Baby pink cherry blossoms descended slowly until they settled softly on the still lily pond below. He had driven her to the Japanese Gardens that he had once visited when he was little, and they were still as beautiful as he remembered them. It was a far, long drive, and they practically drove all the way across America just to see them, but it was worth it; they were rumored to be the best in the country. Once he had pulled to a stop and shut off his car engine he turned to the cutie sitting next in his passenger seat, and she tightened her ponytail, meeting his gaze.
"Alrighty, we're finally here!" He poked his significant other's forehead and she went cross eyed for a split second before smiling broadly and opening her door.
"About time." She joked, slipping on a small backpack, "You drive like a grandma." Her feet landed on the smooth asphalt and she shut the door behind her, turning to smirk at him through the window.
"Says the one who didn't even bother driving," he muttered to her playfully--although she couldn't hear him--and joined her outside after slipping something into his pocket.
It was a cool spring day, the weather being the kind when you can feel both the warm sun and the chilly breeze here and there. A perfect day, one might say. The young couple put on baseball caps and stepped onto the wooden path that led them through the garden boasting many types of flowers and other plants in various sizes, shapes, and colors.
Along the path the two went across Japanese-style bridges that were built over small streams and sat on a low bench made out of cinder blocks that overlooked a shallow pond. With each gentle breeze, more cherry blossoms got blown off their branches of the tree the couple was sitting under.
In the distance a family was gathered and they chattered noisily and happily. Two young boys ran from the group and up to the edge of the pond about 50 feet away from the couple and the older one picked up a flat rock. The lovers turned to the pair of children.
"Watch this!" The older exclaimed to his wide-eyed companion. He dramatically moved his arm back behind him, twisted, and, like a frisbee, threw the rock along the surface of the water. It skipped twice, and then sank into the shallow waters.
The younger boy laughed. "I can do better than that! My daddy taught me how to skip rocks too!"
"Oh yeah? Prove it!"
The small boy picked up a round rock too large for his tiny hand and tossed it into the water, and it splashed loudly.
"You call that skipping??" The older boy laughed.
His younger friend pouted slightly, then he turned to the young man. "Can you skip rocks?"
The young man was taken by surprise and his girlfriend laughed quietly next to him. "Yeah, can you?" She challenged.
"Of course I can," he answered the three of them, then carefully assessed a rock flat enough to skip. He rolled it smoothly around in his hands for a moment and got into position, dramatically spinning as the older boy had and skipped it four times across the water.
The three people around him applauded and cheered and he overexaggerated a few bows.
~~~
"I'm sure you made their day," the young woman smiled up at her boyfriend, and their fingers intertwined as they walked along the quiet path.
"The little girl was really cute." Her lover noted.
"What?"
"The little girl who threw the rock into the water instead of skipping it!"
She bursted out laughing while a look of confusion appeared on his face. They approached a large bridge. "It was boy." She said through pants of laughter.
"What?!"
"He just had longer hair for a five year-old boy." She noted, biting back another fit of laughter.
As they reached the top of the bridge they lingered, looking over at the river underneath. It breezed past, carrying leaves, cherry blossoms, and small fish trying to swim upstream.
His heart was racing as he played with the small object inside of his pocket. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the beautiful girl he'd had the pleasure of knowing and loving all these years. He was truly in love with her. He took a deep breath and turned to his lover. A few seconds later, she noticed and faced him as well.
He took her hand in hers and her eyes opened wide. He saw so many emotions dance through them all at once and he smiled. In one hand, the one in his pocket, he held a small engagement ring, and in the other he held the hand of the love of his life.
"Will you marry me?" He asked, producing the ring and dropping to one knee. "Because I am so damn in love with you and you mean the whole wide world to me."
ns 15.158.61.23da2
