I ran behind her, laughing at the ridiculousness of our situation. Only we would manage to be late to our own graduation. Sarah was receiving her PhD—well, technically she already had, having defended her dissertation like the absolute beast of a woman she was. Today was simply a ceremony for her. It was my official graduation day, but I didn't care about the pomp and circumstance. I just wanted the diploma to make lenders have more faith in my ability to repay them so they would give me a business loan.
Fibonacci Files was expanding and I needed to hire a journalist to write with me. But to do that, I needed money. Much more money than what sat in my bank account.
The only reason I was going to the graduation was for Sarah. She wanted to celebrateme. Had it taken me too many years to get the degree? Of course, but I had done it. Despite all the odds, I was about to become a college graduate. If we managed to run to campus in time. My older-than-dirt car finally broke down two miles from the campus in the pouring rain.
So here I was, chasing after Sarah, both of us dressed in our graduation gowns, soaked through and laughing like a couple of idiots.
She stopped at a red light, waiting for the crosswalk to indicate we could go. I skidded to a stop next to her and looked around. There wasn’t a car in sight.
“Is there a reason we’re not crossing?” I yelled through the rain.
She looked up at me, rainwater dripping from her chin and onto her neck. “Because it’s illegal.”
“Honey, there isn’t a single car in sight. I think we’ll be fine,” I explained, taking her hand in mine and trying to pull her across the road.
She dug her heels in, refusing to budge. “Some of us like following rules. We weren’t all delinquents.”
I barked a laugh. “You’re calling me a delinquent?”
She nodded, a challenge in her smirk. “Weren’t you one?”
She wasn’t wrong, but I had turned over a new leaf since meeting her. I was the definition of a rule-following citizen. I hadn’t even been pulled over in the last four years. I was about to hit three years sober on top of it all. My delinquent days were behind me.
Were.
Past tense.
I looked down at Sarah, knowing she was going to hate me, but I didn’t care. I leaned over and slung her over my shoulder, charging into the middle of the street.
“Faizal, you put me down this instant!” she demanded while hitting against my back. She was laughing the entire time, which made it impossible to take the threat seriously.
I dropped her back down on her feet, keeping my hands on her waist to keep her steady. “Look, you’re breaking the law.”
She laughed, glancing around at the empty, rain-slicked roads. “Okay, maybe I was making a bigger deal out of jaywalking, but was this really necessary?”
I nodded and pulled her close, her chest to mine. “Absolutely necessary.”
I held her there for a beat, then, in the most dramatic fashion possible, I dipped her. I kissed her with everything I had whilethe rain hammered down around us. We were soaked through, our gowns were ruined, and our hair was a matted mess, but damn, were we happy.
I pulled her back up, and she steadied herself in my arms, her hands resting against my chest. She glanced at my lips, then back to my eyes. “We’re going to be late.”
I shrugged. “We have all the time in the world.”
“What are we going to do with all that time?” she teased.
This hadn’t been the plan. Theplanhad been to wait until after graduation when we were out to dinner with her parents and their spouses who had flown in. But I had never been the best at plans.
I dropped to one knee, the wet pavement soaking through my slacks. I fished out the box I’d been hiding for months, waiting for a moment that felt right. Sarah’s eyes went wide as I knelt in front of her.
“Want to use some of that time to marry me?” I asked.
She laughed and dropped to her knees with me, taking either side of my face and kissing me hard. I pulled away and slid the ring on her finger as she continued to laugh lightly.
It hadn't been the plan to propose here, now, in the middle of an intersection in our ruined gowns. But it was perfectly imperfect. It was us.
“I’ll love you forever.” I cupped the side of her face.
She leaned into the touch. “Promise?”
