Chapter 159: Chapter Twenty-One

Demetri

The ride to the airport went way too fast. I wasn't ready to stop kissing Alyssa. Hell, I wasn't ready to go on tour yet, but I'd screwed around long enough for the last year.

We made our way through security without being recognized by too many people. It helped that we were technically supposed to be at my brother's wedding still.

We'd planned it that way so we didn't get hounded. Besides, it was around nine at night, so the airport wasn't exactly buzzing with lots of people.

Alyssa and I were able to board early since we were in first class — something I always insisted on when we flew together.

I couldn't care less where I sat, but I wanted her to be comfortable and happy. Shit, I'd learn how to fly a plane if I knew it would make her happy.

“Can I get you anything, Mr. Daniels?” The flight attendant smiled at me and completely ignored Alyssa.

I reached for her hand just as she stood up and walked past the flight attendant, going into the tiny bathroom and locking the door behind her. “So?”

I sighed. “I'm good with water, though I think my girlfriend may need a shot of whiskey after she realizes what I'm about to do.”

“About to do?” A confused expression crossed the flight attendant's face.

“Yup.” I nodded. “I need a favor.”

She smiled. “What kind of favor?”

I grinned in return and nodded my head. “The big kind.”

****

By the time the flight took off I was nervous as hell. The flight attendant got everything ok'd by the pilot, which meant I was really going through with my insane plan.

To make matters worse, the flight was completely booked — over three hundred people were going to be witness to my display.

Once we were at our cruising altitude, the flight attendant nodded her head at me.

I stood and pretended to stretch. Alyssa was so absorbed in her magazine she didn't even notice that I'd opened up the storage compartment and pulled out my ukulele.

Shaking like someone who'd never done a live performance in his life, I walked to the front of the plane where the flight attendant held up the PA. I grabbed it and cleared my throat.

“Hey, everyone…” I sounded like I'd just hit puberty. Great. “I was just wondering if I could get everyone's attention for a bit. You see—” Alyssa looked up, her eyes widening in horror.

Determination soared through my body. “You see, there's this girl.”

“Always is,” a man said from the front row.

I laughed. “This girl, she's everything to me, and well… I want her to know how much I love her — she needs to realize that she's my life, my soul, my everything — but here's the thing.

“As a musician, it's hard for me to convey with mere words what I really feel. I mean, how does a person describe the sunset to someone who's never seen it?

“How do you describe love when what you feel is so incredible that you can't form words? Honestly, I'm convinced words that describe how I feel about Alyssa — they only exist in Heaven, not here.

I dropped… handed over the PA, pulled off my hat and sunglasses, and began strumming my ukulele.

When we're born into this world, we don't really get a say. Little boys and little girls handed brand new families. There comes a time in life when we finally get to choose. And I choose you.

I walked slowly down the aisle and got down on one knee as I continued to strum the song by Andy Grammer, hopefully he'd be cool with my cover.

We can't give our two cents on how tall we want to be, we don't get an opinion on our ethnicity, but the one we spend our life with, that we get to choose. I choose you. I choose you.

I choose you to be by my side.

I choose you to hold me at night.

It's the biggest decision I'm about to get right, and I choose you. I choose you.

I played the next verse as people began to hold their cell phones in the air, waving them back and forth like they were at an acoustic concert. Alyssa watched me sing, tears pooling in her eyes.

Everybody has one. A choice they have to make. Half human, half heaven, that decides the family tree.

I repeated the chorus and then stopped playing at the bridge. This time I put the ukulele down, reached for her hands, and finished the song a cappella.

I was worried I wouldn't know what to do when I was in these shoes, kneeling here it's clearer than the sky is blue, that I choose you, I choose you.

My voice cracked at the end as I released her hands and reached into my pocket. Shaking, I pulled the box out and opened it, revealing the Tiffany's ring I'd bought a while ago.

Alyssa gasped and put her hands over her face.

“Lyss,” I whispered. “I'm not eloquent. We can agree on that. I'd like to think I'm romantic, but honestly, right now — I'm just done.

“I can't… I can't put into words how I feel, what you do to me, how much I love you. Love seems like such a weak word. It doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about you.

“You've started a fire in me, and I'm freaking obsessed with the slow, painful burn. I choose you. I choose us. Will you be my wife? Will you choose me too?”

Holy shit. I was about two seconds away from passing out.

Alyssa nodded and then her arms flew around my neck as she knocked me over onto my ass. “I can't believe — I can't!

“Agh, I love you!” Her lips found mine and the plane erupted into cheers as I held her body tight. “You ass,” she whispered into my ear.

I fell back laughing as she grabbed the box from my hands and put the ring on her finger. Her smile fell.

“What?” I reached for her face. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing.” More tears streamed down her face. “It's just that… this is the ring I wanted. Did Jaymeson tell you? How'd you know?”

Embarrassed, I looked down.

“Demetri?”

I kissed her mouth and sighed against it. “Jaymeson didn't tell me. I saw the ring in the window, and I couldn't stop looking at it.

“You wanted to buy me?”

“Among other things,” I teased. “But mainly, I just wanted to be near you. I wanted to be in your atmosphere.

“You drew me to you and I was hopelessly lost the minute you told me your name, and again when you made me taffy, and again and again.

“Every kiss was like a part of my heart was getting ripped from my chest, and in return a part of you was getting fused with my soul. I never want to be apart from you, Lyss, and that's the truth.”

We helped each other to our seats as people congratulated us, and more clapping ensued.

“I don't get it.” Lyss's brow furrowed. “Why were you being so shady in the hot tub?”

“Panicked. I had the ring in my pocket, so I didn't want you to know that I was getting ready to propose soon.”

“So you decided to freak me out instead?”

“Never said I was the smartest rock star on the planet.”

“Nope, but you are the hottest.” She grinned and grabbed my hand. “I love you, Dem.”

“Love you too, sweetheart.”