The First Date of a Lifetime

"Here I am again…alone.", I thought to myself as I opened my bottle of Merlot. Bright Cellars Merlot always seems to lift my spirits. I just couldn't believe he was late again. This man whom I'm so deeply in love with constantly keeps me waiting every time he goes anywhere. I don't know how much more I can take.

As I took my first sip of wine, clearly annoyed that my boyfriend is now two hours late. After all, he was the one who said he wanted to plan a date and take me out. Seems that he forgets every promise he made to me lately. This wine, however, is making it a whole lot easier to deal with!

As I wait, I drink. This may sound funny, but my boyfriend and I have never actually had a real date. Everything happened so fast when we met, we didn't really "date" at all. We were just together. I couldn't tell you how excited I was for this night. Finally, our "first date"...maybe.

Then, a loud knock arose through the music. I was sure it had to be a wrong address for delivery or something. It made no sense why someone would knock at their own house. I was laughing to myself as I stumbled over to the door. I was a tad more tipsy than I planned.

I opened the door to my boyfriend, Johnny. We've been together for a year and a half. To say we've been through a lot would be an understatement. As soon as I saw him standing there, I couldn't help but laugh. "Why knock on the door of your own house?", I said as I crossed my arms with a complete attitude for his unexcused lateness. He smiled with his dimples piercing through his cheeks and said, "I wanted to do this right. You only get one first date and this one is a big one.". I didn't quite understand that answer, but I definitely was curious.

As he walked me to his truck, he handed me a bouquet of white roses. "True love, right?", Johnny said with extreme excitement in his voice. "Yes, you remembered!", I said with a huge smile. He opened the door of the truck for me and all. At dinner, he pulled out my chair and was so well mannered. He said and did all the right things. Is this really my boyfriend?!

After, he took me to the Philadelphia Zoo. We have talked a few times about wanting to go there sometime soon, so I was in heaven. We both were like little kids exploring the whole place and having the time of our lives. We always have the best time together, even when we don't do anything at all. This was special though. It was turning out to be the best first date ever!

As we approached the tiger section, Johnny started sweating profusely. I couldn't imagine what was going on with him. He has anxiety, but the zoo has been pretty empty this whole time. It was definitely strange and made me a little worried. Maybe didn't wasn't sitting well with him. Hopefully, he isn't sick.

Before I could even get out any words, Johnny was down on one knee with a ring in his hand. "I told you that I was going to marry you and that is a promise that I intend to keep. With that being said, Babe, will you do me the honor of being my wife?", he said with complete nervousness pouring from every fiber of his very being. "YES!!!", I screamed as he placed a ring on my finger.

I was in utter shock. I definitely did not expect this one bit. Johnny had talked about it and would ask me to marry him before bed every night, but I didn't think he was that serious until I saw my gorgeous black diamond ring. He even remembered how I wanted a black one to stand out.

One of the first questions I had asked Johnny when we started talking was which Rocky movie was his favorite. He recalled how I said that mine was Rocky 2 because "it's so romantic how Rocky proposed to Adrien at the zoo". Turns out that after all this time, he actually was listening to me. Here I thought he just tuned me out when it was something "girly" or a total bore to him. Guess I was wrong.

This night seemed to be pure ecstasy and to think it all started with me cracking open a bottle of wine because I was angry with this man. Now I'm engaged to him. My mind was completely blown. It's funny how some people surprise you. I thought the missing money was from gambling. I can admit my wrongs. I'm just so relieved that we are moving forward. Maybe a man can learn from his mistakes after all.

"Just like Rocky.", Johnny said with a laugh as we walked out of the zoo. "Just like Rocky, Baby.", I replied, "except you did it on our first date!".