Odd Couple - Chapter 23 (Patreon)

Chapter 22

Noah´s been thinking a lot lately. He´s been with Steph for so long, now he can hardly remember what it´s like to live without her.

The first person he meets in the morning, the last one he looks at night. She´s there, always there. And it´s true that they´ve had their disputes, they don´t always agree, and maybe she takes things a bit too far sometimes. But he can understand her reasons.

Sure, it might not always be easy to forgive her, but he´s not perfect either. They are not perfect, in fact, they are sort of an odd couple. She´s a towering amazon, and he´s simply short.

However, he´s more like a short king to his tall queen. And this has given him quite some ideas.

Over time, he´s met that this is not as odd as he thought. There´s men who date taller women, men who won´t let their ego stop them from dating a gorgeous woman. However, the size differences aren´t always that big.

A guy, standing at 5´9”, dating a woman above six-feet-tall, that´s quite a difference, but it´s still not as big as it is between him and Steph.

Now, there´s also women about 6´6” who date men about 5´7” or 5´8”, and that´s a noticeable difference. But it´s still not as big, even if it´s almost a whole foot.

Noah found the prettiest lady, and she´s also the tallest he´s ever seen. Steph, standing at 7´3” is, surely, out of his league. Out of the league for a 5´4” guy like him. A difference of nearly two-whole feet! She´s simply statuesque.

Most wouldn´t even believe they are a couple, how would a lady so big pick a man so short? And that´s not just it, she´s an athlete, well used to be. Her built is completely different to his, and she was also popular. He´s just a, to say it in a rough way, a nerd. Not too creepy, but he´s quiet, shy and smart, although the last one´s not something bad.

For a long time, for a really long time, he thought they were opposites. And that they were attracted because, as they say, opposites attract. Just like the negative pole on a magnet attracts the positive one. But he´s thought about it, and that´s not the case.

For a long time, he thought of them as opposites, but that´s not the case. It´s not like that, not strictly that way. She´s got things he doesn´t, and he´s got things she doesn´t. They don´t think the same way, they don´t act the same way. They don´t feel the same, they don´t interact the same, and their perception of things is also different.

But, from a while back, as he wondered what the next step in life is to him, he realized something. They are not opposites, they complement each other.

She´s the strength he needs, the courage he misses, she´s all of the love he´s been looking for. And he feels, deep inside, that he also provides for her. That he can give, as much as he can take, but sometimes he just can´t give enough.

There´s one thing for sure, when he thinks of her, when he thinks of Steph, he feels warm inside. She´s the one who makes him whole, who gives him love, she´s the one who cares for him. And this all has given him an idea, more than just an idea it was a thought.

But not a mere thought, but a feeling, a feeling of something other than responsibility, a feeling other than a need, other than something he wants. It wasn´t a must, it wasn´t even necessary, nothing was pushing him, or forcing him to do this, nothing other than love.

When he thought about it, he felt good. He even smiled. Blushed a little, felt really shy. Insecure, but not because of doing something wrong, insecure because he felt he was giving a big step. A HUGE step.

He thought about this, and every time, he only found it as something good. Something tender, sweet, something lovely. This next step he´s about to give, it will be the biggest one he´s given. But it will forever seal the love between them.

“I… I want… I want to marry her…” he whispered. The mere act of doing so made his lips feel funny.

Marriage? That was a big step. But it´s not like they are strangers.

He kept thinking about this. Would Steph like it? Will she agree? It´s a matter of both, right? As a couple, this is a decision they have to make. But it´s not just like that.

Her opinion matters, after all, she´s fifty-percent of this relationship. But if we spoke about actual size, physical size, she´d be two-thirds or even three-quarters of this relationship. But we´re not taking that approach.

Noah has, with her help, come to understand one thing, if he doesn´t take what he wants, he´ll never get it. If he doesn´t work for it, if he doesn´t speak up, if he doesn´t steel himself and do it, things won´t come. Or worse, someone else might take them.

And Steph´s someone he can´t lose.

But this all comes with second thoughts. He´s always had second thoughts, a bit insecure when taking decisions. And this decision, it was the mother of all.

This was something that, not only gave him second thoughts, but it gave him third thoughts! His second thoughts had second thoughts. His ideas, the answers he met, they came with new questions.

Soon, he found himself thinking of things as if they were a tree, where you get an idea, and that idea grows a branch with ideas of their own. And based on those, there comes more and more. And they keep dividing and dividing. Subdividing, and then coming to an end, only for him to look for another idea from where to part.

At first, it was easy, she could say yes, or she could say no. Agree or disagree. But what happens if she says no?

An immediate response came to him. She´ll leave him. Their relationship will end and he´ll be the cause. And that will lead to a life of sorrow. Regret. To him, crying each night, knowing what he´s lost, and that he´s the one who ruined everything.

Of course, that could be one of the worst-case-scenarios. There could also be a milder one, where she´s just upset, and, by saying no, she puts in doubt all he feels. Why would she say no? Doesn´t she love him? Her rejection could be the beginning of doubts, and that could lead to a breakup in the future.

And then, what if she doesn´t answer? What if he can see the disgust on her face? And what if…? Or what if…? Or…?

He had a ton of different ideas. And in most, he blamed himself. He was overthinking, and the only thing this lead to, was a headache.

He had to stop thinking about the bad things. There were dozens and dozens of bad things that could happen. He even thought about losing his voice in the middle of the proposal. Or that a car may come out of nowhere and hit him. But there´s one thing he only thought about once, and that was if she said yes.

Try to picture a massive tree, with branches and branches. And, right at the bottom, right at the trunk, the center of the tree, where there´s just two branches coming out. These primary branches have labels. One that says: “Denial”. She said no, and that lead to hundredths and hundredths of different scenarios.

But, next to that one, there´s another one, thinner, with the label: “Acceptance”. And this one has a small branch coming out of it, just one. And it says: “If she agrees, I´ll be the happiest man on earth.” Should he worry about cutting down all of the other branches? Or, should he work on keeping the last one?

He knows it will be easier to work for his happiness. And Steph has brought all of the happiness he needs…

He´ll go for the happiness path. Noah knows that his is a big decision. And he was so concerned when they became a couple, and a little more when they moved in, but this time, it´s a much bigger decision! Combining the last two, and even multiplied!

But his heart´s not racing out of fear, well, maybe just a little. But his heart´s beating for desire. Passion, love…

“Ok, first things first… just how big should the ring be?” he asked himself. Immediately thinking on sneaking into her room and “stealing” a ring of hers. One she won´t miss, one she won´t notice it´s gone.

He´s nervous, but he knows that, in the end, the nerves will be gone, and the only thing remaining will be the sweet feelings of love…

Steph did notice he was acting a little suspicious, but she didn´t say a thing. Maybe he was just trying to hide some worries, maybe he was excited about something? It was hard to tell sometimes. All she knew was one thing, at some points of the day, he was quiet. Thoughtful.

But thinking on what?

Time went by, and in the end, he got his ring. The proposal-ring. It took them quite a while, custom made, and large for his queen´s fingers. But he got it.

He didn´t waste that time, he spend it all thinking on how, where and when to propose. In the evening should be fine. Maybe make it on a casual date?

He´s not going to try something too risky. And not to make some sort of prank just to hide the surprise. And he was afraid she´d swallow the whole ring if he hid it on a cake or something.

The simple way will be the right way. Now, the only question was, where? What place?

He kept thinking. A restaurant? No, way too much people. At their place? It wasn´t really impressive.

He wanted this to be easy, but meaningful. A place that brought memories, a private place. He thought of their first date, but that doesn´t bring such sweet memories. Sure, in the end, it worked out, but at first, she was unimpressed by him. Which is totally fine, but that´s not such a good idea if he wants to impress her.

Somewhere they dated, that was surely a good idea. Somewhere they´ve been, a place they liked. And it also had to be a private place. And bring back some good memories.

Then, he thought about a place…

Noah remembered one time, not so long ago, one of their first dates. It was a park, a beautiful park, yet, it wasn´t such a crowded one. Which will make it perfect. He remembers the time, just as if it had been yesterday…

“This is such a nice place.” He said that day.

“Sure is, I like it here because there´s not much people around. I often come here to take a run. You know, have some privacy…” Steph said.

That was one of their first dates. And he remembers what she wore. The day was cold, too cold to him, but just regular to her. He wore a sweater, but he would´ve preferred a jacket. He should have.

And Steph was looking radiant on her clothes. Even if they were gym clothes. Her legs look impressive on the yoga pants she wore. So tightly wrapped over her thick legs.

Her blouse matched the pants, but her jacket was the one who fulfilled the outfit. Thick, and in a bright pink color. She was thinner back then, and so sexy. He remembers he couldn´t believe just how beautiful she looked.

She still does, but back then, she took his breath away. He wasn´t even sure he could believe his eyes. Him? On a date with her? She was more than words could say…

They went to that park on winter. The weather was cold, but he could take it. Barely. However, as they chatted, he lost track of the cold, and just focused on her.

Her eyes, her lips, she was gorgeous. As he looked up to her, he could only think on how pretty she was, and how lucky he was. They talked and talked, and they both lost track of time.

The sun set at the horizon. And with the sunshine heating up the place, it started to get really cold.

Noah remembers he tried to steel up, pretend the weather was nothing. She looked so casual about it. He was freezing! But she wasn´t. Maybe it was due to her jacket? Why did he bring just a sweater?

 He tried to focus on her, she´ll heat up his heart. She´ll irradiate the warmth he needs. He tried to convince himself that the cold was mental, that he could think with enough strength to beat it.

People jump into freezing water, right? Why can´t he just focus and not feel the cold?

It was hard, as the winter blows, he feels his legs shaking. He put his hands on his pockets, trying to get some warmth. He never really thought about moving things somewhere else. She looked so happy, the climate didn´t seem to bother her. How lucky he was, right?

He could only look at her face, her smile. She seemed so easy talking to him, why would he ruin the moment complaining about being cold?

Even if his hands were freezing, even if he could see the breath of hers in the air, even if his cheeks were frozen, he chose to stay.

And he tried to hide it, but at some point, it wasn´t enough.

“Are you ok?” She asked.

“H-huh? W-what?” he asked, unable to cut the trembling of his jaw.

“Are you ok? I mean, you seem a little cold, do you want to go somewhere else?” she asked.

“Oh, n-no. I… I´m fine. I… I love the cold, you know. Yeah, t-team cold, hehe.” He lied, he hates the cold. He´s not built for winter weather.

Steph had no idea why he´d lie. Why would he chose to stay if he clearly hates it? This is not good to him.

But then, she realized one thing, what if he´s doing it for her? Too polite to tell her to leave. Too shy, maybe, to take things somewhere else. She said she liked it here, is he choosing to stay because of her? That was too considerate. And, as a reward for his consideration…

“Well, you can´t lie to me, I can tell you´re freezing. But… if you want to stay… at least take my jacket.” Noah was marveled.

Usually, it´s the man who should offer his jacket when the lady´s cold. However, in this case, speaking of them both, she was the one doing it.

“W-wait! Aren´t… aren´t you go-gonna get cold?” he said as she slowly pulled the jacket off.

Steph looked at him in the eyes, with a smile. A look of “aww”, as if she was going to feel the cold.

“Me? Cold? Don´t be silly, now take the jacket before you catch a cold, ok?” her words, her kindness, this truly melted his heart.

For a second, he forgot about the cold. All he could think on was Steph´s kindness. How? For him? She did it for him? She was this considerate? This kind? She truly doesn´t mind?

It was then when he realized there was kindness in her heart. And that´s the reason why he wants to propose to her there. Right at the same place where he met what it´s like when someone cares…

“The park?” she asked, walking into the living room, looking stunning on her tank top and her tiny shorts. He´s unsure, but does her boobs look bigger?

“Yeah, I thought… we could go for a walk, you know…” he had the ring, he had the speech, he was ready.

“Ok, just let me grab my shoes.” She said.

“No! I mean, I don´t mean now, I… we should go later, you know, like… later in the evening, maybe… at night?” he´s not ready for it to be this soon.

“At night? You don´t usually like to go to places like this at night… are you sure?” she asked.

“Totally.” He was just hoping she´d say yes.

“Ok. Should we grab a bite before?” she asked.

“As you wish, my lady.” He said.

“Haha, wow, how chivalrous, sir.” She added.

Noah thought he was ready. But he wasn´t. Well, it was not like he didn´t had a plan, not like he didn´t have everything settled. But the only thing unsettled was his mind.

Just looking at Steph, her overwhelming beauty, her statuesque form, her sensuous body. Wasn´t she too much for him?

“NO! Don´t take a step back… go for it!” he had to do it. Everything was ready. He had the ring, the place, he only needed to find the braveness in him.

They went to dinner, nothing outstanding. He could´ve made it more special, pick a fancy restaurant, try to impress her. But he knows this will make his proposal much more unexpected.

They went straight to the park. Steph was curious, he seemed to have something in mind, he looked as if he was thinking a bit too much while they were having dinner. She´ll find out, sooner or later…

Well, maybe sooner.

“Do you, ehm… do you remember this place?” he asked.

“Sure, this is the park where I jogged.” She said.

“Yes, of course. But… do you remember something else?” he asked.

“Hmm… like that time you almost got stung by a bee? Well, when you THOUGHT the bee was going to sting you.” She declared. Teasing him a little.

“No! And just so you know, the bee WAS aiming for my arm.” He complaint.

“Haha, ok, whatever.” She added.

“Let me tell you.” He knows she won´t remember, but that´s fine, he´ll refresh her memory. “I remember, one cold winter night, when we were here. And you, my sweet lady, gave me your jacket.”

“Oh, that´s right. The jacket, yeah. Haha, you were freezing, I wouldn´t let you suffer so much.” She added.

“You know, that time, I… that action of yours. It was so sincere, so kind. You, at that time, I could see a side of yours, I could see kindness.” He explained.

“It was nothing. Besides, it wasn´t even that cold.” She added.

“Trust me, it was freezing. But, I… I must say, it was then, at that time, when I knew that you and I, we were both meant to be. And…” he took this chance to get on his knee and started looking inside his pocket.

Now, it was the time. Steph felt as she knew what was coming, the question is, was she ready?