>>39320713There was a certain phrase your father kept using, one that never really left your mind. 'Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea', or something like that. As far as you both could tell, it was just an elaborate way to say 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't.'
Here, though, as you held that small velvet box in the palm of your hand, you really couldn't think of any better way to describe how you felt. It wasn't that you didn't love Lucy, oh no, not at all. Rather, it was the anticipation, the fear of what might come next.
You both had a dinner date at a fairly fancy restaurant that night, one where you had initially planned on popping that all-important question to the woman who would be the love of your life, and yet as you sat there in your car you could only feel... doubt.
You knew she loved you. That wasn't even a question. But what weighed most on your mind was that traitorous idea that maybe, just maybe, she saw you as nothing more than a free ride, a way out of her own admittedly-miserable lifestyle for no more than the occasional night of passionate lovemaking.
And you hated yourself for it, for even daring to think that such a thing could possibly be true, that there was even the slightest chance that she was using you.
Steeling yourself, you walked into the restaurant; Lucy had already been seated, a look of mock anger in her eye as she playfully admonished you for being late, the waiter coming over shortly afterwards to hand out the drink menus.
Taking a brief moment to reflect, you consider just how far the two of you have come together; you've both come a long, long way since you first met, and that gives you an idea.
As soon as the check comes, you ask Lucy to come with you, to just take a walk around town.
You stop in front of the alleyway where the two of you first met; it takes her a moment to recognize what this place is, enough time for you to slip the box out of your jacket pocket, and get down on one knee...
