I laugh.

It's good to know I can still get to him.

“Seriously then, I suppose I should thank you for the limo ride, even though I didn't like that you weren't there. And let's see, the incredible roses, and the spa, and the bracelet, and the dress…”

“I think the dress was for me,” he interrupts. “You look…beautiful, incredible, sexy…everything.”

Phillip keeps beaming at me. This dress feels practically magical. It may very well be, based on the way he's looking at me.

It's like he's mesmerized, he's hypnotized….

Hey, that reminds me of a song.

Oh! I know!

Why this car is automatic, it's systematic, it's hyyydddrroomatic, why it's greased lightin'. My mom and I loved to watch the movie Grease. My friends always thought Danny Zuko was so cute, but I preferred Kenickie. Which isn't a big surprise, now that I think about it. I mean if Phillip had to play one of the T-Birds from Grease, he'd definitely play Kenickie. But only because of how he looks, as in he was hot, cuz let's face it, Kenickie was kind of a jerk, and Phillip is so not.

The waiter comes over and pours us champagne, so I shove the movie and Kenickie to the back of my mind.

“You know, Phillip, I really should eat something before I drink any more.” I barely get the words out of my mouth, when another waiter starts setting an array of appetizers on our table. Phillip has obviously planned out this portion of the date in detail as well.

I immediately dig in.

I mean, I do it gracefully.

“You know,” I say between bites of crab cake, “your sister has us like practically married already. I thought we were going to try to keep this a secret.”

“Did you really think Mom could keep this to herself? After the plotting the two of them have been doing? They're already congratulating themselves.”

“I know. I just don't want them to get the wrong idea about us. I mean, its been a week. We don't even know for sure what's going on yet.”

“We don't?”

“Well, I mean we're having great fun and all, but...”

“Here,” he says, interrupting me AGAIN and handing me another little box.

Another charm. Fabulous. Can't wait to open it.

I'm sorry, but I've had about enough of these little things.

But still, I try to look surprised and pleased as I open the box.

Oh, crap. Now I feel bad for thinking that.

Awwhh, I really do love this charm. In fact, it's my favorite. It's a little princess crown with pink jewels on the tips of the crown's points.

Phillip raises his champagne glass in a toast, “This charm is my way of promising to always treat you like a princess.”

Okay, so the princess crown and what he said makes me melt a little, but come on!

I have about had it with all the romance.

This is so not Phillip! He's a take me to Hooters, watch football, play darts, go jogging with kind of guy. Not this mushy sap.

What has happened to him?

So being the blunt girl that I am, I say, “Okay, Phillip, what gives? What's with all this romance stuff? I've had almost as much as I can take. This is so not you.”

He smiles sweetly, “Well, I just wanted tonight to be a night that you would never forget. I wanted it to be very special.”

Very special? There are those pesky words again.

“Have your previous boyfriends ever done anything like this?”

“I think you already know the answer to that, Phillip,” I roll my eyes at him, “and, no, they have not.”

So I add the charm to my bracelet and eat another crab cake.

The waiter comes over.

Yay! He's here to take my order, and I'm starved. Okay, I'm thinking a big steak, some garlic mashed potatoes……but I notice he doesn't have his little pad out.

Instead, he sets another box on the table in front of me.

I think I'm on present overload. Can't I just play with what I already have?

But I want to please Phillip, so I smile at him and start to untie the bow on the box. At first, I think this is another charm, but I realize this box is bigger than the others.

Charm earrings, perhaps?

“Wait.” Phillip says.

He grabs both of my hands in his and looks into my eyes. “First, I want to tell you that I love you, that I'm IN love with you. I know you wanted me to be serious when I said it, and I am. Princess, I have loved you for as long as I can remember.”

I smile at him, and I know he's serious. I feel the same way. Then he slides out of the booth, walks over to my side, kneels down on one knee in front of me, takes my hand in his and says, “Will you marry me?”

WAIT!!

“WHAT!????!!!!?” What was that last part? I thought you said…..

Phillip doesn't respond to my question or my shocked look. Instead he slides back into the booth next to me, unties the ribbon on the box, and opens the lid.

And what's inside is definitely not charm earrings.

What's inside is a ring .

An ENGAGEMENT ring!

Absolutely. The. Most. Beautiful. Engagement. Ring. I. Have. Ever. Seen.

Yet, it looks strangely familiar to me.

But why?

I've never seen a ring like this. It's so beautiful!

I look at Phillip, and then it hits me, “Oh my God, this is the ring I sketched.”

I am stunned.

I look at him, flabbergasted. That's a very weird word, but no other word can accurately describe the way I must look.

Phillip smiles and pulls a little folded up piece of paper from the top of the box and hands it to me.

“No way,” I mutter and shake my head.

I unfold it, and there is my drawing.

He kept it.

Has he always known?

I mean, did he keep it because he knew months ago that he wanted to marry me?

I look at the ring again. A gorgeous two-carat emerald cut diamond in a platinum setting with baguettes diamonds on the crisscrossed sides.

I am staring at perfection.

This ring belongs on my finger.

I am dazed.

“So will you marry me?” Phillip says, jolting me back to reality.

“Phillip. No. I can't marry you. We're on our first date. What am I going to tell everyone? I know you didn't even know we were dating, but on our first date we got engaged. It's like the time in sorority, when one of the girls passed her candle and when she blew it out we were all like, which one is she marrying? Because she was dating like two different guys. I don't want to be that girl, Phillip. Everyone will think we're nuts.”

I pause, “You can't get engaged on your first date.” I put my hand on his cheek, kiss him, look into his eyes and say sincerely, “I'm not saying I don't want to marry you. I mean that possibility seems very intriguing to me, but don't you think we should see if we can make it past, I don't know, maybe the third date or something?”

Phillip sits there very calmly. He's known me long enough to know that this is not necessarily my final answer, that I'm working things out in my mind by saying them. I tend to speak what my mind is thinking.

It does get me in trouble sometimes. But I'm done talking. This is ridiculous. I said no, what more is there?

Phillip leans over and whispers in my ear. He reminds me of something that happened so long ago, I had completely forgotten it.

And then, well, all of a sudden, everything made perfect sense.

Hmm.

“So, let me ask again,” Phillip says patiently. “Will you marry me, Princess?”

I smile and say, “Yes!” as he slips the ring on my finger.

Apparently you can get engaged on your first date.

And you know, it's not like we have to tell anyone right away.

Right?

“So can we kind of keep this our little secret?” I ask Phillip. “Like we'll start letting people know we're dating, and then maybe in a few months, we can announce the whole engagement thing?”