Two years later...

Luke hugged himself excitedly like a ten year old. He had planned a surprise for Ellie and waited in apprehension for the time to come when he would finally do it even though they had been dating for two years now. This was the same day two years later, 13th of October when he had celebrated Ellie's 18th birthday and brought them together. Now he would bring them together even more.

That Friday evening, he was going to propose to her.

They were both twenty now; Ellie had turned twenty today. Their relationship had gone by without any serious troubles. Of course, there were occasional fights and mocking and the usual occasional ignoring but to Luke and Ellie it had been the best two years of their lives.

By the time evening came, he was so jittery, he could hardly stand.

Ellie meanwhile, was busy ordering exploding cupcakes and gifts that shot out a punch when opened and all sorts of other joke bokes to pay him back for her eighteenth birthday. For her nineteenth birthday, they had spent a week abroad so she was unable to do much. For both of Luke's they were on holiday, again abroad or in some resort with Ellie's mother for company. This time, though, Ellie was completely set on payback.

Luke meanwhile, was preparing a huge speech that he suddenly decided he couldn't memorize. So he crushed the paper, rolled his eyes and walked out of the room.

At precisely six in the evening, Luke went over to Emmie's house to cut the cake. For about half an hour they fooled about with Emmie's mother who already knew about Luke's little plan. But she also knew about Emmie's tricks too. She was the one who almost always knew both sides of the story, no wonder she looked like she might explode with laughter any moment.

Finally the moment came. Ellie was standing near the cake table stuffing her face with chocolate when she turned to find Luke down on one knee with a box in his hand. Ellie thought she was going to explode. Without even him saying a word, she held out her finger and he slipped the ring around it. It was only then that Ellie finally realized what it meant and let out a squeal that deafened both Luke and her mother.

Then Luke bit into a trick cupcake and the moment was lost.

The cupcake exploded in his face.