The Beauty before me

Sarah has been my best friend for going on five years. She's been by my side through a lot of bad times, good times too, but she's the one who's friendship has never waivered. So when she confessed to me that she was in love with me, I suppose my reaction wasn't exactly what she was expecting. To be fair, her confession wasn't something I expected either.

I stood there in shock and maybe a little disbelief. My heart was racing in my chest, my skin started glistening as the sweat started to drip, and I could feel the heat rising up in my face as it turned a blood shade of red. I didn't know what to say, I was speechless until my mouth muttered the words "Thank you".

What kind of idiot replies with "Thank you", I thought to myself. Looking back at it now, I know how stupid it sounds to me, I can't imagine how dumb Sarah thought I was. In that moment, however, I saw a pain in her eyes that I've never seen before, and that I never want to see again. A tear slowly crept from the corner of her eye, and she turned around and walked out the door.

Now that I realize how important she is to me, now that I realize I can't live without her in my life, that I am completely head over heels in love with her, I hope it's not to late to fix my mistake.

Sarah and I met through her friend Candice, who was my brother, Billy's, girlfriend. Sarah, Candice, and Billy used to go out once every couple of weeks for drinks to catch up on their lives. I had just gotten back into town from Iraq, finishing up my tour of service for the Army, so Billy invited me to tag a long. Sarah and I hit it off immediately. We had so much in common, it felt like we were in each others head. We toasted our new friendship with a glass of merlot, which was Sarah's favorite. From that night on, Sarah and I were inseparable.

We had a few mutual friends through the years who had given us a hard time about our friendship. Not in a bad way, mostly jokes about being together or having a "thing" as they call it. I've always just overlooked their comments and thought them to be immature. They obviously didn't understand the friendship Sarah and I shared, and for this, among other reasons, is why Sarah is my best friend. I know it's strange to hear a man admit that his best friend is a woman, but I can talk to her about anything without a fear of judgment. I'm free to be myself without trying to uphold any kind of reputation. Even with Billy, I have to put on the Tough Army guy persona so he doesn't see me as his wimpy kid brother.

Sarah is an attractive woman; tall, with dark brown hair that is slightly highlighted with shades of blonde and red, and she has deep, honey colored eyes that can see straight into your soul. Her smile alone can brighten your darkest day. It's not like I don't have eyes, I can clearly see that she's a beautiful woman, and her personality matches her outside beauty just the same. We've just never discussed being in a relationship, together, or we've never been single at the same time. Being with Sarah in that way is just something that has never crossed my mind. I mean, we're best friends, we talk everyday, I guess I just never realized that feelings of being more were developing, on either side.

Candice was getting married next weekend and Sarah was the Maid of honor. Sarah and her current boyfriend had just broken up so that left her without a date. When she asked me if I could save her from the embarrassment of being the only one at the wedding without a date, of course I accepted. I didn't realize that saying yes to my friend would change the course of our entire friendship. I could tell that she was still upset over my idiocy, she's just to good of a person to say anything.

The day of the wedding arrived, and since Sarah was in the wedding party, we agreed to meet up after the ceremony for the reception. I was a bit uncomfortable walking around in a suite, I pictured myself looking like a Penguin, especially since Candice comes from money and most of the people in attendance thought they were better than everyone else in the room. I chose a seat in the very back corner of the room, upside is that I was hidden from everyone, downside, I couldn't see a thing. I spent the whole ceremony with a pair of headphones in watching the game on my phone, looking up occasionally to make sure that I didn't miss anything important, like everyone leaving and I'm still sitting here.

The ceremony ended and the bridal party was whisked away through a door on the side of the house for wedding pictures and then to change for the reception. All of the guests were shown into the foyer to await the the bride and groom. I estimate it was about an hour before the music kicked up and people from the bridal party started down the staircase. I was standing at the bottom of the stairs, off to the side, when Sarah came out. Holding the bottom of the baby blue dress that outlined her figure so it wouldn't drag the stairs, hair styled in a formal up-do, make-up that showed off her exquisite facial features, she started to descend the staircase. She looked, different, to me. She didn't look like the normal Sarah that I knew. The woman that I saw before me, was breathtaking. Everyone was trying to catch a glance at this amazing Goddess. I was just the lucky peasant that was fortunate enough to accompany her.

We danced all night, every chance we could get. I couldn't help but pull her close into my arms, like a poor man protecting the most valuable diamond in the world. I couldn't see her as my friend in this moment. It was right then that I realized, I couldn't let any other man dance with her again, I couldn't let any other man touch her again. It was in this room, in this very second, that I realized, what her words meant to me, and that I felt the same way. All night long, it felt as if we were the only two people in the room. I offered Sarah a ride home, but she politely declined. She said it had been a long, but amazing night, she just wanted to change and go straight to bed, and she couldn't leave her car of course. I kissed her gently on her forehead and we said goodnight. I knew what I had to do now, and it had to be perfect. Sarah deserved nothing less.

The next day I set my plans in motion; I started to clean up the backyard of my house from all the fallen tree limbs, weeds, and debris. I had to get it done quickly, there's a meteor shower taking place tomorrow and that's a main focal point in my plan. I spent all day and most of the evening cleaning up the yard, it almost made me miss basic training, but I got it done, and now it was time for phase two.

The next day, I gathered all the supplies I needed. I laid out a blanket in the empty yard, placed tea light candles all around, giving off a dim light of fire that was casting dancing shadows on the ground. I stacked a couple of pallets together and threw a tablecloth over the top. On the makeshift table, two wine glasses and a bottle of Sarah's favorite, Merlot, the same drink we toasted to when our friendship began. I spread rose petals all over the blanket, on the table surrounding the glasses, and a trail from the back sliding door to the blanket. Last thing to do, hit the flower shop for a bouquet of carnations, her favorite flower.

Now that everything is in place, I call Sarah to see if she wanted to grab something to eat and come over to watch the meteor shower. Star gazing, eclipses, anything that takes place in the night sky, she loves.

I picked her up, but this time, instead of taking her to some burger joint, I drove to the only restaurant we had in this little town for an elegant dinner. I figured the food should match what I was trying to convey for the overall affect of the evening. We sat down, ordered dinner, talked about everything but the metaphorical elephant in the room, until it was time to leave to watch the meteors.

We pulled up to the house and I told her to go on ahead and I would be there in a minute. If I'm being honest, I needed the minute to compose myself and breathe, hoping that she doesn't turn around and run after our last confession session. When I was able to gain my composure and walk in the house towards the sliding door, I could see her standing at the table, looking all around. She was trying to figure out what was going on and why things were so different than all the other astronomical events we had watched. I walked up to her slowly, pulled the bouquet of flowers from behind my back and handed them to her. She accepted the flowers but her expression was that of a deer in headlights, stunned.

"Sarah" I spoke softly, "The way I reacted when you told me how you felt was really stupid. You didn't say anything wrong, I was just shocked"

"Sebastian, I"

I put my finger up to her soft, pink lips, before she could get anything else out, "please, let me finish! I never thought that you would have affected me in this way, only because we've been friends for so long. You need to know, you mean everything to me, and I don't want to spend another second in this life, without you by my side, as more than just my best friend."

Although it was dark out, with nothing but the light from the stars and the candles, I could see her tears glisten down her cheeks. I grabbed a hold of her petite waist, pulled her as close to me as she could get, and wiped the wetness from her eyes. From my peripheral vision, I could see the meteor shower begin.

"Sarah, I love you. I know I don't have much to offer you, but I promise, you have my whole heart in the palm of your hands. I'm sorry I couldn't say it back when you told me."

"Shut up and kiss me!"

I leaned in and kissed her gently, making our way down to the blanket. We made our own stars that night, and within six months, we were married. It's hard to believe that I married my best friend, the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen, and the love of my life, and it all began with a glass of Merlot.

The End