Love and Other Assorted Games
This is my first ever dare for maxis_taste, the details are here.
Content warning: Sexual references and innuendo abound, also one swear word.
Daniel Pleasant knew it hadn’t been a good practice. A few team mates had given him grief but most of them let it slide. They knew he was nervous. They knew tonight he planned on proposing to his high school sweetheart.
After showering and changing, Daniel was nervously checking his appearance in the mirror.
“Don’t worry so much, she’ll say yes.”
“You think?” Daniel replied, wishing he was as certain. He should have worn a damn tie.
“She’ll make an honest man out of you yet,” Aaron assured him with a smile.
Daniel heard a snort from behind him, “Yeah right.” Tony eyed the pack of condoms in Daniel’s locker, “I may as well take these then, she’ll want children next. Marriage is a slippery slope my friend.”
Daniel felt his apprehension return; he’d only just talked himself into marriage, let alone children.
“I think these will fit,” Tony added teasingly.
“Get the fuck out of my locker,” Daniel tossed back.
“And get in the shower or get dressed! I’m sick of seeing you without clothes on, I get enough of that in the papers,” their coach bellowed.
After Aaron had left and Tony had hit the showers, the coach gave Daniel a firm but reassuring pat on his back. “You’re doing the right thing Danny. If you love someone, you don’t let them get away from you,” he said knowingly.
Feeling better after his chat with coach, Daniel walked past Mike and his girlfriend on the way to his car.
“So I’ll see you at seven?” she asked excitedly. She worked as a hostess at the restaurant he had booked for his date.
“It’s a date,” he joked.
She rolled her eyes but smiled, “good luck.”
“He doesn’t need luck,” Mike laughed, “he’s Danny Pleasant.”
------------------------------------------------------------
Mary-Sue appraised her makeup and smiled approvingly, it managed to be alluring without being slutty. Even a man of Daniel’s reputation preferred women who appeared sophisticated than blatantly easy. Or at least they did when they were taking them out on a date and not trying to pick them up in a bar.
“You look so pretty,” her friend Cassandra gushed. “Do you really think he’s going to propose tonight?”
“Oh, I know he will,” she replied confidently.
She had found the receipt for the ring, pleased that it had, as tradition dictated, been worth three months of his salary. She also knew he had made dinner reservations for a restaurant Downtown. She couldn’t have planned it better herself and suspected Daniel had had significant help from his mother Diane.
She turned to her full length mirror to assess her entire outfit. Mary-Sue was a big believer in the power of appearances. Although she was happy with it, she could help by frown slightly in thought, “Perhaps I should have worn a more revealing neckline, just to remind him what he’s getting.”
“Mary-Sue!” Cassandra exclaimed, scurrying off the bed and looking around the room trying to hide her blush. She couldn’t believe her friend could be so blatant when talking about her boyfriend wanting that.
Mary-Sue chuckled, “Come on, don’t be so naive. Besides,” she continued, “men like Daniel may have only one thing on their mind, but it’s extraordinarily easy to use it your advantage.”
“Doesn’t it worry you though?” her younger friend asked anxiously.
“What, sex?” Mary-Sue asked.
Cassandra tried not to blush again, “No,” she said quickly. “Just that, that’s what he’s like. It’s just, my mum said that it was a good thing she knew exactly who dad was when she married him, as she would never have been able to change him.”
“You’re forgetting the difference between your mother and women like us Cassie,” Mary-Sue said assuredly. “With her looks she could have had any man she wanted, but beauty fades. Using common sense on the other hand, offering them what they want in return for what you want, is surely a much stronger foundation for a relationship.”
“It’s not very romantic though,” Cassandra said thoughtfully.
“No, I suppose it’s not,” Mary-Sue agreed. “But then again, that only matters if that’s what you’re after.”
------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel cursed under his breath as he got to the restaurant door and remembered he should have opened Mary-Sue’s car door for her. As she approached him, he held out his elbow like he’d seen in those boring romance movies his mother liked to watch and hoped the gesture would make up for his mistake. She flawlessly slipped her arm through his and settled her hand on his arm and they entered the restaurant.
Although he may have mentally sighed in relief when Mary-Sue smiled at the choice of venue, he was still glad she wasn’t holding his hand or she would have felt how sweaty his palms were.
Mike’s girlfriend greeted them warmly and introduced herself to Mary-Sue. Had he been able to focus, Daniel would have noticed that for once Mary-Sue wasn’t glowering as if the other woman was a rival; which she tended to do to most women they met while out together.
They were led to a secluded table at the back of the restaurant which was lit with candles and decorated with roses. After explaining the specials, they were left to read their menus although Daniel was still so nervous, the thought of food, for once, was utterly unappealing.
She returned and after collecting their menus took their food and drink orders. When Daniel ordered a beer she raised an eyebrow and suggested he’d like a glass of red wine instead. “Ah, sure,” he stammered, mentally scolding himself for ordering cheap beer in a nice restaurant.
“How did you do that?” Mary-Sue asked with a genuine smile, “I’d all but given up on getting him to drink something more appropriate when we’re out.”
“Men know how to answer a woman wearing a wedding ring,” Mike’s girlfriend replied, both women laughing at the comment.
Daniel hid his trembling hands under the table as he was, quite frankly, alarmed by quickly the subject of marriage had come up. Luckily their drinks were served quickly and Daniel was able to ease his nerves with the unfamiliar beverage. All wine tasted the same to him honestly but he figured it was lucky he wasn’t drinking beer or he probably would have drained the whole glass in one go.
“So,” he started, plastering what he hoped was a confident smile on his face, “how was your day?”
As Mary-Sue told him about her day, Daniel found his attention wandering. He wondered if he was supposed to ask her before dinner or after. And hell, if it was after dinner, did he wait till after dessert? He was quickly loosing courage and noticing he’d actually already drained his first glass of wine, quickly ordered a second.
His attention was brought back by Mary-Sue calling his name, “Sorry, what did you say?” he asked hoping it wasn’t too obvious that he hadn’t heard a word she’d said.
Mary-Sue smiled patiently, “I asked how your day was. How was practice?”
“Honestly, not great, I was,” Daniel paused, was this the right moment? Did he admit he had been to focused on the diamond ring waiting in his locker to pay any attention to what was happening on the field? “Distracted,” he finished lamely.
Mary-Sue tried not to frown, hadn’t that been a good opportunity for him to ask. It hadn’t escaped her notice he was nervous, perhaps he needed to feel more in his element.
Daniel quietly groaned as Mary-Sue’s fingers continued their journey and ran along the back of his neck. He loved it when she was like this, openly desiring him and not caught up with appearances and propriety, “certainly did,” he growled softly as he pulled her closer to him.
“Daniel,” she chided playfully but was pleased by his response and very grateful for the privacy their table afforded them as his lips descended on hers.
Their moment of intimacy was disrupted by the appearance of their waitress with their meals. Mary-Sue and Daniel may have managed to straighten themselves in their seats but Daniel’s scowl made his feelings on being interrupted very clear.
“There’s plenty of time for that later,” she whispered before telling the waitress the salad was for her. She sometimes wondered how her boyfriend achieved anything when every emotion he felt could be read on his face.
Daniel had only had a few bites of his pork and nearly choked when Mary-Sue asked him how his meal was. In all the fairness, the question she actually asked was, “how is your meat?” and he damn well knew that the innuendo was on purpose by the expression on her face.
He recognised in that moment that Mary-Sue had him entirely in her control, but that he didn’t care at all. He desperately wanted, hell, he needed her in his life. She was smart where he wasn’t (he’d always been told it was lucky he was good at sport), she was wise, where he was foolish, and mostly, she was strong, where he was weak.
Still, there was a part of him that couldn’t concede without a fight. After recovering, he turned to her and raised an eyebrow, “Excellent. Do you want a taste?” He held up a piece of his meal on his fork and offered it to her, as if he was actually referring to the meat on his plate.
Mary-Sue never even hesitated, leaning forward and opening her mouth to receive the morsel of food.
As he watched Mary-Sue slowly remove the meat from the fork, he tried to remember when eating had became so erotic. The final part of Daniel forfeited; why fight when this was the prize for giving up?
After their plates were cleared, Daniel’s nerves returned as he realised the right moment to propose was so close it was about to pass him by. As their waitress returned to take their dessert orders, Daniel actually groaned in frustration at being interrupted again.
“Is there a problem?” Mary-Sue asked tightly, “are you saying I shouldn’t order anything? And is that because it’s too expensive or too fattening?” Mary-Sue was, by now, well and truly on edge as well. She had expected him to ask her by now and was concerned that he had changed his mind.
“What? No! Not at all, please, order anything,” Daniel said hurriedly. Great, she thought he was either a cheapskate or calling her fat; what an epically bad start to his marriage proposal.
After placing their orders, Daniel knew it was now or never. Taking a deep breath, he brought out the velvet jewellery box and nervously laid it on the table between them. “I, um, this is for you.”
Mary-Sue concentrated on appearing calm, “Oh Daniel, you didn’t have to buy me jewellery.”
“It’s not,” he said quickly and saw his date frown slightly. He mentally slapped himself for his lack of eloquence, “What I mean is, it’s not, just jewellery. It’s, I, it’s an engagement ring,” he stammered.
Mary-Sue opened her eyes wide, hoping they conveyed surprise and not relief as she tenderly picked up the box. “Can I open it?” she asked softly.
“Yes, of course,” he nearly yelled. “I mean, please, open it. I hope you like it, if you don’t, I can get you something else, or...”
Mary-Sue was hardly aware of Daniel’s rambling as she inspected the sparkling piece of jewellery. “Daniel, it’s exactly what I wanted,” she assured him.
Daniel exhaled in relief, “really? Good that’s, really good. Does it fit?”
Mary-Sue smiled at the invitation to place the diamond on her finger. It fit perfectly and she couldn’t help but admire how it looked on her hand.
Daniel couldn’t help but smile goofily at how pleased she seemed with the ring; perhaps he hadn’t made a complete mess of this after all.
“Does this mean you’re asking me to marry you Daniel?” Mary-Sue asked gently.
He would later question how anyone could possibly forget such an integral part of a marriage proposal as asking if their girlfriend would marry them, but in that moment, he was only focused on her, “Yeah. That’s what I’m asking.”
Mary-Sue smiled, “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you,” she said happily.
Daniel responded by pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. His heart was pounding although he wasn’t sure if it was elation or apprehension.
After a brief kiss, he smiled at her gratefully, “will you be able to forgive me for such an awful proposal?”
“I’m sure you can think of a way to make it up to me,” she told him salaciously.
His hand slid further down her back, “I have a few ideas, are you sure you don’t want dessert somewhere else?” he suggested hopefully.
“Not a chance,” she chuckled, “I want that cheesecake I ordered.”