WHO: Hugh Abbott & Sarah Daniels
WHAT: Proposals!
WHEN: Evening
WHERE: Sarah's flat
Sarah was almost surprised that she wasn't more nervous about tonight. But as she ran between the pot of boiling pasta in the kitchen and her task of getting ready in her bathroom, it was more of a skip than anything. She was even humming a little song to herself as she slipped into her shoes and put the finishing touches on her hair, before she went back into the kitchen to finally plate the food.
By the time the doorball rang, Sarah was just setting two plates of chicken alfredo out on the the two-person kitchen table. The only thing she was nervous about was that... well, she wasn't the most wealthy person in the world, and so the flat was a bit shabby. She thought she'd done a decent job of dressing up the table, though, with a couple of candles and her nice set of silverware and plates.
"Coming!" she called, hurrying out to open the front door for Hugh and completely unable to help the wide grin that spread across her face at seeing him. "Hey, handsome. You're just in time."
So they had been going out so long, the office now refered to them as "hughnsarah," all one word. Whenever Hugh heard it, he had to laugh, because it just took him back to Hogwarts. Back in the day, he thought to himself, whistling as his feet took him up the now-very familiar staircase to Sarah's apartment. For all he could care, Sarah's flat could have been a cardboard box, and he wouldn't've noticed.
He had to wait exactly five second before Sarah opened the door, and he couldn't help his own huge grin. "Hey, beautiful," he responded, leaning over to hold her with one arm and giving her a little kiss with. Like a magician, he quickly whipped out his other arm, which revealed a big heartshaped box and a small bouquet of flowers. "Surprise."
Oh, so he was old fashioned and cheesy. So what? That was Hugh, and he loved giving little surprises.
Hey, Sarah adored him old fashioned and cheesy... if he weren't, he just wouldn't be Hugh, and she doubted that she'd have fallen in love with him again so quickly if he weren't! She laughed appreciatively, applauding shortly and sparing him a kiss before she took the chocolate and flowers from his hands. Her free hand tightened around the one on her arm as she led him into the kitchen, only letting him go when she had to take the gifts over to the counter.
Sarah got out a vase, filling it up with water and putting the flowers in it and then setting it on the windowsill right above the sink. "Do you like white or red wine?" she asked, nodding to the ice bucket on the table, which held two bottles. "I didn't know, so I chilled one of each."
"White," Hugh said, joining Sarah after giving a long, appreciative glance at the table. "Chicken alfredo, one of my favourites. You're good." He placed his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. "You're really, really good."
Could you help the bloke? He had the feeling that if one were to look up "lovesick" and "lovestruck" in the dictionary, there would be a big, fat picture of him there. Even after Hogwarts and the fact that they had known each other for many years, Hugh would not hesitate to say that yes, he had never been more in love in his life.
Sarah laughed, his breath tickling her neck and in turn nearly making her spill the wine over the side of one of the glasses. "Thankfully, your tastes don't seem to have changed too much from when you were a teenager," she said. It was a good thing, too, or she'd be working off nothing. But it seemed as if Hugh's personality wasn't the only thing that was the same, and that was good... she liked feeling like a good girlfriend, after all, remembering these kinds of things.
"Do you want to eat, or do you prefer to stand here and act sappy for the rest of the night?" she joked lightly. And she wouldn't care in the least if he did want to stand there and act sappy because even after dating for almost a month, every time she saw him she still felt like it had been years.
"You mean I don't have a choice?" Hugh pretended to pout and looked down at Sarah with huge puppy dog eyes. He gave her one more kiss. "But I am hungry, so..."
Some people may say that spending so much time together actually took the spark of the relationship. Hugh disagreed with that statement immensely. All those years of awkwardness and getting to know someone was over and all that was left was familiarity and closeness. He grinned and mock-pranced over to Sarah's seat, pulling it out for her. "Your chair awaits."
Sarah put her face in her hand in mock embarrassment, shaking her head at Hugh as she allowed him to do his sweet, yet uber-dorky gentleman thing. "You know, I thought I was the one that was supposed to be setting up this date," she said with a smirk. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, by all means, be chivalrous to your heart's content."
She could see why Ally hadn't been happy to let him go when it had (finally) ended--had seen why, actually, because she'd lost him once too, obviously--and she almost felt bad, to this day, that she had taken Hugh from a very nice woman. She felt worse, honestly, though, that there was a part of her that didn't--and never would--care that she'd done it.
Ally had been stupid if she had thought Sarah wouldn't end up fighting like hell to have him, anyway, just like she'd fight like hell to keep him if the situation someday, Merlin forbid, was reversed.
"Aw, but you know you love it," Hugh said, tipping his head to one side, as he seated her, pushing her in slightly, just as his sister Clara had made him practise over and over again. "I mean, at least I'm not banging my fists on the table, yelling, 'I WANT FOOD, I WANT FOOD' like a five year old."
He paused as he took his seat, smoothing his napkin over his knees. "Not that, you know, I ever did that as a five year old."
"I'm sure you were a perfectly respectable, well-mannered and well-behaved five year old. Who just happened to play pranks on just about everyone and get into more trouble than most children could fathom," she said with a laugh, following suit and doing the same with her own napkin. She dug into the food soon after, and was quite pleased that it didn't seem as if she was being proud over her own cooking achievement of the night for nothing. It actually tasted pretty good, which was great coming from a girl that had been relying on a phone with her mother's voice on the other end of th eline to figure out how to make the dish.
Sarah stopped to take a long drink of wine and guhh... it felt good, to just be home, and to be with him. The rather frightening and sudden thought struck her that she could be happy for the rest of her life just like this, and to her further amazement, she didn't actually want to force herself to shake it out of her head.
"I believe that was the first year I discovered the magical properties of jell-o," Hugh said proudly, after swallowing a large forkful of alfredo. "By the way, this food is fantastic, wonderful, great." He met her eye over the salad bowl. "I could definitely do this for a very long time." His voice was honest, and though he was grinning, he was definitely very serious.
"That's good, 'cause I intend to kep you around for a very long time," she said, looking up at him with the same grin, despite being a bit unnerved at the fact that he seemed able to read her thoughts. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, really... this was way overworking her emotions, this was downright cruel. To distract herself, she looked back into her plate of pasta, taking a small but much more thoughtful bite.
After dinner, and after a playful soapsuds fight while washing the dishes, the happy couple finally settled in front of Sarah's television, blissfully not watching anything at all. Hugh had both arms wrapped around her, his chin resting on her shoulder. For now, they were quiet, but it wasn't one of those annoying awkward silences; it was a silence that one would find with two people very comfortable with each other, a happy silence that indicated that no words were needed at all.
Hugh thought back at what he had said earlier. Well, he had said a lot of things, but he was specifically thinking about the remark where he had said that he would have been very happy just sitting and eating dinner with Sarah every single night. And it was as if something in his head clicked. How did someone know when it was the right moment to ask someone to marry him?
Hugh, being Hugh, would have probably tried to think of something other than his girlfriend's flat to propose, but his mind was racing so fast, he had no other choice. His heart beating, he lifted up his chin so he could look into Sarah's eyes - her beautiful green eyes - and licked his lips. "Sarah?" he asked, his voice low.
He got up and bent down on one knee, his hand holding her's.
"Hm?" Sarah asked inattentively, keeping her eyes on the television, sure that he was just going to say something sweet or whatever, something meaningless but cute... whatever she thought it was, never came. Confused at feeling the warmth leave her side, she turned to the place in the couch Hugh was getting up from, opening her mouth in protest.
Not a single word came out when she saw what he did. She couldn't do anything, oh sweet Merlin, she--he couldn't be serious, no way, not after all these years, this couldn't be happening. It couldn--it was! It was, though, she wasn't imagining it, he was down on one knee in front of her and she absolutely couldn't breathe aah this crazy man, he!
Sarah let him have her hand, and finding that she still couldn't find it in her to speak, she made quick of nodding her head, telling him to keep going because there was no way that she wasn't ready to hear this, ohhhhh this had better not be one of his pranks or she was going to kill him oh my god!
"Sarah Elizabeth Daniels, will you marry me?" Hugh's voice came out clear and firm, and he held her eyes. Though his voice was unwavering and confident, his hand, holding her's, trembled ever so slightly. Yes, he was being impulsive, he was taking this quickly - but he had known Sarah for years, and he had already made the mistake of letting her slip through his fingers. This time, he would not.
There was no question in his mind that Sarah Daniels was the woman for him, and the woman that he would love to grow old with. Without realising it, he was holding his breath, as he waited on a bended knee for Sarah's answer.
Sarah didn't understand how some girls could act all shocked and just stand there and cry. She had been waiting for this question for nearly a bloody decade, and so there was no hesitation; not even a second after he finished his question, she had squealed "YESYESYESYESYES!" loud enough to wake up the whole block and jumped down from the couch (yes, jumped was the right word for it) to gather him in a tight embrace. "Augh, you stupid man, what took you so long?!" she exclaimed, although her voice was somewhat muffled because she was currently crying into his shoulder.
