as the urge to laugh hit again. "Oh, of course! But, seriously... will you be my date and will you as least wear dress-up pants?"
Lizzie pulled from the embrace but kept her hands clasped behind his neck as his were clasped behind her back. They continued to sway to an unheard beat. "Would it mean that much to you?"
Taylor kissed her cheek. "It would. And, since, knowing you, you want to know why, it's because I love you and there's no one else I'd rather go to this dance with. Well, except for maybe Keanu Reeves if he wore his tight pants. Mmm mmm!"
Lizzie unclasped her hands and swatted her close friend's shoulder. "Now, see, if your mom knew you were gay, she would have taken you to Tom's house to play instead of mine when we were kids."
Taylor kissed her other cheek. "But, I'm not gay. I'm bisexual. So, all the sexy people in the world who want me can dream about having me and I can dream right back. And then, when I wake up from that night of passionate, kinky sex that we fell asleep and dreamed after..."
Lizzie scrunched up her face, then smiled. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Taylor's nose. When she got back on the flats of her shows, she fell back into the comfortable hug. "I love you, Tay. You know that, right?"
Taylor squeezed her a little more tightly. "Uh huh. And, you know that I love you, right?"
The sound was muffled by her hair, but she understood. "Uh huh."
The pair pulled away simultaneously and began their trademark "love you!" move. They locked pinkies, kissed their own knuckles, kissed one another's right cheek, then left cheek, walked around in a circle, then fell back into the hug. In unison, they made the solemn promise they always made when they got mushy -- which was often. "Best friends, forever; no matter the weather. In good times and bad, I know when you're mad. I'll always love you, thank the Lord above you... Together, my friend, until the end."
Yet again, they embraced. Again they swayed to a beat that only they heard. Taylor kissed the top of her head. "Maybe we should make up a new promise. We made that one up when we were seven. It's sort of lame."
Lizzie stuck her tongue out at her best friend. "Yeah, well, so are we... especially you!"
An Eskimo kiss later, Taylor spoke again. "There will never be anyone else as important as you in my life. Heck, I want to marry you just so my kids will be as cute as you. Well, also so I can see you all the time and be legally bonded to you and maybe so I can see you naked. "He grinned.
Lizzie smiled and blushed and lightly smacked Taylor's cheek. "When are you going to propose?"
He stood still for a moment, then looked at his watch. "Well, let's see. Its eleven fifty-two in the evening. We're both sixteen. So, on your eighteenth birthday, at eleven fifty-two in the morning, I'll propose."
With a laugh, Lizzie clapped her hands. "I'll be waiting."
Lizzie picked up the phone and dialed her boyfriend, Matt Mitchell. She chewed her thumbnail nervously to pass the time. When Matt picked up and said, "Hello?", she took a deep breath and blurted out her thoughts, stumbling over the simplest ideas. "Matt, I'm so sorry, but I have to break up with you, I mean, with me, I, I mean, someone. You. You're sorry. I, I mean. That is, I'm sorry. But, but, I'm sorry. Good-bye, Matt. I hope we can still be lab partners if we get the same chem class at State. See you soon? We'll get together for lunch. Call me. B'bai!"
She hung up. As a seeming afterthought, she picked up the phone and dialed without looking at the phone, instead looking at the journal's cover. Over the years, she'd written several guy's names on it under "Lizzie loves ______!". Though some of the relationships had been wonderful, she found that she couldn't be happy in them. Now that she looked and thought about it, only one phrase on the journal's cover remained true and unchanged after all these years and she read it out loud. "Liz and Tay: forever and ever."
"Yep. Forever. Happy birthday, Lizzie-bell!"
Jolted from her reverie, Lizzie smiled at Taylor's voice bombarding her ear through the phone. "Hey there! You on your way over? And, thanks."
She heard Taylor's voice in all of it's cellular distortion. "Of course. You wanted your nipples pierced for your birthday, so I'm picking you up, taking you wherever you want them done and I'm paying. Now, remember, I'll be in there with you for you to squeeze. They say this hurts."
Again, she smiled. "Yeah, okay. Whatever. I'll be waiting outside. You know what I'm wearing today."
They said their good-byes and hung up.
Taylor drove down the highway and thought of the diamond ring in his pocket. He thought out loud. "Remind me why I'm doing this?"
He answered himself quickly. "Because you love her and always have and always will. So, when eleven fifty-two comes, you will be proposing to her. And, you can forget about mumbling. This has to be special."
With a nervous sigh, he pulled into Lizzie's neighborhood. He pulled his sun visor down quickly as he saw an ex-girlfriend of his exit her house and walk out to her mailbox. Now all that surprisingly, most of his past girlfriends lived within a one-mile radius of Lizzie - for some reason he just couldn't stay further than that away from her.
Both of their sets of parents knew about the possible engagement as Taylor had made a point to talk to them about it not long after the day he'd planned his time to propose. His parents were expecting a call at twelve thirty with news that they'd pass on to Lizzie's parents. They were all behind him and wished him the best of luck.
Taylor snapped back into reality when he realized he'd driven past Lizzie's house. Sheepishly, he made a quick three-point turn and pulled into her driveway with a grin. Lizzie hopped into the passenger side with a smiling glare and poked his side -- causing him to squirm. "You realize that one you could convince me to wear this to the mall and you're the only person I feel comfortable wearing this around?"
He smiled and began to back out of the driveway. "No, I didn't realize that. But, c'mon! That robe looks so much like one of those Japanese-styled dresses that you shouldn't worry. Besides, you're getting your nipples pierced. That moves out of the way and back quickly, doesn't show when blood is on it, hangs loose and it looks really pretty on you."
Lizzie scrunched her face up for a moment. "Only you can be right, practical, sweet and a guy in the same sentence. No wonder I love you." At the entrance, Taylor pulled Lizzie to a stop and kissed her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her forehead and the top of her head, then pulled her into a hug. "Happy birthday, Lizzie-bell. I hope you remember this day forever."
Lizzie returned the hug tightly. "I know I will. Now, come on. It's ten thirty. My appointment is at... eleven? Yeah. Let's have some fun first!"
Taylor smiled, grabbed her by the hand and said, "Follow me!" Ten minutes later, they were walking into the elevator counting off the seconds simultaneously, having been by Spencer's Gifts for a few laughs. Lizzie noticed the time and dragged Taylor to the Piercing Pagoda. Once there, she tried to get the attention of the man at the counter. "Excuse me, Sir? I've got an appointment at eleven..."
The guy looked up from his copy of "Easy Rider" and said, "So, you're the broad. You're almost an hour late."
Taylor gasped and quickly looked at his watch. It now read 11:51:47 am. He pulled Lizzie out of the store and past several stores to stand in front of the mall's miniature waterfall. He checked his watch again and watched her nervously check her own. When the time finally came, he pulled the ring from his pocket and said, "Lizzie MacCanaugh, will you marry me?"
She paused a moment, then reached up to stroke his cheek. "You did remember. All those times at night when I lay awake wondering when or even if you would... and you remembered. Oh, give me that ring. This is a yes like no other."
A huge smiled crossed his face, then he gently grasped her face in his hands and laid a gentle kiss on her lips. The they finally pulled away from the delicate embrace, he removed the ring from its box and slid it onto her finger with deft ease. He tossed the now-empty box into the waterfall display and planted another kiss on her lips. This time when they pulled apart, he asked, "Do you still want to get pierced?"
Lizzie giggled. "Nope. This is the only ring I need today. Besides, we're engaged now. You shouldn't even see me half-naked until the honeymoon."
Another smile, another kiss, another case of best friends turned lovers. It's got to happen because in every aspect of life, well, something's gotta give.
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