The Surprise

The dress code was a black tie event, meaning the girls and I would use the party as an excuse to go shopping for dresses. Lisa was going out of her mind with excitement as if she needed a reason to go shopping. Shopping is her favorite pastime, and I am surprised she didn’t major in fashion and design. I could see her doing great things in that career field. We invited Melisa to join us because she was also invited to the engagement party. Melisa is a shopaholic like Lisa and has no problems buying some of the most expensive things in the store. It's not that Karen and I are cheap; they are just on different levels when spending money. Karen came from a family of doctors, so they weren't poor, but they’re not as rich as the rest of us. She was very level-headed when we went shopping in the past, and I respected that about her. Even though Mark gave her a black credit card, she didn’t go crazy spending his money.

That night, the party girls and I decided to get dressed at Lisa’s house, and the guys would pick us up from there. The guys showed up in a black stretch Cadillac limousine. The party was being held in a ballroom in a hotel in midtown Manhattan. The decor was beautiful, and the girls and I thought it was out of this world. We thought it was a coincidence that the venue had all three of our favorite flowers for the centerpieces on each table. Lisa smiled and said, “ his fiance must be amazing because she has such great taste in flowers.” Karen and I laughed and looked at her mockingly. The further we entered the venue, the more people we recognized, like my grandmother and dad. We also saw Lisa’s parents and other family members as well. It was the same thing for Karen. Both her parents were there, as were her younger sister and brother.

We all looked at each other with confused looks on our faces. “ Is it me, or does something seem very wrong here?” asked Karen. “My family don’t know any of these people, so how were they invited to this party?” I was thinking about the same thing about my family. I didn’t go to school with the guys and Lisa, so my family wouldn’t know the guy getting engaged. “ Yeah, something is off about this,” I said. When we turned around and looked for the guys, they were not behind us anymore, which was very strange. We looked at each other, and Karen asked, “Did we miss something? Weren’t the guys walking in with us? Where did they go that fast?” We started looking around, but we could not find them. We decided we were going to ask our families what they were doing there. Curiosity was killing us, and the guys disappearing didn't help matters.

We kept looking around, but we still didn’t see the guys. Just before we took our first steps, a spotlight shine on us. We were baffled about what was happening, and there was still no sign of the guys. Then the music stopped playing, and we heard the guys' voices one after the other over the speakers. They were taking turns reciting a love poem. A large projector screen was lowered from the ceiling, and a slide show started playing. It showed pictures of us as couples and as a group from our summer vacation trips. Lisa started crying while holding her chest. Karen was smiling and looking around to try and find them. I started laughing and looked up at the girls. “They tricked us. This is our engagement party.” When they finished reciting the poem, Thomas began singing, and another spotlight appeared in one of the room's corners. There they stood, looking amazing on their knees and with small open boxes in their hands.

As far as surprises go, this one is by far the best. Everyone in the crowd was screaming and jumping excitedly when they saw all three guys on their knees. Lisa was still crying, while Karen and I were still smiling. We started strolling over to them, but Lisa couldn’t wait and ran and jumped on Thomas. They both fell to the floor, and everybody started laughing and cheering. Karen and I walked faster to get to the guys. When I got to Kyle, I kneeled before him, kissed him, and hugged him. Then I whispered in his ears, “ Will you marry me, Kyle Grant?” He stood up and helped me to stand back up. He then placed a new ring on my finger and said, “ Yes, I will marry you, Kadian Hayes.” We both laughed and started kissing again. The whole room was cheering by now, and all our family members were gathered around us, smiling, hugging, and congratulating us. The night was amazing. I am starting to like surprises now, thanks to Kyle.