She was in shock. She looked at the ring. She looked at him. She looked back at the ring and remembered she wasn't wearing her top. Anger rolled through her blood. "Get out," she said in a voice she didn't fully recognize as her own.
"What," JC said in utter confusion as he sat up in the bed.
Amanda picked up the ring box and closed it as she was climbing off the bed. "I said 'get out'," she said again as she threw the ring box in JC's direction.
"Wait, what's wrong," JC asked as he scrambled off the bed. He took two steps towards Amanda and grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. She reached out and slapped him across his left cheek. He was stunned.
"How dare you do this! Do you play this game with everyone who resists you?"
"Huh?"
"'Oh, she's going to wait till marriage, so maybe if I propose, she'll drop her pants before the wedding and then I'll leave her.' Is that your game? How many of those rings do you have made? Ten? Twenty," she yelled at him. She turned to the closet and grabbed her suitcase and walked to the dresser. "Get out."
"Will you please listen to me," JC said. "That is my grandmother's ring. She gave it to me before she passed away. She made me promise to only give it to the woman I truly loved."
"And you just happen to carry it around with you," she asked as she emptied the drawers into her suitcase.
"No, I happen to carry it when I'm going to propose."
"And why this trip? Because you knew I was going to fall for the 'Amanda's Houses'? Or did you think the sob story about that girlfriend and the baby would win me over?"
"That is a low blow," JC countered, clearly taken aback by her comment. "And why would I have to play any games? I seem to remember I was the one that stopped the other night from happening not you."
"For your information, I was going to stop it anyway, I just made it seem like you were the one to stop so you wouldn't feel like you were shot down by me."
"Ok, fine, if that what you think happened, then so be it. But to get back on track, I wasn't going to propose on this trip."
"Ok JC, which was it, were you are weren't you?"
"I wasn't. I had it with me because I had it cleaned up and appraised yesterday," he answered.
Amanda rolled her eyes. "Convenient. Any more lies? No? Good. Get out!" she yelled as she pushed him to the door.
He grabbed her wrists and stopped moving. "Would you listen to me," he said as he struggled to hold her wrists as she fought to get free.
"If you do not let go of me right now, I will scream," she threatened. He dropped her wrists. "Get out!"
"Fine," he said with defeat as held up his hands in a sign of surrender before he turned and exited the suite. She didn't see the tears that were rolling down his face.
She paced the room in anger. She couldn't believe she had let herself fall for him. She quickly stripped off the sandals and jeans she was wearing and grabbed her own clothes. She quickly packed up her items in the bathroom. As she picked up her bags and headed out of the suite, she called Gentian.
"I'm leaving," she said after Gentian answered.
"Why, what's wrong," Gentian asked sensing something different in Amanda's voice.
"Oh nothing, just that I wouldn't sleep with JC so he proposed to me," she answered as she angrily stabbed the down arrow button for the elevator.
"What? That doesn't sound like him."
"Well, believe it. Anyway, it's over, and I'm going back to Orlando, packing my apartment and moving back to North Carolina. While I don't like being in the same country as him, I refuse to live in the same city and state." She had the doorman hail her a cab.
"Amanda, calm down. What happened?"
Amanda explained everything that had happened the past two days while she rode in the cab to the airport. "Amanda, that's all circumstantial. Why won't you even consider he really loves you and wants to marry you?"
"Gen, how can he know, we haven't been together that long."
"But, he is a strong believer in love at first sight. He's always said he'd know who his wife was supposed to be as soon as he saw her," Gentian explained.
"Um, yeah, great theory except for one thing. If that were true, why would he have been in long term relationships with other people?" There was silence on the other end. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Listen, I've got to go. It was nice knowing you. I hope you and Justin are very happy." She hung up her phone and turned it off before Gentian could answer.
As she waited in line at the ticket counter, the events of the past two days flashed through her mind with the events of the morning set on permanent repeat. Tears finally started to fall when she realized how close she had come to losing at his game.
"Miss, can I help you," the ticketing agent finally said loud enough to break Amanda's concentration.
"Yeah," she replied as she wiped her eyes and handed the gentleman her ticket and ID.
"This isn't for five days," he said suspiciously as he eyed her.
"Yeah, I know, I have to leave now," she answered with a distracted tone.
"Why?"
"Family emergency," she quickly said the first thing that came to mind.
"Ok, let me see what we can find." The agent tapped on the keyboard in front of him. His heart reached out to her and he motioned her closer. "I'm not supposed to do this, but this is clearly an upsetting situation. I'm going to put you on the next flight out which just started boarding and takes off in twenty-five minutes. The only seat left is first class and I'm going to waive the upgrade fee," he said and handed her the boarding pass. "I'm going to call the gate and ask them to hold the plane for an extra minute or so. And Manny here will give you a lift to security and on to the gate. You should make it just in time. And I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thanks," Amanda managed to smile as she took the boarding pass and baggage claim ticket. She walked with Manny to the waiting golf cart. Because she was with the airline worker, she was fast tracked through security. As they approached the gate, she noticed no one was in the waiting area.
"Ms. Parrish, you just made it," the gate attendant said with sympathy. Amanda thanked Manny and the gate agent and quickly walked down the ramp to the waiting airplane. She was the last passenger to board and they were taxing the plane away from the terminal before she had a chance to sit down and buckle her seat belt.
She stared out her window as the aircraft reached cruising altitude crying silently. She barely noticed when the elderly woman next to her handed her a tissue.
"What's wrong sweetie," she asked when Amanda took the tissue from her.
"I just had my heart broken," she said quietly and turned back to the window. She didn't speak again till the plane landed in Orlando.
