#enyc.event02

Kal grinned down at Rylan as he leaned against the bar, his eyes darting over her shoulder at the disapproving faces of her friends with a long-suffering sigh. He expected as much when she had texted him the address but it still stung. Only a few months ago he would have been responsible for all of their ID's and gathering overly complicated drink orders and now he was just like every other guy that had run his course in their lives. 

Well, not quite like every other guy. They would forgive him, eventually, he was sure. As soon as they realized that he made Rylan happier than anyone else could, just like he always had before. They were inevitable, after all. 

Still, the sight of them had him patting absent-mindedly at his suit pocket, the sleek velvet box bulging the fabric but the bar dark enough that he was sure that Rylan couldn't tell. 

If she thought he wasn't serious he would prove he was. 

His phone buzzed against his chest and he reached to pull it out with an apologetic smile as he turned his attention to the text. Everything was ready, the band was tuned, the lights were buzzing, and the photographer had finally finished setting up. Now the only thing was to get her to come with him. 

"Hey," he said softly, ducking his head to speak directly in her ear as he tucked his phone away only for his hand to curl around her waist, "Do you want to go on a New Years adventure with me?"

A couple of drinks could be miracle workers because that was all it took for Rylan to send Kal the address of the bar they were in, even if Lily and Delilah more than anyone had been suggesting heavily that she didn’t. They’d been stood by her side the whole way through this cheating scandal so really she should have listened to those who were her true friends. Especially Lily had been particularly exercised at the idea of him coming down to meet her but Rylan wasn’t really sure why. It was new year, they were here to have fun, plus she looked really hot and there was nothing better than showing him just how good she could scrub up. 

Now the two of them were stood at the bar as they enjoyed yet more drinks, the girls hips moving a little to go along with the music playing at the bar. He might be the ballerina but she loved clubbing. Something about the look in his eyes even through the smile looked on edge, but she told herself that’s how it should be. The man should be slightly uncomfortable considering everything. It seemed correct. 

Her mouth opened, about to say something, but he reached to his phone looking apologetic, raising her eyebrows but deciding to say nothing. Instead she just finished off her vodka soda as she glanced around the room, avoiding the accusing eyes of her friends very deliberately.

“Hmm?” Leaning in to make it so she could hear him better she instinctively took a step towards him at the sensation of his hand on her wait “A New Years adventure? That’s a poetic way of suggesting a quickie in the bathroom.” Rylan teased with a grin. “Yeah sure, lead the way.”

Kal laughed, short but amused as she moved toward him, his fingers tapping softly at her waist and his chin bumping softly against her temple as he rolled his eyes. “You’re insatiable, you know that?” He teased, his free hand moving to tilt her head up so that she would look at him. “A quickie in the bathroom,” he scoffed, “what would your bodyguards think?” 

He laughed again, ducking to kiss her and then pulling away to wave down the bartender to close out his tab. He was sure that he would be feeling the result of allowing all of her friends drinks to be placed on his tab when he awoke the next morning, but hopefully, he would be tangled together with Rylan, with Rylan as his fiancée, and that would probably make things a bit more bearable. 

He signed his name, wincing at the total before turning back to her and offering a hand. “No quickie in the bathroom,” he said, the words making his face twist in displeasure, “well, okay,  maybe a quickie in the bathroom but we’re on a bit of a timetable, sweetheart.” He warned with a teasing point of his finger. “Come on, it’s so stuffy in here. I want to show you something.” 

He pulled her along, his eyes fond as he gathered her coat for her to slip on, and then gathered her in his arms with a soft sigh before letting her go.  “I missed you so much.” He admitted with a nervous chuckle. He felt that way a lot around her now, nervous and unsure, but maybe that was just his punishment for what he had done. Maybe it would never fully go away but he had seen life with Rylan and he had seen life without her and he wasn’t particularly impressed with the latter. There were only so many meaningless hookups a man could have before he longed for nothing more than to just go home and Rylan had felt like home for as long as he’d known her. 

“It’s a bit of a walk,” he said as they exited the bar, “but I’ll keep you warm.” He grinned.

“Mmm…I wasn’t thinking of inviting them.” She replied shortly before her lips were captured in a kiss she was more than happy to respond to. Snaking her arms around his neck as her lips moved against his, annoyed when they were broken apart, she was having a good time! There was no need to cut it short quite so swiftly. Waiting patiently as he closed out the tab, not bothering to extract herself from where she was holding onto him, still keeping her body pressed against his. 

In fact even as Kal closed out the tab she pressed her lips to his neck, feeling the eyes of her two best friends burning furious holes in the back of her head like snipers. She didn’t even notice him paying for everyone's drinks she was so distracted. “No? Fine fine…no quickie in the bathroom but you owe me.” Rylan grumbled as she followed him through the throngs of people who were celebrating the end of their year, never taking her eyes off the back of his neck. Well she might lose him in the mix if she did!

Doing up one of the buttons on her coat she smiled sweetly at his words, leaning forward to press a peck to his lips. They weren’t back together, at least not in Rylan’s mind, but at least there were indications that some things might be improving between the two of them. For example she no longer wanted to punch him in the face every time they were in the same room, so, improvements. “You’re going to make me walk, on new years? Wow, now that is just mean.” Moving closer to him so he could keep good on the promise of keeping her warm, not an idea she was against. “I missed you too by the way, but don’t tell anyone that, it would ruin my cool reputation and we can’t have that can we?”

He hummed at her words, the flush that had begun to build as soon as she kissed him back now embarrassingly bright red as they exited the building. He tapped a finger to his lips, his eyebrow rising as he eyed her carefully before dipping down to pull her off of her feet and into his arms, the bridal carry that he had chosen feeling so terribly fitting that he was sure she could hear the pitter-patter of his heart. “Well, when you put it that way I guess it would be cruel to make you walk.” He laughed, pressing his forehead to hers before starting on his way. It wasn’t too far of a walk; just about a block or so, and if it took a bit of soreness in his arms to make her happy he would willingly do that and more. Besides, what was the point of his job if he couldn’t use his strength to spoil her? 

He rolled his eyes even as he grinned down at her. “Of course not. I completely understand.” He nodded with faux sincerity, “I’ll make sure that I omit that when I tell this story.” He winked. 

“Do you remember when we met?” He asked as he walked, breaking up the crunchy sound of snow under his boots. “I walked into that party and saw you and my entire life changed.” He remembered that night well. He had been trying to find Claire, funny enough, in a last-ditch effort to see if they could actually be something, and instead, he had run into Rylan looking a little sad and a little curious and entirely breathtaking. 

Soon enough they were outside the building that very party had been thrown in and he set her down, his breath catching as he pulled her inside. “I’m so happy you’re here with me.”  He said bringing her hand to his mouth to press a kiss to the back of it, right over her left ring finger. A finger that wouldn’t be bare for much longer if all things went as planned. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open and Kal took a final breath before leading her inside and pressing the top floor. “We have to take the stairs after that, up to the roof.” He muttered softly.

Letting out a shriek that drew looks from a couple of people around them as he scooped her up into his arms Rylan buried her face against Kal’s neck. She could feel his pulse against her nose as she pressed yet more kisses to his neck, her alcohol consumption making her a lot more tactile than she might have been otherwise. She was throwing caution to the wind even though there was still resentment towards what he’d done that didn’t mean the girl didn’t still love him. Far from it. Swinging her legs a little as he carried her down the street she lifted her face so their eyes could connect, rubbing her nose against his. “You’re so strong, now I think you’re just showing off. But I’m okay with it.” She was tiny, he was incredibly strong thanks to what he did, so actually it was a match made in heaven when it came to her ring manhandled. 

“Please do, it’s a very sensitive subject for me. You know how I like oh so much to feared. I’m like a human lion.” Hardly, if anything right now she was more like a human bunny rabbit, entirely at his mercy. Well and that of the alcohol she’d drunk thus far.

Nodding she smiled a little, of course she remembered the night they had met. It was a night that had changed the course of her life, for the better on the whole, because it had brought Kal into it. The two of them were fiery when they were together that was for sure, but it was born of passion, and in her opinion if there was no passion between two people then there was no point in either of them wasting their time. The night they had met she had been coming off the back of a fight with her parents who had told the girl she would never amount to anything if she didn’t get her head out the clouds and find herself a proper job. Ironically her mother’s idea of a ‘proper’ job was modeling, but the woman was a rich kept housewife who wanted to now live vicariously through her daughter so…well if you knew her it wasn’t at all surprising. Kal had picked up her spirits that night on the rooftop, and he’d been doing it ever since. With a few exceptions. 

“You’re being so cute. Did someone spike your drink?” Rylan couldn’t help herself, she giggled, standing close to him even now she had been set down on her feet. Leaning against the wall of the elevator as she watched him hit the button for the top floor still smiling. “I think I can just about manage a couple of stairs, I’ll be really brave.” What was this whole thing he’d put together? Honestly she had no idea at all, but was hoping it wasn’t all a rouse for him to pitch her off the edge of the roof, that would put a downer on the evening.

“If you’re a lion then I’m a lion too.” He growled, his playful roar cut off by his own laughter. It was silly and goofy and he would probably cringe if anyone ever brought it up but Rylan made him feel like he could be all of those things without judgment. She just loved him regardless. He had taken that for granted before but he had made a vow to never do it again. If she said yes, once she said yes, he would never make her doubt his faithfulness again. 

“No!” He laughed, his face scrunching at her teasing. “I’ve been a very good boy tonight, Miss Pratt,” he teased back, “you’ll be happy to know that I’ve been drinking lemon waters all night.” 

The doors slid open once more and he pulled her along, his palms beginning to sweat as he led her up the stairwell, the music from the string quartet growing louder and louder the closer they got to the final door between him and a definite answer. 

He stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath, glancing back at her only for the sight to cause his stomach to flip. He would open this door and there would be no going back. She would either say yes or he would be making a call to The Royal Ballet in the morning. 

He slipped the door open, his eyes downcast as he gestured for her to go ahead of him. 

The rooftop really did look beautiful, from the neon sign declaring his intentions to the music that wafted around them. 

“Rylan, I love you,” he said, his knees nearly buckling from under him and he lowered himself onto one knee, his hand reaching into his pocket to present the velvet box he had been obsessing over since he had picked it up, “I love you so much. I want to spend my life with you and I know that I’ve made a mess of things but I’ll spend the rest of my life proving to you that I’m the one for you.” He opened the box, revealing the pale yellow diamond that lay centered between the other stones. She would know what it was, had even asked what the warped ring he usually wore hung around his neck was the first night they had met.  “I would do anything for you.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Rylan Pratt, will you marry me?”

“Boo, I can’t punish you if you’ve been being a very good boy, can I?” She grinned, nodding seriously a second later. “Ah good, because same. My lemon waters have been sparkling waters. And they also had vodka in them, but apart from that we are basically exactly the same. Is this where you tell me you have to be sensible because you have to be up early for a rehearsal or something?” Whenever he had a show on it seemed to monopolize his social life, constraining what kind of antics the man could get up to because he had to be fresh for whatever fitting, run through, or performance was coming up next. 

As soon as the doors were open she could hear music, which made her frown confused, because it wasn’t something she’d been expecting. It sounded like string instruments which weren’t often found hanging about on rooftops by accident. At the glance back at her the woman raised her eyebrows, seeing that same look of nervousness in his expression she’d thought she’d spotted earlier but quickly brushed off, and it set her heart off hammering in her chest of its own accord. Something was going on here. 

Stepping out onto the roof was like stepping into another world, the flickering light of candles, the sound of violins floating into the New York sky, and a neon sign that was impossible to ignore. Oh shit. Oh shit shit shit. If her heart had been pounding before it was the Usain Bolt off hearts the speed it was now going, her throat instantly dry. Glancing back at Kal she found him on one knee where he had seconds ago been standing, the whole thing seeming like some kind of fever dream. Had she drunk too much and actually passed out in a gutter somewhere near the club? She’d argue that was more likely than this being real.

The ring was breathtaking, eliciting a gasp from the woman’s throat as it was revealed. Exactly the kind of thing she had envisioned for herself growing up when she’d dreamed of this day. Not to mention she’d seen it before, on a chain around his neck, except now the yellow diamond was set in a new ring that wasn’t buckled from the heat of flames. She felt like her body was frozen, not in a good way, and no words were coming from her lips which were slightly parted. Panicked tears welling up in her eyes, the girl’s hand lifting to cover her mouth. All she could do was let out a strangled cry as she shook her head a couple of times and then her legs were carrying her back into the building on autopilot. She didn’t even bother with the elevator when she got to it, just dashing into the stairwell where she fled down as quickly as her heels would allow her, panic completely taking over. Her answer hadn’t been rational, it hadn’t been thought through, but she felt nothing but the need to get away right now.