The Ladies Man

“Juliet!” I hugged her as she entered the house. “It’s so good to see you. I feel like we haven’t talked in ages.”
She laughed. “That’s because we haven’t. I’m sorry I’ve been to busy to drop by, but the last month has been crazy in the studio.”
“No problem. Ashley’s been the same. Working in his studio a lot lately.” I lowered myself onto the couch and relaxed.
“So, how far along are you? I can’t remember.”
“Just about six months.” I replied.
“Wow, you look like you’re closer to eight.” She commented.
“Well, apparently that’s what happens when you’re having twins.”
“Have you and Ashley thought up names yet?” She asked.
“A couple, but we haven’t decided yet.” I felt a kick. “Here, feel this.” I grabbed one of her hands and placed it over my stomach. The baby kicked again.
“Wow. Are they both like that?”
“Yeah, they’re both extremely active.” I smiled.
“Belle?” I heard from the hallway.
“In here Ashley!” I yelled back.
“Oh, hey Juliet.” Ashley said as he sat across from us.
“Hey Ashley.” She said. “So, any plans for the weekend?” She looked back and forth between the two of us.
“Well, I’m painting the nursery.” Ashley replied. “Belle is going out to buy the actual furniture.”
“What color are you guys painting the room? Not blue or pink, I’m assuming.” She said, giving me a knowing look.
“We decided on red. It’s a nice neutral color.” I replied. I thought for a minute. “Juliet, do you want to help me pick out baby furniture?”
“Definitely!” She said excitedly.
“Good. Ashley, go start the painting. We should be back by the end of the day.” I stood, took Juliet’s hand and dragged her out the door.

We entered the store and I looked at my list of things to get. We needed two cribs, a changing table, a dresser and a comfortable chair.
“Where to first?” Juliet asked.
“I think cribs should be first.” I replied.
We headed over to that section of the store and started looking over all the cribs they had. We passed some nice ones, but they looked a little too nice. There were also some plain ones, but they didn’t look to stable to me.
“What about this one?” Juliet said. She was pointing to a lovely dark oak crib, with high sides.
“That’s perfect.” I said. I marked it down for when we left.
Next was the changing table. I found one of those quickly. It was simple enough, with lots of drawers for everything I’d need. Juliet found me a lovely rocking chair. It was the same dark oak as the cribs and was extremely comfortable. Last was a set of dressers. That was also easy and they looked quite nice. I headed out and paid for everything. They told me that it would all be delivered to the house in the next week.
That was when I realized that I was starving. I’d been getting hungry more often the last few weeks and eating some of the strangest things at strange times. Some of those things included: pickles, onion rings, celery and ketchup and my favorite, Chinese food.
“Let’s stop at the food court, I need some lunch.” I said.
“Sure, what do you want?” Juliet asked as we walked through the mall.
“Orange chicken, noodles and sweet and sour balls.” I said.
“Babies making you crave strange foods?”
“Trust me, this is actually mild for them. One night I asked Ashley to get me chocolate ice cream, pretzels and mustard. I ate all of that together.”
She made a face. “That doesn’t sound to appetizing.”
“Normally, I would agree, but it tasted so good, you have no idea.”
We ordered our food and sat down to eat. I started to feel kicking again; I guess the babies were really hungry.

“Ashley, we’re back!” I yelled as we entered the house.
“Great, come check out the room!” He yelled from upstairs.
He’s finished already? How could he work that fast? My question was answered when I walked into the room. Standing behind Ashley was Andy, Jake, Jinxx and CC.
I burst out laughing. “I can’t believe this.”
“What? What’s so funny?” CC asked.
“He called in the reserves.” I said. “Juliet, come check this out.” I called behind me.
She soon joined me in the doorway and smiled. “Aww. That’s nice of you guys to come over and help Ashley.”
“Yeah. Really sweet of you.” I added.
“So, did you get the furniture?” Ashley asked.
“Yeah, they said it should be here in a week.” I replied.
“That’s good.” He came over to me and gave me a kiss. “I love you, you know that right?”
“Yeah, I love you too Ashley.” I gave him a confused look. I could see the guys behind him, grinning from ear to ear. “What is it you guys? What’s going on? What am I missing?”
“Do you know what today is?” Ashley asked.
I had to think about that for a minute. Then it hit me; it was our one-year anniversary. Ashley and I have been dating for one year now.
Ashley got down on one knee and took my hand. I held my breath. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Belle, love of my life, mother of my child, will you marry me?” He asked.
“YES!” I screamed. “Yes, yes, yes!”
He stood up and pulled me into his arms, giving me a passionate kiss. I heard wolf whistles and looked behind Ashley to see the guys grinning like idiots and high-fiving each other.
“You all knew about this didn’t you?”
“Yeah, Ashley’s been planning it for weeks.” Andy said.
“He insisted we all be here.” Jake said. “Witnesses, in case nobody believed him when he told them.”
“And Juliet?” I looked at her.
“It was my job to get you out of the house so that the guys could do this.” She gestured at the beautiful job the guys had done with the nursery.
“But I invited you to come out with me.” I said.
“That was luck. If you hadn’t I would have just asked if I could tag along.”
“Wow. This is amazing you guys.” I was tearing up. “I have to call Madison, she’s gonna flip.” I left the room and pulled out my phone, calling her.
“Hello?” She said.
“Madison, you were right.” I said.
“Great. What was I right about?”
“Ashley just asked me to marry him!”
“OH MY GOD! I KNEW IT! I TOLD YOU SO!!” She yelled into the phone.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Wait, what did you say?” She asked.
“I said yes of course!”
“Thank God!”
I laughed. “Just thought I’d let you know. By the way, you’re my maid of honor.”
“YES!” She squealed.
“I’m glad you’re happy.” I chuckled.
“Of course I’m happy! My best friend is getting married to an Adonis!”
“Don’t say that in front of him, he’ll never let me forget it.”
“Got it. Okay, now go celebrate! I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
I hung up and went downstairs to find everyone. I sat next to Ashley and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to be Mrs. Ashley Purdy.

Notes

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