Hold My Hand & Jump

It had to be as perfect as she was.
The San Diego sun rousted me from sleep before my alarm did. I was grateful for it because, even though my phone was set to vibrate, I had feared it would wake her. That would have ruined the whole thing; what’s the point of a surprise if you end up just giving it all away? I tiptoed about the room so as to keep her dreaming; once I was dressed, I softly shut the door behind me and got to work.
The coffee was brewing and the candles were burning as I set it up. Careful not to overdo it, I made a path with the flower petals – narcissus and forget-me-nots, her favorites – from our bedroom door to the old stereo up against the wall. Most men might tell me, “why not just get her roses? Every girl loves roses.” I’d simply answer, “My girl’s not every girl. And no one knows her like I do.” The stereo creaked and whined when I opened the disc compartment. It really was ancient at this point; if my memory served me correctly, last Christmas was the last time I used it and before that, it was this time last year. I actually had to dig out the CD and brush the dust off of it. We never got a new machine, nor made a new CD, because this is all we used them for. Besides, the memories associated with them were too special. I was beginning to lose count of the dances we’d shared in front of that dinosaur of a CD player. The disc itself shouldn’t have been playable. Alas, there was a click, the disc started spinning, quietly whirring, and the soft acoustic track came through the speaker.
It wasn’t long before she poked her head out of our bedroom, leaning against the doorframe. She squinted at me for several seconds, taking in the new sounds and smells and trying to wake herself up. I saw the moment she recognized the song – our song. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, ran her fingers through her sleep-matted hair, and flashed me a brilliant smile. “You’ve been busy, Jaime.”
“For you, amor,” I sighed, my hands clasped in front of me. “Happy anniversary, Amabella.”
She kept on smiling, trying to hide by covering her face with her hands. I cleared my throat and held out my hand, inviting her to dance. Even having just woken up, my girl was so damn beautiful, and I meant that. Life hadn’t quite caught up to her this early in the morning; she had no worries or cares, there was only what was in front of her. As lovely as she was, she was most beautiful when she was smiling, when she was happy. Her heels dragged on the carpet as she came toward me; her eyes were focused on the petals, but met mine when our bodies met. She pressed her chest to mine and kept on smiling. “Narcissus and…” Ama became embarrassed, looking down and biting her lip. “I forget what these are called.”
“That’s pretty ironic,” I laughed, not offended in the slightest.
“Oh!” She laughed, burying her face in my chest. “They’re forget-me-nots.” She pulled away, then cupped my face in her hands. “That was mean, I’m so sorry. I know I’ve loved them because they’re beautiful but I can never remember their name.”
“I know,” I said, leaving a soft kiss on her forehead. “Four years together and you think I don’t know you?”
Ama wrapped her arms tighter around me, her ear against my chest. “You know me better than I know myself, cariño.”
The song played on as we danced. Every now and then, Ama and I found a song that described our relationship perfectly, some far more than this one, but this one had been one of our favorites since the beginning. I mouthed the lyrics and squeezed Ama’s hands, still marveling after all this time at how tiny they were when intertwined with mine. “I’ve never seen a smile that can light the room like yours, I feel more with every day that goes by. I watch the clock to make my timing just right. Would it be okay if I took your breath away?”
Speaking of timing, my heart caught in my throat when I remembered the other part of the plan. The jingling metal in my pocket seemed to be the loudest thing in the room, now that I thought about it. The song ended, and I reached behind me to press the pause button, earning a whine from Ama. “Hey, play ‘Boats and Birds,’” she pouted.
“No. I have something for you.”
“You woke me up at nine o’clock in the morning. Play the song.” She tried to reach around me to get to the stereo. “Come on. Don’t play with me.”
“Fine, you don’t get your gift then.”
Ama stopped and looked up at me, her lips in the shape of an O. “Oh, don’t tell me you spent money on me.”
I grimaced. “Well, it wasn’t a lot of money. Turn around and close your eyes.”
“I swear I hate you,” she said under her breath, but did it anyway.
“Love you too, princess,” I laughed, reaching around to kiss her cheek. “Hold your hair up.” Yeah, that definitely gave it away. Carefully maneuvering around her arms, I clasped the necklace and let the pendant fall on her chest.
When Ama felt it clasp, she dropped her hair and turned to face me; the chain was long enough that she could grab the pendant and study it. “Oh, Jaime, you didn’t,” she breathed in awe. “Turquoise?” She pondered, teary eyes meeting mine.
“Mm-hmm,” I smiled. The woman abhorred when I spent money on her, but nothing was more rewarding than seeing my girl happy. “I know you don’t like diamonds, but they’re tiny. And I saw it and I thought of you.”
Ama just kept up with that watery-eyed pout. “All I got you was cologne and chocolate,” she whined.
“Amor,” I laughed, pulling her close to me. “Ama, I don’t need anything else but you. I mean that.”
We stayed close to each other, and I reached over to press play. ‘Boats and Birds’ would probably be Ama’s second choice for our song; it had been my favorite since she showed it to me. She rested her head against my shoulder as we danced to it. “You smell good, by the way,” she sighed mellifluously. “And you look good too, damn.” She ran her hands down my chest. “My man looks good in button-ups.”
“Come on, you knew that,” I winked.
“Oh, stop,” she chuckled. “How long have you been up, anyway?”
“Not long. I got up just to do this,” I responded, gesturing to the candles and flowers. “I’m sure your coffee is ready, by the way.”
“You are the sweetest,” Ama breathed, slowly tearing her gaze away from the scene to meet my eyes again, “and I do not deserve you.”
I cradled Ama’s face in both of my hands. “Ama, you deserve the world. I’ll die trying to give it to you.”
Ama stood on her tiptoes to kiss the corner of my lips. “Happy anniversary, Jaime,” she smiled.
“Happy anniversary, Amabella,” I whispered back. My hands fell to her hips and I pulled her close to me with a kiss on her lips. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time we heard this song,” I said against her lips.
“I can’t either,” she agreed. “The first time you told me you loved me.”
“Mm,” I hummed, kissing her again. “Thanks for putting up with me since 2009.”
“Shit, I could say the same to you,” Ama laughed, and she held me tighter. “You know you never have to get me anything, right? You know I appreciate it, and the necklace is lovely – I don’t know if you knew that was my birthstone or not – but I don’t need anything else from you. You already do so much for me, for us.”
I pulled away from Ama to look her in the eyes. “How long have we been together?” I asked her.
Ama rolled her eyes. “Four years.”
“How many times have you used that line on me? That I never need to get you anything, you don’t want me to get you anything?”
“Oh, God,” Ama blushed. “A million. And a half, probably.”
“So when are you going to start accepting that I’m going to do it anyway?” Ama rolled her eyes and was probably about to come back with something sarcastic, as was in her Sagittarius nature, but I kissed her too quickly. “Oh, and it has been four years,” I said, talking against her lips again, “and I do know your birthstone, ya big dummy.”
“Jaime, you can’t remember your social security number sometimes.”
“So you’re the brains and the beauty of this relationship. I have no problem admitting that,” I laughed, kissing her again. “But I’m glad you like the necklace.”
“I really do,” she breathed, kissing back. “Thank you, cariño.”
“You’re more than welcome,” I grinned and pressed my lips to hers, harder this time. We were happy to just stand there, protected by love and dizziness in this moment, unable to see past each other. There was a long list of what needed to be done by a certain time today, and with the way Ama was pressed against me, she might have been at the top. Hands got curious and lips got needy; my fingers pulled at the hem of Ama’s shirt as a whine escaped her lips. “Ama,” I whispered. “You know there’s a lot that we need to do today. As much as I wish we had time for this – ” I was cut off when Ama bit my lip and pulled. “Amor,” I warned. “If I get you back in that bed, we’re never getting out.”
“Am I supposed to be opposed to that?” The words blew like a gentle breeze out of her mouth. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed my jaw, something that she knew drove me crazy. “Are you really opposed to that?”
I kissed her hungrily for a little while longer, occupying myself so I wouldn’t have to answer the question. We both knew the answer, anyway. Eventually, I forced myself to pull away; she whined, and stayed pressed against me. “Quit your whining,” I hummed through clenched teeth. “You and I will have all night. Right now – ” I was saved by the phone ringing. “You need to go answer that.”
“But I don’t wanna,” Ama groaned, but dragged her feet over to the phone anyway. “Hello? Oh, hey, how are you?”
I took this as my opportunity to steal away, despite the evil glare from my ever so beautiful girlfriend.
The morning and afternoon dragged on like this; the majority of it, I spent in the backyard grilling, while I’m sure Ama spent the majority of it on the phone. So far, she hadn’t told me someone wasn’t gonna show up, so I just prepared for a small circle of friends, as per usual. Ama and I had opted to invite the ones closest to us for a bonfire tonight instead of going out. I was working too much and Ama was spending too much time on the computer with studies and homework; we needed this, and it was better than going out to some loud restaurant and spending money and whatnot.
I came inside to charge my phone at one point, and Ama flagged me down. She was still on the phone, and had her hand over the receiver. “Smells good out there, babe,” she smiled. “Burn anything yet?”
“You’re so funny,” I rolled my eyes. “Who you talking to?”
“Violet,” she responded. “She says hi.”
“Tell her I said hi and I miss her,” I smiled back.
She held up a finger, and listened to the other end. Her smile became wider, and she said to me, “She wants to know when you’re gonna ask me to marry you.”
“I’m working on it!” I yelled loud enough for the girl on the other end to hear. “Give me a break!”
Ama laughed, and held up a finger again, this time to get me to stay where I was. “Hang on, Violet,” she said softly, then turned to me. “Hey, can you text Tony? I tried calling him but he never answered.”
“He’s coming,” I assured her. “He had class this morning and some sort of meeting with his landlord or something so he’s been busy, but he told me he was coming.”
“Oh, okay,” she nodded, then returned to her conversation. “Anyway, what I wanted to do was…”
I left the living room and turned into our bedroom, looking for my charger. Coming to the conclusion that Ama stole it, I rummaged through my nightstand for another one. “That girl knows I go through chargers like she goes through bobby pins,” I muttered to myself. “But when I need one, I can never find one.” I ended up finding one, but not before coming across a tiny, black velvet box. I didn’t open it, and I only held it in my hand for a second before putting it under the messy pile again. I didn’t have to think very hard or try to remember what it was or what was in it. I knew. I knew, and I just smiled.
‘When is he gonna ask you to marry him?’ Violet had asked Ama.
I’m working on it, I thought to myself. It just has to be perfect.

Notes