Alex lifted his head slightly and looked up at us both. “You really think so?” he asked.
Julian and I both began a mutual nod.
“He’s terrible,” Julian qualified firmly.
“Pure eighties power-ballad cheese.” I nodded.
We all looked up at the TV and watched together in silence as the song finally came to an end and he fell to his knees on the floor, again.
“And way too dramatic,” I added, pointing at the TV.
“I forgot to tell you, he goes by the name Enigma,” Alex said.
“Oh God, what an idiot.” I shook my head at the fool who was lying dramatically on the stage in the pool of melancholy blue light.
And then suddenly, it happened.It!And it was the worst, worst thing that could ever have happened under the circumstances . . .
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
It felt like we were all watching it in horrific, extra-slow motion.
Enigma pulled himself up onto his knees. And then, he reached into his pocket slowly, so, so slowly. He raised the mic to his mouth again and started speaking, his words deep and blurry, like in a dream. Then his hand reappeared from his pocket clutching a ring box. Julian and I both gasped and then looked over at Alex, whose jaw fell open.
The camera swung wildly into the crowd and found her. Connie. Alex’s Connie. She raised her hands to her face, just like I had done during my fake proposal. The camera panned closer to her and Alex gripped onto the bar as if he was going to fall over.
“Connie, you are the love of my life. You are my reason for being. The reason I do what I do every single day. The reason the sun rises and sets in the sky . . .” He paused and looked directly into the camera with his smoldering eyes for what I can only assume was added dramatic tension.
I cringed. God, he really was cheesy.
“You are my Yoko. My muse. My everything. And I really want you to be my wife too.”
“Yes! Yes!” she gushed, tears streaming down her face now as she rushed onto the stage and threw her arms around him and they—
Julian turned the TV off quickly and we all just sat there in total silence for what felt like forever. No one dared to speak, I guess we were all waiting for Alex to initiate conversation again, but he seemed glued to the bar. Holding on so tightly that his knuckles had now turned white.
“I . . . I don’t think I feel that well,” Alex finally spoke. His voice was so soft and reserved, nothing like I’d heard before. “I think I’m going back to my room,” he said in a slow staccato rhythm. He stood up, looking a little like a zombie, eyes not fully focusing on things, and began to walk away, dragging his feet in the sand.
“I’ll come with.” I jumped up and ran to him. I wasn’t sure what to do, drape an arm across his shoulders in a comforting way? But how the hell was an arm going to comfortthat?
I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling, at least I hadn’t seen Sam and Matt’s actual proposal. And on live television, no less. I decided to drape my arm across his shoulders anyway and felt a little bad when I realized just how deliciously broad and muscular they were. I quickly put that thought out of my mind, not appropriate under the circumstances.
We walked in total silence until we reached his room. He stopped, still looking slightly zombie-ish, and turned to face me.
“Thanks,” he monotoned.
“Do you want me to come in for a while?” I asked.
It seemed like he thought about this for a while and then slowly started nodding. “Sure. That would be nice. I don’t really feel like being alone right now.”
“Of course not.” He opened the door and I followed him into the room where he immediately went to sit on the edge of the bed.
I sat next to him, shoulders touching once more. Silence.
He finally spoke. “I mean, I knew it was over, but I never thought she would get engaged to someone else. Not so soon anyway.”
“There should be a mandatory waiting period between proposals,” I said.
“There really should be, right?” He turned and looked at me. “A decent amount of time between heart-breakings.”
