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He winks at me then gives a chin lift toward the screen once more. I huff out in frustration that he won’t answer my questions until I see the next thing on the screen is us walking down the sidewalk toward my house. That answers my question, because if it was our episode, the whole grocery shopping part of the show wouldn’t have been cut out.
I rest my chin on the palm of my hand, my elbow propped on the table, as I smile, my eyes tearing up the moment I watch Curtis take hold of me on the screen, pulling me to the other side of him so I’m walking next to the building instead. I feel his hand come to rest on my thigh beneath the table, and I slide my fingers through his, tightening them to try to help control my emotions.
The screen cuts back to the grocery store, in the middle of our conversation. “But what’s interesting, at least to me, is the majority of the people from here sound almost like a perfect mix of Southern and working-class New Yorkers,” I tell him, and after a pause, he smiles and replies, “Now that you mention it, that is exactly what they sound like. Hm!” He stops, looking back at me. “Lafayette really nailed the accent on True Blood, huh?”
I see myself pout. “Rest in peace, Nelsan Ellis. He was seriously my favorite character,” and then my eyes dart to Curtis’s response.
“Right? That actually made me really sad when I heard he passed away. Like, most of the time you hear about a celebrity dying, and it’s like, aw, that sucks, and you kinda just go about the rest of your day. His made me genuinely sad that we wouldn’t see him around anymore.”
“Same,” I breathe, and then we stand there staring at each other.
And stare at each other.
And stare at each other.
And the audience around us starts to giggle, and then everyone bursts out laughing when Martin yells off camera, “Cut!” and our eyes turn toward him in confusion.
There are a couple of cute scenes of us in the kitchen, and there’s no denying how in sync we were with each other from the very beginning. I watch as I hand him utensils and things before he even has a chance to ask for them, our time together in Emmy’s kitchen seeming more like a choreographed dance than learning to cook.
But then the screen goes white for a moment, and suddenly Curtis is speaking directly into the camera. I can tell from the background that he was in his living room when he recorded this part, and it must’ve been on his phone, as he adjusts it where he’s got it set up before sitting a little farther back on his couch. He rests his elbows on his knees and claps his hands together, a nervous smile on his face.
“Erin… sugar… um… hi,” he stutters out, chuckling, and next to me, I feel his hand squeeze mine. “You’d think this would come easy to me, talking to a camera as if it’s a person, but this… this is for you. You. Hello, you, as Joe would say.” He does an actual face-palm, making me laugh. “Aaand now I’m quoting one of our shows. No. No quoting, Curt. This has gotta be original. It’s gotta be special. Because it’s your girl.”
I turn to look at Curtis sitting beside me, and this time he meets my eyes for a moment, a sweet look on his face before he nods at the screen.
I dutifully watch as he says, “In about ten minutes, I’m headed to the airport to pick you up. I haven’t seen you in what seems like a lifetime, and my heart feels like it’s going to come like… tearing out of my chest Alien-style.” He grabs the center of his chest and closes his eyes for a moment while he blows out a breath. When he opens them again, he looks a little calmer. “I have something for you,” he says from the screen, and he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a royal blue box and opening it to show a gorgeous diamond ring.
I gasp, letting go of his hand to cover my mouth, my fingers steepling as my eyes go wide. I don’t take them off the screen, dying to see what he says next.
“I want to be able to relive this moment over and over, so I’m asking you to marry me out in public, in the middle of LAX, where tens, even hundreds, of people will be able to see and record if they want. And all the better, because then they’ll tag us on social media, and I’ll be able to enjoy the moment from all different angles.” He chuckles, shaking his head. “I mean, that’s if you say yes. Please, dear God, say yes, or I’m gonna look like the biggest freakin’ tool.”
