Chapter 6) Promises

Girls we love for what they are;
young men for what they promise to be.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Would you believe it?

By the time the next Starlights Accolades season rolled around, which was a year, an album, several duets with established artists and a small tour later, Blaine had been nominated again!

So we would attend, me once more in a borrowed outfit as the fountain of cash still hadn’t rained down on us and what money we had extra, we religiously put aside saving up for a house.
Elsewhere.
Not Del Sol Valley. We both were tired of it’s noise, congestion and smoggy hot air already.

We wanted to move back home, at least somewhere in that region, preferably not downtown San Myshuno again, maybe the outskirts of Windenburg among its rolling hills, where I was originally from and where Blaine had spent most of his youth alongside me. Maybe even Brindleton Bay with his beautiful harbor.  Maybe into one of the new developments of Newcrest or some old house with a long history in old-timey Willow Creek.
We’d see what was available once we knew we could leave.

But before we could do that, Blaine had to complete several more PR tours and a bunch of video shoots.

I am going to save you the long-winded explanation and will just tell you that we would temporarily move to Sulani, an island group which lived almost exclusively from fishing and the tourist trade. Blaine shot a few things there and it was kinda located perfectly to fly out to the different directions he would soon have to go to from. Was only supposed to be for a year max.

We had no clue what to expect living on some exotic island, so far we have only been there for a short weekend scouting trip.

I didn’t like white, sandy beaches and hot sun, my skin burned easily and I preferred to be more covered up. I liked trees. Real ones, not palm trees. And all that sand in every crevice. Hmph.

Admittedly though, the short scouting trip we had taken there had been pretty enjoyable, Blaine had made it a lot more palatable for me, so I agreed.

Definitely better than Del Sol Valley, smoggy, congested and filled with falseness and murdered dreams. At least the islands were remote, calm and quiet with pristine air. And the inhabitants were downright kind, the whole lot of them. Very easy going.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Sulani will be a topic for another chapter.
First things first.

The award ceremony.

So, I had rented the same gown again, yeah, I know, never wear the same dress twice, blah blah blah. I said screw that, because I had felt like a million bucks in it the first time, I’d feel like that in it the second time.
Blaine wore the same jeans, dress shirt and blazer combo like last time again.
I doubt he’d ever change that. Interestingly enough, nobody ever looked twice at it.

The event in and by itself seemed to be a little less scary than the last time, and Blaine-y won again. Yay Blaine!

Grinning, he made his way up on stage and took over with his natural swagger, unintentionally throwing major shade on the presenter, some snotty middle aged heiress whose only claim to fame and entitlement seemed to be an influential husband.
A fairly typical tune you heard a lot in Del Sol Valley.

Needless to mention, he did his spiel again to captivate the audience, and yes, he called me up on stage again. Of course he would. I wasn’t surprised this time.

And he remembered a promise he had made me pretty much exactly one year ago now, while I had honestly forgotten about it.

First, he showered me with affections … publicly. That heiress presenter lady didn’t know what to do with that or herself. Tee hee hee.

Next Blaine handed me a single red rose … wherever that had come from all of a sudden, as I had not seen it on him before.

But then … then he hit one knee, producing a beautiful ring, as he smiled up at me, hopefulness glistening in those amazing green eyes, as he awaited my response.
Blaine really, honestly and truly was proposing to me on stage.

Needless to say that I said yes.
Not because of everyone’s eyes on us. In that very moment they had all faded away and all I could see where gorgeously mesmerizing green eyes.

The entire audience cheered for us. And this time, strangely, I liked it.

And now we were engaged.

Engaged.

Something I never thought would ever happen.
Just a few years ago I would have sworn every oath that none of us would ever see a Blaine engaged to anybody, least of all me.

But now he was, we were, and I was the giddy-est, happiest, luckiest girl. Don’t ask me why, I am not normally such a sucker for those traditions. I guess I was really all about who’s asking you.

Blaine had no more interest in staying at the awards show. He picked me up and carried me off stage under the standing ovations and cheering of all in attendance.

It wasn’t until outside that he put me down, grabbed my hand and we went to wait for the limo to be brought around front after Blaine had signaled the concierge we were leaving, while Blaine helped us pass the time in his usual style.

Once back home, sitting on the bed together pulling off our shoes, I still couldn’t wipe that smile off my face when I told Blaine

“I can’t believe you really did that tonight.”

“You gotta be more specific, babygirl. Are you talking about raking in another award or the other thing?” he grinned.

“The ‘other thing’? Yeah, I was talking about our engagement, you unromantic klutz. By the way, that ring is stunning. You really do have good taste when it really counts.” I smiled back.

“Course I do, I chose you. Not gonna argue the klutz part, though I think we both know for a fact that I can be sickeningly romantic. ” he chuckled.

“Yeah, we sure do. Anything for some added PR opportunity, huh?” I teased him.
I knew that wasn’t why he had chosen this way.

“Au contrere, mon frere! Sappy shit like proposing for all the world to see actually kinda hurts my bad boy image. I did it anyway to signal everyone, this exquisite piece of manmeat is permanently off the market. Sorry, not sorry, ladies. But still, buy my albums. That’s what it said. That and that I have been and will always be exclusively yours, forever and always, because I am hopelessly, helplessly and incurably in love with you, babygirl.” he explained to me, winking.

Three weeks later we stood outside in the evening breeze watching the moving truck carrying the few things we truly owned outright disappear around the corner from the cul de sac where we had spent the past year and change living.

The truck was mostly filled with other peoples’ stuff who were also moving long-haul, and would drop all of it off at the local airport, where the owners of said stuff would soon follow and fly off to they respective new homes, just like we would.

One last look at the rental home, the furniture and most of the decor stayed with it, as it wasn’t ours, then the taxi to take us to the airport already arrived.

On the island we would once more live in a rental with someone else’s furniture, making me look forward to the day we would move back home and own a house and furnishings, bought to match our tastes.
The gypsy life wasn’t for me and from the sounds of it it had run its course with Blaine too. I needed roots, and they would do Blaine good as well.

The departure was bittersweet. As little as I personally cared about Del Sol Valley, leaving it now made me a little melancholic.
Like it or not, Blaine and I had big history here now. It’s where we got engaged.
Man, I still couldn’t fully believe it.

But as long as we would be together, we would be fine, no matter where.

Waiting for the flight to start boarding I looked down at my engagement band and smiled.

Next stop: Sulani.